WESTERN Visayas has earned a distinction no region should want: the second-highest prevalence of youth smoking in the Philippines. The 2021 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study found that 15.7 percent of Western Visayans aged 15 to 24 are current smokers. Another 32.1 percent consume alcoholic beverages, the fifth-highest rate in the country.
These are warnings of a public health crisis unfolding among a generation that should be preparing for productive adulthood — not developing lifelong dependence on nicotine and alcohol.
The danger is magnified by the size of the population at risk. Western Visayas had 896,106 residents aged 15 to 24 as of 2024. If the smoking prevalence has remained unchanged, tens of thousands of young people may already be exposing themselves to addiction and serious illnesses. The actual situation could be worse, considering the growing popularity of electronic cigarettes and other nicotine products that young users may not even regard as smoking.
Easy access remains a major culprit. Cigarettes, vapes and alcoholic beverages are sold almost everywhere, including in stores near schools and residential communities. Laws and local ordinances prohibit their sale to minors, but restrictions become meaningless when vendors do not ask for identification and authorities rarely conduct inspections.
Government cannot claim to be serious about protecting young people while tobacco and alcohol remain within easy reach of minors.
Peer pressure and family influence compound the problem. As Commission on Population and Development Region 6 director Harold Alfred Marshall observed, adolescents often smoke or drink to gain acceptance from friends. Refusing can invite ridicule or accusations of being “uncool.” When adults at home also smoke or drink heavily, these behaviors become normalized.
This is why lectures and slogans alone will not solve the problem. Young people need factual and age-appropriate education about addiction, disease and the financial costs of substance use. Parents must also recognize that their conduct sends a message more powerful than any classroom discussion.
Local governments must tighten enforcement. Retailers caught selling cigarettes, vapes or alcohol to minors should face consistent penalties, including the suspension or revocation of business permits for repeated violations. Authorities should regularly inspect establishments near schools and prevent the sale of cigarettes by the stick, a practice that keeps tobacco affordable and accessible to young people.
Schools, meanwhile, should strengthen counseling and prevention programs without turning students caught smoking or drinking into objects of public humiliation. Addiction and risky behavior require intervention, not merely punishment. Health offices must provide accessible cessation services so young smokers who want to quit are not left to struggle alone.
The government also needs better data. The latest available regional figures come from a 2021 survey and do not distinguish between urban and rural communities. Without updated and localized information, interventions risk becoming too broad, delayed and ineffective. Western Visayas needs province-, city- and municipality-level data to determine where smoking and drinking are most prevalent and which groups require urgent attention.
The region’s alarming ranking did not develop overnight. It grew from weak enforcement, easy availability, aggressive commercial influence and a social environment that too often treats smoking and drinking as ordinary rites of passage.
Western Visayas must not wait for today’s young smokers to become tomorrow’s cancer, heart disease and chronic lung disease patients. The warning is already burning before us. Government, families, schools and communities must extinguish it now — before another generation goes up in smoke.
