Smoking in the Philippines

According to the 2015 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) conducted under the auspices of the Philippines' Department of Health, Philippine Statistics Authority, the World Health Organization, and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,[1] 23.8 percent of the adult population were "current tobacco smokers".

[4] In 2006, the World Health Organization estimated that 10 Filipinos die every hour due to cancer, stroke, lung and heart diseases brought on by cigarette smoking.

It had also become an article of foreign trade with the Dutch from Tidore and Ternate buying rice, beeswax and tobacco from the Spanish colony.

[7] The tobacco monopoly in the Philippine islands during the Spanish era was established by Governor-General José Basco y Vargas on March 1, 1782 with the aim of increasing government revenue.

[9] Spearheaded by the Sociedad Económica de los Amigos del País (Economic Societies of Friends of the Country), tobacco was cultivated under strict government control confined to the Cagayan Valley, the Ilocos provinces, Nueva Ecija and Marinduque.

The tobacco leaves were then brought to Manila and made into cigars and cigarettes in government-owned factories, later to be shipped out for export.

The monopoly also encouraged bribery and smuggling due to the desire to evade strict government regulations.

[13] The Tobacco Regulation Act also implements certain restrictions and bans on tobacco-related advertisements, endorsements, sponsorships and packaging.

The images would occupy the lower half of the front and rear panels of a cigarette pack and could include pictures of cancerous lungs and throats.

[18] The law's implementing rules and regulations call for all cigarette packages being sold in the market to have graphic warnings that cover the lower half of the pack by November 2016.