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DepEd supports EO on smoking ban

Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones lauded the signing of Executive Order (EO) No. 26, which provides for the establishment of smok...

Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones lauded the signing of Executive Order (EO) No. 26, which provides for the establishment of smoke-free environments in public and enclosed places.

“The Executive Order will sustain the gains of DepEd in its implementation of its own comprehensive tobacco control policy, which has been in place even before the EO was signed,” Briones said.

Last year, the Department issued DepEd Order (DO) No. 48, s. 2016, or the Policy and Guidelines on Comprehensive Tobacco Control, which put together the series of issuances on tobacco use and related concerns that the Department has released for over a period of more than two decades.

Though it is indicated in the EO 26 that nothing in the order shall compel persons-in-charge to establish designated smoking areas (DSAs) nor prevent them from instituting more stringent measures in their buildings to better ensure a smoke-free environment in their premises, DepEd, through DO 48, prohibits the establishment of DSAs not only in schools, as mandated by the law, but in all DepEd offices.

DO 48 tasks the Child Protection Committee (CPC) of each school to report violations of tobacco control measures at the school level. The CPC, whose chairperson is the school principal, shall report violations not only of the absolute smoking ban in the premises of schools, but also of the ban on the sale, advertisement, and promotion of tobacco products in and within the 100-meter perimeter of the premises of all schools. The newly signed EO reinforces this duty and responsibility of school principals.

EO 26 will further ensure the success of DepEd’s comprehensive tobacco control policy, as it enjoins local governments to form a local Smoke-Free Task Force. With the EO in place, LGUs will be more responsive to the violation reports being raised by schools.

DO 48 also prohibits all DepEd officials and personnel from partnering with or receiving donations from organizations, entities, associations, and individuals who work for and in behalf of the tobacco industry.

As part of its 10-Point Agenda, the Department will continue partnerships with the private sector, but this does not include tobacco companies and NGOs that receive funding from tobacco companies.

The ban on tobacco sponsorship is in compliance to the joint memorandum circular issued by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and the Department of Health (DOH) in 2010, pursuant to Article 5.3 of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control ratified by the Philippines in 2005. (DepEd)

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