Close to P70,000 worth of cigarettes were surrendered and seized by a joint task force from the City Health Services Office-Sanitation Division (CHSO-SD) and the Smoke-Free Taskforce (SFTF) Unit in an operation on Aug. 6, 2025.
The team made a surprise visit to four grocery stores in the Lakandula area. Three grocery stores surrendered cigarettes with a combined value of P41,000.
Another one which was found to be selling cigarettes without the required Cigarettes, Beer and Liquor (CBL) permit yielded cigarettes valued at approximately P36,000.
The CBL permit is a special authorization required to sell these products, with strict conditions such as maintaining a minimum distance of 100 meters from schools, churches, hospitals, and other public buildings.
In recent years, the city has seen a steady decrease in CBL permit applications which had its peak at 1,720 in 2022.
This year the number dropped to just 888.
This meant that less stores are allowed to sell cigarettes and alcoholic drinks in the city.
The decline also mirrors a significant reduction in the city’s smoking rate, which fell from 35.4 percent in 2014 to 13.1 percent in 2022. ** JJLandingin
