Caloocan to hold anti-smoking seminar

MANILA, Philippines - The Caloocan City government will hold a seminar on the anti-smoking law as part of its aim to make the city “100 percent smoke-free.”

Caloocan Mayor Enrico Echiverri yesterday urged various agencies to attend the seminar on Tobacco Regulation Act tomorrow at the city hall’s Bulwagang Katipunan.

Echiverri said one objective of the event is to inform residents of the local government’s “strict adherence” to the anti-smoking law.

“Though someone is not smoking, second-hand cigarette smoke is more hazardous to health,” he said.

The mayor appealed to members of the local tobacco control council, city council, 188 barangay captains, department heads, and school officials.

He said an important subject to be discussed is the adverse effects of smoking on one’s health and the various aspects of the local government’s anti-smoking program.

Dr. Raquel So-Sayo, city health department head, and lawyer Rowena Daroy Morales of the University of the Philippines’ College of Law are the event’s main speakers.

Echiverri said through the seminar, the city government would be able to reach out to various sectors and inform them of the ill effects of cigarette smoking on non-smokers and remind them to obey the law against smoking in public places.