Archive - Smoking

Ilocanos are stereotyped as being kuripot (stingy with money). President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., an Ilocano, showed this side of him when he vetoed four bills approved by the previous Congress.

President Marcos Jr. did not heed the call of former health secretaries, heads of health agencies, and several medical groups to veto the contested vape bill.

In declaring tobacco as a health product, the Supreme Court (SC) has made “far-reaching” strides in interpreting tobacco laws and regulation, according to a former health undersecretary.

If Marcos enacts the vape bill or allows it to become law by July 24, the "absurd situation" cited in the Supreme Court decision will happen.

If President Rodrigo Duterte approves the vape bill before he leaves Malacanang on June 30, the Department of Health (DOH) says it will “result in an absurd situation” wherein similar products that cause harm and danger are regulated differently.

RA 11467 took full effect on May 25, after an 18-month transition period for manufacturers, distributors, importers, and sellers of vapor products to comply with its implementing rules and regulations.

More than four months have passed since Congress ratified in haste the proposed "Vaporized Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Products Regulation Act" or the vape bill, but the measure's final copy has yet to reach Malacañang for President Rodrigo Duterte to either sign or veto it, or to let it lapse into law after 30 days from submission.

Local government units are regulating the sale and use of e-cigarettes and other novel tobacco products, but some have liberal rules that allow persons as young as 18 years old to buy the products.

In the final year of the Duterte administration, Congress approved a bill that defies the chief executive’s anti-tobacco smoking and anti-vaping position.

Several provisions in the proposed Vaporized Nicotine and Non-nicotine Products Regulation Act or the vape bill, ratified by Congress on Jan. 26, have been contested by medical experts and health advocates, questioning the need for a new regulation on electronic nicotine and non-nicotine devices (ENDS/ENNDS) and heated tobacco products (HTPs).

Timeline of events before the passage of the new vape regulation.

The proposed Vaporized Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Production Regulation Act removes the two-flavor limit and allows online selling and advertising of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and heated tobacco products (HTPs), prompting health advocates to say that these provisions would entice younger people to try these and get them hooked on what can become a lifetime addiction.