9 of 10 Filipinos want smoking banned in public places: poll

by ABS-CBN News, Mar 04 2019

MANILA- Nine out of 10 Filipino adults say smoking should be banned in public places, results of a survey released Monday showed.

The Pulse Asia survey showed that 91 percent of adult Filipinos want smoking or the use of cigarettes prohibited in public places.

The survey also revealed that 90 percent of adult Filipinos want to increase the minimum age for buying or using cigarettes to 25 from 18 years old.

Agreement on the prohibition of public smoking and increasing the minimum age for buying cigarettes meanwhile is lower among smokers at 80 percent each.

1 IN 4 FILIPINOS SMOKE

The survey also revealed that almost 1 in 4 Filipino adults use tobacco at 24 percent, with 19 percent saying they smoke daily.

A greater number of Filipino smokers are men, self-employed, and are Catholics, results of the survey showed.

By region, most of the smokers are Tagalog and Ilonggos.

Commissioned by the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD), the Jan. 26-31 survey interviewed a total of 1,800 Filipino adults nationwide and has a +/-2.3 percent margin of error for national percentages.

In 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte signed an executive order banning smoking in public places nationwide.