President Duterte Bans Vaping In The Philippines And Wants To Arrest Everyone Who Vapes
President Rodrigo Duterte has announced that vaping in the Philippines has been banned and anyone who gets caught vaping in the public will be arrested by the police.
The importation of vaping devices has also been banned.
During a press release, President Duterte announced the nation-wide ban on vaping products.
President Duterte said, “I will ban it. I will ban it, the use and importation.”
He added, “You know why? Because it is toxic, and the government has the power to issue measures to protect public health and public interest.”
Pangulo Rodrigo Duterte, inanunsyo ang pagba-ban ng importasyon ng vaping products pic.twitter.com/BJvOWgKjNJ
— DZMM TeleRadyo (@DZMMTeleRadyo) November 19, 2019
After the thrilling speech on vaping, President Duterte announced the police will be arresting anyone who gets caught in vaping in public.
The president said, “Better stop it because I will order your arrest if you do it in a room. I am now ordering the law-enforcement agencies to arrest anybody vaping in public. That is like smoking.”
President Duterte brought the new law in the act on November 21, 2019.
Earlier this year, the Department of Health in the Philippines confirmed its first reported case of an illness that is related to vaping.
The DOH received the report of EVALI from Central Visayas.
The report said the patient is a 16-year-old girl who had been vaping for the past 6 months.
The 16-year-old girl was vaping and smoking regular cigarettes at the same time.
The girl was admitted to the hospital on October 21, 2019, after she started to have problems breathing.
Earlier this year, the DOH called for a ban on e-cigarettes and vaping as they were being linked with “unknown” lung illnesses.
According to the DOH, nearly 1 million Filipinos are using e-cigarettes.
In reality, the police are not going to arrest Filipinos for vaping in the public.
According to reports, authorities only have the power to confiscate the device and record the names of the people who were using them.
As of now, there are no fears for the mighty handcuffs.