Youth advocates call out PHL gov’t inconsistencies on tobacco

By Joseph Bernard A. Marzan

QUEZON CITY — Youth advocates pushing against the tobacco industry’s interference in the country called out the national government’s inconsistencies in addressing tobacco-related public health issues and international commitments.

Kabataan Partylist, Philippine Smoke-Free Movement (PSFM), TobacOFF NOW!, the Positive Youth Development Network (PYDN), the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD), Parents Against Vape, and the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) held a media event in Quezon City on Nov. 27, 2025.

The groups publicly demanded accountability from the Philippine government to reflect on its participation and realign its position with strong public health interests following the eleventh session of the Conference of the Parties (COP11) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

The coalition noted that COP11 achieved little progress on key areas, including accelerating the tobacco endgame and ensuring accountability of tobacco and nicotine product manufacturers for the health, social, economic, and environmental harms of tobacco.

They also noted, however, that the parties’ commitment to core health protections remained stalled, despite strong support from the majority of countries, especially regarding tobacco product regulation, preventing tobacco consumption, rejecting the tobacco industry’s false harm reduction narrative, and protecting public health from industry interference.

SEATCA Executive Director Dr. Ulysses Dorotheo expressed concern about the Philippine delegation’s doublespeak on display at COP11.

He emphasized how the Philippines barely avoided a sixth straight Dirty Ashtray award, simply for not being as bad as other countries in its statements against tobacco control.

The Dirty Ashtray award is a public shaming tool given by the Global Alliance for Tobacco Control, used to call out countries influenced by lobbying from the tobacco industry.

Actions considered under the award include accepting, supporting, or endorsing legislation or policies that favor tobacco industry players such as cigarette manufacturers.

“The Philippine delegation avoided a sixth Dirty Ashtray award at COP11 only because it wasn’t as bad as other parties. Its inconsistent and ambivalent statements are a sign of fractured government leadership. If the government continues to protect the tobacco industry’s interests, it will continue to fail in its duty to protect the health of all Filipinos from tobacco and nicotine addiction,” Dorotheo said.

PSFM National Coordinator Rizza Duro said the national government should uphold Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) 2010-01 of the Department of Health (DOH) and the Civil Service Commission (CSC), which aims to protect the bureaucracy against tobacco industry interference.

The memo circular, issued in June 2010, outlined several prohibitions, including unnecessary interaction with and preferential treatment of the tobacco industry, accepting gifts, donations, and sponsorships, financial interest in the tobacco industry, accepting other related favors, conflict of interest, and engaging in an occupational activity with the tobacco industry.

“As we work to translate our commitments at COP11 into actionable tobacco control solutions, we urge the Philippine government to reject any form of tobacco industry interference and to uphold [DOH-CSC JMC 2010-01], which aims to protect the bureaucracy from the tobacco industry. We also call on government officials to be transparent and truthful about the extent of their engagements with the tobacco industry,” Duro said.

TobacOFF NOW! Movement Communications Lead Vonn Vincent Tanchuan expressed that while showing up at COP11 was notable, the Philippine government should prioritize public health over profiteering from tobacco industry partnerships.

“We recognize the great strides governments made at COP11; however, back home, we continue the call for the Philippine government to prioritize our health over profits,” Tanchuan said.

“We stand ready to support DOH’s call for a nationwide ban on vapes, but we also challenge the government further to fully reject the tobacco industry’s harm reduction narrative and address misinformation about this dangerous claim: Electronic smoking devices are equally unsafe and are designed to addict the new generation—our generation—to nicotine,” he added.

KABATAAN Party-list Rep. Renee Louise Co said the growing number of minors dying from smoking and vaping should be a wake-up call to the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration to act.

“The staggering figure of 112,000 preventable deaths yearly in the Philippines due to tobacco is alarming, not to mention the growing number of minors who are using vapes and other nicotine products,” Co said.

“The failure to move forward on critical policies and help protect the youth—like flavor bans and strict regulation of new product development—is a victory for the tobacco industry and a defeat for public health. There is no Bagong Pilipinas, at ‘Bawat Buhay Manganganib’ if we do not act on it now,” she added.