Sibugaynons to breathe fresher air

IPIL, Zamboanga Sibugay (02 Jan) --- Sibugaynons will have fresher air, although smokers may grumble, once the provincial anti-smoking law will take effect.

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan passed last year Ordinance No. 2007-239 “banning smoking in the designated areas in the province”.

Authored by Wilfredo L. Sanggayan, the indigenous peoples’ representative to the provincial board, the ordinance seeks to make the province friendly to non-smokers by declaring all government buildings and offices, schools, hospitals and clinics, and all enclosed public places with an area of less than 100 square meters as “absolutely smoke free”.

In an interview, Sanggayan said the ordinance was formulated due to the observation that “some smokers appear to be insensitive to the other people’s preferences by smoking even in public places.”

“We need to regulate smoking in the province by declaring some places as smoke-free,” Sanggayan, who earned the distinction as the first indigenous peoples representative to the provincial board, stressed.

Sanggayan is the first lumad representative to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan nationwide. Zamboanga Sibugay was also the first province throughout the country to have IP representative to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan as mandated by Republic Act 8371. Compostela Valley was the second.

Sanggayan clarified that “this is not new since there is a national law regulating the use of cigarettes enacted by the government in 2003”.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Republic Act 9211 in 2003, which is the first by any in the world that complies with World Health Organization (WHO) requirements.

Also known as the Tobacco Regulation Act, the law was in response to a call by WHO for governments to help control smoking.

Under the legislation, the government will strictly implement a smoking ban in all public places, including schools, recreational facilities and areas frequented by children as well as in hospitals, clinics, laboratories and restaurants, among others.

"The new law aims to protect the general public from inhaling smoke emitted by cigars, cigarettes and tobacco pipes, which can contribute to respiratory illnesses," Sanggayan said.
The ordinance also declared as “unlawful to smoke cigarette, cigar or pipe in public conveyances plying in the province”.

Offenders will be penalized with the following: Php500 for first-time offender; Php1,000 for second-time offenders; and Php2,000 or imprisonment of no more than six days or both at the discretion of the court.

In addition, the provincial government “may order the closure of a public place that violates the ordinance”.

He added that the implementing rules have been already formulated to serve as guide to implement the law.

"We hope to instill responsibility on smokers of tobacco products that every time they light a stick, they should be considerate of the people around them who helplessly breathe the smoke-polluted air," Sanggayan ended.#