President Rodrigo Duterte finally signed the executive order that bans smoking in public areas according to fake news site, aljazeera-tv.com.
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According to the article, Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial told the media that the draft of the executive order (EO) had already been signed by President Duterte and that they will soon start releasing laws for graphic health warnings in relation to tobacco products.
The article further discussed the policies that will allegedly be enforced in public smoking areas. It also said that the aim of this EO is to model the Philippines from Davao City, the city formerly served by Duterte, which also observes a strict policy in public smoking.
However, this news claimed by aljazeera-tv.com that Duterte already signed the EO was proven by Meme Buster to be fake. The EO banning public smoking nationwide is yet to be signed by the President.
Talks about an EO about a nationwide smoking ban started surfacing around October in 2016. The EO which was patterned after the Davao City ordinance which banned smoking in public areas as well as vehicles has been submitted to Duterte as early as October 2016.
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This was confirmed by the Health Secretary last October 10, saying that it was already up for review by the President.
However, no signing of the said EO has been done by the President after the draft passed last October was allegedly lost in the Malacanang. Ubial confirmed that after Duterte said the draft was lost, they had passed another draft of the EO to the Malacanang.
Now after Duterte signed an EO on family planning, anti-smoking advocates had once again asked him on when he will sign the EO that will prohibit smoking in public places nationwide.
Despite the long wait for the signing of the executive order, Health Secretary Ubial and all the anti-smoking advocates remain positive and hope that it can finally signed by this January.
“We followed it up in Malacanang and they said it is already with the Office of the President. Hopefully, it can already be signed within January,” Ubial said.
Sources: (rappler.com, sunstar.com, cnnphilippines.com)
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