STATEMENT OF COALITION FOR HEALTH ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY

From: DOH WebPAGE

9 June 2010

The Coalition for Health Accountability and Transparency (CHAT) is a coalition of civil society organizations concerned with issues on access to medicines, public health and good governance. Bound by a common advocacy, but recognizing the independence and integrity of its member-organization s, the Coalition is working to promote transparency and accountability, and encourage sharing of information in the field of public health.

The Coalition lauds the Department of Health (DOH) for upholding the Constitutional right to health and right to health information through the recent issuance of Administrative Order 2010-0013 (AO 2010 0013) requiring graphic health information and prohibiting misleading descriptors on tobacco product packages, and urges the DOH to stand firm despite the attempts to undermine the bold step forward in public health.

At least 10 Filipinos die every hour from preventable tobacco-related diseases. This is further aggravated by the lack of compelling information on the toxic and poisonous contents and emissions of tobacco products.

By requiring the placement of visible and full color pictures and health information on tobacco product packages, the DOH succeeds in effectively communicating the health risks of smoking to those sectors of the populace that are most vulnerable to the deceptive appeal of cigarettes – the youth and the illiterate.

We deplore the shameless attempts to undermine the DOH Administrative Order on Graphic Health Information. The tobacco companies, and those representing their interests, have no right to take away the Filipino’s right to health information. So far, they have questioned the DOH’s competence and authority as well as the legality of the DOH Administrative Order.

We join the community of lawyers’ and legal experts’ recognition of the DOH’s authority to issue the Administrative Order. Instead of questioning and protesting the DOH issuance, the tobacco companies should respect the Philippine government and the Filipino people in the same way that they respect other countries’ governments and people. Right now, these companies already place graphic information on cigarette packs they export to Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia. The Filipinos deserve no less.

We urge the politicians (Congressmen) to refrain from supporting the tobacco industry’s attempts to question and nullify the Administrative Order. Policy makers should not act to promote industry interests and protect tobacco industry profits at the expense of the Filipino’s health.

We ask the DOH Secretary to stand firm and not to give in to the demands of the profit-driven tobacco industry to withdraw the AO.

The AO was issued in compliance with the mandatory requirements of a treaty. Any government act of backing off from it would be tantamount to telling the world that the Philippines does not care about treaties it signs nor does it care about the health of our people.