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THE World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) pushed its communications campaign with vivid death scenes all over the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) stations aimed at raising the awareness of citizens on the dangers of cigarette smoking.
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By Kristine Felisse Mangunay
When antismoking crusaders Superman and Batman arrive together in a restaurant and Yosi Kadiri, the champion smoker, barges in a few seconds later, what do you think ensues?
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GRAPHIC IMAGES. SEATCA Director Ulysses Dorotheo and DOH Asec Eric Tayag show a cigarette packaging from Australia
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MANILA, Philippines – A globally renowned health expert from Thailand will be visiting Manila to share his country’s experience in the implementation of health promotion programs. Dr. Prakit Vathesatogkit, the Senior Advisor to the Thai Minister of Health and the Secretary General of the International Network of Health Promotion Foundations (INHPF), will be a resource speaker at the National Workshop on Health Promotion on May 3 in Manila. The workshop is an initiative of HealthJustice, Department of Health and World Health Organization Western Pacific Regional Office.
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MANILA, Philippines – Youth debaters took to Facebook to duel over a motion on unhealthy food taxation raised by the organizers of the Philippine Inter-Collegiate Debating Championship (PIDC), which was held at the University of the Philippines Diliman campus, last April 8 to 13, 2013.
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Written by Jonathan L. Mayuga / Reporter
“Having students express support to the idea of higher taxes on unhealthy products proves that we are on the right track. The younger generation is beginning to see that it is truly the government’s duty to implement preventive measures that go directly to the core of society’s lifestyle. Development and implementation of effective policies to address risk factors help in the reduction of non-communicable diseases,” Irene Reyes, managing director of HealthJustice Philippines, said in a statement.
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Manila, Philippines. – Health advocates called on the Supreme Court to affirm the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) power to regulate tobacco and tobacco products. “Why isn’t tobacco regulated by the FDA?” asked Atty. Diana Trivino, Project Manager of public health NGO HealthJustice. “It is the health of the people that is sacrificed for every day that tobacco products continue to go unregulated.”
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By Macon Ramos-Araneta
Public health advocates called on government on Sunday to impose tough anti-smoking regulations in the country, citing recent findings that mothers who breathe secondhand smoke were likely to have children with behavioral problems.
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But just as we welcome life and contemplate the conquest of death, it’s time to turn our attention to the more practical aspects of protecting this life and caring for the generations to come.
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The dangers of smoking during pregnancy have long been known, with its most serious complications including stillbirth, premature delivery, and low birth weight. Now, a new study says that mothers who breathe secondhand smoke are twice as likely to have children with attention and aggression problems.
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MANILA, Philippines – This March, tobacco companies and suppliers return to Pasay City for ProTobEx Asia, a trade show featuring innovations and merchandise in the industry. The tobacco expo’s return to the Philippines has been met with much resistance from public health advocates, who say that the government’s continued sanction of the trade show is inconsistent with its stand on public health. “When you promote tobacco, you put down our health,” said Emer Rojas, President of the New Vois Association of the Philippines, an organization composed of cancer victims and disabled persons, many of whom attribute their illnesses to tobacco. “Don’t sacrifice our health for profit. No amount of money can justify death and disease. We lose more than what is gained in the long run,” he added.
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MANILA, Philippines - Moves against the Philippines’ hosting of the Protobex/Inter-Tabac Asia snowballed as it was seen as an affront to the country’s efforts to save people from the ill effects of cigarettes.
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By Macon Ramos-Araneta
For the second straight year, advocates strongly objected the Philippine hosting of the ProTobEx ASIA, an annual trade show showcasing some of the world’s biggest tobacco manufacturers and advertisers which will be held March 20-22 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.
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By Lucia F. Broño
MANDALUYONG CITY, March 20 (PIA) - - The Department of Health Center for Health Development of the National Capital Region (DOH CHD-NCR) conducted a press conference, Tuesday, enjoining partner agencies and stakeholders to strengthen commitment to tobacco elimination and control and condemning tobacco exhibitions in the country.
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By: InterAksyon.com
The Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) denounced Wednesday the staging of Protobex/Inter-tabac Asia in Manila which runs till Friday, March 22, deeming it a direct assault on Asia by the tobacco industry as it is held in the Philippines, base of the World Health Organization’s Western Pacific Regional Office (WHO-WPRO).
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MANILA, Philippines - The continued sanction of the trade show featuring tobacco innovations and merchandise by the government is inconsistent with its stand on health, according to public health advocates on Tuesday.
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By Macon Ramos-Araneta
For the second straight year, advocates strongly objected the Philippine hosting of the ProTobEx ASIA, an annual trade show showcasing some of the world’s biggest tobacco manufacturers and advertisers which will be held March 20-22 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.
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MANILA, Philippines – This is the second year that ProToBex ASIA, a regional tobacco industry expo, will be conducted in Manila. Public health advocates are “up in arms” once more, determined to protect the people from the dangers brought on by a tobacco promotion event of such magnitude.
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Dr. Encarnita Limpin, Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance, Philippines executive director, protests the coming of tobacco industries to the country, where a a 3-day expo participated in by private firms will be held in Manila to promote tobacco smoking.
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MANILA, Philippines - On March 4 and 11, the Zuelling Center for Aisan Business Transformation of the AIM hosted the 2013 Senatorial Candidates Forum on Health. Senatorial candidates discussed their platform on Universal Health Care (UHC) and answered questions from stakeholders on relevant health issues.
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Jonathan L. Mayuga / Reporter
Drunk driving, which poses threats to life and property, is now becoming a norm in the country because of the lack of state policy severely penalizing it, civic group HealthJustice Philippines said on Tuesday.
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MANILA, Philippines – On February 22, 2013, Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Company (PMFTC) in partnership with the American Chamber Foundation of the Philippines Inc. donated PhP300,000.00 worth of medical supplies to the Philippine General Hospital Medical Foundation Inc. (PGHMFI).
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ALMOST two months after the Sin Tax Law took effect, anti-smoking advocates are pushing for the passage of a law that would require graphic health warnings in cigarette packs.
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MANILA, Philippines – Drinking has long been an accepted practice in Filipino culture.
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MANILA, Philippines --- A sectoral representative of the Quezon City Development Council yesterday claimed that lung cancer has become the leading type of cancer in the Philippines, even if lawmakers expressed concern over the fancy cigarette packaging designs that make a tobacco product look safe.
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MANILA, Philippines - Emer Rojas, 54, was once a smooth talking radio announcer. But when I came to interview him, he was dead silent. Without a word, he carefully placed two fresh batteries in a small black electrolarynx, pressed the device to where his vocal chords were cut, and buzzed to life.
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MANILA, Philippines – With 2013 just coming into full swing, the Philippines is already reaping seeds sewn in the last year. Thanks to the government’s commitment to fight corruption and make necessary political reforms, the World Bank has declared the country as the rising economic tiger in Asia.
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A non-government organization of health advocates is worried that the Philippines is lagging behind other nations in implementing a law requiring graphic warnings on cigaret packs. Health Justice Philippines says that 64 states comprising 40 percent of the world’s population have already finalized picture warning requirements on cigaret packs, while in the Philippines, government still needs to be reminded to enforce this life-saving measure.
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MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines is lagging behind other nations in implementing the law requiring graphic health warnings on cigarette packs, a non-government organization of health advocates said yesterday.
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MANILA, Philippines -- An anti-smoking group on Wednesday renewed calls for the adoption of picture warnings on cigarette packs, saying these were far more effective than text in convincing people to quit the habit.
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Over 40% of the world’s population is covered by the 64 states that have finalized picture warning requirements on cigarette packs. In many of these jurisdictions, governments are moving to increase the size of the graphic health warnings. Australia leads with 82.5% of the pack covered with the vivid pictorial warnings. Thailand is pushing for an increase to 85% -- a big leap from the current packs which feature warnings covering only 55% of the package. India, which ranks 2nd in smoking prevalence worldwide, is pushing for an increase from the 20% warnings which currently cover their cigarette packs. In the Philippines, however, health advocates feel left behind, still needing to call on government to enforce this life-saving measure.
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Manila, Philippines. – Picture warnings on cigarette packs work in more ways than one. Since Australia’s plain packaging law took effect last December 2012, many of the country’s smokers have complained that cigarettes in these standardized packs taste worse, stating that the cigarettes taste “pathetic”, “sickening” and lacking in flavor now that they come in the same packaging dominated by graphic health warnings (GHWs).
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Manila, Philippines. – A little smoking, a lot of death: a new study reveals that smoking even just one cigarette a day doubles risk for sudden death in women. The alarming results prompted health advocates to call for picture health warnings on cigarette packs anew.
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A NEW study which revealed that smoking even just one cigarette a day doubles risk for sudden death in women prompted health advocates to renew their call to implement graphic health warnings on cigarette packs anew.
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A NEW study which revealed that smoking even just one cigarette a day doubles risk for sudden death in women prompted health advocates to renew their call to implement graphic health warnings on cigarette packs anew.
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While watching Jessica Soho’s SONA news program, I watched their segment concerning the fight over “graphic warnings” to be placed on cigarette packs. The idea is to force cigarette manufacturers to print photos of smokers who have developed different types of cancers and tumors essentially to shock or scare smokers. A group called Health Justice has principally been at the forefront of the campaign alongside the Department of Health and they have been pushing and pushing Congress to pass the law
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MANILA, Philippines—Pictures speak louder than words.
Health advocates are pushing anew for graphic health warnings (GHWs) on cigarette packs, citing a new Harvard study which showed that pictures are more powerful than words in warning people, especially minority groups, about the dangers of smoking.
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Health advocates have stood behind the effectiveness of graphic health warnings (GHWs) on cigarette packs, compared with the text-only warnings currently appearing on packs sold in the Philippines. This assertion has been verified by a new study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health and international tobacco control group Legacy. The results showed that GHWs are more effective in getting smokers of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds to quit their smoking addiction, prompting calls for lawmakers to pass a law mandating graphic health warnings on cigarette packs.
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Philippines- A public health advocacy group is urging Congress to pass a law requiring cigarette packs and other tobacco products to bear graphic health warnings encouraging smokers to quit the habit.
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Know someone who died from tobacco-related causes? Well, 240 more like him died in the Philippines today. The Department of Health has said that 10 Filipinos die every hour from a disease caused by his own smoking.[1] The Philippines is one of the top 20 smoking nations in the world,[2] with 87,600 tobacco-related deaths yearly. World-wide, tobacco’s death toll is expected to rise from 100 million in the 20thcentury to 1 billion in the 21st century.[3] Over 40% of the world’s population is mandating graphic health warnings (GHWs) on cigarette packs to help motivate smokers to quit. [4] Inexplicably, the Philippines still has not.
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MANILA – A group of public health advocates has called on Congress to build on its "momentum" and pass a law that will require cigarette companies to place graphic health warnings on their product packages.
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Which countries light up the most? The latest reports state that Serbia tops the world list with each Serbian smoking an average of 2,861 cigarettes yearly. Among ASEAN nations, Indonesia ranks the highest with 53.3 million smokers.By comparison, each of the 17.3 million Filipino smokers smoke an average of 838 sticks annually. Serbia and Indonesia have at least done something about their extremely high smoking statistics: both countries have implemented laws mandating graphic health warnings (GHWs) on cigarette packs. In spite of 240 Filipino deaths caused by tobacco daily, the Philippines still has not.
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A group of public health advocates has called on Congress to build on its "momentum" and pass a law that will require cigarette companies to place graphic health warnings on their product packages.
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A group of public health advocates has called on Congress to build on its "momentum" and pass a law that will require cigarette companies to place graphic health warnings on their product packages. In a statement, the non-governmental group HealthJustice Philippines expressed optimism that bills on graphic health warnings pending in Congress will finally be passed after lawmakers enacted the "sin tax" law—a legislation that imposes higher taxes on tobacco and alcohol products—last year. "As with the sin tax law, government and civil society should work together to get this passed soon. The graphic health warning bill is a necessary complement to all other tobacco control measures," lawyer and HealthJustice managing director Irene Reyes said in a media release on Friday. She added that passing measures on graphic health warning will make the Philippines "credible as a rising nation." Reyes’ group made this call after Indonesia—the country with the highest number of smokers in Southeast Asia—enacted a law requiring graphic health warnings on cigarette packs.
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MANILA, PHILIPPINES - With the implementation of the sin tax law, Civil Society Organizations vow to keep vigilant for any attempt the tobacco industry might make to undermine its success.
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Manila, Philippines – I welcome the enactment of Republic Act 10351, which raises taxes on cigarettes and alcohol. It will generate additional revenues, starting with P33.96 billion in 2013. And in 2014, the new tax law will generate P42.82 billion, increasing to P50.63 billion in 2015, P56.86 billion in 2016, and P64.18 billion in 2017, or a total of P248.49 billion in five years.
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Health advocates scored twin victories this year with the enactment into law of the sin tax reform bill and the passage of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill in both chambers of Congress.
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MANILA, Philippines - Anti-tobacco advocates have expressed concern over the $200-million, five-year business venture of the British American Tobacco (BAT) in the Philippines.
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MANILA, Philippines—Health advocates on Friday expressed concern over the decision of British American Tobacco (BAT) to invest $200 million in the Philippines.
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MANILA, PHILIPPINES - While health advocates celebrate the ratified Sin Tax bill, British American Tobacco (BAT) takes the opportunity to confirm their five-year investment in the Philippines, woth US$200 milliion.
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Manila, Philippines. --- President Aquino has declared December 9 as National Anti-Corruption Day, in keeping with the date chosen by the General Assembly of the United
Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC). Health advocates are hopeful that the first Philippine Anti-Corruption Day will help clear out the tobacco-related corruption that
clouds the country’s path towards sustainable public health as well.
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MANILA, Philippines – With the Sin Tax Bill continuing in bicam later today, health advocates are issuing a challenge to the bicam committee to make deliberations public so those who are really for sickness and death instead of health can be pinpointed.
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MANILA, Philippines - In the Bulong Pulungan meeting held on. November 27, 2012 in Sofitel Manila, Sen. Pia Cayetano commented on the latest developments of the Sin Tax Bill.
With bicameral proceedings rapidly approaching, the Senator says that utmost preparation is necessary to overcome the next set of hurdles in the way of having a strong bill
passed.
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On Wednesday November 28th, members of HealthJustice, a Philippine public health policy group, filed a legal complaint against Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing, Inc. (PMPMI) and Fortune Tobacco Corporation (FTC) for circumvention of a law requiring a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship.
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MANILA, Philippines �� With the passage of the Sin Tax bill in the Senate, health advocates question its effectiveness when it comes to curbing smoking in the country.
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Manila, Philippines. November 22, 2012-- PMFTC Inc., Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing, Inc. (PMPMI), and Fortune Tobacco Corporation (FTC), along with their directors and officers were named as respondents in a complaint filed by public health policy NGO HealthJustice before the Inter-Agency Committee on Tobacco (IAC-T).
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Seoul, Korea, November 22, 2012 -- Days after the Philippines was recognized with an Orchid Award for excluding the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) from its official delegation to the 5th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP5) to the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the COP followed its example by kicking out the public from its closed door committee meetings because of the presence of tobacco industry representatives.
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Senator Franklin Drilon, the acting chairman of the Senate ways and means committee, said he expected senators to vote for the passage of the sin tax bill when sessions resume today.
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The medical community has thrown its support behind Sen. Franklin Drilon’s version of the sin tax bill, hailing it as a “good compromise” that would mean more tax revenues for the health of indigent Filipinos and save more cigarette-smokers from death.
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After being widely criticized by health advocates for his sin tax bill that appeared to favor the tobacco industry, Senator Ralph Recto resigned as chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. But not before engaging Senator Frank Drilon in a lengthy debate over the latter’s version of the bill which is expected to yield about R40 to R45 billion in revenues during the first year of implementation.
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Higher cigarette prices and graphic warnings will lessen the number of youth smokers in the country, according to a recent survey commissioned by the Health Justice Philippines.
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MANILA, Philippines - Various health groups have expressed their support for the sin tax reform bill version of Sen. Franklin Drilon seeking a two-tier taxation system for tobacco products.
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ALMOST A million of Filipino youth are "current smokers" and a stick of cigarette priced at ₱10 will force them to stop the habit, said a Social Weather Stations (SWS)-commissioned survey.
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The Philippines was recently bestowed the Orchid Award by international, anti-tobacco-use organization the Framework Convention Alliance (FCA).
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MANILA, Philippines—Talk about “quitting cold turkey.”
Two years after getting the dubious “Dirty Ashtray Award,” the Philippines was recognized on Tuesday, at a World Health Organization (WHO) conference in Seoul, South Korea, for excluding representatives of the tobacco industry from its official delegation.
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The Philippines has broken its negative record with the local and international health community for its perceived support of the tobacco industry.
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SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - Today delegates from across the world began a week of negotiations to further strengthen the global tobacco treaty – the world’s first public health and corporate accountability treaty - but not without a fight from Big Tobacco.
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Seoul, Korea. 12 November 2012 -- The Philippines breaks its negative record with the local and international health community for its perceived support of the tobacco industry. Today, the prestigious Orchid Award was given to the Philippines for excluding the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) from the official delegation to the 5th Conference of Parties (COP5) to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), which opened today in Seoul, Korea.
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MANILA, Philippines – Health advocates band together to express the need for a sustainable health promotion program for the country. More than just the dissemination
of health information, health promotion aims to provide a healthier environment that is accessible to all Filipinos to help them make better decisions and control over their
health.
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MANILA, Philippines - With the recent celebration of World Tobacco Growers Day, tobacco farmers slammed the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), claiming that they have always been consistenly deaf to the plight of the tobacco farmers and stakeholders. However, November 12-17, health representatives from all over the world will converge in Seoul, South Korea for the 5th Conference of Parties (COP5) to discuss the FCTC. Part of its agenda includes Articles 17 and 18, which ensures the protection of robacco farmers.
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The International Tobacco Growers Association (ITGA) aims to celebrate World Tobacco Growers Day. Ideally an event to recognize tobacco farmers worldwide, the timing of this
Congress proves suspicious for some health advocates.
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MANILA, Philippines - In the Philippines, the national government has its hands full -- not with implementing tobacco regulation but with court cases meant to stop its efforts
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MANILA, Philippines – Should the Philippines be holding its breath for another blow of criticism from the international community? On November 13, delegates from the Philippines will be heading to South Korea for the 5th Conference of Parties (COP5) to discuss the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). This is the same conference where the Philippines previously received shameful awards for allegedly purporting the interests of the tobacco industry instead of its agenda: public health.
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MANILA, Philippines - A recent survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) shows that the country’s low cigarette prices is a huge factor in getting children
to start smoking at an early age. The survey, which gathered data for the period of August this year, further showed that the average age of initiation to smoking is as
early as 15 years old. This is despite the fact that there is a prohibition of selling of cigarettes to minors.
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FOUR Palace officials who supposedly accused Sen. Ralph Recto of receiving lobby money from tobacco firms yesterday apologized to the former chair of the Senate ways and means committee, saying they were misquoted by media.
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Top administration officials on Wednesday told senators that the sin tax reform measure should generate between P40 billion and P60 billion to have an impact on the population, but left it to the lawmakers on how to proceed, Communication Secretary Ricky Carandang said.
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“Senator Recto says it’s okay to meet with the industry – it’s not as simple as that. The basic tenet of Philippine law is to protect public health policies against the tobacco industry’s commercial interests,” said Atty. Evita Ricafort, Project Manager at public health NGO HealthJustice.
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MANILA, Philippines – In a shocking turn of events, Sen. Recto heeds health advocatesʼ call for him to resign as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. The committee
report he proposed to the Senate drew tremendous ire from human rights and tobacco control groups all over the world.
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16 October 2012. Manila, Philippines –- After declaring himself as the “national punching bag of the week,” Senator Ralph Recto receives more blows of criticism from the civil
society for attacking health and human rights groups funded by Mayor Bloomberg of New York City.
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MANILA, Philippines—The country’s health secretaries—past and present—are all solidly behind the drive to increase the sin taxes on tobacco products to avoid a projected lung cancer pandemic hitting the country in the next 10 years.
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Pointed missiles flew the way of Sen. Ralph Recto yesterday for producing a greatly diluted sin tax bill or Senate bill 3299 with his colleague Sen. Miriam Santiago claiming of being “gobsmacked-speechless” with Recto’s sponsored bill compared with the original Senate bill 3249 or “An Act restructuring the excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco products” that Santiago sponsored.
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MANILA, Philippines, October 11 - In Sen. Recto’s sponsorship speech on October 10, 2012, he says that “The danger of pushing taxes up too much is that it may reach the point
of diminishing tax returns. As in any product, a higher tax rate does not automatically result in higher collections.”
