THE COURT of Appeals (CA) has upheld the unconstitutionality of a Balanga City ordinance that expanded the smoking ban coverage in the city’s University Town. In a 13-page decision, the CA’s special 16th division affirmed the July 5, 2018 decision of the Balanga City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 93, which declared as unconstitutional and invalid Section 1 of Ordinance No. 9, Series of 2016. The court said the Balanga city council went beyond the prohibited acts specified in Republic Act 9211, the Tobacco Regulation Act, which bans selling of tobacco 100 meters from a school. The assailed ordinance passed in 2016 prohibits smoking, selling, and promotion of tobacco products within the University Town and three kilometers from its radius. “Clearly from the foregoing, the City Council of Balanga have overstepped Congress,” the CA ruled, adding that RA 9211 “should prevail” over the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The Balanga ordinance cites the WHO framework. The petitioner before the Balanga City RTC is the Philippine Tobacco Institute, Inc. The CA decision was penned by Associate Justice Jane Aurora C. Lantion and concurred in by Associate Justices Maria Elisa Sempio Diy and Jhosep Y. Lopez. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

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