Anti-Tobacco Expert Cites PHL’s Civil Service Commission, Health Dept. Initiatives VS Tobacco Interference

The Philippine government has bucked the odds in protecting its public health policy on tobacco control from the tobacco industry, an official of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease has said.

“(The) Philippines has done it,” Dr. Ehsan Latif said during the Forum on Good Governance of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) held at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila on Wednesday.

Latif said the country has succeeded in implementing Article 5.3 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) when the CSC and the Department of Health issued the Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) on the protection of the bureaucracy against tobacco industry interference.

“History tells that the tobacco industry, when it interacts with government officials, it tries to stop, effective public health policies,” the expert said in an interview with the Philippine News Agency.

The FCTC article states that “in setting and implementing their public health policies with respect to tobacco control, Parties (to the Convention) shall act to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law”.

“The Philippines’ Joint Memorandum Circular is a very good step because it bars the civil servants, departments from interacting with the tobacco industry unnecessarily,” he said, adding that it is one of a kind and he promotes it whenever he goes.

Consistent with the FCTC article, the JMC prohibits public officials and employees from unneccessary interaction with and giving preferential treatment to the tobacco industry; and accepting gifts, donations and sponsorships from the industry, among others.

“(The circular) applies to government officers, employees, including officers of Government-Owned and -Controlled Corporations (GOCCs), state colleges and universities,” Latif said, citing that the JMC helps promote transparency, integrity and accountability.

The tobacco industry, he said, should not influence public health policies, such as the Executive Order on the ban on smoking in public places which is awaiting the president’s signature.

The EO is expected to lead to the creation of ordinances in villages, towns and cities that would prevent smoking in public places.

Latif noted that to influence local governments, tobacco companies usually extend support or assistance to villages, towns and cities through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities, for instance, during calamities.

He also said that the tobacco industry influences politicians in areas that grow tobacco or manufacture tobacco products.

If anyone is profiting from tobacco farming, he said, “it is the tobacco industry—not the farmers, not the government, not the people”.

The tobacco industry has also resorted to intimidation, he said, noting that he himself has received threats.

“What we’re trying to say is if you want to apply the principles of good governance, the principles of (FCTC) Article 5.3, then you need to understand what the tobacco industry is doing,” he said.

The FCTC, the first treaty negotiated under the auspices of the World Health Organization, is an evidence-based treaty that reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health. It was developed in response to the globalization of the tobacco epidemic.

As a signatory to it, the Philippines supports its goal that the tobacco industry should not be allowed to hinder public policies.

According to the Article 5.3 guidelines, Parties to the Convention should refuse to treat tobacco corporations as “stakeholders” in public health policy; invest in the tobacco industry; partner with tobacco corporations to promote public health or other purposes; accept the tobacco industry’s so-called CSR schemes which are really just marketing by another name.

It also prohibits partnerships between the tobacco industry and governments; voluntary contributions by the tobacco industry to governments; investments by governments or public officials in the tobacco industry; and tobacco industry representation on government tobacco control bodies or FCTC delegations.

It also requires that government interactions with the tobacco industry be transparent through public hearings, public notice of interactions, and disclosure of records, as well as the disclosure of tobacco industry activities — production, manufacture, market share, revenues, marketing expenditures, philanthropy – with penalties for providing false or misleading information, and the disclosure or registration of tobacco industry affiliated entities, including lobbyists. (PNA)
CVL/LSJ