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Manila, 11 October: "Senator Recto does not want to protect Filipino children from cancer," said Atty. Chicco Castro of the New Vois Association of the Philippines, an organization
of laryngeal-cancer survivors.
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ANTI-CIGARETTE smoking campaigners on Tuesday expressed support behind the latest push to enact a law mandating graphic health warnings on cigarette packs in the country.
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Much more important than the millions of pesos expected from a genuine reform on the current tobacco tax structure (as proposed in a current bill being debated in the Senate) are the millions of lives that would be spared from the deadly sin of cigar and cigarette smoking.
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MANILA, Philippines - The National Youth Commission (NYC) yesterday warned against exposing the youth to smoking because they can easily pick up the habit and get addicted to it.
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Manila, Philippines, October 2: "The youth, especially those still in school, should not be exposed to the habit of smoking. They are impressionable and can easily pick up the
habit set for them by their friends, family, and authority figures,�� says Commissioner Leon Flores of the National Youth Commission.
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“For tobacco companies to even offer us donations is insulting.”
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Amidst contrasting opinions regarding the fate of the sin tax bill in the Senate, an increasing number of non-government organizations are making a definitive stand on the tobacco issue: “There are no healthy relationships where the tobacco industry is concerned,” they say in a strongly worded manifesto entitled “True Progress is Tobacco-Free”; it that has been signed by over 50 developmental NGOs coming from different sectors of Philippine society.
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The Philippine government would have generated revenue enough to build a new sky train system had it followed the lead of Thailand in imposing higher taxes on alcohol and tobacco products, a visiting Thai tobacco expert said on Friday.
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SMOKING CAUSES impotence and blindness, according to recent studies. The health hazards are numerous.
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After earlier writing about the rights of smokers, I received an invitation this week to meet with a former senator from Thailand who is now an anti-smoking advocate.
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“Smoking is an abnormal action for a human being,” says former Thai Sen. Prakit Vathesatogkit. “When you see smoke and feel its choking effect, it’s an instinct not just for people but even for animals to run away from it and seek fresh air.” But people who light up cigarettes or cigars voluntarily and even avidly inhale smoke into their throats and lungs before exhaling it. And once someone starts smoking, says Dr. Prakit, in less than a year, he or she will become addicted.
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“We are facing a silent disaster,” says Dr. Antonio Dans, professor at the University of
the Philippines College of Medicine at the latest hearing of the Committee on Ways and
Means to discuss tax reform laws.
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At the last hearing of the Senate Ways and Means Committee to review bills calling for
the reform of tobacco excise tax, the tobacco industry presented their recommendations
for the legislative body to consider. The tobacco industry opposed high taxes, reasoning
that this will encourage smuggling. They claim that a price hike would drive consumers
to purchase from the black market, which would mean loss of profit for the industry and
no tax collected for the government.
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Manila, Philippines -- After the release of a controversial video involving Philip Morris executive Robert Blair Carabuena as he berated and manhandled MMDA traffic enforcer Saturnino Fabros, a petition calling on the tobacco company to fire Carabuena for his actions has taken effect. Philip Morris released a statement effectively washing their hands of Carabuena, stating that he was on his personal time and not on duty for the company, and reiterating that PMFTC “does not condone inappropriate conduct by any of our employees”. Health advocates were quick to remind the community that Carabuena’s antics are the least of PMFTC’s transgressions.
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Teenagers who smoke will surely be afflicted with the top five so-called “lifestyle diseases” including stroke, heart disease and cancer early in life, the Department of Health (DOH) revealed.
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By JENNY F. MANONGDO
MANILA, Philippines – Despite the existence of laws that limit smoking, male Filipino smokers are among the top smokers in the world occupying the ninth spot following India and China among others, data from the American Cancer Society and World Lung Foundation revealed on Tuesday.
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The Philippines received unwanted attention from the international community after the Network for the Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT), a collective of over 100 organizations spanning 50 countries, and Corporate Accountability International, a non-profit organization with over 100,000 individual members world-wide, gave the Philippines’ Inter-agency Committee - Tobacco (IAC-T) a “Marlboro Man” award. The said award is given annually to government agencies perceived to have been compromised by and to have been furthering tobacco industry interests.
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Anti-tobacco groups lauded the Bureau of Internal Revenue for banning tobacco companies from participating in the bid to supply security stamps for tobacco products as part of efforts to curb cigarette smuggling and increase revenue.
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HEALTH groups campaigning against cigarette smoking on Tuesday lauded the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for its plan to disqualify cigarette companies in the public bidding for product-security technology for tobacco products.
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The Bureau of Internal Revenue issued a statement that it is now in the process of finalizing Terms of Reference governing eligibility of groups to propose product security technology for tobacco products. Even at this early stage, congratulations have been pouring in from members of the health community. These come days after BIR Commissioner Kim Henares said that cigarette companies will be excluded from the public bidding.
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Some 300,000 Filipinos die due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) each year, comprising about 60 percent of the total annual death toll in the country.
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Private citizens put the pressure on lawmakers for the celebration of World No Tobacco Day on May 31
Manila, Philippines. -- Days after the Senate impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona, two civil society organizations (CSOs) turn to legislators for answers once more: good-governance watchdog Tao Po! and public health advocacy group HealthJustice Philippines join together to ask members of the Congress and the Senate their position on tobacco control.
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MANILA, Philippines - An anti-tobacco group is again pushing for graphic health warnings on cigarette packs.
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Anti-smoking advocates yesterday renewed their call for government to put picture-based health warnings on cigarette packs.
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Last week’s passage of an amended “Sin Tax” measure by the House of Representatives’ Committee on Ways and Means may yet turn out to be an empty victory for health advocates. Health Justice, a tobacco control advocacy group, has circulated the results of an analysis of the version approved “overwhelmingly” by the Committee.
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Health advocates urged Davao Representative Isidro Ungab to look at the figures to see the weakened impact on public health due to amendments to the sin tax bill. Ungab says there would be no more meetings with stakeholders and told them to put their comments in writing instead.
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In the field of cigarette packaging, Australia and New Zealand are ready to implement plain packaging; Philippines still struggling for picture warnings
In an unprecedented initiative, the Australian government passed legislation that would make branding and logos on any tobacco products a crime. Starting December 12, 2012, cigarettes are to be sold in drab brown packaging with giant graphic health warnings covering about 75% packs. One can only tell the brand from their names in the same font and size for all brands. In response, top cigarette manufacturers Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, Imperial, and Japan Tobacco filed lawsuits against the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act (TPP) with the Australian High Court.
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One of the most important things a government can do for its people is to provide adequate health care. Look around you, especially in barangay health centers, and see the long lines of people everywhere, young and old, seeking medical assistance.
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It is not just “noynoying” that young Filipinos are adopting from President Benigno Aquino III’s known habit.
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CIVIL society groups launched an anti-tobacco video contest in a bid to dissuade the public from smoking.
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HEALTH ADVOCATES have slammed the amended version of the “sin” tax bill approved by the House ways and means committee earlier this week, claiming the measure’s objectives have been compromised.
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Manila, Philippines -- Is any latest gadget, designer watch, or cash prize enough to replace a life?
Last Good Friday, an alcohol-drinking contest held along White Beach, Puerto Galera killed its second place winner Niño Maralit after consuming 32 shots of hard liquor. News reports on the tragedy referred to a beer-drinking event sponsored by a nameless tobacco firm. Sources reveal that the said tobacco firm has been identified to be Philip Morris, which conducted a ‘shooters’ contest where contestants who consumed the most number of shots wins the prizes at stake.
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CANBERRA — Tobacco companies accused the Australian government of destroying the value of their trademarks by forcing them to strip logos off cigarette packs as a court battle over the world’s toughest laws on cigarette promotion drew to a close Thursday.
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A WASTE and pollution watchdog yesterday called on government to craft a regulatory policy for the proper disposal of cigarette butt waste to limit its negative effects on humans and the environment.
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AN environmental watchdog called on the government, particularly the Environment and Health departments, to craft urgent regulatory policies to ensure the proper management of cigarette butts or filters as toxic waste.
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A labor leader has warned that excessive increase in the tax rates of alcohol and tobacco products will exacerbate the unemployment, poverty, and crime incidence in the country.
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The health effects of early life exposure to secondhand smoke appear to be greater in girls than in boys, a new study finds.
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MANILA, Philippines - A Filipino non-governmental organization won the prestigious Bloomberg Awards for Global Tobacco Control during the recent 15th World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Singapore.
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MANILA, Philippines - Philippine advocacy group HealthJustice recognized lawmakers, media groups and anti-tobacco groups for their efforts to fight the tobacco industry.
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DESPITE higher prices and scary scientific studies showing that smoking often leads to cancer, the number of smokers continues to rise globally, according to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which advocates against smoking.
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MANILA -- HealthJustice Philippines has been singled out to receive the Bloomberg Awards for demonstrating excellent progress or achievement in monitoring the epidemic and prevention policies as required by the World Health Organization in the MPOWER policies.
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MANILA, Philippines - The Aquino administration is confident that it would get the support of lawmakers for the approval of 2 crucial revenue bills before Congress adjourns on June 30.
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MANILA, Philippines — Former Health Secretary Dr. Esperanza Cabral said that all health practitioners in the country, particularly those represented by the Philippine College of Physicians, Philippine Heart Association and Philippine Medical Association, are supporting the increase in excise taxes of cigarettes and liquor which she said can effectively reduce the number of young smokers and drinkers.
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MANILA, Philippines – A Filipino organization actively working to reduce the tobacco epidemic has been selected to receive the Bloomberg Awards.
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SINGAPORE - Remember the first day the Philippines' Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) implemented the smoking ban in public spaces last July 2011?
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Singapore - A small Philippine advocacy group was honored at a major international conference in this city-state Thursday for its fight against the tobacco industry.
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MANILA, Philippines — ASEAN Secretary General Dr. Surin Pitsuwan has posed a challenge to governments in the region to rid the air of tobacco smoke in every capital city of the member nations and to every street by the end of 2012.
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Bloomberg Philanthropies announced today the winners of the Bloomberg Awards for Global Tobacco Control. The awards ceremony took place today in Singapore at the 15th World Conference on Tobacco or Health, led by Michael R. Bloomberg, philanthropist and Mayor of New York City.
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Last March 19-20, 2012, an event entitled “Towards a tobacco-free world: YOUTH can make a difference” at the 15th Conference on Tobacco or Health 2012 was held at Suntec City Convention Center, Singapore.
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HUNDREDS of anti-smoking advocates on Thursday picketed a large international tobacco fair in the Philippines, a country that has drawn more attention from the industry as Western nations pile on restrictions and taxes.
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MANILA, Philippines - Former secretaries of the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Finance (DOF) yesterday signed a manifesto in support of House Bill 5727 or the sin tax reform bill, saying health should come before trade.
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ANTI-SMOKING ADVOCATES protest in front of the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City, which they claimed will be the venue of a “cigarette expo” this month. The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance said it received reports late last year that the multibillion-peso tobacco industry will hold an International Tobacco Exposition that will showcase cigarette products and smoking accessories in the country. Photo taken March 15. -- Jonathan L. Cellona
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THE Department of Finance-supported “sin tax” bill pending before Congress will entitle local tobacco farmers to monetary aid to enable them shift to other crops.
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For months now, many tobacco industry representatives have been continuously lauding the Pro Tobacco Expo Asia’s (ProTobEx Asia) choice to hold the first Asian tobacco convention in Manila this March 2012. ProTobEx is one of the largest tobacco exhibitions and has been touted to attract tobacco industry professionals from all corners of the world. The organizers have given a number of reasons why Manila was an ideal choice for a tobacco industry event of this magnitude, including the Philippines’ long and dynamic history of cultivating tobacco and producing cigarettes and how the domestic industry has resolutely lent its support to the staging of the event.
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THE World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday is hoping that the sin tax reform bill in Congress will be approved as it would lead to the increase in prices of cigarettes in the Philippines.
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INTERNATIONAL health organizations and anti-tobacco advocates yesterday joined Philippine counterparts in pressuring the Aquino government to stay away from the ProTobEx/Inter-Tabac Asia 2012 to be held at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) starting tomorrow.
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MANILA, Philippines - International groups World Health Organization (WHO) and Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) have backed efforts to raise tobacco taxes to reduce cigarette consumption in the Philippines.
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FORMER finance and health secretaries on Wednesday rallied behind House Bill 5727, citing the need to “fix” the current excise-tax structure on so-called sin products and prevent various health problems brought about by cigarette smoking and liquor drinking.
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Each day, between 82,000 and 99,000 young people around the world start smoking. Research shows that of that number, over 30% will continue to be smokers in their adulthood and are projected to die early of a smoking-related illness. And it only gets worse from there. It has been proven that those who begin smoking below age 21 have the hardest time quitting. 9 out of 10 smokers start smoking even before they turn 18.
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THE WORLD Health Organization (WHO) has thrown its support behind the country’s excise tax reform measures, following a string of local health advocates that have called for the passage of the bill.
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SMUGGLING of tobacco and liquor products may worsen once the proposed sin tax bill is enacted into law, one of the authors confirmed.
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SURVIVORS of tobacco-induced diseases trooped to Congress yesterday and urged lawmakers to pass the long-awaited excise tax reforms.
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SMUGGLING will be an inevitable aftermath if the Malacañang-backed sin-tax reform bill that proposes a unitary tax system for tobacco and liquor products is enacted, the principal author of the measure acknowledged on Monday.
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MANILA, Philippines - Health Secretary Enrique Ona assured the people yesterday that the Department of Health (DOH) will continue advocating the printing of graphic health warnings on cigarette packs even if House Bill 5727 or the sin tax reform bill for tobacco and alcohol products is passed.
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MANILA, Philippines - Northern Luzon congressmen refuted yesterday the claim of Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson that tobacco production in their region has benefited only the manufacturers and not the farmers.
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MANILA, Philippines - Northern Luzon congressmen refuted yesterday the claim of Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson that tobacco production in their region has benefitted only the manufacturers and not the farmers.tobacco
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P-Noy is a heavy smoker… but it doesn’t mean he is not supportive of pending proposals in Congress to reform our system of taxing tobacco and alcohol. In fact, I think he is convinced giving this reform measure his imprimatur to get it through Congress is a good use of his extensive reservoir of political capital
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The Aquino administration has won the support of the country’s tobacco-growing provinces on its proposed excise tax that imposes unitary tax system on all industry players.
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MANILA, Philippines — Instead of trying to raise cash by increasing the so-called “sin taxes,” the Department of Finance (DOF) should turn its attention to the Bureau of Customs for help in getting the much-needed revenues.
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LEGAZPI CITY—The province of Albay is set on implementing three major pro-environment and pro-health measures in an effort to curb pollution and secure a more productive future for its residents.
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THE GOVERNMENT’S sin tax measures will push through despite opposition from the so-called "northern alliance" of congressmen belonging to the country’s tobacco-growing regions at the House of Representatives, a Palace aide said on Wednesday.
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A group of tobacco farmers has nixed planting alternative crops amid the looming imposition of the Palace-backed uniform taxation for cigarettes, saying that alternative crops will earn then paltry profit.
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The 15th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH) 2012 is the premier, international conference on tobacco control that is set to take place in Singapore from 20 - 24 March 2012.
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MANILA, Philippines - Liquor companies in the Philippines are calling on the government to reconsider its plan to collect more revenues from sin taxes, saying this would lead to a huge drop in sales of local alcoholic drinks.
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A Department of Finance (DOF)-backed excise tax measure has drawn flak from both local industry players and thousands of workers who claim that the proposed tax hike on tobacco and alcohol products is designed to kill local industries and cause massive job losses.
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MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Finance (DOF) expects to an ultimate P139.33 billion in additional revenues from the proposed measure that will raise excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol products.
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MANILA, Philippines — Claims of tobacco and liquor companies against the proposed “sin” tax reform are exaggerated and taken out of context, the Department of Finance (DOF) said Thursday, standing pat on the benefits of excise tax reform.
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SMOKERS and foreign companies will carry the burden of higher cigarettes and alcohol taxes, according to Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares.
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SINCE the United States Surgeon General reported on the causative links between cigarette smoking and lung cancer in the 60s, there have been numerous studies that not only confirmed these links but also expanded the list of health hazards associated with tobacco use. Respiratory problems such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardio-vascular disorders such as coronary artery disease, and even neurological difficulties such as cerebro-vascular accidents are just a few items in this expanded list.
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A Senate tax and research study group and a giant cigarette manufacturer separately said yesterday that a uniform tax on sin products favors imports and encourages smuggling.
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INSTEAD of collecting more taxes, the government may end up losing revenues if the proposed unitary tax is adopted, according to the Senate.
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SAFETY NETS for tobacco farmers will be provided by the government should the enactment of a bill raising excise taxes on tobacco products result in their economic displacement, officials yesterday said.
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THE GOVERNMENT will lose more revenues than it will gain should a planned increase in so-called "sin" taxes push through, a cigarette maker yesterday claimed.
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THE Metro Manila Development Authority is now offering medical and psychological support to help smokers kick the habit.
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The House of Representatives will need to adopt a proposed bill that will overhaul the tax structure for tobacco and alcohol if it wants to avert a looming fiscal crisis, an economic advocacy group said.
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The government is ready to provide support to tobacco farmers, whose livelihood are endangered by pending bills in Congress that seek higher taxes on the so-called sin products.
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The Department of Finance is pushing for a “better version of a sin tax” law that will remove current rules that bar competition and hinder the inflow of revenue to state coffers.
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Asia Brewery Inc. (ABI), maker of popular brands Beer na Beer and Colt 45, is opposing a proposed measure that will slap a 140-percent tax increase on low-priced beer, stressing that it will adversely impact its low-income consumer base.
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MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Finance (DOF) said Monday that it will work with Congress to come up with a better sin tax law that will remove the structural barriers to competition.
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The government can readily address budget deficit concerns by overhauling the tax structure for tobacco and alcohol, an economic advocacy group said.
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A SENATE study found that the unitary excise-tax rate on alcohol and tobacco products that is being endorsed by the Department of Finance (DOF) would favor imported brands over local and low-priced products.
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THE GOVERNMENT will lose more revenues than it will gain should a planned increase in so-called "sin" taxes push through, a cigarette maker yesterday claimed.
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The likelihood of a real, meaningful reform of the tax system is fading fast. The fiscal space that the economic managers are talking about could easily be a fleeting one. It is built on compressed spending rather on stable, expanding resources. With serious past neglect in education, health and public infrastructure spending and coupled with rapidly growing population, the demand for essential public services is expected to vastly outstrip available public resources in the days ahead.
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MALACAÑANG’S call for congressmen to look at the positive side of the proposed unitary excise-tax system failed to convince them during the hearing of the bill on Wednesday by the House Committee on Ways and Means.
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I am not exactly a fan of Willie Nelson and his Western country music. But I cannot forget his collaboration with Wynton Marsalis, my idol for being one of the greatest trumpeters and for championing both jazz and classical music. Nelson and Marsalis teamed up to play good music and produced an album titled “Two Men with the Blues.”
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Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman (MMDA) Francis Tolentino and the 17 Metro Manila local government units (LGUs) have intensified their anti-smoking campaign amid an injunction issued by a Mandaluyong City judge against the MMDA.
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AN economic advocacy group has warned the House of Representatives of a “looming fiscal crisis” if it failed to overhaul the tax structure for tobacco and alcohol.
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MANILA, Philippines — It's understood in local idiom that when one says “My fingers itch,” a desired activity has been curtailed or restricted. A surgeon might quip, “My fingers itch, I haven’t operated in days,” or a chef sighs, “My fingers itch, I haven’t whipped up a dish since Friday.” Now there is a condition, where fingers and other parts of the body itch in a most hideous, bothersome way.
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The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines (FCAP) has expressed support for the sin tax bill (R.A. 9334) filed by Cavite Rep. Emilio Abaya, saying it is the best weapon in discouraging the public to smoke.
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THE government will lose P200 million a day if the bill to restructure the excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol products is not passed, a lawmaker said Tuesday
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The advantages of the administration-backed sin-tax reform measure, which is expected to generate P60 billion, far outweigh its perceived disadvantages, since its proceeds will improve public health and the national economy, and may even partly fund safety nets for affected farmers, if needed.
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Whenever tobacco control measures are put forth by the government, such as reforming the country’s current excise tobacco tax system, claims about the farmers losing their livelihood always arise. The reality of tobacco farming in the country, however, shows otherwise.
