Various medical groups joined the City Government and the Bacolod Anti-Smoking Task Force, led by Mayor Albee Benitez and Councilor Simple Distrito, in the celebration of World No Tobacco Day at the Bacolod Government Center lobby Wednesday.
The event started with a motorcade followed by a unified signing of the Philippine College of Chest Physicians (PCCP) Position Statement on Electronic Cigarettes and Smoking.
Joining PCCP were the Philippine Medical Society, Philippine Pediatric Society, Negros Occidental Medical Society, and the City Health Office of Bacolod.
Former Bacolod councilor Caesar Distrito, author of C.O. 641 or the Comprehensive Bacolod Anti-Smoking Ordinance series of 2013, and C.O. No. 09-17-817 or the E-Cigarettes Regulation Ordinance, was the guest speaker.
“It is both my personal and community advocacy to campaign against smoking. My father, the late Ronnie Distrito and my grandfather, Mariano Distrito, both died due to the ill effects of smoking. Effects of Secondary Smoking is even much dangerous; thus, people should be educated and at the same time, be disciplined from smoking cigarettes and vaping,” Caesar Distrito said.
Distrito’s advocacy against anti-smoking expressly reminds the citizens of Bacolod to be better informed and be more responsible with regards to the ill effects of smoking and secondary smoking.*
