(Unity statement of health advocates, experts, sectoral groups, and frontliners vs tobacco industry interference)
Let us be clear: in safeguarding Filipinos’ health, tobacco companies are neither allies nor friends.
The ongoing global pandemic has demonstrated the need for governments to have a strong public health system. Our Constitution declares that the Philippine government has the duty to promote and protect the public’s health. This duty is endangered when policies that aim to insulate government bureaucracy, officials, and policymaking from the profit-vested interests of the tobacco industry are removed, weakened or disregarded.
In 2010, the Department of Health (DOH) and the Civil Service Commission (CSC), in line with our obligations under the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), released Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) 2010-01. It secures policymaking from tobacco industry interference and provides a code of conduct requiring government officials to reject unnecessary interaction and engagement with the tobacco industry.
We, the undersigned, health advocates, public health experts, sectoral groups and frontliners affirm our support to DOH-CSC JMC 2010-001. The joint memorandum is among the policies that enable us to effectively implement evidence-based prevention strategies to reduce tobacco use and ultimately prevent deaths due to non-communicable diseases.
We reject and denounce the tactics and strategies employed by the tobacco industry and their front groups seeking to relax tobacco control policies in the country. In particular, we condemn the tobacco industry’s exploitation of the ongoing health crisis by using corporate social responsibility and donations to sanitize their name and distract the public from their role in the deaths, injuries, and the ruin of millions, worldwide.
The tobacco industry’s PR stunts can never hide the fact that annually, 117,000 Filipinos die from tobacco-related diseases. No donation from the tobacco industry can account for the 210 billion pesos annual economic loss due to tobacco-related hospitalization and productivity losses.
No act of corporate social responsibility can mask the reality that the tobacco industry should be held liable for smokers and non-smokers being more susceptible to severe COVID-19 symptoms due to respiratory problems and comorbidities caused by tobacco products and secondhand smoke.
We urge our government leaders, officials, and legislators to remain steadfast against moves by the tobacco industry and their fronts to ease policies on tobacco control. In fact, these policies should be upheld and their implementation strengthened.
There is no doubt: the move to repeal the JMC is in the interest of the tobacco industry. Removing this important wall between the Philippine bureaucracy and tobacco influence is serving Filipinos’ health on a silver platter to the tobacco industry and its profit-driven interests.
We urge our leaders: public health over profit. Kalusugan bago kita.
Signatories:
DR. JAIME GALVEZ-TAN
Former Health Secretary, 1995
DR. CARMENCITA REODICA
Former Health Secretary, 1996-1998
DR. MANUEL DAYRIT
Former Health Secretary, 2001-2005
DR. PAULYN JEAN UBIAL
Former Health Secretary, 2016-2017
ATTY. ALEXANDER PADILLA
Former President and CEO, PhilHealth, 2013-2015
Former DOH Undersecretary, 2003-2010
PROF. AGNETTE PERALTA
Former Health Assistant Secretary, 2017
MS. FLORENCIA DOROTAN
Former Undersecretary, National Anti-Poverty Commission
DR. CARMELITA CANILA
Chair, Department of Health Policy and Administration,
College of Public Health, UP Manila
ImagineLaw
Philippine Medical Association
Philippine Pediatric Society ( PPS)
City Government of Baguio- Smoke Free Baguio
Philippine Society of Public Health Physicians
Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines, Inc.
ANG NARS Healthworkers Coalition (ANHC)
Philippine Association of Diabetes Educators
Cancer Warriors Foundation
Philippine Alliance of Patient Organizations, Inc.
Rainbow Camp Foundation Philippines Inc
Center for Policy Studies and Advocacy on Sustainable Development
Philippine Cancer Society
TRANSCENDING INSTITUTIONS AND COMMUNITIES INC
Tondo Medical Center
Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development
Child Rights Network
Mindanao Action Group for Children’s Rights and Protection
Diabetes Philippines, Inc.
Student Council Alliance of the Philippines
Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance
Alaga Health
HealthJustice Philippines
Nationwide Organization of Visually-Impaired Empowered Ladies
Rural Poor Institute for Land and Human Rights Services Inc.
LM Flores Management Consultancy Services
BOH-Bearer of Hope
CitizenWatch Philippines
Center for Youth Advocacy and Networking, Inc.
Palm Village Association
ICANSERVE Foundation
Health Care Without Harm SE Asia
Social Watch Philippines
Association of Philippine Medical Colleges – Student Network
Psoriasis Philippines
Makaagham, na kawangga para sa Kalinangan ng Buhay
SWP-ABI Health Cluster
WomanHealth Philippines
Adventist Medical Students Network – Philippines
Coalition for People’s Right to Health
Bataan General Hospital and Medical Center
Parents Against Vape
Women’s Action Network for Development (WAND)
Lingap Para sa Kalusugan ng Sambayanan, Inc. (LIKAS)