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MANILA, Philippines -- Health and non-government groups on Tuesday said the substitute ‘sin tax’ bill authored by Rep. Eric Singson Jr. was a watered down version that benefits only the tobacco industry.
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ADMINISTRATION lawmakers on Monday warned the government against its proposed unitary tax system in the sin tax reform bill, claiming the proposal will kill the cigarette industry and encourage the smuggling and counterfeiting of cigarettes.
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CIGARETTES and distilled spirits will be hardest-hit of the so-called "sin" products should the government succeed in reforming the excise tax system.
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ANTI-SMOKING advocates have a new ally and could yet be the most effective in the crusade to stop the habit that kills some 80,000 Filipinos every year.
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Mandaluyong will strictly enforce the anti-smoking ordinance while promoting healthy living among city residents. According to Dr. Pecos Camarines, Mandaluyong City Health Department head, advisories will be posted on all major thoroughfares and commercial areas about City Ordinance No. 467 Series of 2011 prohibiting smoking in public places.
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LAWMAKERS yesterday warned against the alleged ill-effects of a Palace-backed bill seeking to restructure the excise tax collected from alcohol and tobacco.
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VIGAN, Ilocos Sur—Representatives from the country’s top tobacco-producing provinces will lead local officials, farmers and their leaders to express their strong opposition to House Bill 5727, the Palace version of the tobacco excise-tax bill, which they said would destroy the tobacco industry and kill the livelihood of some 2.7 million tobacco farmers and their dependents.
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Congressmen, crossing party lines, warned on Monday that the administration’s proposal to impose a unitary tax system on alcohol and tobacco would not only mark the death of the country’s struggling tobacco industry but would also encourage smuggling and counterfeiting and other illegal activities.
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The problems raised by some legislators on the sin-tax reform bill, such as smuggling, will be addressed, Malacañang said on Tuesday as it expressed confidence of the passage of the measure this year.
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VIGAN, Ilocos Sur – Local officials here will troop to the House of Representatives next week to express their strong opposition to House Bill 5727, the Palace version of excise tax bill, which they said would destroy the tobacco industry and kill the livelihood of some 2.7 million Filipinos from tobacco-growing provinces in the country.
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MANILA, Philippines — Quezon City 1st District Rep. Vincent Crisologo has moved to defer discussions on the excise tax bill to give way to a pre-conference with congressmen from tobacco-producing provinces.
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Aimed at encouraging the youth to quit smoking, the city government of Marikina will stage Saturday an appeal concert to promote healthy lifestyle. Marikina Mayor Del De Guzman invites the public to watch “One Voice against Tobacco Smoke (Tsugi Ka sa Yosi),’’ a free concert to be held at the Plaza Delos Alcaldes in front of the Marikina City Hall, at 6 p.m.
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VIGAN CITY, Ilocos Sur: Thousands of Virginia tobacco farmers from various municipalities in Ilocos along with provincial officials trooped to the provincial capitol to protest against a House bill seeking to restructure the excise tax collected from alcohol and tobacco which they say will kill the industry.
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THE ways and means committee of the House of Representatives has shelved the hearing on measures that seek to impose additional taxes on alcohol and cigarettes to give way to the impeachment proceedings against Supreme Court Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo.
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WASHINGTON, D.C.: Men who smoke experience greater mental declines over time than men who never smoked, but the same link does not appear among women, said a British study published in the United States on Monday (Tuesday in Manila).
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BELIEVING that the sin-tax reform bill holds the key to improving the country’s chances of another investment grade, Malacañang on Wednesday said it wanted the bill passed this year, a Palace official said.
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MANILA, Philippines - The House ways and means committee starts public hearings today on the Malacañang version of the “sin” tax reform bill, which seeks higher cigarette and liquor taxes.
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Smoking tobacco cigarettes is dangerous to health. But what can smokers do if they can’t quit? That’s where ePipe, an electronic cigarette, enters to help tobacco smokers live a healthier life, according to Erlinda Valentino, proprietor of MKV Merchandising.
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THE Malacañang version of the so-called sin-tax reform bill was drafted without proper consultation to the people who will be adversely affected by the proposal to raise excise tax rates on alcohol and tobacco products.
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A sub-committee of the powerful House ways and means committee recommended the adoption of a draft law that aims to retain the current excise tax structure on alcohol and tobacco products.
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A sub-committee of the powerful House ways and means committee has recommended the adoption of a measure that aims to retain the current excise tax structure on alcohol and tobacco products.
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ALL the speakers in last Friday’s symposium on "A Global Call to Action: Public-Private Partnership for Cancer Care and Control" stressed three must-dos: No smoking, eating healthy and balanced diet, and regular exercise.
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MANILA, Philippines — The Parañaque City government has begun enforcing an anti-smoking campaign.
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As keynote speaker at the “Moving as One” multi-sectoral conference on a “public-private partnership for cancer care and control,” Health Secretary Enrique Ona described cancer as a “relentless disease from which we cannot distance ourselves.”
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MEMBERS of the House Committee on Ways and Means expressed support for the move to let the main panel handle all discussions on pending sin- tax reform bills to expedite the final decision on the proposals.
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In a rushed, madcap meeting of the National Internal Revenue subcommittee held at the House of Representatives on 30 January 2012, a substitute version of the sin tax bill was signed and approved by 10 legislators, led by the subcommittee’s chair, Rep. Eric Singson, Jr. of Ilocos Sur.
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The Parañaque government has reminded residents that a local ordinance banning smoking in public places would take effect in the city starting Monday.
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CAVITE Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya has sponsored the Palace version of the sin tax reform measure that seeks to change the current multi-rate specific structure of the excise tax on tobacco and alcohol products by adopting a unitary rate.
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MANILA, Philippines — A sub-committee within the powerful House ways and means committee recommended the adoption of a draft law that aims to retain the current excise tax structure on alcohol and tobacco products with moderate tax increases starting 2013.
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MANILA, Philippines—A group of doctors on Friday urged lawmakers to pass the sin tax reform law to curb smoking among young and poor Filipinos.
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TOBACCO is both an enterprise that employs millions in the farms, factories, marketing firms and retail outlets that grow, produce and sell cigarettes and its various components and a health hazard. While the cigarette pack itself warns about the dangers of smoking, most governments continue to tolerate its manufacture and continue to earn billions from the tobacco industry.
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What are the people at DOF smoking?
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Malacañang’s proposed “sin tax reform” that seeks to unify and simplify taxes on cigarettes and liquors is expected to yield an additional P60 billion to the government coffers.
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A MALACAÑANG-backed version of a bill simplifying so-called “sin” taxes has been filed at the House of Representatives, with its proponent claiming the priority measure will raise substantial revenues for the government.
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A SENATE body and the Department of Finance (DoF) yesterday agreed to scrap a 3% tax on gross receipts imposed on foreign carriers, a lawmaker said yesterday, in a bid to address the country’s lack of attractiveness to foreign visitors.
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MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte, (PIA) — The Maasin City Schools Division of the Department of Education is making an appeal for delegates to the Eastern Visayas Regional Athletic Association (EVRAA) regional sports competition to observe Maasin City’s no-smoking policy.
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THE PALACE version of a bill restructuring excise taxes will be tackled alongside similar proposals pending in the House ways and means committee next week, the panel’s chairman said yesterday, with the hope to have a consolidated bill approved before the congressional break in June.
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The Philippine Tobacco Institute (PTI), an association of cigarette manufacturers and importers, has lamented a Malacañang official’s pronouncement of the government’s policy of “no compromise” on tax matters.
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MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Tobacco Institute (PTI), an association of cigarette manufacturers and importers, has expressed dismay at the pronouncement by Malacañang on the government’s avowed policy of “no compromise” on tax matters.
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THE Philippine Tobacco Institute (PTI) has expressed dismay at a Palace statement that the government will not budge in its plan to raise alcohol and cigarette taxes, warning that tobacco farmers will suffer from higher taxes.
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MANILA, Philippines — A senator has scored the Inter-Agency Committee on Tobacco (IAC-T) for its dismal performance in ensuring that the law regulating smoking in the country is strictly enforced.
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PARIS -- Jean Paul Gaultier delivered an ode to Amy Winehouse at his spring/summer 2012 haute couture show in Paris last Wednesday. The late pop singer’s musical spirit and bad girl fashion sense were all over the runway.
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Binibigyang prayoridad ng House Committee on Ways and Means ang muling pagbalangkas sa excise tax na ipapataw sa alkohol at produktong tabako.
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Ang pag-establisa ng smoking cessation clinics ay hinihimok upang matulungan ang mga tao na nahihirapang huminto sa paninigarilyo. Layunin ng isang smoking cessation clinic na tulungan yaong nagnanais huminto sa paninigarilyo sa pamamagitan ng libreng pagpapayo at mga tip sa pagbabago ng pamumuhay.
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Source: American Journal of Public Health
The tobacco industry's internal documents reveal an undeniable interest in marketing cigarettes to underage smokers. The industry's marketing approaches run counter to and predicate methods for tobacco prevention:
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keep the price of the product high;
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keep product placements and advertising away from schools and other areas with a high volume of youth traffic;
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make cigarette advertising (that is, themes and visual images) unappealing to youth;
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make product packaging unappealing to youth; and
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design the product so it is not easy to inhale.
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This is in continuation of our reflections on the country’s unfortunate (but quirkily illuminating) loss in the WTO case Philippines -- Taxes on Distilled Spirits (docketed as DS396 and DS403). The issue in that case essentially is whether the excise tax laws of the Philippines on distilled spirits violated Article III.2, first and second sentence, of the GATT. Both the panel which tried the case and the Appellate Body said yes.
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MANILA, Philippines — The establishment of smoking cessation clinics is being encouraged to help people who have difficulty quitting smoking. A smoking cessation clinic seeks to help those who want to quit smoking through free counseling and lifestyle change tips.
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Cigarette manufacturers renewed their objection to the government’s proposed sin tax computation system, saying they may not just adversely affect the tobacco farmers but would also make the country a paradise for counterfeiters and smugglers.
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MANILA, Philippines — A: A heart attack or myocardial infarction is the most common fatal manifestation of heart disease. It occurs when a blood vessel (coronary artery) that supplies the heart tissues with oxygen gets completely clogged and results in the death of the heart tissues that the artery supplies. It is often the end result of an underlying coronary artery disease, a condition in which the coronary arteries get narrowed because of deposition of cholesterol and other fatty materials in their walls.
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KORONADAL CITY, Philippines (PNA) — Officials in here declared its entire city hall complex as a “no-smoking zone” as the local government launched an intensified campaign for the full enforcement of the country’s anti-smoking law in the area.
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THE House Committee on Ways and Means will prioritize in the coming days the approval of proposals to restructure the excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco products or the so-called sin taxes.
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MANILA, Philippines — The key to staying vital and healthy in old age is maintaining healthful behaviors throughout life. As many as half of the losses linked to aging, may be the result not of time’s passage but of disuse. If you don’t use it, you lose it.
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NAIIWASAN na ngayon ang cancer“ ang sigaw sa selebrasyon ng bansa ng National Cancer Consciousness Week nitong Enero 15-22, 2012 kaugnay ng pandaigdigang pagdaraos ng World Cancer Day sa Pebrero 4, 2012.
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MANILA, Philippines — Cancer can now be prevented” was the battle cry for the country’s celebration of National Cancer Consciousness Week on January 15-22, 2012, in consonance with the global observance of World Cancer Day on February 4, 2012.
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MANILA, Philippines - Thailand-based Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) urged yesterday local government units (LGUs) in the Philippines to phase out smoking areas
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6F Victoria-1 Bldg., EDSA cor. Quezon Avenue, Quezon City
(+632) 709 6503
info@healthjustice.ph
healthjustice.ph@gmail.com
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HealthJustice achieves its goals through policy research, alliance formation, capacity building, and information dissemination for priority public health policies. Currently, we are working on pushing for reforms on tobacco taxation, health promotion, graphic health warnings, and a smoke-free environment.
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MANILA, Philippines — In line with its anti-smoking campaign, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has established a clinic at its main office to help employees who are having difficulty to quit the habit of smoking.
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20 January 2012. Manila, Philippines. Are local government units fulfilling their obligations to protect the right to health of their constituents from the ill effects of tobacco? Health advocates highly commend the city government of Pasig for doing so.
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2011 has just come to an end. After all the get-togethers, excessive food, inconspicuous consumption of cigarettes and alcohol, sedentary lifestyles, and other sorts of celebrations during the holiday season, what better way to start 2012 than by investing on our population’s health?
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SMALLER excise tax increases are seen by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for the current year compared with other big sources of revenues.
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MANILA, Philippines - A cancer expert from the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) has warned that some occupations may place workers at risk of developing cancer.
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Manila, Philippines – Stop smoking and lessen your predisposition to lung cancer.
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The new leadership of the House Committee of Ways and Means wants the Subcommittee on Internal Revenue to report out results of hearings on pending bills over restructuring excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol products
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MANILA, Philippines - In a bid to strengthen its campaign against smoking, the local government of Pasig City wants to remove smoking areas from public and private establishments.
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Whether you’ve made a New Year’s resolution to lose weight or you’re trying (again) to quit smoking, changing any lifestyle behavior is notoriously difficult. Some people feel unsure of how to go about it. Others start off strong, only to revert to old ways within a matter of time.
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MANILA, Philippines — Stop smoking and lessen your predisposition to lung cancer.
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Which countries light up the most? The latest reports state that Serbia tops the world list with each Serbian smoking an average of 2,861 cigarettes yearly. Among ASEAN nations, Indonesia ranks the highest with 53.3 million smokers. By comparison, each of the 17.3 million Filipino smokers smoke an average of 838 sticks annually. Serbia and Indonesia have at least done something about their extremely high smoking statistics: both countries have implemented laws mandating graphic health warnings (GHWs) on cigarette packs. In spite of 240 Filipino deaths caused by tobacco daily, the Philippines still has not.
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HealthJustice Philippines is a non-governmental organization founded in 2009 that aims to bridge the gap between public health and law. in the country to enable Filipinos to make informed and empowered health choices. The organization is committed to be the leading resource in research and capacity-building for priority public health policies. We envision a population that is free from health risks and has equal access to health.
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MANILA, Philippines — The national government should endeavor to enforce existing rules and regulations before considering new tax measure, like the indexation of excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol, a lawmaker from La Union said
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Manila, Philippines – President Benigno S. Aquino III has admitted that he cannot quit smoking because it lowers his tolerance level.
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PRESIDENT Aquino on Tuesday night said he is not quitting smoking because it might aggravate his stress and reduce his tolerance levels.
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SYDNEY: Global tobacco giant Philip Morris on Tuesday stepped up its legal campaign against an Australian law banning logos and branding from cigarette packs, saying it had taken its case to the High Court.
Last month Philip Morris Asia launched a case against the government under an investment treaty with Hong Kong over the legislation, which says cigarettes can only be sold in drab, olive-brown packets.
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MANILA, Philippines — Health officials said Tuesday they support the decision of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to pursue the smoking ban in areas covered by Republic Act 9211 or the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003.
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MANILA, Philippines - A recent survey of smokers in Quezon City conducted by the University of the Philippines Communication Research Society showed that 73 percent of smokers agree to increase the prices of cigarettes to prevent the youth from smoking.
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A recent survey of smokers in Quezon City conducted by the University of the Philippines Communication Research Society showed that 73 percent of smokers agree to increase the prices of cigarettes to prevent the youth from smoking.
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IF the price of a stick of cigarette is increased to P10 each from the current P5, it would either stop or decrease smoking among smokers interviewed during the survey conducted by the University of the Philippines Communication Research Society.
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A recent survey* of smokers in Quezon City conducted by the University of the Philippines Communication Research Society showed that 73% of smokers agree to increase the prices of cigarettes to prevent the youth from smoking.
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Several youth groups and leaders have joined together in a summit hosted by the Caloocan City government during which they were enlightened by concerned authorities on the hazard being posed by smoking cigarettes.
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There is now no doubt because of incontrovertible proof that smoking kills. It is estimated that one Filipino dies from a tobacco-related death every 10 seconds, making it an alarming public health crisis.
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Caloocan Mayor Enrico Echiverri and Liga ng mga Barangay sa Pilipinas president Councilor Ricojudge “RJ” Echiverri led the recent Caloocan Youth Summit, which aims to eradicate smoking in Metro Manila. The mayor said the youth summit, held on December 7, served as an opportunity to highlight the harmful effects of smoking on one’s health.
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MANILA, Philippines - Lawmakers, farmers and industry players have expressed opposition to the pending bills in Congress seeking to use graphic health warnings to promote awareness on the hazardous effect of smoking smoking.
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“SOPHISTICATED yet subtle tobacco marketing efforts” in the Philippines have resulted in an alarming rise in cigarette smoking among the Filipino youth.
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Manila, Philippines. Top tourist destination Camsur Watersports Complex (CWC) was found to have outdoor parasols and tents bearing the logo of Marlboro, one of the cigarette brands of Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corporation (PMFTC). Department of Health Center for Health Development and the local government of Camarines Sur quickly took action and removed the parasols and tents as these go against RA 9211 or Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003. Section 23(g) of RA 9211 prohibits distribution or selling of merchandise displaying the name, logo, or indicia of a cigarette brand such as, but not limited to, tshirts, caps, sweatshirts, visors, backpacks, sunglasses, writing implements, and umbrellas.
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Cigarette smoking has become so prevalent in the country that high school students have now become heavy consumers.
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THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said it is endorsing proposed legislation seeking to raise sin taxes.
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Manila, Philippines – Hinimok ni Department of Health (DoH) Regional Director Eduardo Janairo ang mga pampubliko at pribadong ahensiya na makibahagi sa pagsusumikap ng gobyerno na mabawasan ang tobacco dependence at maglagay pa ng mas maraming “smoking cessation clinics” o SCC para sa mga naninigarilyo sa kani-kanilang tanggapan.
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THE World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on countries, including the Philippines, that are pushing tougher tobacco control to make a united stand against big tobacco companies that are harassing them into softening their position against smoking.
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Ilegal ang paggastos ng Abra sa tobacco excise tax na dapat ay para sa mga magsasaka sa lalawigan.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) called on countries pushing tougher tobacco control to make a united stand against Big Tobacco companies that are harassing them into softening their position against the deadly vice of smoking.
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MANILA, Philippines — An official of the World Health Organization (WHO) has called on governments to be firm against efforts of big tobacco companies opposing new laws that may affect their sales.
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The Commission on Audit (COA) has found lapses in the disbursement by Abra province of its share from the tobacco excise tax, noting, among others, that tobacco farmers’ groups were not given priority in the use of the fund.
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MANILA, Philippines — A House leader prefers the existing four-tier excise tax system over the proposed unitary excise tax system saying the former effectively addresses the varying market needs for alcohol and tobacco products.
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DIRECTOR GENERAL Margaret Chan of the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on countries pushing tougher tobacco control to make a united stand against big tobacco companies that are harassing them into softening their position against the deadly vice of smoking.
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MANILA, Philippines - Multiple Philippine GT and Touring Car champion Alvin Ng takes his anti-smoking advocacy to the next level by joining “Kick the Habit 2: Love and Run to a Healthy Lifestyle” on Nov 26 at Quirino Grandstand.
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CANBERRA. –– Tobacco giant Philip Morris launched legal action against Australia’s government on Monday less than an hour after Parliament passed legislation banning all logos from cigarette packages.
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Quezon City smoke-free task force member Dr. Rowell Romulo distributes anti-smoking flyers and stickers to inform the public about the provisions of Republic Act 9211, otherwise known as the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003.
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Incidents of “green tobacco sickness” and other diseases related to the farmers’ exposure to tobacco are steadily increasing through the recent years. More and more farmers are now realizing that the detrimental costs of planting tobacco far outweigh the economic benefits. As such, there is a growing trend of shifting to alternative crops and other forms of livelihood among these farmers.
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MANILA, Philippines - Thousands of tobacco farmers have expressed opposition to a proposal by the Department of Finance to have a single excise tax rate for tobacco products.
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MANILA, Philippines — The Makati City government is intensifying its campaign for clean air by declaring Monday, November 21 as “Smoke-Free Day” in the city, to boost its anti-smoking and anti-smoke belching advocacies.
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I was a cigarette addict for 20 years, consuming three packs a day. I tried everything to stop smoking—from gradual withdrawal to candy substitution, but to no avail. I developed smoker’s cough and I thought, pretty soon, I would be having lung cancer, after which would be the start of the journey to “Kingdom Come.”
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Tobacco farmers have expressed their opposition to a proposal of the Department of Finance (DOF) to impose a single excise tax rate on tobacco products.
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THE Quezon City government will begin issuing citation tickets to violators of the city’s ban on smoking within the QC Hall compound starting January next year.
