By Perla Lena/PNA
ILOILO CITY –– The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) will subject to proper consultation the request of the City Health Office (CHO) to pass a resolution “to hire only non-smoking personnel or undergo the cessation program being offered by the office.”
The move aims to “put a halt to the debilitating disease brought about by the harmful effects of smoking,” City Health Officer Bernard L. Caspe, said in his letter furnished to the office of City Councilor Candice Magdalane A. Tupas.
“As a grand slam Red Orchid awardee, Iloilo City should consider healthy and sound city government employees, free from smoking and its hazardous threat to one’s health. This screening program will benefit not just the individual but the government workplace as well,” he added.
The Red Orchid Award is bestowed to cities, municipalities, government offices and health facilities strictly enforcing tobacco control measures.
Meanwhile, Tupas, a doctor by profession, said she is inclined to make it a requirement that personnel who smoke will have to consult with the cessation clinic.
She emphasized though that being a smoker is not a reason for a person to be refused employment at the city hall. “That would be discriminating upon that person,” Tupas said in an interview Thursday.
She added that as an advocate of good health, it is necessary that one should stop smoking.
She said that Caspe would like to make it a rule that if smokers want to be work at city hall, they should go through consultation at the smoking cessation clinic.
“I am hoping that personnel, as early as now, would realize that there is really no benefit to our health in terms of smoking. It would all just be adverse effects,” she said, adding that going through counseling would make them understand and commit to a healthier lifestyle.
Before the SP could issue a resolution, the committees on rules and health have to call for a hearing to get the pulse of stakeholders.
Iloilo City Anti-Smoking Task Force Executive Director Iñigo Garingalao supports the proposal to encourage smokers to seek help from the cessation clinic.
He said that it’s a fact that smoking has an effect on how they perform their job. He added that even the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals acknowledged that a smoking environment derails progress due to the ailment it brings.
