TABUK CITY, Kalinga – The city government through its City Health Services Office (CHSO) launched today an ordinance banning smoking in public places aimed at making Tabuk City smoke-free.
Authored by City Councilor Atty. Ivan Yannick Bagayao, Ordinance No. 06-2024, or the Comprehensive Smoke-Free Ordinance of Tabuk City, prohibits the use, sale, distribution, and advertisement of cigarettes and other tobacco products and electronic cigarettes in certain places.
Approved by the City Council on February 27, 2024, the launching of the ordinance was held at Davidson Hotel led by City Health Services Officer Dr. Henrietta Bagayao, and attended by partners from the Provincial Health Services Office, the Baguio-based non-government organization Transcend, and some offices of the city government.
According to the ordinance, Tabuk City acts with urgency to denormalize the culture of smoking and tobacco consumption through comprehensive and proven effective tobacco control measures.
This ordinance safeguards public health and ensures the well-being of the constituents by protecting them from the harmful effects of smoking tobacco, using an Electronic Nicotine Delivery System (ENDS).
An initial fund of PhP500,000 was allocated for the implementation of this ordinance and the Tobacco Control Program of the city government. Also, a penalty of PhP500, PhP1,000, and PhP3,000 for the first, second, and third and subsequent offenses for smoking and vaping, and PhP2,000, PhP3,000, and PhP5,000 for first, second and third and subsequent offenses for sale, access restriction and advertising or promotion of tobacco products.
The ordinance applies to all persons, whether resident of this city or not, and all places found within the territorial jurisdiction of the city. By Darwin Serion