THE Department of Education (DepEd) invites learners, teaching and non-teaching personnel of DepEd, and other interested persons or groups to join the “2022 Global Media Competition” (GMC) organized by the Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control (GGTC).

Coordinated in the Philippines by civil society organization HealthJustice Philippines, the competition invites participants from all over the country to create compelling social media graphics or short videos exposing the tobacco companies’ dirty tactics in disguising the harmful effects of their products on the environment.

Winners can take as much as US$4,000.

The theme of this year’s GMC is “Disaster in Disguise: Tobacco Companies’ Environmental Harms”, consistent with the theme of this year’s “World No Tobacco Day” (WNTD) on May 31, 2022, spearheaded by the World Health Organization (WHO).

According to the WHO’s webpage for the WNTD, “The harmful impact of the tobacco industry on the environment is vast and growing, adding unnecessary pressure to our planet’s already scarce resources and fragile ecosystems. Tobacco kills over 8 million people every year and destroys our environment, further harming human health through the cultivation, production, distribution, consumption, and post-consumer waste.”

The GMC is in support of the comprehensive tobacco control policy of DepEd.

Per DepEd Order No. 48, s. 2016 or the Policy and Guidelines on Comprehensive Tobacco Control, DepEd shall undertake awareness activities to warn against smoking and counter efforts of the tobacco industry to “downplay” or deny the harmful nature of tobacco products.

The deadline for submitting entries for the GMC is on May 31, 2022, Tuesday.

Details about the GMC can be accessed at https://ggtc.world/actions/global-media-competition. By Arlene Rivera

AUTHOR PROFILE

Arlene Rivera