Negros Oriental is being eyed by the Department of Health as a smoke-free province by December 12, 2012, DOH Undersecretary Pauline Obial said at the launching of the smoke-free ordinance of Bais City.

Bais City Mayor Karen Villanueva said they plan to conduct a massive three-month information dissemination campaign on the ill-effects of smoking.

Bernie Maniego of the Seventh Day Adventist Church said that of the 27 local government units in the province, only Vallehermoso town in the first district, San Jose in the 2nddistrict and Siaton and Sta. Catalina towns in the 3rd district have yet to file and approve anti-smoking ordinances, but Vallehermoso, Siaton and Sta. Catalina have made initial steps to do so.

Advocates will sit down with San Jose Mayor Carmelo Emmanuel Remollo and members of the Sangguniang Bayan on making the town smoke-free, he also said.

Meanwhile, the Dumaguete SP is eyeing amendments to the Smoke-Free Ordinance of the city even before its full implementation next month.

This was after members of the Smoke-Free Council requested the SP to delete the “reprimand” provision for first offenders, and fixed the penalty at P100 for the first offense.

Maniego said the existing provision states that first-time offenders are required to undergo a lecture about the ordinance; and a fine of P500 and P1,000 for the second and third offense, respectively.

The Council also proposed that deputized barangay tanods, who will issue citation tickets to offenders, be given incentives after the evaluation of their performance, the funds for which will be taken from the fines collected from smokers.

The Council hopes that the amendments will be certified as urgent by Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria and approved by the SP before the implementation of the ordinance on September 1, Maniego added.*JG

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