Duterte orders strict public smoking ban in Philippines
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MANILA -- President Rodrigo Duterte, who has overseen a deadly campaign to eradicate drug use in the Philippines, has now ordered a strict public ban on smoking and called on citizens to help local authorities apprehend smokers.
The executive order, signed early this week and made public Thursday, prohibits the use of tobacco, including electronic cigarettes, in all public spaces, even sidewalks. It also forbids anyone under 18 from “using, selling or buying cigarettes or tobacco products”.
More than a quarter of Filipinos smoke, according to a 2015 World Health Organization report, including 11% of minors.
The nationwide measure, known as Executive Order 26, is similar to the near-universal smoking ban Mr Duterte put in place in Davao City in 2002, when he was the city’s mayor. A former smoker, Mr Duterte quit cigarettes and drinking decades ago, when he was found to suffer from two rare conditions, Barrett’s esophagus and Buerger’s disease.
According to the new order, tobacco cannot be sold within 100 metres of schools, playgrounds or anywhere children might gather. Municipalities must also designate smoking areas that are far from these places, and away from elevators, stairwells, petrol stations, health centres and wherever food is prepared. “No smoking” signs are to be posted in all public places.
The order also called on civilians to join a “Smoke Free Task Force to help carry out the provisions of this order” and apprehend and charge violators.
Calling for citizens to enforce the ban raises the spectre of vigilantes carrying out their own interpretation of Mr Duterte’s strict prohibitions, as was reported during his tenure as mayor of Davao dating to the 1980s.
Violators of the smoking ban in the Philippines could face up to four months in jail and a fine of 5,000 pesos, around $100, presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said Thursday.
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Duterte orders strict public smoking ban in Philippines | Bangkok Post: news