CAUGHT LIGHTING UP: Iloilo City nabs 3,480 smokers, vapers in three months

ILOILO CITY — The Iloilo City Anti-Smoking Task Force (ICAST) apprehended 3,480 individuals, including nine minors, for smoking cigarettes or using vape products from June to August this year as the city government steps up enforcement and advocacy.

ICAST executive director Iñigo Garingalao said monthly apprehensions never fell below 1,000 during the period.

Data from ICAST showed 1,115 individuals were apprehended in June, 1,151 in July, and 1,214 in August.

Of the total, 3,062 were civilians, 130 were students, 289 were drivers, and nine were minors.

“Drivers still seem not to understand the regulations. The number of minors, however, has decreased. Previously, there were more minors, but we have managed to bring that number down,” Garingalao said in an interview last week.

The three-month operation led to the confiscation of 3,103 cigarettes and 377 vape devices.

From Sept. 1 to 15, ICAST confiscated another 617 cigarettes and 67 vape devices.

The June-to-August tally is nearly equal to the 3,507 apprehensions ICAST logged across the entire first half of 2024, when the task force reported 600 students and 10 minors among violators. ICAST apprehended 10,725 violators for the whole of 2023.

Iloilo City’s comprehensive anti-smoking ordinance prohibits smoking and vaping in public places and public transport, with violators issued citation tickets and fined.

Garingalao said the city government is strengthening its campaign by establishing Iloilo City as a non-smoking environment while investing in education and involving young people in anti-smoking advocacy.

He said the campaign has three major components: enforcement, awareness, and compliance.

“The approach is to make the city a non-smoking environment. You may have noticed that there are no advertisements for these products, and the fines are also becoming higher,” Garingalao said.

He said the campaign cannot rely solely on a total ban because regulation of tobacco and nicotine products is a national policy matter.

Nationally, Republic Act 9211, the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003, and Republic Act 11900, the Vaporized Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Products Regulation Act of 2022, govern the sale and marketing of cigarettes and vape products, leaving local governments to regulate use in public spaces.

“There is the apprehension component, the awareness component, and there are reasons why you cannot simply ban these products. A total ban is a national decision,” he said.

“Since there is no ban yet, we focus on protecting our own community. We also protect the choices of children because this is generational,” he added.

Garingalao described smoking as a generational issue, noting that children can be influenced by what they see in their homes and communities.

“That is why it continues. It is the reality that children see in their communities. Even though there are many lessons about the diseases and deaths caused by smoking, it seems to take time to influence people if they are not educated or have not experienced it themselves,” he said.

Garingalao said ICAST conducts anti-smoking programs for children as young as about 4 years old and continues these efforts through the elementary, high school, college, and university levels.

He noted that the task force also works with medical students and health organizations.

Garingalao said ICAST is primarily mandated to handle apprehension and enforcement, but the task force has taken on a broader advocacy role to raise awareness.

“We took it upon ourselves to promote advocacy and awareness. That is why we have partnerships with health organizations,” he said.

Garingalao said the city’s campaign remains satisfactory but acknowledged that more work needs to be done, particularly as new nicotine products emerge.

“One of the things we need to confront is that there will be new devices that deliver nicotine, such as heated products, those that produce no smoke, or even products like chewing gum that can still affect the youth. The city should prepare in terms of legislation and enforcement in the future,” he said.

He said the emergence of new nicotine products requires a community-wide response.

“These things should be confronted in a community way. This should not involve only ICAST because it also affects parents and future generations. Everybody is affected, so everybody should be involved,” Garingalao said.

Garingalao said enforcement operations will continue, with ICAST deploying three teams daily, each composed of six to eight personnel.

He said one of the teams focuses on checking establishments for compliance with local anti-smoking ordinances.

“The rule of thumb in anti-smoking programs is that they have to be continuous. They need to be sustained, and that is a hard thing to do when there is a change in the local chief executive,” he added.