ARREST ORDER VS. VAPERS. Police Regional Office 7 (Central Visayas) Director, Brig. Gen. Valeriano de Leon, orders all unit commanders to conduct police visibility and arrest vapers who will be puffing in public places, during a press conference at Camp Sergio Osmeña Sr. on Wednesday (Nov. 20, 2019). De Leon's order came after President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday (Nov. 19, 2019) ordered a ban on the use and importation of e-cigarette, following the first confirmed case of vape-related lung injury in Central Visayas. (PNA file photo)
CEBU CITY – The region’s top police official on Wednesday ordered the arrest of “vapers” who will puff their e-cigarettes in public places.
Brig. Gen. Valeriano de Leon, chief of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 (Central Visayas), said all police unit commanders in the region will start conducting police visibility in public places to protect the people from electronic smoke.
“I am ordering my men to arrest those who will smoke e-cigarettes and confiscate vapes in public places in (the) Central Visayas region. As President Duterte said, this is an issue of public health and your police ha(s) this obligation to protect the people from the negative effects of smoke coming from vapers,” he told reporters here.
De Leon’s order came after President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday that he will ban the use and importation of vape, following the first confirmed case of e-cigarette- or vape-associated lung injury (EVALI) in the country.
The case of a 16-year-old girl from Central Visayas was first confirmed in a report submitted by her attending physician to the Department of Health central office, which was later confirmed by Dr. Jaime Bernadas, the department’s regional director here.
According to de Leon, the case of the teenage resident of Consolacion “should serve as a wake-up call for the police and other government agencies to act together to protect the public.”
The case should also serve as a warning to vapers on the dangers of using e-cigarettes, he said.
“There is Executive Order 26 and this will be used to run after these vapers. They should not do it in public, otherwise, they will end up in police stations,” de Leon warned.
He also ordered his commanders to coordinate with barangay officials to tap the barangay tanods or village watchmen as augmentation force in implementing the President’s order against vapers.
“We need to work together on this. Barangay officials are of great help to run after vapers,” he said.
De Leon also instructed his men to account for all the vape stores in Central Visayas and to coordinate with them to be partners in warning vapers not to smoke in public. (PNA)