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MANILA, Philippines — Starting January 2012, the Quezon City (QC) government will issue citation tickets to violators of the city’s ban on smoking within the city hall compound.
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Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino yesterday led the launching of the city-wide anti-smoking awareness campaign in Manila dubbed “11.11.11 Smoke-Free Sa Maynila” at the Bonifacio Shrine beside the city hall.
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CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The Australian government says it's ready to fight big tobacco companies in court over the administration's plan to ban logos and other advertising on cigarette packs.
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MANILA, Philippines - The Aquino administration is still pushing for the restructuring of the excise tax system for sin products particularly alcohol and tobacco to generate much needed funds to bankroll social services, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said yesterday.
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The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has reiterated that the proposed measure seeking to restructure sin taxes is still one of the priority bills of the Aquino administration.
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MANILA, Philippines - Anti-smoking advocate Cesar Montano will lead the Kick the Habit 2: Love and Run to a Healthy Lifestyle, a health and anti-smoking campaign through running, on Nov. 26 at the Quirino Grandstand, Manila. Assembly time is 4 a.m. while gun start is at 6 a.m. The fun run has four distances: 1K, 3K, 5K and 10K. Now on its second year, last year’s event was participated by more than 1,200 anti-smoking advocates and running enthusiasts.
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Young women in the Philippines who have taken up smoking is increasing at an alarming rate, a recent study of the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance showed.
The study, which was conducted in 2009 and released on Wednesday, revealed that affordable cigarettes contribute to the increasing number of female smokers in the country.
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“Pilipinas Got Talent” season one champion Jovit Baldivino has decided to quit smoking for good following a directive from his management agency Star Magic.
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Anti-smoking advocate Cesar Montano will lead the "Kick the Habit 2: "Love and Run to a Healthy Lifestyle," a health and anti-smoking campaign thru running" on Nov. 26, at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila. Assembly time is 4 a.m. while gun start is at 6 a.m. The Fun run has four distances, 1K, 3K, 5K and 10K. Already on its second year, the event last year was participated by more than 1,200 anti-smoking advocates and running enthusiasts.
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Antismoking advocates are celebrating a recent court decision that would give the Department of Health (DOH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) more regulatory control and supervision over tobacco products in the country.
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The increasing number of Filipino girls and women smoking cigarettes is becoming an alarming statistic for the country. In a 2009 study by the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA), the Philippines ranked the highest in the survey of girls and young women who have ever smoked a cigarette. The study also showed a significant increase in smoking among girls 13- 15 years old.
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AFTER a string of setbacks, anti-smoking advocates scored a victory, albeit a small one, when a Las Pinas regional trial court denied a petition of the Philippine Tobacco Institute to stop the Department of Health and the Food and Drug Administration from enforcing any form of regulation or supervision on tobacco products.
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Out of sight, out of mind?
Manila’s “university belt” councilor is seeking a ban on “sin product” advertisements around schools to keep students from getting distracted by them.
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AFTER hammering hard on the passage of heavier taxes on cigarettes and alcohol, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is now singing a different tune.
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THE Department of Budget and Management has opposed an increase in the excise tax on alcohol and tobacco products, citing the government’s sufficient resources to fund projects.
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Malacañang has reiterated its call for the passage of the so-called sin tax bill, saying that based on the proposed law, the government can earn P60 billion a year.
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Budget Secretary Florencio Abad has opposed the proposed increase of the excise tax on alcohol and tobacco products, saying the government has sufficient resources to fund specific projects.
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MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has recommended the further study of several bills seeking adjustments of the excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco products as the agency does not want the additional revenues from sin products be earmarked for specific programs and projects.
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AFTER a string of setbacks, anti-smoking advocates scored a victory, albeit a small one, when a Las Pinas regional trial court denied a petition of the Philippine Tobacco Institute to stop the Department of Health and the Food and Drug Administration from enforcing any form of regulation or supervision on tobacco products.
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MANILA 4TH district Councilor DJ Bagatsing has proposed to the City Council an ordinance which prohibits the advertisements of cigarettes and alcoholic drinks and other sin products near schools.
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MANILA, Philippines — The World Health Organization (WHO) Friday called for higher tobacco taxes to raise money for health and social services in the Philippines.
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ANTIPOLO CITY, Rizal, Philippines — Committed to promote wellness in the province by adapting the government’s health measures, the provincial government here has enforced a no-smoking zone within the provincial capitol.
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MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is gaining headway in its flight against tobacco use. It has been cited by the Framework Convention Alliance (FCA), representing 350 non-government organizations in more than 100 countries that support the World Health Organization-Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC), for “taking concrete steps toward protecting its citizens from the global epidemic that is caused by tobacco use.”
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THE DEPARTMENT of Budget and Management (DBM) has refuted reports earlier this week claiming it would oppose the “sin” tax bill now pending in Congress, despite it being identified as a priority measure by the Aquino administration.
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In a recent meeting of the World Health Organization in Manila, WHO Director General Margaret Chan accused the big tobacco firms of using lawsuits and other bullying tactics to try and subvert national laws and international conventions aimed at curbing smoking and cigarette sales.
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Maglalagay ng 42 malalaking tapunan ng upos ng sigarilyo o cigarette bins ang Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) sa mga pangunahing lansangan na hindi sakop ng probisyon ng batas sa ilalim ng Tobacco Regulations Act.
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Nagpahayag ng pagkadismaya ang isang health group sa temporary restraining order na ipinalabas ng isang korte sa Mandaluyong City na nagpipigil sa pagpapatupad ng polisiyang “anti-smoking” ng Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).
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This week, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s anti-smoking drive experienced a “setback” when a court in Mandaluyong issued a writ of preliminary injunction against the agency from implementing its metro-wide smoking ban at public spaces.
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A MANDALUYONG court yesterday issued a writ of preliminary injunction on the anti-smoking campaign in public places of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).
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DOCTORS are not about to take an anti-smoking ban injunction sitting down.
The Philippine Medical Association has called on the public to stand up for their “basic right to breath clean, healthy, and smoke-free air.”
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As expected, health groups lambasted Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court Judge Carlos Valenzuela who has stopped the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority from implementing an antismoking ordinance pending the resolution of a complaint filed by two men apprehended earlier for violating the regulation.
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Manila, Philippines – The Mandaluyong City Regional Trial Court (RTC) has issued a writ of preliminary injunction against the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) from implementing its smoking ban.
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Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino yesterday expressed dismay over reports that a writ of preliminary injunction was issued last Oct. 25 by Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 21 Judge Carlos Valenzuela ordering the agency to refrain from apprehending violators of the Tobacco Regulation Act in places not within the law’s coverage.
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THE Metro Manila Development Authority suffered yet another setback in its fight to enforce a metro-wide smoking ban after a Mandaluyong regional trial court issued a writ of preliminary injunction against the agency’s campaign.
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MANILA, Philippines - Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino yesterday expressed dismay over the preliminary injunction issued by Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court Branch 213 Judge Carlos Valenzuela on the arrest of persons smoking along the major and minor roads of Metro Manila and along sidewalks.
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MANILA, Philippines — The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Thursday started to set up cigarette bins along major thoroughfares and areas not listed in Republic Act 9211 or the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003, where smokers can smoke and throw away their cigarette butts.
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MANILA, Philippines — Health groups Thursday expressed disappointment over the injunction issued by a Mandaluyong court Wednesday against the anti-smoking policy of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).
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A LOCAL court on Tuesday has thrown cold water and puffed out to a whiff of smoke the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) ban on smoking in Metro Manila.
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Cigarette smokers can huff and puff all they want—at least, for now.
On Monday, Judge Carlos Valenzuela of the Mandaluyong City Regional Trial Court Branch 213 issued a writ of preliminary injunction against the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), effectively stopping the agency’s ongoing crackdown against people who smoke in public.
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Tobacco control advocates rejoice over the recent vindication of the Department of Health (DOH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the case that was filed against them by Philippine Tobacco Institute (PTI). PTI filed a petition to stop DOH and FDA from enforcing any form of regulation or supervision on tobacco products as dictated in the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act of 9711 or FDA Act of 2009. The Las Piñas court denied PTI’s petition for lack of merit.
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MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has agreed that Thailand’s compliance with the WTO ruling on tax treatment to Philippine cigarette exports be done within a reasonable period of time (RPT) without definite timetable.
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MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines and Thailand mutually agreed on a reasonable period of time to comply with the ruling of the World Trade Organization (WTO) over Thailand’s tax treatment of Philippine cigarette exports.
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Manila has given Bangkok until October 2012 to comply with the ruling of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the discriminatory tax treatment of Philippine-made tobacco in Thailand.
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The government will allow a staggered implementation by Thailand of a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling requiring it to lower tariff barriers against cigarettes imported from the Philippines.
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Framework Convention Alliance (FCA), an international association of more than 350 non-governmental organizations from more than 100 countries working collectively to support the WHO FCTC wrote a letter to all members of the Philippine Congress, Senate, Justices of Supreme Court, and President Benigno Aquino III. The WHO FCTC is the first international public health treaty that the Philippines ratified in 2005 along with 173 other countries to protect present and future generations from the global tobacco epidemic.
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COTABATO CITY, Philippines (PIA) – “Self-discipline is the best way to quit cigarette smoking. I have been smoking for quite a long time until I completely stopped last 2003 due to health problem,” said City Mayor Japal “Jojo” Guiani Jr. in a press conference after the recent launching of “Smoking-Free City.”
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HEATLH Secretary Enrique Ona has renewed his call for the restructuring of sin taxes to deter the youth from smoking.
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THE temporary restraining order on the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s "no smoking" policy has raised concern not only in the National Capital Region but also in the international community.
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MANILA, Philippines — The government has been lauded by the Framework Convention Alliance (FCA), which represents 350 non-government organizations (NGOs) from around the world, for implementing measures to protect the health of Filipinos against tobacco smoke.
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In a bid to strictly enforce a no-smoking policy in Quezon City, the local health department has conducted an orientation and seminar on Republic Act 9211, otherwise known as the Tobacco Regulations Act of 2003, and tobacco-related issues for the personnel of the city’s Department of Public Order and Safety (DPOS).
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So estimates the World Health Organization. So surfaces the big danger to the life of smokers. So warns different medical associations about the inherent menace of even but the so-called “second hand” smoke coming from someone’s tobacco consumption. And for all intents and purposes, the Department of Health as well as local medical research entities agrees to the moral effect of smoking — to the smokers themselves as well as those who inhale the smoke they blow and spread around. There are immediate conclusions to this established truth and standing reality.
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The next time you’re at Quezon City Hall, think before you light that cigarette.
The Quezon City government will be forming a team to go after people who smoke inside city hall despite a ban.
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More than the issue of management style and prerogative, there is the bigger problem that comes with a growing perception that our secretary of health is not all that supportive to critical health issues.
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MANILA, Philippines - Optical Media Board (OMB) chairman Ronnie Ricketts yesterday again protested a report claiming he was almost arrested for smoking in public in Nueva Vizcaya.
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MANILA, Philippines — The Quezon City (QC) government Thursday stepped up its no-smoking campaign to include local city officials, city hall employees, contractual workers, the public transacting business in the city hall and visitors. They will be strictly barred from smoking inside non-designated smoking areas of the city hall premises.
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SAN FERNANDO CITY—A smoke-free casino operating in this city has become the unlikely icon for a crusade devoted to healthy lifestyles.
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SMOKING kills. It is that plain and simple. There is no more doubt today that tobacco (cigarette smoking) is the predominant cause of lung cancer, besides other malignancies and cardiovascular diseases that maim, kill men and women and hurt our society, especially our children. In the United States alone, almost half a million die each year from smoking-related illnesses. These are preventable deaths! Demographic studies have shown that smokers are about 10 times more prone to die premature deaths than non-smokers. This unnecessary loss of lives is at an immense direct cost for non-smokers in terms of increased health risks from passive smoking, in higher health insurance premiums and taxes, not to mention personal and family tragedies in all shapes and forms.
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Responding to recent reports attributing to HealthJustice Philippines the proposal to increase cigarette price to 5 pesos per stick so young people will quit smoking, the University of the Philippines Communication Research Society (UP-CommResSoc), the student organization that conducted the survey, clarified that young respondents were the ones who indicated 5 pesos per stick as the price that will make them stop buying cigarettes.
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Health Promotion, tobacco control should be high on government agenda– UN Secretary General reiterates in the global summit on Non-Communicable Diseases
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MANILA, Philippines - Optical Media Board chairman Ronnie Ricketts cried foul yesterday over a report alleging that he was almost arrested for smoking in a public place in Nueva Vizcaya a few weeks ago.
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Manny, a 50 -year-old bus dispatcher in Manila, is the only breadwinner in his family of three. He has two teenage boys and a daughter. For the past two years, Manny has noticed that whenever he gets a whiff of the sooty bus exhausts, he would develop chest pains. Later on, Manny would get tired easily and wake up short of breath.
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RESPONDING to recent reports attributing to HealthJustice Philippines the proposal to increase cigarette price to 5 pesos per stick so young people will quit smoking, the University of the Philippines Communication Research Society (UP-CommResSoc), the student organization that conducted the survey, clarified that young respondents were the ones who indicated 5 pesos per stick as the price that will make them stop buying cigarettes.
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The key message of the United Nations Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) was clear:
“Governments should educate people and encourage healthier options.”
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ILAGAN, Isabela ,Philippines – Optical Media Board chief Ronnie Rickets narrowly escaped being accosted by the mayor of Solano, Nueva Vizcaya for smoking in public while leading the seizure of pirated DVDs during a raid in that town a few weeks ago.
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This tobacco-growing city has banned smoking, foregoing the city government’s P30 million share from tobacco excise taxes.
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MANILA, Philippines - Mariing nilinaw ni Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino na hindi sila ningas-kugon sa panghuhuli ng mga naninigarilyo.
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MANILA, Philippines – There’s no such thing as “ningas kugon” – a Filipino penchant for starting something and then leaving it unfinished – in the Metro Manila Development Authority’s (MMDA) drive against smoking cigarettes in public places.
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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.
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MANILA, Philippines — There’s no such thing as “ningas kugon” – a Filipino penchant for starting something and then leaving it unfinished – in the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s (MMDA) drive against smoking cigarettes in public places.
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Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino yesterday clarified the agency’s anti-smoking campaign is in full swing, belying rumors the campaign “is here today, gone tomorrow.”
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PABATA nang pabata ang mga naninigarilyo. At walang ibang kahahantungan ang maagang pagkalulong ng mga kabataan sa sigarilyo kundi ang pagkakasakit. At walang ibang bumabalikat sa dakong huli kundi ang pamahalaan din sapagkat malaking bahagi ng pondo ay nauuwi lamang sa mga gastusin ng ospital ng gobyerno.
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They will only stop smoking if cigarette prices reach Php5 or more per stick. Otherwise, they won’t kick the habit. The ‘they’ here refers to students who are in public high schools and under 19 years of age. They may have limited ‘baon’ but they can still afford to buy the country’s high-priced cigarette brands.
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Manila, Philippines --- Health advocates are aghast over a recent Court of Appeals decision upholding the position of tobacco companies in a case filed against the Department of Health (DOH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing, Inc. (PMPMI) and Fortune Tobacco Corporation reportedly accused the DOH and FDA of committing grave abuse of discretion in declaring that all promotions, advertisements, and sponsorships of tobacco products are already prohibited.
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The Caloocan City government has stepped up its campaign against smoking as it ordered the local law enforcement agencies to closely monitor public places that are covered by the law on tobacco regulation and spare no one who continues to defy the ban.
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Health advocates are aghast over a recent Court of Appeals decision upholding the position of tobacco companies in a case filed against the Department of Health (DOH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing, Inc. (PMPMI) and Fortune Tobacco Corporation reportedly accused the DOH and FDA of committing grave abuse of discretion in declaring that all promotions, advertisements, and sponsorships of tobacco products are already prohibited.
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MANILA, Philippines - A signature campaign to prohibit smoking in public places was launched in Dagupan City and Tarlac City Monday.
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Alcohol and tobacco are favorite cash cows of governments. Whenever a government wants to collect more revenues, it raises the excise taxes on liquor and cigarettes, the so-called “sin taxes” because alcohol and tobacco are presumed bad for the health and the high taxes are supposed to discourage people from consuming them. What’s more, there is no widespread anger and protests as when you raise the prices of fuel or the toll on roads.
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We asked them, Magkano ang halaga ng sigarilyo per stick na magpapatigil sa iyo sa pagbili ng sigarilyo? (How much is the cigarette price per stick that will make you stop buying cigarettes?), and a majority of them said 5 pesos or higher, explains UP-CRS spokesperson Princess Ubongen, a fourth year student at the UP College of Mass Communication, speaking in behalf of the 45 UP students who conducted the survey.
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DAGUPAN CITY — Mayor Benjamin S. Lim led yesterday the covenant-signing for a smoke-free and healthy city in line with the nationwide campaign for a smoke-free Philippines in celebration of Medicine Week this month.
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MANILA, Philippines - A cigarette manufacturer said yesterday that a uniform excise tax rate will push prices of its tobacco products to record highs, resulting in markedly lower sales and even lower revenue collections for the government.
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On the recent announcement by P-Noy’s government of its intention to restructure the current excise tax collection system on alcohol and tobacco products, it would be foolish to think that this is merely a measure intended to raise government revenues.
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They will only stop smoking if cigarette prices reach Php5 or more per stick. Otherwise, they won’t kick the habit. The ‘they’ here refers to students who are in public high schools and under 19 years of age. They may have limited ‘baon’ but they can still afford to buy the country’s high-priced cigarette brands.
Early this month, University of the Philippines students and Health Justice Philippines conducted a quick survey of 435 students who are currently smoking and located in the eight most populated public high schools in Quezon City. Survey results confirm that making tobacco less affordable is the most effective way to reduce consumption and make more users quit, particularly those who are young and belong to the low-income families.
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MANILA, Philippines - Cigarette prices should be increased by 156 percent to effectively discourage people from smoking, a study of the University of the Philippines and anti-tobacco group Health Justice showed.
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Just when a Philippine president is serious about protecting the health of his citizens, tobacco companies are up-on-their-toes again using flawed arguments to discourage government from adopting measures to invest in people’s health by using revenues that will be derived from tobacco tax increases.
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Just when a Philippine president is serious about protecting the health of his citizens, tobacco companies are up-on-their-toes again using flawed arguments to discourage government from adopting measures to invest in people’s health by using revenues that will be derived from tobacco tax increases.
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ARAW-ARAW, 43 tao ang namamatay dahil sa sakit na nakukuha sa paninigarilyo. Bawat taon, gumagastos ang gobyerno ng P148-billion dahil sa mga sakit na may kaugnayan sa paninigarilyo. Number one ang cancer sa baga na tumatama sa mga naninigarilyo. Bukod sa cancer sa baga, ang iba pang sakit na nakukuha sa paninigarilyo ay cancer sa lalamunan, labi at ilong, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at sakit sa puso. Nagpapakita lamang na kamatayan ang kahahantungan ng bisyong paninigarilyo. At ang nakakatakot, pati ang mga nakalanghap ng usok na ibinuga ng smokers ay tinatamaan din ng sakit. Kaya dapat lamang na hulihin ang lahat ng naninigarilyo sa publikong lugar.
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MANILA, Philippines - A weeklong run from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in Baguio City to the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) office in Quezon City starts today to drum up support for healthy lifestyles and smoke-free communities.
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The key message of the United Nations Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) was clear: Governments should educate people and encourage healthier options. These were the words of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon as he spoke at the gathering of the worlds leaders in New York. Calling it a landmark meeting, Ban began his speech saying Three out of every five people on earth die from the diseases that we gather here to address.
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THE Court of Appeals has declared as legal the sponsorship of tobacco products as it nullified a resolution of the Department of Health banning such promotional activities under RA 9211 or the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003.
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MANILA, Philippines - The Court of Appeals (CA) has nullified a resolution of the Department of Health (DOH) prohibiting tobacco firms from promoting their products.
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Manghuhuli na uli ang Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) ng mga naninigarilyo sa mga pampublikong lugar kabilang ang mga pangunahing lansangan sa Metro Manila.
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ON petition of the country’s two giant tobacco companies, the Court of Appeals (CA) has nullified a resolution of the Department of Health prohibiting the tobacco industry from conducting promotional activities.
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MANILA, Philippines - The Mandaluyong regional trial court (RTC) has set for Sept. 23 the hearing of the case filed by two security guards against the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) for apprehending them for smoking in a public place.
