Smokers beware. You just can’t smoke wherever you like. Buildings now have designated smoking areas and even if you skip outside, you just can smoke out on the street anymore.
The MMDA and its 17 member cities have now banned smoking in accordance to the Republic Act 9211 or the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003.
MMDA personnel will issuing citation tickets to anyone caught smoking in public roads with the first violation warranting Php 500. Those who cannot pay will be required to serve the community for at least eight hours.
While, personally not a fan of smoking, I think the government should just ban all forms of smoking. You know what’s more harmful to lungs? Carbon monoxide from smoke-belching vehicles.
So, government people, if you’re going to go down hard on smokers, go down hard on smoke-belching vehicles as well. I still see plenty of vehicles (mostly PUVs, trucks, and even government vehicles) belch black smoke.