SABLAN, Benguet — The Sablan Municipal Advisory Council recently approved a resolution “requesting the Sablan Municipal Council to enact an ordinance to totally ban the selling of cigarette in the municipality.”
“The council wanted to boost the campaign of the municipality by banning the selling of cigarette to protect those persons who are no yet inclined to smoking,” the resolution read.
Sablan MAC Chairman and outgoing Municipal Mayor Arthur Baldo said that having a total ban on sale of cigarette in the municipality would give protection to the younger generation since there have been alleged reports of students and pupils who were seen smoking near school premises.
“By banning the sale of cigarette, the youth and even the rest of the residents of Sablan are protected and are veered away from smoking or even from merely trying to smoke,” Baldo said.
With the approval and implementation of a “No Smoking Ordinance” in 2011 which prohibits any person from smoking in public utility vehicles, government-owned vehicles, public buildings, public places, enclosed public places or any enclosed area in the municipality, Sablan has been vying for the Red Orchid Awards.
Red Orchid award is given by the Department of Health to local government units, government offices and hospitals implementing 100% tobacco-free environments.
Sablan has been a consistent Red Orchid Awardee and has become a Hall of Famer back in 2017 along with the town of La Trinidad in Benguet and the towns of Lamut and Hungduan in Ifugao.
Sablan MPS Acting Police Chief, Captain Cyril Laurence Tubongbanua said that the resolution on the total ban on the sale of cigarette in the municipality is among the actions of the MAC that led to the conferment of the Silver Eagle Award in the Proficiency Evaluation Process.
The MAC serves as an advisory body to the Municipal Police Station to support the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) quest to oversee the implementation of the PNP Integrated Transformation Program-Performance Government System (PNP ITP PGS), which aims to make good governance a shared responsibility of the PNP and various stakeholders.
Sablan MPS MAC is composed of the mayor as the chair with the different representatives from the local government unit, and with the different sectors involving the youth, senior citizen, women’s, business, non-government organization, the academe and the media. (JDP/RMC & UC Interns PIA-CAR)
