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[av_heading heading=’ SP ignores Gamboa, pass revised e-cig ordinance’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MAE SINGUAY
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Friday, May 12, 2017
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BACOLOD City – The word war between councilors Wilson Gamboa Jr. and Caesar Distrito did not stop the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) from approving the revisions to the E-Cigarettes Ordinance.
Eight councilors voted to pass the Bacolod City Revised E-Cigarettes Regulation Ordinance of 2017 during the “division of the house” late Wednesday.
They were the author Distrito, Ricardo Tan, Cindy Rojas, Em Ang, Elmer Sy, Dindo Ramos, Bartolome Orola, and Ana Marie Palermo.
Gamboa, who insisted that the changes to the 2014 ordinance Distrito introduced were mere amendments and could not constitute a new ordinance, was the sole dissenting vote.
Jesus Claudio Puentevella and Sonya Verdeflor were outside the session hall during the vote, while Renecito Novero was absent.
The new ordinance became a huge bone of contention and the source of the word war between Gamboa and Distrito.
Gamboa authored City Ordinance No. 08-14-684 (E-Cigarettes Ordinance), passed on Aug. 27, 2014. Distrito was his coauthor.
Gamboa described Distrito’s seeking to revise the 2014 ordinance as “dishonest, cheating and stealing from other people’s ideas and achievements, and taking and grabbing credit from other people’s hard work.”
In a privilege speech earlier on Wednesday, Gamboa railed against Distrito and disclosed that he is reviewing the ordinances the latter authored for “any possible intellectual dishonesty and misconduct.”
Distrito, in his own privilege speech following Gamboa’s, stressed that no one could stake intellectual property claim on ordinances.
The newly approved ordinance stated that the original version “needs to be revised and include provisions that will strengthen its effectiveness.”
It defined an “electronic cigarette” as “any product that generates a nicotine-containing aerosol without combustion, with or without electronics or tobacco, or any component of that product,” which may include “a cartridge, a tank and the device without a cartridge or tank.”
Violators of the ordinance shall pay a P1,000 fine or render an eight-hour community service on first offense; P2,500 fine or a 16-hour community service on second offense; and P5,000 or a five-day community service on third offense.
Permits and licenses of erring business establishments may be cancelled or revoked, the new ordinance stated./PN
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