ASoG's Tobacco Control and Governance Team presents papers in the World Conference on Tobacco Control 2025 in Dublin, Ireland

From 23 to 25 June 2025, the Tobacco Control and Governance team of the Ateneo School of Government through the Ateneo Policy Center—represented by Tobacco Control & Governance Program Manager Alen Santiago and Project Coordinator Sam Ackary—participated in the World Conference on Tobacco Control 2025 in Dublin, Ireland.

Returning after a seven-year pause, the World Conference on Tobacco Control (WCTC) is recognized as the leading international event on tobacco control. The conference convenes a diverse group of over 100 countries’ representatives, including researchers, public health professionals, policymakers, and civil society organizations. It offers a critical venue for exchanging success stories, highlighting effective strategies, and strengthening global efforts to counter tobacco industry influence. The WCTC is hosted by the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies.

The Tobacco Control and Governance team of ASOG submitted four papers for presentation at the World Conference on Tobacco Control, three of which were accepted. As one of the three papers had been accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, only two were presented by Alen and Sam at the conference.

The first paper entitled “Assessing Industry Compliance to the Graphic Health Warnings Law in the Philippines: Challenges in Multi-Sectoral Tobacco Governance,” was submitted as an e-poster by Alen. The e-poster presents the team’s findings from their compliance assessment of cigarette and cigar products with the 2014 Graphic Health Warnings Law. The study found that while most of the 97 assessed tobacco products complied with select graphic health warning (GHW) requirements—such as absence of misleading descriptors and use of English text—compliance with GHW size specifications and use of the current DOH-prescribed templates was inconsistent, with only 3 of 17 manufacturers achieving full compliance. The e-poster that the team submitted for presentation at the conference may be viewed below.

The second paper entitled “Understanding Regulatory Compliance: Graphic Health Warnings on Vapor Products, Heated Tobacco Products, and Novel Tobacco Products in the Philippines” was presented by Sam in a 5-minute full oral presentation followed by a 20-minute question and answer forum. 

The full oral presentation highlighted the team’s findings from a similar compliance assessment of graphic health warnings on e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, and other novel tobacco products, in accordance with Republic Act 11900 or the Vape Law. The assessment revealed that 36% of products lacked any graphic health warnings (GHWs), only 1% (3 out of 313) were fully compliant, and common violations included missing labels, improper formatting, and the absence of Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) revenue stamps.

The abstracts for both studies can be viewed in the official abstract book of the World Conference for Tobacco Control 2025 through this link.