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UP students push for smoke-free campus
ANOTHER new and radical event is taking place at
the University of the Philippines campus grounds: the students are
pushing for a smoke-free campus.
A survey conducted by the UP Association of
Political Science Majors showed that the larger number of students
want the campus to be smoke-free “because they know that the
majority will benefit from this. But we are curious as to how this
will be enforced on such a big campus,” said Kat Villamin, vice
president for Academics of the organization.
University president Emerlinda Roman signed an
Administrative Order recently declaring the entire university a
smoke-free zone. Since then, however, the AO has generated
controversy because most of the deans of colleges have not yet
specified designated smoking areas.
“The question remains, if designated smoking
areas are allowed, where are these areas? It should be mapped out
and everyone should be notified,” CSSP Student Council president
Stephanie Tan said.
“Until designated areas are assigned, smoking
anywhere inside and around any college building . . . is considered
a violation of the Administrative Order. Violators will be dealt
with proper disciplinary action,” said Marvic Leonen, UP vice
president for Legal Affairs.
Gradually preparing the scholars for a total
smoking ban in 2010, some level of smoking within the premises of
the 493-hectare Diliman campus is tolerated. This condition is a
more lenient version of Republic Act 9211, otherwise known as the
Tobacco Regulation Law, which requires an absolute smoking ban.
According to the AO, designated smoking areas
may be assigned but shall not be turned into “privileged meeting
places” for smokers and nonsmokers alike.
“The idea is to protect students from smoking
and from secondhand smoke. A smoking area that is used as a
privileged meeting place serves as an advertisement for smoking. The
University cannot allow this because it is responsible for the
health and well-being of its students,” Leonen said.
After three years, when UP Diliman becomes
totally smoke-free, smoking will only be allowed outside of a
100-square-meter perimeter of the campus, which is bounded by Balara
to the east, and Philcoa on the west.
Last month, over a hundred UP students filed an
intervention to a court case brought by Fortune Tobacco against the
Inter-Agency Committee on Tobacco. In the case filed on September 5
at the Marikina Regional Trial Court, the student-intervenors
expressed their concern over how the outdoor advertising ban should
be interpreted.
“We want all tobacco advertising to be taken
away from our lives, including store billboards and signages. These
advertisements are meant to entice people to start the habit of
smoking, and are primarily aimed at teenagers and young adults,”
student-intervenor Diana Trivino said.
Another reminder to quit smoking
QUITTING smoking is a challenge that is not for
sprinters. Rather, it’s a call for those who take a step-by-step
pace. And as the classic fable on tortoise and hare has taught us, a
steady approach may always be the wisest approach to win the race.
In the United States, this has become
pharmaceutical brand Pfizer’s approach in launching the new
varenicline tartrate ads through branded direct-to-consumer
advertising. The ads were launched recently to show smokers that
quitting is not easy and often requires multiple attempts and a
behavioral support program. Varenicline tartrate is a prescription
medicine that helps adults quit smoking.
Earlier, unbranded advertisements were shown to
the public to generate curiosity on the link between the famous
fable and the attempt to quit smoking. Pfizer even aired special
commercials featuring a tortoise and a hare walking down a red
carpet during the Emmy Awards.
But the centerpiece is a 60-second TV ad opening
with the images of the two fable characters at the beginning of a
winding green road. Viewers then hear a voice-over saying, “If
you’ve tried more than once to quit smoking, you know it’s a
challenge that’s not for sprinters. If only you could manage to
stay on that quitting road.”
In the Philippines, Pfizer, in partnership with
the Philippine College of Chest Physicians, has also engaged with
consumers more meaningfully through its “Treat to Quit” print
ad. The smoking cessation ad shows that smokers can beat their habit
by seeking medical assistance to treat their nicotine dependence.
The campaign for this innovative medicine, the
brand is hoping that more smokers will have the drive to quit,
knowing that there’s help available for them.
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