DAVAO CITY’s accolades on account of its anti-smoking ordinance, the latest of which is the third-in-a-row Red Orchid Award, installing the city as a hall-of-famer, are well-deserved.
It feels good for “patriotic” Dabawenyos to take note that the anti-smoking ordinance actually anti-dated the other smoking ordinances in many other parts of the country.
Now, anti-smoking champions, chiefly Vice Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte, Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio and Dr. Domilyn Villareiz of the antui-smoking task force, want compliance to the ordinance total. This means that there will no longer be smoking areas in commercial establishment, wherein their customers and clients are allowed to smoke. These smoking areas were authorized by the city government. Those who allowed smoking without local government authority found themselves in trouble as their owners were charged criminaly for violating the ordinance. This reminds us of of the acts of defiance of Liquid Bar, a watering hole inside Apo View Hotel, and much later, the Korean-operated casino also inside Apo View. The operators questioned the legality of the ordinance. However, the cases became moot and academic when both business establishments went bankrupt and folded.
In a way, the aspiration for total compliance of the ordinance is no big deal, considering that there are only 20 authorized smoking areas in all 34,000 business establishments licensed to operate in the city. It will only take a gentle rap on the knuckle, if moral suasion won’t work, to achieve this ideal situation. Twenty is peanuts to an enforcer with political will, so to speak.
As to people who think that the smoking ban is bad for tourism, they only need to be reminded that plane passengers all over the world do not mind not being able to smoke in flights that last as long as 18 hours. Also, there is a race among posh hotels worldwide as to the number no-smoking floors they can offer to tourists and they openly advertise this like any other come-ons.
