BY RHENJIE MARIE CALANTAS
ILOILO City – No minors sneaked into accommodation establishments in this city on Valentine’s Day, according to the Task Force on Morals and Values Formation (TFMVF).
“As of 9:15 p.m. on Feb. 14, malinong kag matawhay ang pagsaulog sang Valentine’s Day sa mga accommodation establishments. So far, zero incident kita sang mga menor de edad nga nakasulod sa mga lodging houses,” said task force head Nestor Canong.
This was achieved, Canong said, through close monitoring of the taskforce, Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO), barangay officials andtanods, and even taxi drivers.
They will continue to monitor the situation, he added.
Canong also said the heavy rains last night may have helped.
Genela Macoco, a tanod for 10 years, said she used to witness many high school students attempting to sneak into lodging houses.
“Ginasaway gid na namon, napangitaan ID kag kung minor wala na ginasugtan. Isa man ina ka pamaagi nga mabuhinan ang numero sang mga kabataan nga bata pa gabusong na,” said Macoco.
On their part, establishments also installed security cameras in their buildings to strictly monitor customers.
“For example, malutsan gid kami nga tanod kag makasulod gid sila, may CCTV cameras nga naga-check sa ila kung kaduluda na sang ila nga pang-itsurahon ukon daw mga menor pa,” Macoco added.
Regulation Ordinance No. 2015-447 prohibits accommodation establishments from accepting minors to shield youngsters from sexual predators. It specified suspicious circumstances that should be a cause for alarm and must be prohibited. Two of these were:
* any person who, not being a relative of a minor, is spending time alone with the said minor inside a room or cubicle of a house, an inn, hotel, motel, pension house, apartelle or other similar establishments, vessels, vehicles or any hidden or secluded area under circumstances which would lead a reasonable person to believe that the child is about to be exploited in prostitution and other sexual abuse; and
* any person who keeps or have in his company a minor below 18 years old or who is 10 years or more his junior and is not a family member, in any lodging houses, hotels, motels, beer joints, discotheques, cabarets, pension houses, saunas or massage parlors, beach resorts or similar places
Under the ordinance, motels and similar establishments are required to post the notice “No Entry/Admittance of Minors” in their entrances and/or any conspicuous places in their premises./PN
