By Jerry E. Esplanada
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 18:03:00 05/22/2010

MANILA, Philippines—Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral said Saturday she hoped apparent President-elect Benigno Aquino III would quit smoking because it would be “an excellent demonstration of leadership by example.”

In an exchange of text messages with the Inquirer, Cabral, who is attending a the World Health Assembly in Geneva, said she hoped Aquino would make good his promise of kicking the nicotine habit.

“Did he not say he’s going to stop smoking once he becomes President?” Cabral asked.

If Aquino quits smoking, she said, “he will save not just himself but millions of our countrymen from the many harmful effects of tobacco on health.”

Like Cabral, non-government anti-tobacco groups have said Aquino could make a difference by saying goodbye to his vice.

The same NGOs also urged Aquino to “do a Barack Obama.”

Like Aquino, the US president is a smoker. But Obama pushed for stricter regulations for tobacco products that are known to contain chemicals causing cancer and other killer diseases.

Sometime in March, Aquino said in a TV interview that he would have to quit smoking if he won in the elections.

“Sa vices, I assume ‘yung smoking ko will eventually go. Hopefully ma-weather natin ‘yung pressures with the job that I can give it up sooner rather than later,” he said.

Shortly before the voting on May 10, Aquino said, that “at this present time, giving it up will add more pressure which I think is unnecessary.”

“With regard to my smoking, did I ever pretend that I’m quitting? Did I advocate anybody joining me there?” he added.

Late last year, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay gave Aquino some “brotherly advice”: “It’s not appealing to the eyes to see a leader smoking.”

“When it comes to his smoking habit, he is not setting a good example to the public,” said Binay, a staunch ally and family friend of the late President Corazon Aquino.

Binay added it would be a long and hard batte against cigarettes, but the results will be rewarding to Noynoy’s health.

Aquino supporters have reportedly swamped a new Facebook page to offer words of advice to apparent next President, telling him to quit smoking.

They include DOH insiders who said Aquino’s vice was “clearly not in line” with the agency’s intensified campaign against smoking.

Cabral has repeatedly said the DOH would continue its advocacy against smoking.

The DOH, however, does not favor a total ban on tobacco use in the country.

According to Cabral, “it impinges on the rights of human beings to choose to die or not to die from diseases caused by smoking.”

“All we can do is tell them the facts…. This is what we would do if we were you and we hope you’ll do the same thing,” she said.

The DOH plans to issue an administrative order requiring tobacco manufacturers to print ”graphic picture warnings” against tobacco use on cigarette packs.

Cabral strongly believes such warnings would “convince the smoking public, especially the youth, that smoking is really bad for the health.”

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