Ricketts: I don't smoke

MANILA, Philippines - Optical Media Board (OMB) chairman Ronnie Ricketts yesterday again protested a report claiming he was almost arrested for smoking in public in Nueva Vizcaya.

“Those things never happened,” Ricketts said, adding that he has never smoked in his entire life and that the report hurt his mother.

“I have always been an anti-smoking advocate,” he said.

The provincial board of Nueva Vizcaya has passed an ordinance banning smoking in public places.

Mayor Philip Dacayo of Solano town has said he was “misquoted” in the news report.

Dacayo’s lawyer Edu Bal­yos has said the mayor received a text message alleging that some of those from Ricketts’ group were smoking. The mayor was supposed to go to the area but was never able to apprehend anyone.

“Even my group never smoked that day... There was no such thing that happened,” Ricketts said.

On the day the incident happened, the OMB had an anti-piracy operation in Nueva Vizcaya.

After that, Ricketts even went to a speaking engagement with students where he talked about his advocacies, including those against vices like smoking. He said he was in Solano practically the entire day and that it would have been easy to go after him if he really smoked in public that day.