See - http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/14926-tobacco-firms-win-legal-battles-in-the-philippines
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In all cases in the courts to date, the tobacco business has had the upper hand. Tobacco firms are mostly challenging proposed government oversights, specifically:
- Compelling companies to place picture warnings on cigarette packs. Less than two months after the Department of Health issued Administrative Order No. 2010-0013 calling for graphic health warnings, 5 major firms challenged the mandate. So far two tobacco companies have been victorious in getting regional trial courts to declare the order invalid while the other firms have obtained favorable preliminary rulings.
- Banning smoking in select public places in Metro Manila. Last July, the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) began arresting people caught smoking in certain open areas of the metropolis, like transportation terminals and gas stations, in an attempt to limit exposure to secondhand smoke. A local Mandaluyong court swiftly sided with apprehended smokers, issuing a preliminary injunction in October to stop the agency from making more arrests.
- Giving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority over tobacco products for the first time. In 2011, the Philippine Tobacco Institute, an association of leading tobacco companies, asked a Regional Trial Court in Las Pinas City to set aside the implementing rules and regulations of the FDA Act of 2009 which spelled out that regulation of tobacco products falls under the purview of the FDA. Despite what seemed like an initial victory for the FDA in the preliminary rulings, the regional court ultimately sided with the tobacco institute, stripping the FDA of the authority to supervise the quality of tobacco products on behalf of consumers. The FDA elevated the case to the Supreme Court but it has not sought a restraining order or attempted to check tobacco as it waits for the decision.
- Limiting ads for tobacco products to the interior walls of stores selling them. In 2008, a Marikina court sided with a broad definition of point-of-sale that allows tobacco companies to place advertisements on the outward facing area of a store and within the perimeter of the establishment. The ruling lets tobacco companies turn the shop itself and the space on which it stands it into an advertising area, offering a way around the country's seemingly strict law prohibiting outdoor billboards.
- Blocking and regulating tobacco promotions. The Department of Health's (DOH) attempt to reign in industry marketing practices was blocked by the Regional Court and the Court of Appeals. In the 2011 Court of Appeals decision, Associate Justice Noel Tijam wrote that the DOH "committed grave abuse of discretion," by trying to ban tobacco promotions, reopening the door for creative marketing practices and sponsorships. The DOH has appealed the unfavorable decision, raising it to the Supreme Court.
“In all tobacco control cases in the Philippines there has been no victory for public health ever,” said Evita Ricafort, a lawyer with Health Justice Philippines, a non-governmental group that keeps tabs on all the cases filed by the tobacco industry and offers legal aid to the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG).
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