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WITH the expiration of the temporary restraining order issued by a Mandaluyong City court against the MMDA’s anti-smoking drive in the metropolis, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines (FCAP) yesterday called on the agency to vigorously re-impose its no-smoking in public places policy.
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At least two people I know own a personal vaporizer, the “new” kind of battery-operated electronic cigarettes that aim to help a smoker quit smoking. They use it everywhere, even at no-smoking zones, because it doesn’t have the toxins and odor of secondhand smoke. And they’re not the only ones using them. I’ve seen many others holding and puffing away on those “gadgets” that look like nice pens at restaurants and coffee shops, in office buildings, on vehicles and other enclosed spaces.
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Early this September, HealthJustice, Philippines, along with the Department of Health (DOH), World Health Organization (WHO), and the U.P. National Center for Public Administration and Governance (NCPAG) organized a multi-sectoral forum entitled “The Future of Health: Sustainable Intersectoral Collaboration Addressing Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in light of Universal Health Care (UHC)”. The objective of the program was to communicate the need to implement health promotion in the Philippines and emphasize that health in all aspects of people’s lives should become a top priority of the government.
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MANILA, Philippines - Lagot na naman ang mga talamak na ‘yosi kadiri’ sa Metro Manila dahil sa muling panghuhuli ng mga “environment enforcers” ng Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) simula nitong Lunes makaraang mapaso na ang temporary restraining order na inilabas ng Mandaluyong City Regional Trial Court.
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SENATE President Juan Ponce Enrile yesterday said the Senate will wait for the final ruling of the World Trade Organization (WTO) before discussing proposals to amend the country’s excise tax laws on distilled spirits and tobacco products.
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Moves by the executive to engage Congress into amending the country’s excise tax laws will not take off unless the issue against the Philippines pending before the World Trade Organization (WTO) had been resolved.
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The Senate will hold in abeyance proposed amendments to the excised tax law on distilled spirits and tobacco products pending a final ruling of the World Trade Organization on a case the Philippines lost recently, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said yesterday.
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MANILA, Philippines - Environment enforcers of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) resumed apprehending smokers on the sidewalks of Metro Manila yesterday after a 20-day temporary restraining order (TRO) on the anti-smoking campaign lapsed Sunday.
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CONGRESS leaders deferred deliberations on proposed excise-tax amendments, opting to wait for a final ruling from the World Trade Organization (WTO), before tackling the bills revising levies on tobacco products and distilled spirits.
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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Bladder problems seen more often among smokers than nonsmokers may be further motivation for women to quit smoking, a new study suggests.
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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Kids whose parents smoke are more likely to get ear infections and have hearing problems, according to a new review paper.
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THE Court of Appeals rebuffed the Department of Health (DOH) when it ruled that cigarette promotional ads are legal.
In a decision penned by Associate Justice Noel Tijam, chairman of the Special 11th Division, the court granted the petition of Philip Morris Manufacturing Philippines Inc. questioning the DOH decision in 2009 banning cigarette promotional activities.
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THIMPHU — In the Bhutanese capital of Thimphu, a street vendor offering snacks and drinks is secretly selling cigarettes to two customers — a transaction that could put him in jail for five years.
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Evading the health issue
Tobacco companies cram to evade the liability to pay up for health risks
Just when a Philippine president is serious about protecting the health of his citizens, tobacco companies are up-on-their-toes again using flawed arguments to discourage government from adopting measures to invest in people’s health by using revenues that will be derived from tobacco tax increases.
In a spat of statements released to the press, tobacco industry’s public relations armies choose even the weakest arguments to dismiss the move of government to correct the problems of our tobacco tax system. Arguments such as hurting tobacco farmers’ feelings, opening doors for illicit trade, and loss of livelihoods to millions of Filipinos have repeatedly been used to take attention away from the real issue why taxes should be increased.
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THE Regional Trial Court in Mandaluyong City denied the motion for reconsideration of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) for lack of merit.
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MANILA, Philippines - The Mandaluyong City Regional Trial Court (RTC) junked yesterday a motion for reconsideration filed by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to lift the 20-day temporary restraining order (TRO) on the enforcement of the smoking ban.
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A MANDALUYONG court on Monday denied the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s appeal of an injunction issued earlier stopping it from implementing its anti-smoking crackdown in areas other than those specified under Republic Act 9221 or the Tobacco Regulations Act of 2003.
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Ten Filipinos die every hour from illnesses caused by smoking while the country loses nearly P500 billion annually from healthcare costs and productivity losses, according to an anti-tobacco group.
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The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) lost anew its bid to revive the implementation of its anti-smoking crackdown as a Mandaluyong court denied its appeal for an injunction.
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MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) gathered about 500 people from different sectors of society in a solidarity run that capped off PMA’s nationwide awareness campaign with the theme “Stand up for your right to clean air. Advocate for a smoke-free Philippines.”
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A group of doctors and anti-tobacco advocates led by running priest Fr. Robert Reyes held a fun run Monday to show their support for the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s (MMDA) campaign to ban smoking in public places, including major thoroughfares.
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Controversial running priest called the action of a Mandaluyong judge who issued temporary restraining order (TRO) as highly irregular citing that it is hard to understand for a judge to issue such an order stopping the noble intention of promoting healthy living for the inhabitants of Metro Manila.
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MANILA, Philippines — The smoking ban in Metro Manila continues as agencies and individuals have expressed support for the campaign. As part of its “Kalusugang Pangkalahatan’’ (Health for All) program, the Department of Health (DoH) is supporting the move of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to push the campaign against smoking, because of the harmful effects it causes not only to smokers but also to the public through second-hand smoke.
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THE Philippine Medical Association (PMA) along with health professionals in the private and public sectors will take part in an advocacy run today dubbed "Run for a Healthy Lifestyle and for the Lifting of the TRO on MMDA’s Smoking Ban."
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Tobacco farmers from Northern Luzon have expressed disappointment over the Aquino administration’s recent moves to increase the excise tax rates on tobacco and alcohol products.
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MANILA, Philippines -- Anti-smoking advocates including health professionals, celebrities, a retired Army general and a priest are taking their fight to the streets.
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MANILA, Philippines -- The outcome of the case involving the smoking ban of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is crucial in helping local governments formulate their own policies against smoking in public places, the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) said Sunday.
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MANILA, Philippines — In line with the observance of National Lung Cancer Awareness Month, the Bulacan Media Investigative Reporters (BMIR) and the family of Senior Superintendent Richard A. Albano launched the “Breathe and Run-for-a-Cause” project, 3-kilometer and 5-km running events against smoking held the other day in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija.
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International tobacco control organizations are expressing indignation over the numerous links consistently surfacing between tobacco industry and the case filed against the smoking ban of Metro Manila Development Authority. In a TV interview last month, complainant Antony Clemente confessed that he was paid by a tobacco company to take MMDA to court but retracted his statement through his lawyer hours after the airing of the news program. As well, the tobacco farmers who allegedly sponsored the bond for the temporary restraining order were found to be linked with tobacco company Philip Morris.
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NEW YORK -- Babies born to snuff-using mothers were more likely to have breathing problems than those whose mothers smoked while pregnant, according to a Swedish study.
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THE Philippine Medical Association on Friday came to the aid of the Metro Manila Development Authority, urging a Mandaluyong court to set aside its temporary restraining order blocking the government’s enforcement of a smoking ban in the metro.
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MANILA, Philippines - Two doctors asked a Mandaluyong City judge yesterday to take back his temporary restraining order (TRO) preventing the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) from implementing the provisions of the Tobacco Regulation Act (Republic Act 9211) banning smoking in public places and public utility vehicles.
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MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Health (DOH) is beefing up its smoking cessation program, an official said yesterday.
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MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) Saturday appealed to a court in Mandaluyong City to junk the temporary restraining order against the smoking ban of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), citing “dangers of tobacco smoking on Filipinos’ health and lives.”
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Lawyers of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) told a Mandaluyong court on Friday that the agency had been deputized by the Metro Manila Council (MMC) composed of city mayors to implement the antitobacco law.
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After so much hemming and hawing, the Aquino administration is now asking Congress to restructure the excise tax system on tobacco products and alcoholic drinks. But administration officials, ever mindful of President Aquino’s campaign pledge not to raise taxes, are careful to play down the revenue-raising aspect of the bill, one of the 13 priority measures of the administration. Mr. Aquino himself said, “With the sin taxes, there is no question about our ultimate aim: to decrease the consumption of sin products.”
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The Department of Health (DoH) on Tuesday threw its support behind the Metro Manila Development Authority’s (MMDA) decision to pursue its crackdown against smoking in public places.
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As a frustrated songwriter, I can’t help relate songs to some of the topics I write about. For instance, the song “What Now My Love” keeps playing in my mind as I write about a complainant or plaintiff that sued the MMDA and won a TRO in Mandaluyong City.
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MANILA, Philippines - Anti-tobacco groups yesterday asked a smoker who sued the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) for its anti-smoking drive to “tell the truth” regarding his benefactors.
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In an interview on a late night TV news show of ABS-CBN, the security guard who filed a case against MMDA’s smoking ban volunteered the information that a tobacco company is behind the petition against MMDA. After said interview, said complainant has gone into hiding.
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Last week, 2,000 tobacco farmers allegedly contributed P65 each to partially pay for the P100,000 bond for the temporary restraining order against Metro Manila Development Authority’s smoking ban. According to Atty. Luis de la Paz, lawyer of the apprehended security guard who sued the MMDA, Antony Clemente, these tobacco farmers chose to help the complainant because the smoking ban would negatively affect their business.
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Hindi aatras ang Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) sa sinimulang laban kontra yosi dahil sa paniniwalang sila’y papanigan din ng korte sa bandang huli kaugnay ng ipinatutupad na Anti-Smoking Campaign.
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The 20-day TRO against the smoking ban campaign of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is now in effect after a group of tobacco farmers from La Union paid the P100,000 cash bond Friday.
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MANILA, Philippines - Cigarette manufacturer PMFTC Inc. said yesterday it has no relationship with security guards Anthony Clemente and Vrianne Lamson, who filed a petition to stop the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority from enforcing its smoking ban.
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MAKARAANG supalpalin ng hukuman sa paglalabas ng 20 araw na Temporary Restraining Order laban sa kanilang ipinatutupad na anti-smoking law, desedido pa rin ang Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) na ipagpatuloy ang smoking ban dahil sa tiwalang kakatigan din sila ng korte para ipatupad ito.
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MANILA, Philippines — I’ve never smoked. I don’t like it when smoke gets in my eyes.
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The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) does not expect the restructuring of excise taxes to happen by next year.
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"If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it." Wise words. But they have not registered in the minds of many people in government particularly those in the House of Representatives and the members of the Legislative-Executive Development Committee.
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The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Friday appealed a Mandaluyong court ruling stopping the agency from enforcing its antismoking campaign in public areas in Metro Manila.
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THE two complainants in the case against the Metro Manila Development Authority and its metro-wide smoking ban have gone missing.
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MANILA, Philippines - The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said yesterday its environment enforcers will continue apprehending persons seen smoking along sidewalks and major thoroughfares.
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If MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino would be so kind, may we know if there is any truth to the matter that under the law on “Senior Citizens”, there is a provision that exempts senior citizens from the “Vehicle Volume Reduction Program” or odd-even scheme?
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A tobacco company on Friday denied that it was behind the filing of a petition which enjoined the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) from enforcing its antismoking campaign in public areas in Metro Manila.
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Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino yesterday said they would file a motion for reconsideration before a Mandaluyong City court which earlier had issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the agency’s anti-smoking campaign.
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METRO Manila Development Authority (MMDA) lawyers are now studying the possibility of running after the cigarette manufacturing company who allegedly shouldered the P100,000 bond for two smokers arrested by enforcers at the height of the anti-smoking drive.
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THE Metro Manila Development Authority may have gotten a lucky break in its fight to have a court order that stops it from enforcing a metro-wide smoking ban reversed.
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THE Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is set to appeal a court decision stopping the implementation of the smoking ban even as he clarified that the ban still remains in restricted areas.
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MANILA, Philippines - Mistulang nag-piyesta ang hindi mabilang na “yosi kadiri” sa Metro Manila nang muling ibalik ang lantaran at walang pakialam sa kapwa na paninigarilyo matapos na magpalabas ang Mandaluyong City Regional Trial Court ng “temporary restraining order (TRO)” laban sa Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) sa kampanya nitong “smoking ban”.
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maintindihan kung bakit ganoon na lang ang aktibismo ni Chairman Francis Tolentino ng Metro Manila Development Authority sa panghuhuli ng mga naninigarilyo sa mga pampublikong lugar gaya ng mga bangketa at lansangan
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FORMER Health Secretary Jaime Galvez-Tan yesterday came to the defense of the anti-smoking crackdown of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority as he assailed the alleged involvement of a tobacco firm in the court case challenging the legality of the campaign.
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MANILA, Philippines — The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) warned Thursday that its campaign to arrest and fine smokers in public places continues while a legal technicality remains unresolved in the local court that issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the MMDA campaign.
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COLUMBIA, South Carolina (AP) - Four of the five largest U.S. tobacco companies are suing the federal government over new graphic cigarette labels that include the sewn-up corpse of a smoker and a picture of diseased lungs.
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The Senate will not rush to revise excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco products, despite Malacañang’s announcement at the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council meeting on Tuesday endorsing its inclusion in the priority agenda to raise an additional P60 billion for health care.
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The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Thursday said it would continue to enforce the ban on public smoking in Metro Manila because the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by a Mandaluyong court was not yet in effect.
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THE two complainants in the case against the Metro Manila Development Authority and its metro-wide smoking ban have gone missing.
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Puwede nang manigarilyo muli sa mga pampublikong lugar kabilang ang kahabaan ng EDSA, mga lansangan at sidewalk sa Metro Manila.
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The Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court (RTC) yesterday issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) stopping the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) from implementing its smoking ban along major thoroughfares, secondary roads and sidewalks in Metro Manila.
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THE Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court on Tuesday issued an order stopping the Metro Manila Development Authority from implementing the smoking ban on the metro’s main roads and sidewalks.
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A MANDALUYONG Regional Trial Court issued on Tuesday a Temporary Restraining Order against the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s No Smoking in Public Places Campaign.
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MANILA, Philippines - A Mandaluyong court has issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) prohibiting the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) from apprehending smokers spotted puffing away in areas not covered by Republic Act 9211 or the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003.
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THE Metro Manila Development Authority suffered a huge setback in its campaign against smoking after a Mandaluyong court issued a temporary restraining order stopping the agency from implementing its smoking ban.
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MANILA, Philippines - Ipinahinto ng Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court (RTC) sa Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) ang pagpapatupad ng kanilang smoking ban sa EDSA, kasama na ang iba pang mga lansangan at sidewalk dahil ito umano ay labag sa batas.
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AFTER seeing its anti-smoking drive blocked by a temporary restraining order granted by a Mandaluyong regional trial court judge to two men who were fined for smoking at a sidewalk in Cubao, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority yesterday said it is studying a possible suit against the unnamed tobacco company allegedly behind the filing of the case challenging the legality of the agency’s anti-smoking crackdown.
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MANILA, Philippines — Health advocates Wednesday expressed frustration over the Temporary Restraining Order issued by a Mandaluyong court prohibiting the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) from implementing its no smoking policy in public places as stipulated under RA 9211 or the Tobacco regulation act of 2003.
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Malacañang on Tuesday presented 13 priority measures to Congress leaders at the second Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) meeting, including the restructuring of the excise tax on alcohol and tobacco products, which is estimated to generate P60 billion in additional revenues that can be channeled to health care.
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In a curious turn of events, Judge Carlos Valenzuela of Branch 213 of the Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court handed down a Temporary Restraining Order against the MMDA to restrain it from implementing its "Smoke-Free Campaign" in open areas not covered by Republic Act 9211 upon the posting of a P100,000 bond.
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THE Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Mandaluyong City on Tuesday issued a 20-day temporary restraining order (TRO) stopping the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) from implementing its anti-smoking campaign in public places, including on all major and secondary roads of the metropolis.
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Excise tax bills were on the list of legislative priorities to be tackled tomorrow by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) but Speaker Feliciano Belmonte said he will stand by his proposal to suspend House deliberation on all measures concerning liquor excise tax.
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Popular coffee chain Starbucks cancelled recently its no-smoking policy after receiving negative feedbacks from customers.
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PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III may include the “indexation of tobacco and liquor taxes’’ to inflation among the priority measures he will endorse to lawmakers, presidential spokesman Ramon Carandang said Friday.
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MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives has decided to shelve hearings on the proposed restructuring of taxes on the so-called “sin” products like cigarettes and liquor.
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It was one of those laws that went up in smoke — so quickly.
I am referring to the smoking ban that was finally enforced last month by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).
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Smoking kills. Every year, 87,600 Filipinos die of tobacco use. That’s 240 lives lost every day, or 10 by the hour.
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While I was a postgraduate fellow at Harvard Medical School in Boston in the late ’60s, I came across an unforgettable article in the Christian Herald, “What the cigarette commercials don’t show,” in which Hugh Mooney, the author, wrote: “In cigarette country, TV commercials show two or three handsome, rugged cowboys on beautiful horses. Or there are sports cars, planes or scuba gears. The scene is always one of clean, windswept health. The people have a look of supreme confidence; the lovely girls, all smiles. I know another country. It is a land from which few return. In this sad region, there are no strong men, no smiling pretty girls. Executives and store clerks there look very much alike, not only because people living on the raw edge of a thin hope somehow get the same haunted expression on their faces. I am referring to cancer country. I have been there.”
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MANILA, Philippines - A group of students is urging the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to specifically define the implementation of the smoking ban in the metropolis to protect a person’s civil liberties.
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MANILA, Philippines - Tiniyak ng pamunuan ng Manila at Quezon City Jail na mahigpit nilang ipinatutupad ang “No Smoking” policy sa kani-kanilang kulungan alinsunod sa pinaiiral ng pamahalaan.
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MANILA, Philippines — With 4,640 smokers apprehended in a span of just a month, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has declared its antismoking drive a “success.”
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The anti-smoking campaign is getting more effective as the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority caught 4,628 smokers puffing in public places.
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GANAP nang ipinatitigil ng Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court (RTC) sa Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) ang ipinatutupad nitong smoking ban sa mga pampublikong lugar kabilang na ang kahabaan ng Edsa, mga lansangan at sidewalk.
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Smoking kills. Every year, 87,600 Filipinos die of tobacco use. That’s 240 lives lost every day, or 10 by the hour
But cigarette smoking among Filipino youth is on the rise. The 2007 Global Youth Tobacco Survey shows that more than 1 in 5 students currently smoke. As an adult, you are wise enough to stay away from all forms of tobacco, but how can you, as a parent, protect your kids from cigarettes and the danger that come with using it?
According to economist Jo-Ann Latuja of HealthJustice, one of the most dangerous factors that encourage kids to smoke is the fact that Philippine cigarettes are so cheap. At about PhP 2.50, one stick costs about the same as a candy bar, maybe even cheaper.
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Lawyer Jesus de la Paz says clients Antony Clemente and Vrianne Lamson were apprehended for smoking in an area that does not qualify as a “public place” where smoking is prohibited as defined under Republic Act (9211) or the Tobacco Regulation Act 2003.
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Joint operatives of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and Reformed Department of Public Safety and Traffic Management (RDPSTM) of the Caloocan City government have apprehended a total of 1,305 smoking ban violators all over the city
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MANILA, Philippines - At least 1,300 violators of the Tobacco Regulation Act were apprehended in Caloocan City since the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) implemented last July 1 a ban smoking on in public places.
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MANILA, Philippines - Sinampahan ng kaso ng dalawa katao na hinuli dahil sa paninigarilyo ang pamunuan ng Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).
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UMIINIT ang pagtatalo ng DOH at ng mga higanteng kompanya ng tobacco tungkol sa direktiba sa paglagay ng graphic o pictorial health warnings sa mga packaging ng tobacco products sa bansa. Ang argumento ng mga tobacco companies ay tanging ang paglagay ng written o “text” warnings ang nakasaad sa batas kaya walang karapatang ipilit ng DOH ang graphic warnings sa pamamagitan ng administrative order lamang. May kontra naman dito ang gobyerno – ayon daw sa tratado ng Pilipinas sa World Health Organization, ang Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC), ang mga pamahalaan may kapangyarihang magpatupad ng kaukulang kilos upang kontrolin ang pagbenta ng sigarilyo.
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MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) and the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines (FCAP) expressed dismay yesterday over what they perceive as Health Secretary Enrique Ona’s belittling of the smoking ban implemented by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).
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A suit filed before a Mandaluyong court is questioning the enforcement of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s (MMDA) ban on smoking on public highways and streets.
