DOLE chief sides with smokers amid Covid-19 pandemic

DESPITE smoking areas in workplaces being seen as one of the areas most prone to virus transmission, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) still does not believe that it warrants a smoking ban in business establishments.

In a statement, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III admitted that it was him who opposed the proposed smoking ban in the workplace by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).

"My job is to protect and preserve employment. To achieve that, I help shops to stay in business," said Bello.

"We can't ban smoking because it will adversely affect the tobacco industry," he added.

In particular, the labor chief said he is protecting the tobacco industry that remits to the government P145 billion in excise taxes yearly while employing 2.5 million Filipino workers.

"If we ban smoking, those figures will be severely affected," noted Bello.

As a result of DOLE's position on the matter, the supplemental guidelines on workplace prevention and control for Covid-19 still allowed smoking but doing so should be done individually in designated smoking areas.

"We can smoke in smoking areas. But the condition is one smoker at a time," Bello said.

Aside from strictly regulating smoking, Bello earlier said the supplemental guidelines also provides the need for workers to wear face shields and face masks in the workplace.

It also provides that natural air flow exchange (opening windows, opening doors, turning off air-conditioning units to reduce air recirculation) is highly encouraged in the workplace. (HDT/SunStar Philippines)

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