The new US President, who has promised to keep the White House tobacco-free, should pick up a thing or two from mayors who did it for Makati and Davao city halls

Testing public sentiment toward Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay running for president in 2010, his camp has been packaging him as the counterpart of the popular new American President Barack Obama. They both have dark complexion, they say, and Binay could be the Philippines’ first “black” president, like Obama is the first president of color to be elected in the United States.

There’s one distinction between them, however, that Binay would be glad to emphasize: he doesn’t smoke; Obama’s struggling to kick the habit. That makes the mayor of the country’s richest local government better at keeping his workplace smoke-free than the chief executive of the world’s most powerful country.

“JCB doesn’t smoke,” said an ally of Binay in the United Opposition, the national coalition of political groups against President Arroyo. “So it’s literally a breath of fresh air that you get when you go to the Makati city hall. It smells clean. It’s the best-smelling city hall I’ve been to.”

The success of an anti-smoking ban is more dramatic in Davao City. It’s Mayor Rodrigo Duterte himself—a former heavy smoker who turned anti-smoking advocate—who sometimes accosts violators. Establishments that didn’t comply, including a casino, have been shut down.

The White House has implemented a total ban on smoking since the administration of President Bill Clinton.

“The big issue about health is so paramount to me that I don't think we should permit smoking,” First Lady Hillary Clinton was quoted by newspapers in 1993. She said White House visitors who wanted to smoke would have to do it outdoors.

Prior to Clinton’s announcement, smoking in the White House was prohibited only in the kitchen, maintenance areas, and locker rooms.

The total smoking ban in the White House remained in effect during the eight-year Bush administration. Obama, a few weeks before taking his oath as the 44th US president, gave assurances that, “You will not see any violations of these rules in the White House.” Hillary Clinton is now Obama’s secretary of state.

During the campaign, Obama was seen chewing Nicorette gums, which help minimize cravings for nicotine. In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in December, he said it was his wife Michelle who told him to quit smoking. He said he had kicked the habit, but “there are times where I have fallen off the wagon.”

Binay, on the other hand, is a non-smoker and is credited by Makati’s health officials for the success of the City’s anti-smoking campaign. “The mayor does not smoke and since his wife is a doctor, he knows the hazards of smoking,” said Esther Matibag of the Makati City health department.

Smoking is prohibited in city hall and “No Smoking” signage can be seen in most offices and fire exits in the 22-storey building.

The mayor himself heads the city’s anti-smoking task force and sometimes does the rounds of barangays and establishments to monitor their compliance to the anti-smoking ordinance, Matibag said.

In Makati, establishments with an area of more than 100 square meters are required to designate a smoking area. They will have to pay a total of P10,200—P 5,000 application fee, P200 inspection fee, and P5,000 processing fee—if they want to designate a smoking area.

Individuals who are caught smoking in enclosed establishments face a fine ranging from P1,000 to P3,000.

Data from the Makati health department show that the city government has collected P4.8 million from violators from 2003 to 2007. The city has also recommended the closure of nine establishments and fined 172 individual violators during the same period.

In Davao City, the Duterte administration stepped up its campaign after it discovered two or three sleeping anti-smoking ordinances, said Domilyn Villareiz, coordinator of the Smoke-Free Davao. The city hall, all government offices, and any structure with roofings are no-smoking zones.

The mayor, she added, accosts violators of the ban, particularly teenagers. “Whenever the mayor sees teenagers smoking, he will bring them to their homes and talk to their parents,” Villareiz said in a phone interview.

Duterte also speaks in anti-smoking forums and tells about how he consumed three packs of cigarettes a day when he was a college student in San Beda. He stopped smoking after he was diagnosed then with early signs of Buerger’s Disease, a recurring inflammation of arteries and veins that causes occlusion of blood vessels. It’s caused by heavy smoking or chewing tobacco. The disease didn’t progress, however.

Both Davao and Makati started their anti-smoking campaign in 2002, or before the Philippines passed the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003. The law regulates tobacco use, sale, and advertising.

The World Health Organization has cited the two cities among the best local government units with the best anti-smoking campaigns.

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