Reality bites

We were hoping to savor the exhilaration of turning over a new leaf. But the first day of 2022 comes with a deadly pabaon.

Even with the clampdown on firecrackers, our 2021 ended with a bang. We wrote last week of relishing the respite of a suddenly safer season. Last Dec. 30, however, we climbed to 1,623 new COVID-19 cases and a positivity rate of 6.6 percent. This after we dwindled to our lowest point of 168 cases and 0.8 percent positivity in mid-December.

Compounding the predicament is the slowdown in vaccinations. Per the DOH Resbakuna information portal, we hit only a 487,970 daily average in the last seven days. Far cry from the 1 million daily IATF target which could have provided that extra layer of insulation.

The startling statistic is the slowdown in first jabs. Last Dec. 28, there were only 70,092 first doses as against 786,214 second doses. This suggests that we are approaching the saturation point for the population willing to get the vaccine. So far, a little over 57 million nationwide have received their first jabs, accounting for over 50 percent of our approximately 111 million population. Per the latest SWS survey, only 64 percent answered surely or probably to getting the vaccine. A slowdown compromises our herd immunity target of a high 80 percent. The IATF will factor this in to their plans moving forward.

Black holes. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources Administrative Order No. 2021-40 permitting open pit mining has surprised us. This controversial issuance reversed the administration’s long standing DAO No. 2017-10 ban which acknowledged that open-pit mines cause “adverse impacts to the environment, particularly due to the generation of acidic and/or heavy metal-laden water, erosion of mine waste dumps and/or vulnerability of tailings dams to geological hazards.”

This reversal reverberates as the country knows of the presidential position against open pit mining. His contempt was captured in his “it has created a monster” statement in 2018. Last November of 2017, we wrote about how President Rodrigo Roa Duterte decided to uphold the ban on open pit mining even against the explicit recommendation of his Environment and Natural Resources Secretary and the Mining Industry Coordinating Council.

And we congratulated Secretary Gina Lopez: “We enjoy the last laugh with you. Your brief moment clearly struck a chord not just with the people who have embraced your passion and advocacy but, most importantly, with the Man himself. x x x When the confirmation of Sec. Lopez was scuttled, no one seriously expected that her legacy projects protecting the environment would outlast her. But they didn’t account for a President’s vaunted political will.”

All is erased with this reality bite.

Another one bites the dust. Even up to the Dec 2021/Jan 2022 online issue of Vanity Fair, there was a reference to the Philippines where you can be arrested for vaping in public. In the literature on this volatile topic worldwide, our strong anti-vape policy is invariably invoked.

In the US, major states have banned the retail sale of flavored e-cigarette products. New York and California have hiked the minimum age for purchasing e-cigarettes from 18 up to 21. Americans are making it more difficult for the younger generation to get hooked.

In contrast, the Philippines is making it so easy. Our congressmen and senators would inexplicably lower the threshold age of access to 18 when, under the present law RA 11467, the minimum age stands at 21.

The Lazarus reset. The Philippines already prohibits the sale nationwide of flavored vaping products, other than plain tobacco or plain menthol. We’ve beaten the US to the draw on all these foregoing counts. But these statutory protections will soon be erased under SB 2239 together with HB 9007.

The strange about-face also hands to DTI the prerogative from the FDA over e-cigarettes flavors and additives. Senator Pia Cayetano asks: “What business does the Department of Trade and Industry have to regulate health?”

The conference committee will not see legislative second thoughts. Clear public sentiment against the bill did not deter vape loving senators who have been accused of passing the bill “in haste while the medical profession was pre-occupied by the pandemic.”

But the President’s position is a brick wall. He fulminated against the practice, ordered arrest of users even without a law and later issued his EO 106 formalizing the regulation of vaping. He acknowledged the WHO report explaining that e-cigarettes emit aerosol that commonly includes toxic substances. These may increase the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Hence, the veto watch.

Rod the child, spare the man. The main target market is ostensibly the adult sector. But collateral damage is our youth, lured by marketing campaigns unapologetically youth oriented (fruit and candy flavors; packaging as pens or USB drives). For many, the enslavement of the youth is a price too high to pay for the salvation of adults.

The internet is the most common retail source of e-cigarettes to minors. There are no effective mechanisms to verify the age of buyers. Yet, the Senate bill’s provisions on online trade are intentionally obtuse. In the US, a face-to-face ID check of online orders at point of delivery is required by law. Strangely, our senators have not inserted this provision as an added safeguard.

The risk of severe pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome is a reality of COVID-19. Lung power is critical to surviving the virus. Smoking e-cigarettes impairs that. We have come to terms with this as eight of 10 Filipinos surveyed by Pulse Asia acknowledge vaping to be a serious health hazard.

Forty-eight medical associations reject it, the Department of Health is against it and the Department of Finance favors a total ban because of the uncertain health implications. Even if this means foregoing P1.4 billion in tax revenues, according to Rep. Joey Salceda. But to Congress, equal protection means balancing the health concerns of the youth with the health concerns of the addicted.