Philippines: Speaker at COP7 questioned for proposing e-cig ban

In the Philippines two major vaping organizations are challenging the fact that Alicia Dela Rosa-Bala, chairperson at the Civil Service Commission, (CSC), supported a proposal to ban electronic cigarettes during the recent Conference of Parties 7, (COP 7).

Diane Caruana

November 24, 2016

According to an article published on Philippine news site, Inquirer.Net, last Tuesday on the 22nd of November, Vapers Philippines and the PRO Vape consumer groups questioned the presence of Bala at the COP7, the international conference on tobacco control which took place earlier this month in Delhi India.

CSC blindly supports the ban of e-cigs

“According to fellow vapers in Europe, Bala as head of the Philippine delegation, supported a proposal that would allow an outright ban of e-cigarettes without prior consultation with the Philippine vaping community,” pointed out Mark Erana, spokesperson of the Vapers Philippines adding that it was “obviously beyond the expertise and jurisdiction of the CSC to do so.”

The CSC supported an e-cigarette ban….. a move that is beyond their level of expertise and jurisdiction.

In agreement with Erana, Alan Marciano, secretary general of PRO Vape said, “What is her expertise in calling for a ban on e-cigarettes? The civil service has a lot of problems that need fixing,” he continued making it clear that the CSC has crossed the line by interfering in an issue they know nothing of.

Additionally Marciano pointed out that the CSC has received a P14 million grant from the Bloomberg Foundation in order to protect the bureaucracy from any interference by the tobacco industry. The secretary general is questioning what this grant was intended for, and how the CSC plans on using it.

Smokers encouraged to switch to vaping

Whilst mentioning the study published by Public Health England which found vaping to be at least 95% safer than smoking, Mark Erana concluded, “E-cigarettes are different from regular cigarettes and these new products are a lot less dangerous to the health of consumers. In fact, we are encouraging smokers to switch to reduce their chances of getting smoking-related sickness.”