Philippines: WHO Cites PH Drive on Tobacco Addiction

　　While the Philippines has won a great deal of world attention for its campaign against drugs, much of it critical due to the big number  of deaths connected with it, another campaign against another form of addiction has won the plaudits of the World Health Organization (WHO). This is the national government’s campaign against tobacco addiction.
 

　　For  several  years now, there has been a steady decrease in tobacco use in the Philippines, WHO country representative  Dr.  Gundo  Weiler said. In the  2015  Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), the number of smokers in the country was found to have  dropped by 1.1 million people – from 17 million in 2009 to 15.9 million in 2015.
 

　　The  WHO  official  lauded the political will that Philippine officials have displayed over the years in the effort to stop the rise in tobacco addiction in the country.  He  cited  the  enactment of Republic Act No. 10351, the Tobacco Reform Law  of 2012, raising the tax on cigarette products and requiring the printing of graphic health warnings on cigarette packs.  Local governments all over the country responded with their  own  restrictions on cigarette sales and on smoking in public buildings.
 

　　RA 10351, also known as the Sin Tax Law, provided for a two-tier tax rate from  2013 to 2016. Congress is  now  considering  a bill to replace RA 10351 and Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial expressed the DOH stand that instead of reviving the two-tier tax system for expensive and less expensive brands, the new law should just increase the tax to make all  cigarettes less affordable.
 

　　Apart from the battle in the halls of Congress, the campaign against tobacco addiction  is being waged by President  Duterte who has already announced that  he will soon issue an executive order  further restricting public smoking in the country.
 

　　For all these efforts, the World Health Organization lauded the Philippines. The  country’s  efforts have already reduced the number of smokers by 20 percent in last seven years but about 87,000 Filipinos still die of smoking-related illnesses, notably lung cancer, every year.  WHO  will continue to support the Philippine  government in this campaign, Dr. Weiler declared.