Nabas Tourists Destination Declared Smoke and Vape Free during World No Tobacco Day Celebration

Nabas, Aklan- Nabas Municipality, a relatively quiet town, just next door to Malay Municipality, which happens to be more famous for its world renowned island of Boracay.  Not to be left behind, Nabas has its own share of natural, yet still unspoiled charm and friendly residents.

Among its noteworthy and scenic landscapes include its rugged beaches, meandering hills and mountains, lesser known caves and springs, interesting monuments, hill top windmills, and kid-friendly parks and plazas.  With this vast assortment of interesting go-to places for adventurers and the whole family, and a mayor with a strong vision for a healthier society living in an environmentally sustainable community, Nabas declared its beaches, parks and tourist destinations as smoke and vape-free — meaning that everyone in it gets to be fully protected from all sorts of smoke and vape pollutants since Municipal Mayor Maria Fe T. Lasaleta recently signed Executive Order No. 2024-33 — An Executive Order Declaring All Beaches, Parks, Springs, Plazas, Tourist Destinations and Other Public Places as Smoke Free and Vape Free Areas in the Municipality of Nabas, Aklan.

Highlighting this commitment to preserve and enforce a higher standard of health and safety for all, particularly the young, which likewise benefit visitors and transients, the municipal government of Nabas formally declares these destinations as smoke free and vape free, following the same restrictions in the usual public places where smoking and vaping are not allowed under Municipal Smokefree Ordinance No. 2019-83  (such as those within schools, facilities for minors, public buildings, health facilities, establishments and public transport) while it hosts the annual World No Tobacco Day (WNTD), globally observed on the 31^st day of May of each year, and under the auspices of the World Health Organization (WHO) which has different themes every year.  For 2024 the theme couldn’t have been more timely, as this year is about “Protecting Children from Tobacco Industry Interference”. This is an attempt to remind governments to pay particular attention to industry tactics, particularly as it continues to deceive and manipulate policy and regulation agencies, keeping their powers clipped amidst poorly structured laws, all while it inches closer and closer to having their products promoted both directly and indirectly to children, using new narratives that claim lower risk novel products, like e-cigarettes, heated tobacco and even smokeless products containing nicotine, intended to convince future smokers and substance dependents.

The WNTD observance in Nabas, which likewise served as the launch pad for the newly announced Executive Order, will involve convergence of the community members with supporters coming from institutional health partners such as Aklan Provincial Health Office (PHO), its Smokefree Aklan team, international health partner, Vital Strategies and national organization, Action on Smoking & Health (ASH) Philippines, along with Smokefree Philippines (SmokefreePH), a national smokefree campaign coordinated to complement tobacco control efforts across the country, and where their respective representatives shared the stage with Mayor Lasaleta in giving inspirational messages for all Nabasnons.

The day’s event was also a mixture of friendly and informative interactive games; a group Zumba session to energize the crowd; photo op sessions where participants donned colorful fans which when put together also spelled out the social media slogan #SmokefreeNabas, meant to inspire netizens to use the hasthag message in various platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, X(Twitter), or even Tiktok, to spread the word and inspire even other LGUs to follow in Nabas’s footsteps.

The morning activities started at the multipurpose gym of Barangay Buenavista then transitioned to the press conference hosted by Mayor Lasaleta at the Municipal Hall, along with other panelists to shed more light on the ground-breaking initiative in Nabas.

From 2015 to 2019, e-cigarette use among Filipino teenagers aged 13 to 15 increased by 110%, according to the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) data for the Philippines in 2019, and reports that 14.1% of them used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days, whereas 24.6% have already initiated using e-cigarettes. Health Secretary, Ted Herbosa, early on appealed to the PNP to step up enforcement to prevent youth access to vape products.  In a separate statement, pulmonologist Dr. Maricar Limpin of Action on Smoking and Health-Philippines, said, “This alarming trend is not a coincidence but a result of the tobacco industry’s calculated marketing tactics targeting the youth. We know that these products are dangerous but are designed as ‘smoke-free’ options which only feed deception to the younger people.”