Since childhood we are pounded with the warning, “A winner never quits, a quitter never wins.” Apparently, it is the rule of thumb but conversely this dictum admits some ironies. Like the rules and some provisions of law in Philippine legal system, the maxim is with exception that is indulging in vices and unhealthy lifestyle, and engaging in illegal or immoral acts.

Take for instance the widely popular habit of cigarette smoking, which although discouraged by health authorities is ceaselessly loved, seemingly hardest to break. In spite of the caveats that the Dept. of Health publicize through the quad-media and IEC sessions, smokers continue to spread the dangerous second-hand all over town. Worse, even without checking on the stats, smokers are getting younger down the age of two, as in the case of Chinese Tong Liangliang and Indonesian Ardi Rizal in separate 2009 report.

The 2009 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) results disclosed that twenty-eight percent or 17.3 million Filipino adults age 15 years and older are current tobacco smokers. It added, “Almost half (48 percent or 14.6 million) of adult males and 9 percent (2.8 million) of adult females are current smokers. Moreover, 23 percent of Filipino adults are daily tobacco smokers: 38 percent for males and 7 percent for females.

Further, the result stated, “Filipinos mainly smoke cigarettes, which include manufactured cigarettes and hand-rolled cigarettes. Cigarettes are smoked by 47 percent of men and by 9 percent of women. On the average, male daily smokers consume 11 cigarettes per day while female daily smokers consume 7 cigarettes per day.”
DOH identifies three most common components of cigarettes and cigarette smoke which are harmful to human body. These are carbon monoxide, which impairs the capacity of the blood to supply adequate amounts of oxygen to the vital organs of the body; nicotine that creates dependence on tobacco and exerts its effects on the heart by raising heart pressure and heart rate; and tar that coats everything it touches especially the body’s air passages.

Besides cancer of the lung, smoking causes cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive lung disease (emphysema), chronic bronchitis and cancer of the other body organs. Pregnant women who smoke run the risk of depriving the baby of oxygen, premature detachment of the placenta and premature rupture of membrane resulting in spontaneous abortion.

Smoking is not just among the habits that one should quit doing to be called winner in life and regain health and get the chance for longer life. There are many other habits than one should quit like poor health lifestyle and the worst of all, procrastination. Quit now to be sure winner in the coming days.

Legislators were already at the Session Hall of the House of Representatives at 3 o’clock in the afternoon patiently waiting for the President of the Republic to arrive who will deliver his 5th State of the Nation Address. The SONA is an annual official duty of the Chief Executive to inform the Filipino people, the state of the nation under his leadership – where it is now in the area of economic development, peace and security, etc. to include where it will going in the last two years of President Noynoy Aquino’s reign of power and responsibility.
That was Monday, July 28, 2014.
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Another very important aspect for the head of state in our democratic nation to deliver a state of the nation address is to urge and to seek filing and approval from the law making body to pass laws for legal support to proposed projects of the President that will benefit the nation.
While waiting for the President’s SONA we already had our tv sets at home on as early as 2p.m. The SONA was delivered at 4pm right on the dot as announced by both Malacañang and Legislature. This by itself is an impressive sense of value on the part of the President who came on time.
A few minutes before the President entered the session hall seven Congressmen/women representing Party List groups staged a dramatic and surely a shameful walk out right in front of the Congregation of lawmakers before the podium where the Senate President and the Speaker will jointly preside.
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To me it was nauseatingly of real bad taste. It was an ugly expression of disrespect that can only be done by people who have not gone to school. It was the highest level of insult to the highest official of the land. They displayed unwholesome bad character.
They should have employed other strategies to express their sentiments. The Legislature is the right venue for it but not on special occasions like hosting for the President. They could have simply delivered Privilege Speeches, which in the first place they are entitled to, in one of their daily sessions that regularly lasts 100 days.
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Come to think of this. What have these Party List representatives really done to the party lists they represent? That to us is more relevant. They should spend time in telling their groups that they represent, what they have done and will still be doing for them.. Grand standing like they did is abhorrent. Think Party List rep!
By the way they are the prime movers to impeach President Aquino. C”mon!