Former officials of the Department of Health (DOH) on Sunday regretted the fifth "Dirty Ashtray" award given to the Philippines by the Global Alliance for Tobacco Control (GATC) at a conference hosted by Panama City.

In a statement, Esperanza Cabral said: "I hope that our delegates at the COP10 will take this dishonor as a wake-up call that they must stand for public health, rather than the vested interests of the tobacco industry.”

Ex-Health undersecretary Alexander Padilla, who said ''it is alarming to note that we have a Dirty Ashtray Award, as we should be contributing constructively to discussions on the floor, rather than causing confusion or delay.”

The administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has extended its strong commitment to the 10th Conference of the Parties to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (COP10-WHO FCTC) to strengthen efforts against tobacco use in the Philippines.

Guevara said the Philippines has made notable progress in implementing WHO FCTC as he highlighted that the Philippine Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) reported a significant decrease in tobacco use from 23.8 percent in 2015 to 19.5 percent in 2021. DMS