National No Smoking month encourages youth to say no to peer pressure

Out of F.G. Calderon Integrated School's 3,000 students, Guidance Counselor Myrna Besa said about five out of 10 students from Grade 7 to Grade 10 have been caught smoking in the last three years.

DOH & Manila officials will be at FG Calderon Integrated School soon to launch National No Smoking Month. pic.twitter.com/qFPer71MpL

— Rie Takumi (@rie_takumi) June 14, 2017

"Within the school premises. Merong nasa labas, nakikita lang namin, siyempre labas na 'yun," Besa said. "

Results of the Philippines' 2015 Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) shows that overall tobacco use among students aged 13 to 15 has increased to 16 percent from 13.7 percent in 2011.

Health experts find the increase alarming as most smokers start using tobacco at a young age and continue throughout adulthood, eventually becoming "replacement smokers" for the tobacco industry.

"This creates a vicious cycle of young tobacco users and unhealthy future adult population,” Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial said in a statement.

Part of the reason for the increase, and the reason the Department of Health (DOH) launched the National No Smoking Month for June, is the pressure from their peers and the persons surrounding them.

In F.G. Calderon, Besa said students cited their classmates and even their parents as persons complicit in or who encouraged their smoking behavior.

"Sasabihin ko, bakit ka naninigarilyo? Tapos sasabihin naman nung bata kasi po yung magulang naninigarilyo, napagaya lang po ako. Minsan naman, nagugulat ako, sabihin ng bata, eh ma'am common knowledge naman sa bahay na naninigarilyo ako," Besa said.

Students who are caught smoking are put into anti-smoking cessation sessions wherein they are counseled on how and why they must stop smoking.

While it has reduced the number of smokers seen on campus, Besa said this has driven smokers to hide their habits or do it at home where they are tolerated.

"Very discreet na yung paninigarilyo, minsan sa CR na lang namin nahuhuli, in public 'di na sila naninigarilyo," Besa said. "Nasa pamilya. Sabi nga, alam naman daw ng magulang nila na naninigarilyo sila. Kaya lang sabi ko hindi sa public place, lalong-lalo na sa iskwelahan kasi gagayahin ka ng kapwa bata."

Smoking in public places is what Executive Order No. 25 or Providing for the Establishment of Smoke-free Environments in Enclosed and Public Places aims to curb by reducing the exposure of the public, especially the youth, to secondhand smoke.

E.O. 26 "prohibits everyone to smoke in public places and public conveyances such as schools, workplaces, sidewalks and even in jeepneys, buses, and tricycles."

Under the EO, minors are also "not allowed to smoke, to buy, or to be sold tobacco products. Likewise, they are prohibited to be ordered or compelled to use, light up, buy, sell, distribute, deliver, advertise or promote tobacco products."

The health chief added that youths must be warned of the ill effects that tobacco has on their health, such as "– bad breath, stained teeth, early wrinkles, and poor vision."

"By the time you reach adulthood, tobacco will take its toll on you – stroke and heart diseases, lung diseases, and cancer in almost anywhere in your body. Those are risks you would not be happy to be taking,” Ubial said.

Proclamation No. 183 signed on May 30, 1993 by then President Fidel V. Ramos designated June as the National No Smoking Month.—LA, GMA News