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THE Metropolitan Manila Development Authority yesterday said it would continue its drive against smoking in public despite a case filed seeking a stop to the campaign.
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Lawyers of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Wednesday grilled two smokers on their motives for asking the Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court (RTC) to stop the agency from implementing the smoking ban.
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MANILA, Philippines — Some 1,305 smokers were apprehended by the joint operatives of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Caloocan City's Reformed Department of Public Safety and Traffic Management (RDPSTM) in their operations.
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MANILA, Philippines – Some 1,305 smokers were apprehended by the joint operatives of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and Caloocan City’s Reformed Department of Public Safety and Traffic Management (RDPSTM) in their operations in the entire city.
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MANILA, Philippines — The World Health Organization (WHO) Friday said the use of picture health warnings in cigarette packages lessens the “appeal” of smoking and can discourage the youth from taking up the habit.
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Health Secretary Enrique Ona yesterday received flak for his statements last Friday that the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) should not focus on smokers but instead take a serious look at the smoke-belchers and other air polluters that similarly cause chronic pulmonary diseases.
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MANILA, Philippines — The lawyer of two Mandaluyong residents apprehended for smoking is questioning the authority of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to implement Republic Act 9211 (Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003).
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According to a new study, cigarettes in the Philippines have become cheaper compared to basic commodities, like food.
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Two smokers have taken the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to court after they were fined for smoking in public
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MANILA, Philippines - The number of smokers apprehended by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) for puffing away in public places exceeded 3,000 yesterday morning.
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MANILA, Philippines - Umakyat na sa higit 3,000 katao ang nahuhuli ng Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) sa kanilang anti-smoking campaign tatlong linggo matapos ipatupad ang pagbabawal sa paninigarilyo sa mga pampublikong lugar sa Metro Manila.
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THE country’s medical community has renewed its call for President Benigno C. Aquino III to support the campaign against smoking and kick the habit.
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MANILA, Philippines — WHO remembers the Marlboro Man? Many actors have posed and acted in the Marlboro advertisements, some of them real cowboys.
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TOBACCO farmers are better off planting rice or crops other than tobacco, according to Health Justice, a not-for-profit group that has been waging war against cigarette smoking in the Philippines.
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THE Philippine Medical Association (PMA) on Sunday repeated its call for President Aquino to support, through concrete action, the global campaign against tobacco smoke that kills one in every two cigarette-smoking Filipino in the country.
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MANILA, Philippines - Environment officers of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) have so far nabbed 2,906 smokers since the enforcement of the smoking ban in public places in Metro Manila started on July 1.
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ALMOST a month after the full implementation of its antismoking policy, environmental enforcers of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) have apprehended 2,906 smokers caught puffing away in public places.
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UMABOT na sa 2,906 ang kabuuang bilang ng mga nadadakip ng Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) na lumabag sa kanilang anti-smoking campaign sa loob lamang ng tatlong linggo kaugnay sa implementasyon ng Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003.
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MANILA, Philippines — The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) reports that it has apprehended a total of 2,906 smokers after three weeks of strictly implementing the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003.
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A new cigarette affordability study authored by Filomeno Sta. Ana III of Action for Economic Reforms and Jo-Ann Latuja of HealthJustice, shows that cigarettes remain extremely affordable.
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The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) gathered about 500 people from different sectors of the society in a solidarity run that capped off PMA’s nationwide awareness campaign with the theme “Stand up for your right to clean air. Advocate for a Smoke-Free Philippines.”
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Responding to the call of Philippine Medical Association (PMA), 500 citizens from different sectors gathered for a solidarity run and raised a determined battle against tobacco in Quezon City Memorial Circle.
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Health policy think tank HealthJustice lauds the government agency National Tobacco Administration’s announcement that it will provide P200 million in production loans to tobacco farmers who will plant rice during the current wet season.
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MANILA, Philippines — Personnel from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Muntinlupa City government have arrested 138 persons who were caught smoking in violation of national and local laws.
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The country’s very high smoking prevalence rate spurred government agencies to implement measures that will reduce the number of smokers in the country, which is currently estimated at 17.3 million. In its first few days of implementing the smoke-free policy, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has apprehended about 365 violators—enough smokers for every day of the year.
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Some two weeks after Metro Manila went full blast in enforcing a smoking ban in public places, Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental is following suit, a report said over the weekend.
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BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan here ordered local residents and visitors to exercise the lawful citizen’s arrest to effectively contribute in the successful implementation of the local anti-smoking ordinance in order to help reduce the increasing pollutants in the city’s air which triggers dreaded health diseases to proliferate.
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The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) implements’ strict compliance on smoke-free policy to promote and protect the welfare of officials and employees, in accordance with the provisions of the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003 (RA 9211) and the Civil Service Commission Memorandum Circular No. 17, s. 2009.
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Kung ikaw ay naninigarilyo alam mo nang may epekto ito sa iyong kalusugan. Pwede kang kapitan ng mga sakit tulad ng cancer sa baga, sakit sa puso, ulcer, stroke, hypertension at iba pa.
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There are so many things on the plate of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA). It is worthy to note that MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino has been very visible as a hands-on manager. Personally taking charge of MMDA projects, Tolentino shows his kind of leadership of the agency in charge of the 16 cities in Metro Manila and the lone municipality of Pateros.
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MAGPET, North Cotabato, Philippines (PNA) – The Municipal Health Office (MHO) here has strengthened its campaign against smoking in public places aiming to promote a healthy lifestyle and protection of the environment.
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AMLAN, Negros Oriental, Philippines — Dubbed as a model municipality in its adoption of a strictly no-smoking policy, this town is set to hold a festival to mark the second year of its passage of a smoke-free ordinance which won for it the prestigious Red Orchid award.
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MANILA, Philippines — Smokers at the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will only have three areas to carry out their habit inside the DPWH premises in Port Areas, Manila.
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In a series of interviews, Chris Nelson, managing director of PMFTC,Inc. threatens that they are prepared to take action against MMDA’s initiative to ban cigarette smoking in public places. PMFTC is the joint venture corporation of Philip Morris and Fortune Tobacco, which controls 92% of the domestic market of cigarettes in the Philippines.
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SMOKING is a leading preventable cause of death all over the world. If you are a regular smoker, you are probably losing about 5 ½ minutes of life expectancy for each cigarette you smoke. Cigarette smoking is a major cause of lung cancer. Yet, despite the vast medical evidence supporting such statistics, most heavy smokers continue to smoke.
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MORE than 1, 000 smokers have been arrested by environmental enforcers of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) a week after the agency re-launched its intensified campaign against public smoking in the Metro.
From the start of the crackdown in July 1 to July 7, about 1, 022 smokers— 926 male and 96 females— have been apprehended and given environmental violation receipts by agency personnel and enforcers from local government units.
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MANILA, Philippines - The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged the Philippines and other countries in the Western Pacific to show the “horror effects” of smoking to convince smokers to quit through graphic health warnings on cigarette packs.
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MANILA, Philippines — The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged Asia-Pacific countries to boost the use of graphic health warnings on cigarette packs.
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Ten years ago I stopped smoking cold turkey, meaning I just completely stopped. I carried around a pack of cigarettes and a lighter with me just in case it got too bad but about four years later I found that pack still sealed and intact. The cigarettes inside were moldy so I threw it away. I did not resume smoking again. It has been 10 years. Sometimes I wonder why I did not resume when I live alone. No one would object to the smoke. No one would claim harm from secondhand smoke. I used to be a pack-a-day smoker but I gave it up when I did because I wanted to stop. I had had an operation on my throat that kept me in the hospital for almost a week and they did not allow me to smoke. I thought then that made a lot of sense so I stopped. I wanted to stop so I succeeded. That is key to giving up smoking. You have to genuinely want to stop.
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MANILA, Philippines — And in your lungs, so it’s a good thing MMDA wants people to quit smoking on the street and in public places.
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Smoking kills. The terribly sad loss of President Ramos and Ming cannot be envisaged. My wife Estee and I offer our sincerest condolences for the passing of Jo. This should never happen to any parent. My best friend in life, the best man at my wedding, died the week before our 25th wedding anniversary. An anniversary he had arranged for us. He also died of smoking.
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Me thinks the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), in trying to give new life to an 18-year-old law regulating the use of tobacco, has succeeded only in incurring the ire of a large segment of the metropolis’s population—namely, the smokers. Nowadays, you would often hear gays and straights (of the smoking kind) alike saying, “ang OA naman!”—referring generally to the MMDA, and particularly to its chairman, Francis Tolentino.
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MANILA, Philippines - Handa si Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino na iurong na ang panukala na gawing “smoking area” ang mga itinayong “urinals” ng ahensya makaraang umani ng batikos sa iba’t ibang sektor.
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MANILA, Philippines — Smoking is a leading preventable cause of death all over the world. If you are a regular smoker, you are probably losing about 5½ minutes of life expectancy for each cigarette you smoke. Cigarette smoking is a major cause of lung cancer. Yet, despite the vast medical evidence supporting such statistics, most heavy smokers continue to smoke.
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IF when you look up, there is no ceiling between you and the sky, you can legally smoke. In the privacy of your own home, you can do as you please, even surround your family with second-hand smoke. The authorities cannot penalize you, and your non-smoking visitors are free to leave.
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METRO Manila Development Authority Chairman Francis Tolentino on Tuesday said the police will start arresting smokers in public places as the number of violators approached the 1,000 mark after the anti-vice drive started on July 1.
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In addition to criminals, the police will soon be going after smokers in public places in cooperation with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).
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MANILA, Philippines - The Metro Manila Development Authority will tap the Philippine National Police (PNP) to implement the smoking ban in public places in five cities, MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino said yesterday.
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MANILA, Philippines—A day after it floated the idea of designating urinals as smoking areas, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Wednesday dropped the proposal following negative feedback from health practitioners.
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The implementation of the ban on smoking in public places will not be another ningas cogon or flash in the pan, the head of the Metro Manila Development Authority has vowed. Health-conscious residents of Metro Manila can only hope MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino will be true to his word.
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THE Metropolitan Manila Development Authority apprehended some 365 smokers following the relaunch of an intensified smoking ban in the metropolis.
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The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) seems serious in its anti-smoking campaign, apprehending almost 200 offenders on the first day of implementation. As a matter of fact, doctors from the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) are joining MMDA personnel in the apprehensions to educate people on the perils of smoking. Seven of the 10 major causes of death in the Philippines – namely stroke, cancer, heart attacks, TB, chronic respiratory diseases, pneumonia and childbirth related illnesses are linked to smoking. The World Health Organization and the Department of Health disclosed that 240 Filipinos die every day due to smoking-related illnesses. Economic costs due to smoking related deaths and illnesses are estimated at P148 billion per year. According to the Philippine Cancer Society, 43 persons die every day due to lung cancer.
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TEACHING TOOL: Intended or not, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority has in its two-day-old anti-smoking campaign a tool for gradually disciplining in many aspects the unruly inhabitants of the national capital jungle.
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Manila, Philippines - At least 116 persons seen smoking in Metro Manila’s public areas were apprehended yesterday by anti-smoking personnel of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and were issued violation tickets.
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KALIBO, Aklan (PIA) – Smoking areas where government employees could smoke during break times should not be inside office buildings, according to the Civil Service Commission (CSC) office here.
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MANILA, Philippines -- Caloocan City Mayor Enrico Echiverri has warned local enforcers not to abuse while implementing the no-smoking ban in the city.
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Smoking kills. Everybody knows this, including hardcore smokers who can’t get through 10 minutes without taking a puff or two.
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Manila, Philippines - Nasampolan ng Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) ang daan-daang mga motorista, pasahero at iba pa na naninigarilyo sa mga pampublikong lugar sa unang araw ng implementasyon ng “smoking ban” sa Metro Manila.
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NAGING matagumpay ang kampanya ng Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) para mapaganda at malimitahan ang polusyon sa Metro Manila sa pamamagitan ng ikinasang smoking ban at beautification program ng ahensya.
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Manila, Philippines - The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will arrest smokers caught puffing away in public places starting today.
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MANILA, Philippines - Paalala uli sa mga smokers.
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More than 200 smokers caught puffing away in public places were apprehended by environmental enforcers of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) during the first day of the agency’s full enforcement of its antismoking policy Friday.
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RENATO TAYLAN, ILOCOS NORTE: Yes, it can only be as effective as the message and its endorser. This will greatly discourage smokers, especially first-timers.
CARMELA RAMENTO, CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY: No, to the addicted, the first puffs screen out the warnings and they go on to enjoy the day. Maybe, just maybe, this may deter the first-time smoker.
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MANILA, Philippines — Five-hundred pesos may be too tough a fine for a violation as simple and as common as smoking a cigarette on the street. But beginning Friday, smoking in public places in Metro Manila carries exactly that price
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LA TRINIDAD, Benguet, Philippines — The town of Sablan has passed a measure banning the sale of tobacco and restricting their access to minors in the area to protect them from the adverse effects of smoking cigars and cigarettes
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While its environmental enforcers will start apprehending smokers puffing away in public places starting Friday, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will also designate smoking areas with makeshift ashtrays on major thoroughfares.
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Biyernes ang araw kung saan makikita natin kung talagang mapapatupad ang bagong batas ukol sa paninigarilyo sa publiko. Sisimulan na raw sa Biyernes ang pag multa sa mga mahuhuling naninigarilyo sa mga hindi nakatakdang lugar. May mga siyudad na mas malawak pa nga ang sakop ng batas, tulad ng mga maliliit at mala-laking kalye. May batas na rin na sinusulong dito kung saan obligado ang mga kumpanya ng sigarilyo na maglagay ng mga larawan ng mga sakit na dulot ng paninigarilyo sa kanilang mga karton. Mga sakit katulad ng sugat na hindi gumagaling, mga bulok na ngipin at gilagid, baga na may kanser at iba pang mga sakit na may kaugnayan sa paninigarilyo.
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NILINAW ng pamunuan ng National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) na hindi exempted ang mga miyembro ng Philippine National Police (PNP) sa umiiral na ordinansa ng ipatutupad ng Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) na nagbabawal magsigarilyo sa pampublkong lugar.
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Manila, Philippines - At least 163 smokers puffing away in public places in Metro Manila were apprehended on the first day of a metro-wide anti-smoking drive, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) general manager Alex Cabanilla reported yesterday.
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Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) personnel will be joined by doctors from the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) when the strict enforcement of the "no smoking" campaign on public places kicks off tomorrow.
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DOCTORS are the latest frontliners in the campaign to ban smoking in public places in Metro Manila.
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“Subukan nyo ako (Try me),” this was the statement issued yesterday by National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Chief Supt. Allan Purisima as warned police officers and personnel in uniform that they will face sanctions if they will be caught smoking in public places while on official duty.
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MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) will dispatch doctors to the streets tomorrow to assist the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) in implementing the smoking ban in public places.
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When news broke out that Starbucks is going smoke-free nationwide, I couldn’t help but do a dance of joy. It sincerely felt like a powerful force had chosen to back up the defenseless, bullied band of nonsmokers.
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NATIONAL Capital Region Police Office director Chief Supt. Alan M. Purisima yesterday reminded officers and men of the 17,000-strong NCRPO force to strictly comply with the smoking ban in public places, particularly while in uniform, or face administrative sanctions.
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Muling ipinaalala ni National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) Director Chief Supt. Allan Purisima sa kanyang mga tauhan sa buong Metro Manila ang pagbabawal ng paninigarilyo sa lahat ng pampublikong lugar habang nasa duty at naka-uniporme.
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SA Biyernes (Hulyo 1) ay ipatutupad na nang lubusan ang pagbabawal sa paninigarilyo sa mga pampublikong lugar sa Metro Manila, ito ang sabi ni Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Francis Tolentino. Sa pagkakataon daw na ito ay wala nang warning-warning pa. Aarestuhin ang mga mahuhuling naninigarilyo sa mga pampublikong sasakyan, ospital, mall, tanggapan, palengke, transportation terminal, mga pribado at pampublikong gusali, restaurants, hotels, sinehan at recreational places. Binalaan ni Tolentino ang smokers na huwag manigarilyo sa mga nabanggit na lugar sapagkat mahigpit nang ipatutupad ang Republic Act 9211. Ang mga mahuhuling maninigarilyo ay pagmumultahin ng P500 sa first offense, P1,000 sa ikalawa at P5,000 sa ikatlo at sa mga susunod pang paglabag. Ang walang maibayad ay sasailalim sa walong oras na community service.
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UMIINIT ang pagtatalo ng DOH at ng mga higanteng kompanya ng tobacco tungkol sa direktiba sa paglagay ng graphic o pictorial health warnings sa mga packaging ng tobacco products sa bansa. Ang argumento ng mga tobacco companies ay tanging ang paglagay ng written o “text” warnings ang nakasaad sa batas kaya walang karapatang ipilit ng DOH ang graphic warnings sa pamamagitan ng administrative order lamang. May kontra naman dito ang gobyerno – ayon daw sa tratado ng Pilipinas sa World Health Organization, ang Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC), ang mga pamahalaan may kapangyarihang magpatupad ng kaukulang kilos upang kontrolin ang pagbenta ng sigarilyo.
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MANILA, Philippines — The city of Mandaluyong has already designated its own environmental enforcers to implement the smoking ban under RA 9211 or the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003 starting July 1.
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The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) will deploy its members to the streets on Friday to help the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) enforce a smoking ban in all public places through the metropolis
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Manila, Philippines - Muling ipinaalala ni National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) director, Chief Supt. Allan Purisima sa kanyang mga tauhan sa buong Metro Manila ang pagbabawal sa kanilang paninigarilyo sa lahat ng pampublikong lugar habang nasa duty at naka-uniporme.
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THE Framework Convention for Tobacco Control Alliance-Philippines (FCAP) and former health secretary Esperanza Cabral yesterday said the death of former presidential daughter Josephine "Jo" Ramos due to lung cancer on Monday underlines the stronger effort required from the national government to curb the effects of smoking.
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MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino won’t quit smoking despite the lessons learned from Josephine “Jo” Martinez Ramos, second daughter of former President Fidel Ramos and wife Ming, who succumbed to lung cancer last Monday.
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A DAY after Jo Ramos, daughter of former President Ramos, succumbed to lung cancer, antismoking advocates called on Health Secretary Enrique Ona to step up the campaign against smoking.
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The four local government units (LGUs) in the northern part of Metro Manila yesterday pooled their resources and vowed to spare no one in the enforcement of the anti-smoking law which will start in metropolis on July 1.
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THE anti-smoking drive launched by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority got a shot in the arm after another local government unit tightened its anti-smoking ordinance.
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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.
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NATIONAL Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Chief Supt. Alan Purisima yesterday reiterated his earlier directive to his men to refrain from smoking in public and to observe proper decorum while on duty. He also vowed to slap violators with sanctions.
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WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States Supreme Court rejected an appeal request made by American tobacco companies on Monday in a class-action lawsuit that awarded 500,000 smokers a total of $270 million in damages
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MANILA, Philippines - There is an ongoing global campaign to reduce smoking, primarily through the use of graphic health warnings and one of the local supporters of this campaign is hoping to see the same program instituted locally through legislation.
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SYDNEY (AP) — Tobacco giant Philip Morris launched legal action on Monday against the Australian government over the country’s plans to strip company logos from cigarette packages and replace them with grisly images of cancerous mouths, sickly children and bulging, blinded eyes.
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MANILA, Philippines — Health advocates Tuesday pressed for the passage of picture-based warnings on cigarette packages noting the death of former president Fidel V. Ramos’ daughter, Jo Ramos as a sign to intensify the campaign against tobacco use.
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Josephine Martinez Ramos, second of five daughters of former President Fidel V. Ramos and former First lady Amelita "Ming" Ramos, succumbed to lung cancer yesterday morning at the Medical City. She was 54.
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In grief, former President Fidel V. Ramos has this message to those mourning his daughter’s death: Don’t smoke.
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The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) yesterday said it will start apprehending smokers caught puffing a smoke in public places on July 1 as part of the agency’s intensified anti-smoking drive.
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The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will arrest violators of its no-smoking drive in public places on July 1.
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With the news of the loss of Jo Ramos, daughter of Former President Fidel V. Ramos, to lung cancer, health advocates emphasize the pressing need for picture-based warnings on cigarette packs. Her demise is only one of the 240 Filipino lives lost every day from tobacco-related diseases.
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MANILA, Philippines - With its month-long information drive ending on Thursday, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said yesterday it is all set to crack down on persons caught smoking in areas banned by the Tobacco Control Act and local ordinances starting July 1.
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Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino on Sunday reminded smokers that the agency would start implementing a metrowide ban on smoking in public places starting on Friday.
