QC to rev up anti-smoking campaign

MANILA, Philippines - Quezon City will intensify the implementation of its smoking ban within the city hall complex to include city government workers, an official said yesterday.

City health chief Dr. Antonietta Inumerable said this is in preparation for a massive anti-smoking campaign they are set to launch in the city.

She warned city hall employees and visitors to observe Republic Act 9211 (Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003) and circulars from the Civil Service Commission and the city council regulating smoking.

“Anyone caught smoking within the city hall complex, particularly in non-designated smoking areas, will be apprehended by authorities and penalized or fined in accordance with the law,” Inumerable said.

Inumerable reported to Mayor Herbert Bautista that the anti-smoking campaign at the city hall alone has already apprehended a total of 504 smokers this year, wherein 254 were city hall employees and the rest were visitors. Last year, 1,027 smokers were apprehended at the city hall complex alone.

Local officials have declared an area in the football field beside the city hall high-rise building as the designated smoking area.