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InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
MANILA, Philippines - A day after former presidential daughter Jo Ramos-Samartino succumbed to lung cancer, advocates called on Department of Health (DoH) Secretary Enrique Ona to step up the campaign against smoking.
Both Dr. Maricar Limpin, executive director of Framework Convention Tobacco Control Alliance–Philippines (FCAP), and former Health secretary Esperanza Cabral said in separate phone interviews that Ramos-Samartino’s death should serve as a wake-up call for a stronger effort in curbing smoking-related illnesses in the country.
“We need a stronger and firmer DoH that is ready to fulfill its mandate in protecting the right of Filipinos to health and our right to the highest standards of health as stipulated in our constitution as well as in the convention of human rights,” Limpin said.
Cabral, on the other hand, emphasized the need for the passage of a bill making it mandatory for tobacco manufacturers to print picture-based warnings on cigarette packs. The measure is now pending in the House of Representatives.
“I also call on Secretary Ona to step up the campaign of DoH against smoking,” Cabral stressed.
Early Monday morning, the second of five daughters of former President Fidel V. Ramos succumbed to lung cancer after being diagnosed just eight months earlier.
Cabral said that Jo Ramos’ death is only one of the 240 Filipino lives lost every day from tobacco-related diseases.
“We extend our sincere condolences to the family of Jo Ramos. We appreciate very much the effort of President Fidel Ramos to fulfill his daughter’s dying wish to remind people that ‘smoking is bad for you,'” Cabral said.
Cabral hopes that with the death of Jo Ramos, the leaders of the three branches of government - executive, judiciary, legislature - will be prompted to take swift action to warn the public about the ill effects of tobacco and control its distribution, sale and use in the country.
Aside from the picture-based warnings, Cabral also pushed for the implementation of an Administrative Order mandating an increase in taxes imposed on cigarette products.
However, the tobacco firms are questioning the legality of DoH Administrative Order No. 2010-0013 before the courts saying that it does not conform to the guidelines set by the Tobacco Regulation Act (TRA) of 2003.
Last April, Batanes Rep. Henedina Abad and Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. filed separate bills that would increase the prices of cigarettes by as much as 83 percent.
AO No. 13 or the Graphic Health Information order was issued during the term of Cabral, continuing the advocacies of her predecessor, former Health secretary Francisco Duque III. The order requires the printing of graphic warnings in 30 percent of the front panel of each cigarette pack and 60 percent at the back.
Senator Pia Cayetano has filed a bill that would bolster the attempt to get these pictures on packs. Her proposed bill provides for a penalty to be paid by tobacco companies for every day of violation. It also ensures the long-term impact by periodically varying the images printed on packs.
Health Justice, a public health law NGO that supports both the AO and the bill, noted the number of lives saved in other countries using picture health warnings.
“Studies show a great decline in tobacco use in Brazil, Canada, Singapore, and Thailand, among others. The United States also recently announced that it will implement picture warnings. We should not wait any longer,” Health Justice attorney Evita Ricafort said.
According to the World Lung Foundation, a smoker takes a look at a cigarette’s packaging an average of 15 times a day.
A picture warning on the package is then the most effective and practical way to warn a smoker of the grave hazards of smoking, she said.
“Despite clear evidence on the positive impact picture warnings contribute to public health, the tobacco industry attempts to stop these pictures from seeing the light of day by filing lawsuits in different trial courts. The more successful they are in their efforts, the more tobacco-related deaths are not being prevented,” Ricafort lamented.
The Philippines is also a signatory to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, an international treaty that obliges its parties to put effective health warnings on cigarette packs.
It is estimated that one Filipino dies every 10 seconds from tobacco-related diseases, making it an alarming public health crisis. Seven out of the ten primary causes of death in the country - stroke, cancer, heart attacks, tuberculosis, chronic lower respiratory disease, pneumonia, and diseases that occur around childbirth - are linked to smoking. Pots de Leon, InterAksyon.com