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Over the past few decades, cigarette makers have gradually lost many of the platforms they once used to promote their products. Their advertisements are no longer on TV, in most magazines or on billboards. But the most pervasive and effective advertising placement still exists: the cigarette package itself.
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June 24, 2011, Siem Reap, Cambodia: Officials from the World Health Organization (WHO), Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance, WHO Cambodia, as well as tobacco control advocates from Indonesia, Lao PDR, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, and the Philippines convened in a regional workshop to discuss challenges, strategies, and plans to implement the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), specifically the provision that calls for parties of the treaty to enact and undertake a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship or TAPS.
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Jay, 28, is a regular smoker. He averages one pack a day and smokes with his first coffee in the morning, on his way to work, during lunch, afternoon breaks and, mostly, over dinner and drinks with friends.
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The public health law group HealthJustice lauded the recent unveiling by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of nine graphic health warnings that will change the way cigarettes are labeled, packed and advertised in the United States.
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NEW YORK—Resorting to shock and awe in its antismoking campaign, US health officials on Tuesday released their final selection of nine graphic warning labels to cover the top half of cigarette packs beginning next year, over the opposition of tobacco manufacturers.
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OVER 6,000 smokers have been given a fair wearning by the Metro Manila Development Authority in its month-long information drive against anti-smoking in public places.
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WITH only less than a fortnight to go before the implementation of the no-smoking policy in Metro Manila, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines (FCAP) yesterday called on the Metro Manila Development Authority to intensify its information campaign.
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MANILA, Philippines — The no-smoking campaign is gaining in many parts of the country. More smokers are doing their best to limit tobacco use, if not totally give up the vice. Several government and private agencies and organizations are joining the effort. Programs seek to inform and educate Filipinos on the impact of smoking on their health and safety.
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MANILA, Philippines — More than 6,154 smokers have been given stern warning since the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) conducted its month-long information campaign on no-smoking policy. Next month, starting July 1, violators will be fined P500.
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MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino may need professional help to be able to quit smoking, an official of the Thailand-based Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) said.
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In the Philippines, it is estimated that smoking takes away 10 Filipino lives every hour or 80,000 a year. Six out of 10 primary illnesses – stroke, cancer, heart attack, tuberculosis, respiratory illnesses, pneumonia – are tobacco-related. The Philippine Medical Association, the umbrella organization for Doctors, has joined the campaign for a smoke-free Philippines. The aim is to protect second-hand smokers as tobacco smoke “equally kills people.� A study by the World Lung Foundation and International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease said more than 20 percent of heart attacks in Metro Manila can be attributed to secondhand smoke.
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SIEM REAP, Cambodia — Health officials, doctors and anti-tobacco advocates from eight Southeast Asian countries gathered here yesterday for a workshop to bolster efforts against cigarettes which kill 600,000 non-smokers in the region every year.
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A READER sent me a link that helps us understand a lot about cigarette smoking. Not everything that you read about the evils of tobacco is factual.
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About 300-500 individuals are being caught smoking on public places every day since the conduct of month-long information drive on its no-smoking policy, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said Tuesday. So far this month, persons smoking in public areas of the metropolis are only given warning, said MMDA spokeswoman Tina Velasco.
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Kapit-bisig ang mga miyembro ng Philippine Medical Association (PMA) sa kanilang pagsuporta sa pinaigting na kampanya ng Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) kontra paninigarilyo sa mga pampublikong lugar.
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MANILA, Philippines - Even with health complications brought about by smoking, a study shows that eight out of 10 Filipinos can finish almost one pack of cigarettes a day.
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DOES the Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Francis Tolentino have nothing better to do than to go after smokers? He has announced that beginning July 1, 2011, he will go after smokers in public places and arrest those who defy the new regulations.
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Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima may have gotten the nod of the Commission on Appointments, but will he get the nod of a nation in dire need of sin tax reforms? Will the newly confirmed secretary heed the advice of local and international financial institutions to increase the tobacco tax?
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MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte (PIA) — The vicinity inside the walled area that is the Port of Maasin has been declared smoke-free and those in violation of this rule will pay stiff penalties. This was declared by Maasin City Mayor Maloney Samaco after his signing of the certificate of assumption for the turn-over of cargo handling operations from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) to Panaon Arrastre Services, Inc.
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BALANGA CITY, Bataan — After a massive campaign launched by the administration of Mayor Joet S. Garcia on the bad effects of smoking, this city is now 100 percent smoke-free.
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MANILA, Philippines — Let's start with smokers’ rights. It is, basically, an individual’s right to do harm to his body provided he has a sane mind. Article 3. Section 1 of the Philippine Constitution states thus:
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INDEED, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Observing a healthy lifestyle will keep diseases at bay.
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MANILA, Philippines — Last week, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) announced that together with the metro’s 17 local government units (LGUs), it will be apprehending individuals caught smoking in “all major and secondary roads of the metropolis.
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MANILA, Philippines - While the Tobacco Act of 2003 (Republic Act 9211) has not banned smoking on sidewalks, some local government units (LGUs) in Metro Manila have included sidewalks among areas where smoking is prohibited, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said yesterday.
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BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines – At least 600 individuals have been caught smoking in public places here since the province’s smoking ban took effect in November last year.
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In 2010, the Department of Health issued Administrative Order No. 13 or the Graphic Health Information Order, which requires pictorial health warnings to cover 30% of the front panel and 60% of the back panel of each pack. Five tobacco companies opposed this Order by filing several lawsuits in different trial courts, although only two have secured injunction orders limited to Marikina and Malolos.
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MANILA, Philippines – Following the public’s divided reaction to the government’s crusade against smoking in certain public places, film directors cry curtailment of their creative freedom, according to ABS-CBN’s June 4 report.
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Policemen are not exempted from the metro-wide smoking ban imposed by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), according to the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).
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Manila, Philippines - A congressman from the tobacco-producing province of Ilocos Sur lashed out at Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Francis Tolentino for insisting that sidewalks should be included among public areas of the metropolis where smoking will not be allowed.
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Manila, Philippines - The Cigarette Manufacturer Associated Anglo-American Tobacco Corp. (AAATC) has expressed support for two House bills seeking to adjust excise tax rates on tobacco products.
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THE Department of Health wants a total smoking ban in all schools.
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MANILA, Philippines — In support of the national government’s campaign against excessive use of tobacco and tobacco-related products, Valenzuela City Mayor Sherwin T. Gatchalian actively ordered various offices to set up initiatives on tobacco regulation in the city.
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HINDI na papayagan ng pamunuan ng Philippine National Police (PNP) ang paninigarilyo at paggamit ng cell phone sa oras ng trabaho sa hanay ng mga pulis.
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MANILA, Philippines - Policemen, especially if they are wearing their uniform are not exempted from the smoking ban in Metro Manila. National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) director Chief Superintendent Alan Purisima said the smoking ban is not only part of proper decorum of policemen but also in accordance to the Clean Air Act and the country’s anti-smoking laws.
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Cigarette maker Associated Anglo-American Tobacco Corp. (AAATC) expressed support for two House bills that seek to adjust excise tax rates on tobacco products.
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WHENEVER THERE is talk about increasing taxes on tobacco products, the standard response of the industry is to warn that government could lose a rich source of revenue since higher taxes would cut tobacco consumption or even drive tobacco farmers and cigarette manufacturers out of business. But maybe our policymakers and lawmakers should take a closer look at the old goose and see if it is really laying those golden eggs.
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MANILA, Philippines—She knew it was a long shot.
But when Dr. Rachel Garcia of the Center for Health Development (CHD) of Metro Manila was awarded a $564,000 grant under the Bloomberg initiative for her project proposal, she knew then and there that anything was possible.
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A DAY after the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority launched a far-reaching anti-smoking drive in public places, the Philippine Tobacco Institute (PTI) expressed concern that the MMDA may be overstepping its limits by saying that it will also apprehend smokers in major and minor thoroughfares.
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MANILA, Philippines — The United Nations and the Philippine government jointly campaign against smoking.
It’s addictive, deadly, and expensive , they warn.
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MANILANS CAN breathe not just a sigh of relief but air that is a little cleaner than usual—hopefully.
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MANILA, Philippines - Two groups expressed their opposing stances yesterday on an anti-smoking drive launched by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Monday.
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Umalma kahapon ang pamunuan ng Philippine Tobacco Institute (PTI) sa naging hakbang ng Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) na hulihin ang mga naninigarilyo sa mga pangunahing lansangan at secondary road sa Metro Manila.
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Hay naku, ang mga kababayan natin sa halip na lunasan ang mga nakakamatay, ‘yung naghahanapbuhay ng legal ang aalisan pa ng ikinabubuhay. Papaano na ngayon ang mga cigarette vendors kung ipagbabawal na ang paninigarilyo except sa kubeta ng bahay mo?
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THE Philippine Medical Association (PMA) on Wednesday said the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is demonstrating “political will” when it decided to arrest people who smoke in public places.
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BAGUIO CITY – Pursuant to the worldwide effort to make public places from the hazards of the environment, the Cordillera office of the Department of Health (DOH) here declared that all the 58 hospitals in the different parts of the region are already smoke-free.
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MANILA, Philippines — All uniformed policemen will no longer be allowed to smoke and eat in full public view without observing proper decorum in a bid to attain the highest respect to the police organization and change the misconception about lousy peace officers.
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SMOKERS BEWARE. The Metro Manila Development Authority has announced that starting May 30, they will strictly enforce provisions in Republic Act 9211, the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003, banning smoking in public places. That includes bus terminals, waiting sheds, schools, recreational places, public utility vehicles.
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A PROTOBACCO-control lobby group said the Philippine government can reap a huge windfall from higher tobacco taxes, mainly to fund what they think President Aquino wants: universal health care.
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Manila, Phils)–The Department of Health (DOH) joined hands with HealthJustice and New Vois Association of the Philippines to urge smokers to quit smoking even for just one day, in celebration of the World No Tobacco Day on May 31. This year’s theme is the FCTC or the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control, a treaty developed in response to the globalization
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THE Philippine Tobacco Institute on Tuesday said the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) “stepped out of bounds” when it decided to arrest smokers in public places.
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MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) Tuesday called its members to support the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s (MMDA) campaign to strictly enforce smoking ban in public places in the metropolis, citing that more than 20 percent of heart attacks in Metro Manila can be attributed to second-hand smoke.
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The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) yesterday announced starting today (May 30), the agency and the 17 local government units (LGUs) of Metro Manila will start apprehending smokers who will be caught puffing away in public places in all major and secondary roads of the metropolis.
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Public health advocacy groups New Vois Association of the Philippines (NVAP) and HealthJustice welcome the call of the Department of Health (DOH) encouraging local government units to implement Administrative Order 2010-0013 that requires graphic health information and prohibits misleading words like “light,” “mild,” and “ultra” on cigarette packs that are sold within their respective areas.
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Magiging “good example” umano si Pangulong Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III sa implimentasyon ng smoking ban sa mga public places sa Metro Manila umpisa ngayong araw, Mayo 30.
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Talagang matinding hamon sa gobyernong Aquino itong mas pinalawak na kampanya laban sa paninigarilyo. Kung noong panahon ni dating Health Sec. Juan Flavier ay may yosi kadiri, ngayon ay talagang yosi ban kahit sa mga public places.
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Magiging “good example” umano si Pangulong Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III sa implimentasyon ng smoking ban sa mga public places sa Metro Manila umpisa ngayong araw, Mayo 30.
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MANILA, Philippines — Think twice before you smoke.
Starting Monday, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) with 17 local government units (LGUs) of Metro Manila will round up smokers in public places in all major and secondary roads of the metropolis as it intensifies its no smoking campaign.
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PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III will lead by example in the government’s campaign against smoking in public areas, the Palace said Sunday.
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PRESIDENT Aquino may not be too keen on playing the role of unofficial poster boy for the anti-smoking campaign just days before the World No Tobacco Day on June 1 but certainly he is all for following the smoking ban in public places in Metro Manila including Malacañang.
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While the intention behind moves to make Metro Manila a 100 percent smoke-free region is indeed very laudable, there is no denying the fact that the possibility of opening another floodgate for corruption is there.
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MANILA, Philippines - The strict enforcement of the no-smoking law in all 17 metro Manila cities will start today, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) announced yesterday.
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MANILA, Philippines - Magpapakalat ng dagdag na tauhan ang Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) katuwang ang mga lokal na pamahalaan at pulisya sa panghuhuli sa mga “yosi-kadiri” o iyong mga taong walang pakundangang manigarilyo sa mga pampublikong lugar, ngayong Lunes.
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For over a week now our office has been hoping for the speedy recovery of a colleague, who suffered a stroke after a few weeks of complaining of vertigo. Until yesterday she was in a coma at the ICU.
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MANILA, Philippines - The Atlanta-based Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has corroborated previous studies showing that “graphic health warnings” on cigarette packages is an effective tool to scare off smokers.
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IN celebration of the “World No Tobacco Day,” the antismoking lobby appealed to President Aquino on Sunday to certify the pending bill on tobacco tax reform as a priority measure.
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Legislators are not inclined on a proposal to simplify to two levels the current four tier excise tax system which is expected to increase tax collections by 500 percent which would be more than what the government is targeting by reforming the tax system.
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The chairman of the House committee on ways and means rejected proposals to hike tobacco tax rates by as much as 400 percent.
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THE chairman of the powerful House committee on ways and means has rejected proposals to increase the excise taxes on tobacco products by as much as 400 percent, saying that would hurt thousands of tobacco farmers.
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MANILA, Philippines — The chairman of the powerful House committee on ways and means rejected proposals to hike the excise tax rates on tobacco products by as much as 400 percent.
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AN intensified crackdown on cigarette smokers in public places and at the Manila City Hall was launched by Mayor Alfredo S. Lim.
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Smokers, beware. The next cigarette stick could cost you P500.
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MANILA, Philippines - The World Health Organization (WHO) is pushing for full implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the first international treaty on public health, to save some six million people who die from the “tobacco epidemic” each year.
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In 2003, Congress sought to curb smoking by passing Republic Act 9211 or the Tobacco Regulation Act. Among other things, RA 9211 limited the areas where people could get their nicotine fix. The city of Manila also passed Ordinance 7748, which prohibited smoking in all enclosed places in the city including shopping malls, cinemas, schools, hospitals, warehouses and factories, government buildings, and even public utility vehicles.
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ROXAS CITY, Capiz (PIA) – Roxas City officials are determined to enforce the city’s smoke-free ordinance.
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Manila, Philippines - Metropolitan Manila Development Authority enforcers will apprehend persons smoking in public areas, public conveyances and along sidewalks of major and secondary roads in the metropolis starting Monday, MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino said yesterday.
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Here’s not so good news for smokers.
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) announced over the weekend that starting on Monday, the agency and the 17 local government units (LGUs) of Metro Manila will apprehend smokers puffing away in public places in all major and secondary roads of the metropolis.
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THE Metro Manila Development Authority on Monday will start arresting smokers on major and secondary roads, inside public utility vehicles, and even at bus and jeepney stops.
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HINDI magiging maganda kung aapurahin ang pagsusulong ng Kongreso sa “sin tax” bill.
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Manila, Philippines - In a bid to make Manila a no-smoking zone, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim ordered yesterday a heightened campaign against cigarette smokers particularly among Manila City Hall employees
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MANILA, Philippines — Mayor Alfredo Lim has ordered the strengthening of the campaign against cigarette smokers in Manila, especially in City Hall, starting next week.
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PASISIMULAN na sa araw ng Lunes May 30, sa labinpitong government units ang implementasyon ng “Smoking ban” at huhulihin ang mga taong naninigarilyo sa major at secondary roads.
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Robot-voices are calling for support for Health Secretary Enrique Ona’s position to increase the excise taxes on sin products. Among them is the New Vois Association Philippines, a support group for laryngeal cancer survivors.
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MANILA, Philippines — Some 900 million people regularly exposed to tobacco smoke are at risk of developing tobacco-related diseases that kill nearly six million people each year globally, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
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DON’T be mistaken. Quitting can be a good thing.
All our life we have been taught to never give up, and always surge forward. The lesson was simple: Quitters never succeed. While this may hold true for most aspects of living, in the realm of wellness, quitting can be a good thing. To master this art, consider the following:
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MANILA, Philippines -- Know your numbers – systolic, diastolic, and blood sugar levels – as these, depending on how controlled or out-of-control they are, are indicatory of the current state of your health.
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Manila, Phils–May 2011: The recent announcement of Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda that PNoy’s “no new taxes” policy has an expiration date sparks hope among those who have been crying out for tax reform. On Monday, Lacierda made a clear statement that the said policy is limited only to President Aquino’s first year of his term.
This statement opens new doors for urgent concerns in the country that have been shelved long enough. Dr. Angelina P. Galang, Convenor of Green Convergence for Safe Food, Healthy Environment and Sustainable Economy, said a reform of the country’s current tobacco tax system should be on top of the list.
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Washington DC—18 May 2011: The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids presented The Judy Wilkenfeld Award for International Tobacco Control Excellence, to Dr. E. Ulysses “Yul” Dorotheo during the Campaign’s annual Youth Advocates of the Year Awards Gala in Washington DC, May 18, 2011.
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CEBU CITY, Philippines—Cebu Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez Jr. is not just remembered as a politician whose career spanned 15 years. He was also known as the man behind a popular probiotic health drink sold in the Philippines and at least 9 other countries.
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It makes sense for a presidential spokesman to blame newspaper columnists for bringing down the popularity of Noynoy Aquino. After all, the President himself has repeatedly blamed his own propagandists for the erosion of his popularity—following their boss’ lead, these people must find others to blame, in turn.
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MANILA, Philippines - Health experts have expressed concern over the rising number of adult Filipinos who suffer from hypertension, a disease which is fast becoming an epidemic.Dr. Dante Morales, president of the Philippine Society of Hypertension, said that based on the National Nutrition and Health Survey, the number of hypertensive Filipino adults has been steadily rising since 1998.
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IT is the researched and studied opinion of the World Health Organization and the Department of Health that excessive tobacco abuse is a major cause of deaths in this country.
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REP. Hermilando Mandanas, chairman of the ways and means committee at the House of Representatives, on Wednesday gave assurance of the full passage of the proposed rebasing of the excise tax on sin products on current prices from a 15-year-old matrix of prices but declined to speak for the 284-member chamber.
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MANILA, Philippines — MAY 17 is Seventh World Hypertension Day. The first World Hypertension Day was marked on May 14, 2005, by the World Hypertension League (WHL), an umbrella organization of 85 national hypertension societies and leagues. Since 2006, May 17 of every year has been designated as World Hypertension Day.
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MANILA, Philippines--Saying that tobacco use in the country has continued to grow, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Department of Health (DoH) have strongly recommended raising cigarette taxes and providing counseling services and medication for smokers trying to quit.
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A team composed of representatives of the Department of Health (DOH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday strongly urged Philippine authorities to push for a stronger fight against tobacco.
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MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang defended yesterday President Aquino’s participation in the Department of Health’s nationwide fitness program dubbed “Ehersisyo Pangkalusugan Para sa Lahat 2011.”
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MANILA, Philippines - A bicycle-riding President Aquino Sunday launched along with some Cabinet members a national campaign of the Department of Health to promote exercise.
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PRESIDENT Aquino, followed by some of his Cabinet officials, took a 10-minute bike ride around the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City early Sunday morning, to lead a nationwide-fitness program promoting good health through exercise.
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MANILA, Philipines -- Apparently reluctant to quit smoking, President Benigno S. Aquino III instead went biking Sunday to promote a healthy lifestyle among Filipinos.
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CIGARETTE smoking is costing the Philippines P148 billion a year in economic losses due to illness and death,” the Health Department said Thursday.
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MULING itutulak ng SICPA, isang Swiss firm sa gobierno ng Philippines my Philippines na huwag balewalain ang sinasabing hi-tech technology nila regarding sa ‘strip stamp system’ dahil billion of pesos ang kikitain ng pamahalaan dito.
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FOR cigarette smokers and those who may be tempted to start, here’s a bit of truly disturbing new information from the American Chemical Society.
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MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DoH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have recommended five strategies to effectively curb tobacco use in the wake of studies that smoking kills approximately 87,600 Filipinos per year and costs over P148 billion a year in economic losses due to illness and death.
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It seems the back-patting and celebratory high-fives by local tobacco lobbyists may have been premature when news came out that Albanian president Bamir Topi issued a decree rejecting an excise tax proposal using a strip stamp system via a concessionary agreement with Sicpa Securities. As it turns out, the Albanian Parliament promptly rejected the president’s rejection via a unanimous 73-0 vote during a plenary session, saying that Topi’s arguments against the proposal were flawed.
