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“Put out
the fire with me and find...
...That’s what I’ll do if we say good-bye.”
—Hale
THE
lines come from Hale’s one and only hit—or rather, more
famous hit—titled ‘The Day You Said Goodnight,” from
their eponymous debut album in 2005. Those lines,
comprising the bridge in the song, aptly capture the
premise of an antismoking concert, dubbed
One-Smoke-Free-Night, A Celebration of Life, held
recently in Libis, in which Hale performed.
For a
brief backgrounder, the album reached triple-platinum
status a year after its release and the song was awarded
“The Best” by three top FM radio stations in 2005.
The song
helped usher in a new American rock-influenced music
genre to the Filipino masses. It is what your teenage
kids and pamangkins refer to as “emo” or “Pinoy
emo,” short for emote, emotion, emotional and any word
beginning with those first three letters. For the usual
suspects who can’t equate good looks with good music, we
called it “emo-dium.”
And
speaking of things related to purging, the
One-Smoke-Free-Night was the day when many people said
good-bye, not to their loved ones or anything human, but
to that centuries-old vice that has caused the demise of
millions of human lives.
On a
more realistic level, it aims to control the use of
tobacco.
But how
do you fight a multibillion-dollar tobacco industry that
also helps thousands of local farmers and factory
workers? Sounds like slaying a battalion of dragons with
a toothpick?
In
Congress, there’s already the Picture-Based Warning Act
of 2008 (House Bill 3364 and Senate Bill 2147), still
waiting to be passed into law.
It
simply means putting a picture on a cigarette pack of a
swollen and sore neck, throat, nose, lungs, lips or any
cancer-stricken part of the body where smoke passes by,
so as to give consumers an idea how destructive the
habit can be.
Obviously, we’ve reached the point where the written
Surgeon General’s warning, or in our case the
government’s, on each pack is not enough. There must be
visuals. Lots of Filipinos may argue that since it is
the government—whose credibility has suffered a
lot—giving the warning, one might as well take it with a
grain of salt, literally with lemon and tequila shots.
That
night, more than 20 young performers and celebrities
showed up, expressing their support to use picture-based
health warnings on cigarette packs.
Besides
Hale, there was Paraluman, Imago, Kelevra, Mayonnaise,
Hilera and solo singer Julianne. Bianca King, who
recently has become famous as Betty the contravida in
GMA’s top-rating telefantasya Dyesebel, was also
there to lend her support. King is the girlfriend of
Hale’s lead vocalist-composer Champ Lui-Pio.
King is
a nonsmoker and pointed out that through concerts, the
message can be heard by the youth. “I understand the
pressure to experiment when you’re young and rebellious,
but even the oldest smoker you know will tell you they
really don’t get anything out of smoking and neither
will you,” she said.
Champ
the boyfriend explained: “We are supporting the campaign
to help the youth from becoming addicted, and prevent
more people from wanting to smoke. Tobacco control is
more relevant now more than ever because of the
increasing number of young smokers.” A recent survey
revealed that one out of three teens (aged 13-15)
smokes.
“Quit
today before it does more harm to your body and the
people around you. You could be using your money on
something more beneficial to society and the
environment,” King agreed.
In local
parlance, they are very bagay because more than
the good cause they’re fighting for, he is Champ and she
is King.
Champ
does not smoke and drink. Contrary to the widespread
perception that musicians playing in a band, especially
for an “emo” rock band, smoke like a chimney and drink
like a fish, Champ is the antithesis of many “emo” rock
stars.
We’ve
heard from members of other rock bands how Champ
consistently refuses any offer to take a shot of brandy,
gin, vodka, rum, whiskey, beer or even wine, or smoke a
joint backstage in all the gigs they were together.
This, he does, even if everyone is having what everybody
else is offering.
The
concert was organized by Framework Convention on Tobacco
Control Alliance-Philippines (FCAP), in partnership with
Bloomberg Initiative and the International Union Against
Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.
That
night, FCAP formally launched its Graphic Health Warning
advocacy.
There’s
an ocean of difference between goodnight and good-bye.
But with One-Smoke-Free-Concert, the youth may have seen
the light...without the lighter.
June
being a no-smoking month, do we hear more smoke-free
concerts then?
***For more information on FCAP advocacies, projects or
anything related to the campaign, visit
www.tobaccocontrol.ph |
