Two cities in Metro Manila have joined others in implementing a ban on smoking in public places contained in RA 9211 or the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003. Recently, Mandaluyong and Muntinlupa created task forces and launched campaigns to enforce the law, several years after the law was passed, but a welcome development anyway.
In Muntinlupa, a task force has been created by the city government to ensure that public places— City Hall, plazas, roads and churches, to name some—are smoke-free. The task force implements an executive order issued by Mayor Aldrin San Pedro, mandating it to apprehend violators of the ban and holding educational campaigns against smoking.
Under the ordinance, first-time violators face a fine of P200 or one to two days in prison while second-time offenders will be fined P500 or spend three to five days in detention. Third-time violators will then be fined P1,000 or be jailed for a week.
Members of the task group include representatives from the city police, Traffic Management Bureau and Public Order and Safety Office, public information office, environment department and the city health office.
In Mandaluyong, meanwhile, posters have been put up around the city warning against the dangers of smoking and citing the provisions of the anti-smoking ordinance of Mandaluyong, enacted in 2005 but implemented only lackadaisically until recently. The posters also contain the penalties for offenders: P1,000 and P2,000 for the first and second offense, and P3,000 or imprisonment for three days but not more than six days or both upon the discretion of the court, for the third offense.
Aside from banning smoking in open public spaces, the ordinance also declares as “Absolute Smoke-Free Areas” enclosed public spaces like government and/or public buildings, schools at all levels, hospitals and/or medical clinics, and all enclosed public spaces less than 100 sq m in area.
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THE NEWS about the ordinances and new political resolve in Mandaluyong and Muntinlupa was shared by Debby Sy, a lawyer with HealthJustice, an NGO that believes in using the law to promote the right to health.
Sy wrote that their coalition of anti-smoking organizations will soon be releasing a directory of focal persons to whom reports of violations in Mandaluyong can be sent.
The biggest problem faced in the implementation of local anti-smoking ordinances is lack of awareness, says Sy, and the lack of will among local executives to go against the popular culture.
In response to Sy’s news, Gloria Estenzo Ramos, a lawyer based in Cebu and focused on environmental issues (she leads the legal battle for the protection of Tanon Strait, suing in behalf of the dolphins and other creatures whose habitat is endangered), writes that they have sent letters to Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia and local executives about the issue. In their letters sent to the provincial government and those of Cebu City, Mandaue City, Lapu-lapu and Talisay—all part of Metro Cebu—the anti-smoking champions pushed for compliance and enforcement of RA 9211. They have yet to receive a reply, Ramos said.
“Let’s take the law literally into our own hands. Let us pressure for compliance from the LGUs (local government units) and in our offices and campuses, coordinate with the administrators, and discuss the issue with students, professors, citizens,” urges Ramos.
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TO MY mind, anti-smoking legislation is not so much aimed at curtailing the rights of smokers, as it is protecting and promoting the rights of non-smokers.
Nicotine addicts and promoters may argue that their habit and business don’t interfere with the rights of non-smokers. But scientific studies have shown that second-hand or side stream smoke poses more dangers to people’s health than inhaling cigarette smoke directly. Even if done outdoors, smoking affects the health of innocent bystanders, whose lungs and other organs are damaged by the smoke entering their system, combining with the other toxic substances floating in our polluted atmosphere.
The anti-smoking legislation thus limits smoking to areas where second-hand smoke will not inflict damage to others: in the privacy of one’s home, or in designated smoking areas, which we should hope have adopted measures to protect non-smokers (cigarette smoke can enter the air-conditioning ducts, for example, and still affect everyone inside a building).
One other problem, granted that public awareness about the dangers of smoking and of second-hand smoke already exists, is the lack of a complaint mechanism for the ordinary citizen. To whom do non-smokers report violations of the law and who has the power to accost violators?
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SMOKING is also an environmental problem, and we’re talking here not just of the problem they pose to our health.
Not only are smokers careless about their own health, they’re also apparently heedless of their surroundings. Have you noticed how cigarette butts litter our streets and environs? Have you seen the many butts and ashes strewn on planters, lawns, pathways, the floors of buses, jeepneys and trains, the floors of offices and in toilet bowls?
But I guess if someone is so careless as to actually inhale toxic chemicals, we can’t expect him or her to look for the nearest, convenient receptacle for the detritus of a habit. I remember going to the beach just this past Holy Week and finding to my disgust the sand in our little rented hut strewn with cigarette butts. Just about ruined my day.
Congratulations to the mayors of Mandaluyong and Muntinlupa for their resolve. And a word of warning to smokers everywhere: People will no longer stand by and allow you to pollute our environment and harm our health without protest or action.
