SMOKE-FREE AWARDS. Winners of the 2019 Search for 100% Smoke-Free Establishments in Legazpi City are shown after receiving their plaque of commendation at the AVP Function Hall on Tuesday (March 3, 2020). At least 133 establishments including schools, national government agencies, hospitals and barangays received the awards. (Photo by Emmanuel Solis)
LEGAZPI CITY – The City Health Office (CHO) here on Tuesday awarded 133 offices, places and businesses for winning the 2019 Search for 100% Smoke-Free Establishments.
During the awarding ceremony at the AVP Function Hall here, Mayor Noel E. Rosal and City Health Officer Dr. Fulbert Gillego handed over a plaque of commendation to all the representatives of the winning establishments that included restaurants, villages, hospitals and government agencies.
Rosal, in his message, said the implementation of the city’s smoke-free ordinance is a shared responsibility among different groups like religious organizations, national government agencies, business sector, law enforcers and CHO as the lead implementing office here.
“We are not banning the smoking but we are only regulating it in Legazpi,” he said.
Rosal encouraged all the awardees, particularly the owners of air-conditioned business establishments, to also designate areas for smokers.
He commended all those who received the citation and the members of the Smoke-Free Enforcing Team for their full support to the implementation of the city’s smoke-free program.
Rosal said his administration has put up billboards, signage and videos in different public places, conveyances and other crowded areas as part of promoting Legazpi as smoke-free territory.
He urged smokers not to light up their cigarettes in any public place to help others avoid second-hand smoke.
Jaime Olarte, chief of the Smoke-Free Enforcing Team, said his office apprehended 1,486 violators of the smoking ordinance in 2019 and 70 percent of them were individual violators or those smoking in public places while the remaining 30 percent smoked in business establishments.
Olarte said his team has regularly conducted night inspections in different establishments in Legazpi.
The awards were divided into four categories: the Hall of Famers, the Red, Pink and White Awards.
The Hall of Famers were those that had a rating of 100 percent for three consecutive years while the Red category awardees were those establishments that received a rating of 100 percent for the first and second years. The Pink awardees were those who had a rating of 95-99 percent while the White category winners were those that received ratings of 90-94 percent.
The Hall of Fame award for being 100-percent smoke-free was given to the Reyes Science High School, Koron Native Cuisine and the Vista Mayon Pensioner.
In the Red category, some of those awarded were the Social Security System, Commission on Higher Education, Department of Public Works and Highways, Land Transportation Office, Department of Budget and Management, Bureau of Local Government Finance, Bureau of Fire Protection, Legazpi City Hall and Legazpi City Water District.
For the Pink category, the awardees included the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, National Telecommunications Commission, National Economic Development Authority, Environmental Management Bureau, National Police Commission and the Commission on Population.
The White awardees, on the other hand, included the Department of Science and Technology, City Engineering Office, National Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Legazpi City’s Smoke-Free Program started with the implementation of Ordinance No. 0007-2009 or the revised smoke-free law authored by former councilor and now Board Member Roly Rosal.
The ordinance was enacted by the Sangguniang Panlungsod and approved by former then Mayor Geraldine Rosal in 2009. (PNA)
