Gov't employees get rules of interaction with cigar firms

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines  --  The Civil Service Commission and the Department of Health have issued a memorandum, guiding government agencies and employees on handling their engagements with the tobacco industry.

The Civil Service Commission  said the Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) No. 2010-01 on the “Protection of the Bureaucracy Against Tobacco Industry Intervention” with the DOH will provide specific guidelines for the bureaucracy’s interactions with the tobacco industry.

According to the World Health Organization, nearly six million people die each year from tobacco effects, of whom more than five million  were smokers or who used to smoke , while more than  600,000 were non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke.

The CSC, as the central human resource institution of the bureaucracy, took the initiative to implement smoking prohibitions such as  in 1991 when the CSC issued Resolution No. 91-787 prohibiting smoking in government premises, except in designated smoking areas.

Again in 2009, CSC released Memorandum Circular No. 17 reiterating its commitment to have a 100-percent smoke-free bureaucracy.

Guided by these, the CSC initiated the project, Race Towards a Smoke-Free Civil Service: Implementation of CSC MC No. 17, s. 2009 and Salient Features of JMC 2010-01, which consisted of seminars and training for government workers around the country.

With it, the CSC recently launched a project called “Race Towards Tobacco Industry-Free Civil Service” on April 26, aiming  to evaluate the effectiveness of the established enforcement and monitoring mechanism in assessing compliance with policies on tobacco industry interference.

Two tracks of monitoring will be put in place; one is the testing of standardized compliance monitoring systems in the field, and second is the conduct of regular and spot investigations or audits to assess the effectiveness of the established enforcement and monitoring mechanism, the CSC said.