COTABATO CITY—Four regional agencies of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao received last Wednesday from the Department of Health central office a “Red Orchid Award” and a P500,000 cash bonus each for being 100 percent “tobacco-free” for the past three years, regional Gov. Mujiv Hataman said here recently.
Hataman listed the four agencies as the health, education, and science and technology departments, and the Regional Planning and Development Office.
He announced through Joery Delumpia Amad, regional coordinator for the tobacco prevention and control program, that the four agencies began their 100 percent tobacco-free drive in 2012.
As Red Orchid awardees for the past three years, the four offices also won trophies and certificates of recognition, Hataman said, adding that their cash bonus of P.5 million each “would be spent on the anti-smoking program.”
DepEd regional secretary John Magno, a non-smoker, commended his men for strictly adhering to the office’s no-smoking policy, noting that the ARMM chief himself knows well that smoking is “dangerous to one’s health.”
Hataman stresed that the Red Orchid Award caps off the DoH central office’s annual search for a 100 percent tobacco-free local and national government offices.