A Talisay resident turns over his e-cigarette to Police Major Gerard Ace Pelare, Talisay City Police Office chief, on November 20. | Contributed photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The information dissemination of the police on the prohibition of the use of e-cigarettes or vapes in public places by confiscating the device was a success.
This was how Police Brigadier General Valeriano De Leon, director of Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO -7), described the status of their campaign against vaping in public areas.
Compared to the first two days since President Rodrigo Duterte announced the ban of vape use in public places, where PRO-7 was able to confiscate a total of 230 devices from all over Central Visayas, the number of confiscated e-cigarettes had gone down to 47.
Read more: PRO-7 to strengthen campaign against vape use in public areas
“We achieved our purpose, we sent a strong message to the public,” said De Leon in a press briefing this morning, November 25, 2019.
He said they had not arrested any person yet as they had no implementing rules and regulations on the ban on vaping.
Police, however, have listed the names of the users, whose devices were confiscated with the device for record purposes and in cases, when they would called out again when caught using vapes in public.
De Leon said that all throughout their information drive and confiscation of vapes, they had not encountered persons who resisted surrendering the device, which might mean that these person had already been aware of the implemented ban.
“The message is very clear,” added De Leon.
With Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella planning to draft a city ordinance to regulate the use of vapes in public, De Leon said they were also planning to initiate putting up signages in public areas and outside e-cigarette stores about the prohibition of vape use in public.
He said in this way, the public would have an excuse not to know about the rules that were directly ordered by President Duterte himself./dbs