Las Pi?as City Mayor Vergel Aguilar has called for full compliance with the ordinance that bans smoking in public, noting health concerns.

?With the present economic crisis brought about by the global financial meltdown, to get sick is impermissible,? he said.

City Ordinance 353-97 prohibits smoking in the premises of government offices, and owned/controlled corporations; private and public preparatory, elementary, high schools and colleges; private and public hospitals, medical and dental clinics, and laboratories; moviehouses and auditoriums; bakeshops and beauty parlors/salons; public comfort rooms/toilets; public transports; warehouses/bodegas; storerooms/stock rooms of flammable liquids or gas; carriers of explosives and combustible materials; and gasoline stations.

Violators face a maximum penalty of P500, plus four hours community service at the place where the arrest is made.

Establishments without ?No Smoking? signs and designated areas get fined P5,000 or revocation of business permit.

Aguilar cited a study released by the World Bank reckoning about four million people dying from tobacco use every year, expecting the number to be around 10 million by the 2020s or one in eight deaths.

?Tobacco has been touted as a silent killer and remains a major killer among our people today,? he said. Ferdinand Fabella