THE Smoke-Free Task Force is planning to embed the operational budget of the Anti-Smoking campaign of the city into the City Health Office's 2019 annual budget.
Councilor Ma. Lourdes Gaane, task force chairperson said they are set to propose an amount worth P3 million for the city's population of P770,000.
She said as of now, the task force still has no institutional budget but clarified on Tuesday, October 2, she said the task force shall be supported from funds of the City Administrator's Office.
"The campaign is against second-hand smoke and how to isolate our non-smokers, especially our youth, from its harmful effects. Smoking, after all, is still legal," she said.
"Implementing a broad and comprehensive anti-smoking campaign in Cagayan de Oro City with 770,000 warm bodies is a gargantuan task. To be realistic, we have to go slowly but surely," she added.
The smoking ban was launched on Monday but police said as of now, they can only reprimand violators and will not face penalties for smoking in public places.
Social media user Timmy Seno however urged officials that penalties should be in place, pointing out that "warnings" doesn't work anymore.
For him, penalties imposed signifies that the campaign is serious, and not a joke.
Anne Libago meanwhile said it is "useless to run a campaign without penalties," and pointed out that city officials do not need budget to direct police to arrest individuals violating the smoking ban.
Gaane, however, asked the public to remain patient, tolerant, but also vigilant for the campaign to gain positive results in the coming months.