June is National No Smoking Month and, in line with this, the Department of Health (DOH) wants to do everything possible to stamp out cigarettes—even in movies and TV shows.
"The DOH has appealed to the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) to ban scenes featuring smoking in movies and television shows," reports Julie M. Aurelio in Philippine Daily Inquirer.
DOH chief Dr. Paulyn Jean Ubial stated, "We ask the MTRCB to consider censoring scenes depicting smoking in movies and TV shows, the way we asked them not to show scenes of bottle-feeding years back."
The report notes: "Ubial's appeal at banning smoking scenes in movies and TV shows is aimed at protecting the youth from being influenced to take up smoking."
MTRCB has yet to respond on the matter.
It may be recalled that in May 16, 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte signed an executive order (Executive Order 26) banning smoking in public places and public transport nationwide.