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Speaking of incompetent detractors, it seems that Sicpa Security Solutions SA which is pushing a state-of-the-art strip stamp system that will help ensure a more efficient tax collection for cigarettes and other tobacco products is also fortunate to have the same kind of critics.
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TWENTY-FIVE district heads, street sweepers and traffic enforcers of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority underwent a three-day trainor’s training to arm them with the skills and legal knowledge in the use of communication tools to enforce the tobacco regulation law and make Metro Manila a 100-percent smoke-free region.
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THE Metropolitan Manila Development Authority will go hard in its campaign against smoking to attain 100 percent smoke-free Metro Manila in the coming days.
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A cigarette maker said it is opposing the proposed increase in excise tax on tobacco products, saying the move will also increase the prices of cigarettes.
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MANILA, Philippines - An Anglo-American firm is opposing the proposed increase in excise tax on tobacco products, saying the move will also increase the prices of cigarettes.
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While P-Noy repeatedly declares his campaign promise of not increasing taxes this year, his economic managers who are closer to the ground and better understand economic dynamics are expressing concern about the need to enhance the government tax take particularly from sin products to augment government finances following the series of subsidy programs.
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MANILA, Philippines – Bad breath is not a problem if you are a hermit living in some remote island.
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More than 25 officers and enforcers from the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and Metro Manila local government units participated in a three-day trainor’s training to arm them with the necessary legal knowledge and skills in the use of various communication tools to enforce the tobacco regulation law and make Metro Manila a 100% smoke-free region.
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MAASIN CITY, Philippines?City officials are butting out opposition from a multinational tobacco company to an ordinance that prohibits smoking in all public places and workplaces.
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HEALTHJUSTICE PHILIPPINES, a nonstock, nonprofit organization, recently spearheaded a renewed campaign to make more places tobacco smoke-free, particularly for the sake of children. It cited studies which proved tobacco smoke was just as deadly for somebody who just happened to inhale it as it is for the cigarette user himself/herself.
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MANILA, Philippines - The public health law group HealthJustice called on the government to strictly enforce regulations on smoking and tobacco advertisements in all parks, resorts, public terminals, conveyances, restaurants, and other tourism-related facilities that thousands of Filipino families are expected to visit this summer. They commended Boracay for declaring the beaches smoke-free recently.
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BEIJING?(UPDATE) China launched a ban on smoking in restaurants, bars and other indoor public spaces on Sunday but few expect it to have much of an impact in the tobacco-hooked country with more than 300 million smokers .
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CANDON CITY – Tobacco farmer Jean Bautista, 56, shuns smoking. She is, however, proud of being a skilled tobacco roller in this Ilocos Sur city.
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BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya --- Dahil sa kautusang ipinalabas ng provincial government na nagbabawal sa paninigarilyo sa buong lalawigan at paghuli sa mga nagyoyosi ay nagkakaubusan na ng nganga bilang alternatibo sa sigarilyo ng mga mamamayan dito.
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The government is confident the Appellate Body (AB) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) will uphold a panel ruling favorable for the Philippines in a cigarette case it filed against Thailand.
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About the only good thing that Lacierda said about the matter of taxes was a “no comment.” That was when he was asked about the bills now in Congress seeking higher taxes on alcohol and tobacco products.
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Tobacco farmers are growing restive over moves in Congress to further raise taxes on "sin" products which they said would lead to lower demand for their products.
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Manila, Philippines - Tobacco farmers are appealing to President Aquino not to slap additional taxes on tobacco products which could lead to the loss of livelihood for thousands of small tobacco growers.
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ATLANTA (AP) – By 2020, every state may have bans on smoking in restaurants, bars and the workplace, federal health officials predicted Thursday, based on the current pace of adopting anti-smoking laws.
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So, fellow earthlings, what are you doing for Mother Earth on a day especially dedicated to her? Since Earth Day this year falls on Good Friday, April 22, there are a lot of good things we can do to make amends for all the sins we have committed against the environment even as we piously observe Holy Week or hie off to Bora or Misibis Bay to worship the sun, sea, and sand.
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Earth day is a good time to focus on sacrifices that we must start making for our own survival in a planet deluged by problems.
But this battle is being waged on many fronts, and while we try to save habitats, ensure wider use of renewable energy and resources and preach reduction, we are faced with many debates among multiple resource users and many ways to tread lightly. There is, however, one environmental threat for which there is little debate.
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JAKARTA — An Indonesian woman exhales cigarette smoke into the mouth of a gaunt, naked patient at a Jakarta clinic, where tobacco is openly touted as a cancer cure.
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THE Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance- Philippines (FCAP) yesterday welcomed reports that President Aquino and Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa are in a "friendly race" on who will quit smoking first.
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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Breathing secondhand smoke could increase a child's risk of mental and behavioral disorders, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), suggests a new study.
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In a recent meeting of the House Ways and Means Committee chaired by Congressman Hermilando I. Mandanas of Batangas, a paper was presented by HealthJustice, a local advocacy group affiliated with the Southeast Asia Control Alliance.
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To mark the occassion, the World Health Organization (WHO) conducted a Regional Workshop titled “Mid-term Review of Country Projects for Health Promotion Foundations and Tobacco Taxation.”
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MANILA, Philippines - Hinaydyak sa ikatlong pagkakataon ang isang kompanya na nagdedeliber ng sigarilyo ng posibleng iisang grupo at ang pinakahuli ay kamakalawa ng gabi sa Malate, Maynila.
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This is what Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and his underlings seem to be saying by admitting that government will have to endorse new tax measures by 2012 to plug the huge budget deficit and bankroll reform initiatives in the area of education, health care and other basic services. Purisima himself said he was mulling the proposal of former Budget Secretary Ben Diokno to impose new taxes for government to increase revenues, like raising the Value Added Tax from 12 to 15 percent.
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Source: Pan American Health Organization, WHO
Template for tobacco control legislation that will best advance public health goals, given the evidence of the measures known to be most effective in reducing tobacco use. The publication consists of two major parts. The basic component is the presentation of template legislative language. The second component is an annotation of the provisions of the template that explains the evidentiary and legislative background for each provision and, where the provision is drawn from actual legislation passed by one or more countries, the source of the provision.
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MULING nabiktima ang isang van ng kumpanya ng sigarilyo sa Malate, Maynila noong Martes ng gabi, isang linggo matapos ang parehong insidente.
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Hirap ka na bang huminga o hindi nawawalan ng ubo? Baka dahil iyan sa chronic obstructive pulmonary disease o COPD. Pinakamahalagang gawin ay gumawa ng paraan na matigil na ang paningarilyo at pangalawa’y manirahan sa “smoke-free environment”.
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Noong nakaraang taon, P30 billion ang nakolekta ng BIR sa sigarilyo. Ito marahil ang pinakamataas na halaga ng buwis sa iisang industriya.
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MANILA, Philippines - The imposition of a higher excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco could generate new funds for public health by roughly $1.4 billion each year, a government think-tank said in a recent report.
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THE fight for the implementation of the health department’s order to put graphic warnings on cigarette packs yesterday received a shot in the arm after the Supreme Court granted the petition of five former Department of Health secretaries to intervene in the case against the tobacco industry.
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ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (PNA) — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) joined hands with the Department of Health (DoH) in an advocacy campaign to inform the public on the salient provisions of Republic Act (RA) 9211, or the Tobacco Regulation Act of the Philippines.
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MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Finance (DOF) said there is a need to raise sin taxes so that the industry is not controlled by just one company.
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Manila City, Philippines - Are pictures on cigarette packs not too far behind?
The Supreme Court granted the petition of five Former Health Secretaries to intervene in the legal battle between the Department of Health (DOH) and the tobacco industry over the validity of DOH Administrative Order No. 13 or the Graphic Health Information order.
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MANILA, Philippines – Lung cancer causes non-specific symptoms, and for this reasons it is generally not diagnosed until it is at a very advanced stage. Only approximately 10 % of patients are operable at the time of diagnosis; most of the remainder will succumb to the illness within six to nine months.
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MANILA, Philippines - Robot-voices are calling for support for Health Secretary Enrique Ona’s position to increase the excise taxes on sin products. Among them is the New Vois Association Philippines, a support group for laryngeal cancer survivors.
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CAGAYAN de Oro City – A Department of Health official said smoking areas in public places should be done away with by amending the Tobacco Regulation Act (Republic Act 9211).
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LIQUOR and cigarettes are about the only products described as sin the tax rates on which are revised upwards every two or so years. They are the only products proposed to be taxed more heavily by at least a dozen or so congressmen every year.
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CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—A nicotine-air detector group discovered nicotine presence in hospitals, schools, government offices, restaurants and entertainment places in Metro Manila, prompting the group to urge local governments in the metropolis to ban indoor smoking.
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BEIJING(AP) – Chinese health authorities are renewing a push to ban smoking in indoor public places, adding more venues like hotels and restaurants as of May 1, though still excluding many workplaces.
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MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Finance (DoF) said the government expects to get as much as P58.5 billion of incremental revenues to the government coffers in 2012 from excise tax in cigarettes under the proposed sin tax reform package filed.
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The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) is pushing for the full implementation of the tobacco advertising ban and has called on all local government units (LGUs) to be mindful of their involvement with the tobacco industry.
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Should the legislative mill act quickly enough, government stands to generate close to P200 billion in sin taxes over a three-year period starting next year, legislators said in a statement sent by e-mail on Monday.
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CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY?Hanging out in entertainment hubs and restaurants in Metro Manila can be bad for the health, according to a recent study.
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Source: Resolution Concurring on the Ratification for the FCTC
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MASIGASIG ang Department of Health (DOH) na mailigtas sa kamatayan ang maraming Pilipino dahil sa bisyong paninigarilyo. Kung anu-anong kampanya na ang ginawa ng DOH para mapigil sa paninigarilyo ang mga Pinoy. At isa sa mga ipinaglalaban ng DOH ay mai-print o mailagay ang graphic warnings sa kaha o pakete ng sigarilyo. Kung mailalagay ang mga larawan ng mga sakit na nakuha sa paninigarilyo, malaking tulong para lubusang matakot at tumigil na sa paninigarilyo ang mga lulong sa bisyo.
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The American Academy of Pediatrics explains the numerous advantages of breastfeeding, especially during disasters. It explains that the cleanest and safest food for an infant is human milk. It is nutritionally perfect, readily available, protective against infectious disease, and relieves maternal stress and anxiety, among others.
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Source: WHO Website
We don't know exactly at what temperature acrylamide is formed in food. However acrylamide has so far not been found in food prepared at temperatures below 120 degrees Celsius, including boiled foods.
Food should not be cooked excessively, i.e. for too long or at too high a temperature. However, all food, especially meat and meat products, should be cooked sufficiently to destroy food poisoning bacteria.
The information available on acrylamide so far reinforces general advice on healthy eating, including moderating consumption of fried and fatty foods. There is not enough evidence about the amounts of acrylamide in different types of food to recommend avoiding any particular food product.The food industry recognizes the implications of consumers perceiving their products as unsafe, as well as their liability in selling a product that is potentially harmful to the consumer. Oversight by governments will provide some level of assurance for consumers on the safety of food products on the market and also verifies (or not) claims by the food industry about how they prepare their processed products.
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Source: WHO Website
Each day millions of people become ill and thousands die from a preventable foodborne disease. The advice given in this leaflet is important for every traveller, and of particular importance for high-risk groups i.e. infants and young children, pregnant women, elderly and immunocompromised individuals, including those with HIV/AIDS; persons in these groups are particularly susceptible to foodborne diseases.
Remember: Prevention is better than cure The WHO Five Keys to Safer Food global message is adapted in this
guide to specifically address the health concerns associated with travel.
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Source: WHO Website
Consumers have questioned the validity of risk assessments, both with regard to consumer health and environmental risks, focusing in particular on long-term effects. Other topics for debate by consumer organizations have included allergenicity and antimicrobial resistance. Consumer concerns have triggered a discussion on the desirability of labelling GM foods, allowing an informed choice. At the same time, it has proved difficult to detect traces of GMOs in foods: this means that very low concentrations often cannot be detected.Labelling in the EU is mandatory for products derived from modern biotechnology or products containing GM organisms. Legislation also addresses the problem of accidental contamination of conventional food by GM material. It introduces a 1% minimum threshold for DNA or protein resulting from genetic modification, below which labelling is not required.
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THE C-NETWORK recently initiated a lung cancer awareness campaign, in cooperation with the Philippine Society of Medical Oncology (PSMO) and Roche Philippines.
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Limang dating kalihim ng Department of Health (DOH) ang umapela kahapon sa Korte Suprema na mapayagan ang paglalagay ng graphic information sa mga pakete ng sigarilyo bilang epektibong anti-yosi campaign.
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MANILA, Philippines?Maybe they are hoping that none of the country?s top jurists takes a puff or two. Heaven forbid if some of them do.
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Five former health officials are asking the Supreme Court (SC) to order the insertion of warnings on cigarettes as well as all other tobacco products.
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FIVE former Health secretaries yesterday asked the Supreme Court to declare valid the implementation of the Department of Health’s Administrative Order 2010-003 which requires tobacco manufacturers to use graphic picture warnings on the labels of their tobacco products to effectively communicate the health risks of smoking.
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Source: WHO Website
A large number of people are injured or die each year as a result of exposure to both manufactured chemicals and natural toxins. Most poisoning cases result from lack of knowledge about risks and from carelessness. Furthermore, misuse of chemicals frequently leads to damage of the environment. This is avoidable through education and information.
National programmes for prevention of poisonings are crucial to reduce the number of poisonings in the home or at work, to detect and eliminate unusually hazardous commercial products and to limit the overuse of emergency systems.
These guidelines will help governments, national agencies and communities to plan, carry out and evaluate education campaigns addressed at the public as well as other activities to promote safe use of chemicals and prevention of poisoning. They summarize the active and passive strategies that can be used to promote chemical safety, outline the planning process and describe how to communicate safety and poisons prevention messages effectively.
Prevention is the best antidote.
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MANILA, Philippines – Five former health secretaries Monday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to allow the implementation of a Department of Health (DoH) administrative order requiring the use of graphic picture warnings on the packages of all tobacco products, especially images of rotting lungs and throat cancer.
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FIVE former Health secretaries have asked the Supreme Court to allow graphic warnings and other health information on cigarette packs.
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MANILA, Philippines – Tax collections from tobacco products rose to P27.83 billion during the last quarter of the year, despite an impending eight percent excise tax increase on “sin items,” according to an official of the Philippine Tobacco Institute (PTI).
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ILOILO CITY, Philippines – The city government here will strictly enforce its smoking ban and anti-littering ordinances during the forthcoming Dinagyang Festival – Iloilo’s No. 1 tourism event, and religious and cultural celebration in honor of the Sr. Sto. Niño slated from January 22 to 23.
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THE biggest fraud ever poised on the Philippine government is the alleged fool-proof stamp tax on cigarette packs proposed by SICPA Security Products of Switzerland.
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Tax collections from tobacco products rose to P27.83 billion during the last quarter of the year, despite an impending eight percent excise tax increase on “sin items,” an official of the Philippine Tobacco Institute (PTI) said.
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BIR Commissioner Kim Henares has been quoted as willing to take another look at the anomalous offer of SICPA, a Swiss company, to affix fool-proof stamps on cigarette packs.
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CHICAGO (AP) — Smoking a joint once a week or a bit more apparently doesn't harm the lungs, suggests a 20-year study that bolsters evidence that marijuana doesn't do the kind of damage tobacco does
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RELATIVES and friends must know the whereabouts of Palparan but none will risk getting into trouble and being labeled whistleblower. They can write on a piece of paper the wanted man’s whereabouts and other details. Make two photocopies of this piece of paper. Tear one in half. Without giving your name, give the photocopy and one of the torn half to the PNP. When the wanted man is captured at the address you had provided, put on a long bonnet and dark glasses, present the original and your torn half to the reward giver, and collect your million pesos, your identity still unrevealed.
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WE have a letter from Maricel de la Cruz, who identifies herself as the Sangguniang Kabatasan (SK) chairperson in Manila’s Barangay 439. It is a long letter, which I have abridged to fit my allotted space:
"World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Dr. Margaret Chan was correct in pointing out during a tobacco control conference in Uruguay last November that tobacco companies will stop at nothing in their ‘ruthless pursuit of wealth.’ She noted in her speech that the tobacco industry has ‘vast financial resources, lawyers, lobbyists, and no values whatsoever beyond the profit motive.’
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NEW YORK — Smokers who successfully quit may enjoy yet another health benefit: improved cholesterol profiles. A boost in "good" cholesterol comes with quitting despite weight gain after putting out the last cigarette, hints a new study.
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A tobacco industry leader has accused a finance official of coming out with projected low tax collections from tobacco products in 2011 in a bid to stampede Congress into amending the excise tax law.
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MANILA, Philippines – At least 10 percent of cigarettes in the local market are smuggled and is contributing to the youth and the poor’s capacity to buy the product and is diluting the impact of anti-tobacco measures in general, the World Health Organization (WHO) disclosed.
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Graphic health information depicting the harms of tobacco use on the front and back of cigarette packs should have been in place since 2008 when the Philippines agreed to the guidelines of the graphic health information provision, Article 11 of the WHO-Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC), but cigarette companies refuse to comply with the international health treaty.
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BEIJING-- Annual tobacco-related deaths in China could triple by 2030 without drastic steps to kick the nation's habit, said a report that blamed the Chinese cigarette industry for blocking anti-smoking efforts.
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THE government is set to implement the last tranche of the increase in tax rates for sin products like cigarettes and alcoholic drinks this year. Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said they expect to collect P7.6 billion more from this last rate rise, which is 8 percent.
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MANILA, Philippines?The government expects additional revenue of P7.6 billion from the last mandated increases in the excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco, under the Sin Tax Law of 2005, which took effect on Jan. 1.
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WASHINGTON ? Quitting smoking and tightening belts around their waists and on the household budget top the list of Americans' new year's resolutions for 2011.
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CONSUMERS will have to pay about 8 percent more for cigarettes and alcohol as new excise taxes come into effect today, while motorists must shell out more money to use three expressways.
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Cancer victims protest the seemingly pro-tobacco industry stance of the Philippine delegation in the World Health Organization (WHO) tobacco control meeting in Uruguay this week.
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The Regional Trial Court of Tanauan, Batangas has dismissed the case filed by PMFTC, Inc. against the Department of Health (DOH) seeking to nullify the latter's order requiring tobacco companies to put graphic health information on cigarette packs. DOH Administrative Order 2010-0013 also prohibits the use of such terms as “low tar,” “light,” "ultra-light," "mild," "extra," and "ultra".
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The global tobacco control community is celebrating a court decision in the Philippines that dismissed a challenge by the Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Company (PMFTC) of the Department of Health’s graphic health information policy.
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Cancer victims today expressed fear that a possible intervention of the tobacco industry in the selection of the delegation and in the country positions to the anti-smoking treaty will tarnish not just the reputation of the Philippines as a tobacco control champion in the international community, but that of President Noynoy Aquino’s anti-corruption stance.
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Tobacco control and other health advocates from no less than 15 countries around the Southeast Asian and Western Pacific regions, North America and Europe are in Hanoi, Vietnam today to September 16, 2010 for a regional workshop to strengthen capacity for health promotion and tobacco control through sustainable funding mechanisms such as dedicated tobacco taxes.
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The Department of Health (DOH), represented by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), filed Tuesday, September 7, 2010, a Petition for Certiorari and Prohibition before the Supreme Court, assailing the Order of Hon. Alexander P. Tamayo of Branch 15, Malolos Regional Trial Court enjoining the implementation of Administrative Order No. 2010-0013 (AO), sans a hearing.
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The Department of Health won its first battle in what has become a long, drawn-out fight to protect the people’s right to health information.
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Tobacco manufacturers in the country have gone to courts in Marikina, Batangas, Paranaque, Malabon and Pasig to attack the authority of the DOH in ordering the use of picture based health warnings on cigarette packs.
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Leading cigarette maker Fortune Tobacco secured a preliminary injunction in court on Tuesday, allowing it to suspend the health department’s order for graphic health information ( GHI) on cigarette packs.
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On July 1, the Marikina trial court issued an order granting Fortune Tobacco’s prayer for a Preliminary Injunction against DOH Administrative Order on Graphic Information and Misleading Descriptors on cigarette packs. This effectively suspends the implementation of the public health regulation to require tobacco companies to place graphic health information on their cigarette packs. A bond of P5 million pesos was required from Fortune Tobacco.
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THE World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday expressed full support to calls for higher tobacco taxes in the Philippines.
