Caloocan holds youth summit against smoking

MANILA, Philippines - The Caloocan City government held last week the Student Helping Others Understand Tobacco (SHOUT) summit, in consonance with the Department of Education’s (DepEd) directive banning cigarettes in the vicinity of public schools.

Mayor Enrico Echiverri and Liga ng mga Barangay sa Pilipinas president Ricojudge Echiverri led the SHOUT summit, which also aims to turn the National Capital Region (NCR) 100 percent smoking-free.

The mayor said the summit, held at the City Hall’s Bulwagang Katipunan, was the “perfect opportunity” to tell students about the harmful effects of smoking, not only to smokers but including those around them.

Echiverri said Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino; Dr. Maricar Limpin, executive director of Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance; Rowena Daroy-Morales of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law Foundation; Romela Cruz, education program supervisor of the Caloocan City School Division; Dr. Loida Alzona, project director enforcement of the Smoke Free Environment Policy and anti-smoking advocate Emer Rojas were the lead guests of the event, which was also organized by the Caloocan Local Tobacco Control Council.

Rojas was a radio announcer and chain smoker who lost his voice when he developed cancer of the vocal chords, which were surgically removed. He can speak with the use of a device that makes him sound like a robot.

Echiverri hopes the summit would help convince the youth not to smoke.