ILOILO City – The mandatory closure of establishments serving liquor is better if expressed in an ordinance, according to Councilor Joshua Alim.
The current policy is contained in Executive Order 146 of Mayor Jose Espinosa III issued on Dec. 14, 2017. The Committee on Police Matters and Public Safety of the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) chaired by Alim recommended institutionalizing it through an ordinance.
An ordinance on this will make the policy permanent, according to the councilor.
Comparative data from the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) showed the city’s crime rate higher prior to the issuance of EO 146, said Alim. Cases of physical injury, for example, dropped by 32.947 percent after the EO was enforced.
From Oct. 2, 2017 to Dec. 10, 2017, ICPO recorded 85 cases of physical injury; this dropped to 57 10 weeks after the EO came into effect.
Of the 57 physical injury cases, 28 cases were due to drunkenness – a 30-percent drop from the 40 cases recorded from Oct. 2, 2017 to Dec. 10, 2017.
However, it can be noted that during the seventh week of the EO’s implementation, physical injury cases due to drunkenness surged – this was the period the city was celebrating Dinagyang Festival 2018 and when the EO was temporarily suspended.
EO 146 aimed to curb drunkenness-related incidents. But it had exemptions. These were the following:
* hotels/motels
* resorts accredited by the Department of Tourism
* restaurants, provided they shall not sell nor serve nor dispense nor allow customers to drink within their premises from 2 a.m. until 8 a.m. on the same day, and
* convenience stores operating on a 24-hour basis, provided that such convenience stores may sell but shall not serve nor allow its customers to drink within its premises from 2 a.m. until 8 a.m. on the same day
Establishments covered by the ordinance – bars, nightclubs, restaurants – must set a time for receiving last orders so as to meet the 2 a.m. alcohol curfew that would last until 8 a.m. of the same day.
Dec. 3, 2017’s fatal dawn shooting of a young man at Smallville Complex, a strip of bars, restaurants and hotels in Barangay San Rafael, Mandurriao district, compelled Espinosa to come up with the EO.
The Iloilo Business Club expressed reservation on the 2 a.m. closure of the concerned business establishments. Other options should be explored because the city’s tourism industry may be adversely affected, warned Lea Lara, executive director.
But Espinosa asserted the authority of the city government citing Section 16 of Republic Act 7160 (Local Government Code of 1991). It stated: “Every local government unit shall exercise the powers….for its efficient and effective governance, and those which are essential to the promotion of the general welfare.”
“Within their respective territorial jurisdictions, LGUs shall ensure and support the promotion of health and safety and improvement of public morals, maintenance of peace and order and preserve the comfort and convenience of their inhabitants,” stressed EO 146.
The power to issue licenses and permits which is bestowed in the city mayor necessarily includes the power to restrict through the imposition of certain conditions, according to Espinosa.
The mayor, though, is keen on making the new policy the new norm for businesses engaged in the dispensation of alcoholic beverages.
The EO would be deemed as an additional condition for these establishments when applying for business permits.
Violation of the EO would entail administrative sanctions which include but is not limited to cancellation of business permits and/or closure of business establishment, or non-renewal of business permit for the subsequent year./PN
