PARENTS, GUARDIANS ACCOUNTABLETHE Dagupan City government will soon start strictly enforcing the 2003 ordinance imposing curfew for minors from 10:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. the following day, ahead of the planned nationwide curfew that the incoming-Duterte administration announced it would do.
City Ordinance No. 1771-2003 directs parents, guardians, owners of boarding houses for students and overseers of minors under their ward to require the minors to stay indoors from 10:00 o’clock in the evening till 4:00 o’clock in the morning.
There are prescribed penalties for parents, guardians, etc. of children caught violating the curfew.
City Councilor Jose Netu M. Tamayo, author of the ordinance in 2003, said Mayor Belen Fernandez agreed to enforce the ordinance in coordination with the barangay chairmen.
He said that it may be timely to revisit the ordinance in anticipation of the Executive Order that President-elect Duterte plans to issue for the observance of curfew hours in the entire country once he formally assumes office after June 30.
Mayor Belen Fernandez believes the implementation of the curfew hours will protect the children from the perils of illegal drugs, said Tamayo.
Councilor Marcelino Fernandez, chairman of the city’s Liga ng mga Barangay, has already signified his support in enforcing the barangay curfew hours as soon as possible.
Under the ordinance, the Punong Barangay, Barangay Kagawads and the appointed Barangay Tanods are charged with the duty and responsibility to keep the minors away from the streets during the curfew hours. Minors caught loitering during the curfew hours will be accompanied by the tanods to their homes.
In lieu of criminal prosecution, parents, guardians, owners of boarding houses whose children or wards violate the curfew hours, will be fined or required to render community service.
The schedule of administrative fines are: Warning on the first offense; P300 fine on second offense, and P500 on the third offense. The penalties will be paid to the barangay treasurer.
For required community service, the parent or guardian will render eight hours per day under the supervision of the Punong Barangay, for such number of days, i.e., Warning for first offense, 3 days on second offense, and five days on third offense. The parent may escape serving the penalties on the second and third offense if he executes an affidavit that he has required his child to observe the curfew hours, in which case, the subject minor shall be required to suffer the penalties under the ordinance.
Boarding houses and dormitories are required to post a notice of the ordinance in their premises in order to be exempted from the penalties, and transients or boarders found in violation of the ordinance shall suffer the penalties imposed.
Person in charge of the minor who neglects or fails to comply with the mandate of the ordinance, incorrigibly for the third time, shall be meted with imprisonment for seven (7) days and a fine in the amount of P5,000.
But if the minor was caught committing a felony, the tanods will bring the minor to the nearest police station to be held, under the law, for investigation by the police.
However, the City Mayor may, through administrative issuances, suspend the implementation of the ordinance in any particular barangay, or other combination of barangays, for such number of days, whenever public interest so requires.
The Punong Barangay, may, during barangay fiestas or other public functions within his area of responsibility, issue an executive order suspending the implementation of the ordinance, for a period not exceeding seven days.
The ordinance also requires that a copy of the same be posted in all barangay halls and in three conspicuous places in the barangays.
The City Social Welfare and Development Office shall be the primary agency in monitoring the implementation of the ordinance with the assistance of the Liga ng mga Barangay.
In line with this, the office of the City Administrator will turn on the siren one hour before the curfew hour to warn the youth and the parents. (Leonardo Micua)
