MMDA to smokers: No more warnings

Manila, Philippines - The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has warned at least 8,252 persons caught violating prohibitions against smoking in identified public areas in the metropolis during the agency’s month-long information drive, which ends on Thursday, an official said yesterday.

“After the one-month information drive and the warnings on smokers, we will put into effect the strict enforcement of smoking ban in Metro Manila this Friday,” MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino said.

He said MMDA enforcers will issue violation tickets to smokers who violate Republic Act 9211 or the Tobbaco Control Act, the smoking prohibition on public vehicles imposed by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) as well as the various anti-smoking ordinances imposed by local government units (LGUs).

Smokers who will be apprehended will be fined P500 for the first offense, P1,000 for the second offense and P5,000 for subsequent offenses. Those who cannot afford to pay the fines will be made to render eight hours of community service, the MMDA said.

Under RA 9211, public places are defined as “enclosed or confined areas of all hospitals, medical clinics, schools, public transportation terminals and offices, and building such as private and public offices, recreational places, shopping malls, movie houses, hotels, restaurants, and the like.”

Meanwhile, “public conveyances” are defined by RA 9211 as modes of transportation servicing the general population such as, but not limited to, “elevators, airplanes, buses, taxicabs, ships, jeepneys, light rail transits, tricycles, and similar vehicles.”

Tolentino earlier said the Metro-wide anti-smoking drive is not limited to the enforcement of RA 9211 but also covers anti-smoking laws of the LGUs, which ban smoking in the streets and sidewalks. “Streets and sidewalks are public places as these are accessible to the people,” he said.

Tolentino also said that unless a particular LGU prohibits it, smoking is allowed inside private vehicles even as these vehicles are parked on streets.

Tolentino said the cities of Caloocan, Muntinlupa, Mandaluyong and Parañaque have banned smoking in “open spaces” in public areas, including sidewalks. Other cities in Metro Manila do not have ordinances banning smoking in open spaces.

The crackdown on smokers alarmed cigarette manufacturers, who said the agency’s move runs counter to the provisions of RA 9211. They said the agency “stepped out of its bounds” by extending the ban on smoking to sidewalks.