Abstract

This study examined community perceptions of the implementation of City Ordinance No. 3328 in Barangay Pasong Putik Proper, Quezon City. The ordinance prohibits cigars, vapes, and other smoking devices in public places as a public-health measure. The study focused on awareness, policy implementation, penalties, respondent profiles, perceived enforcement challenges, and differences among the assessed dimensions. The study used a descriptive research design involving sixty police officers, students, out-of-school youth, vendors, and barangay officials. Data were collected using a validated questionnaire covering respondent profiles, awareness, implementation, penalties, and enforcement issues. A four-point response scale ranging from “Fully Implemented” to “Not Implemented” was used. Data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, weighted mean, and analysis of variance. Most respondents were aged 18–30 years, male, single, and high-school graduates. Awareness of the health and mental-health risks of vaping was described as partially implemented, although this wording appears to conflate awareness with implementation. Policy implementation, particularly awareness campaigns, received the highest reported rating and was described as implemented but not fully implemented. Penalties for violators and sellers were rated as partially implemented. The findings indicate that respondents perceived visible implementation efforts but continuing gaps in awareness, penalty procedures, information dissemination, reporting, staffing, and enforcement consistency. Recommendations to strengthen education and standardize enforcement are reasonable, but the study did not measure smoking or vaping prevalence, exposure, compliance rates, or public-health outcomes. The statistical comparison among unlike dimensions also requires methodological clarification.