Enforcing the curfew and the anti-noise law

In an effort to put some teeth into Cebu City Ordinance no. 1786 known as the curfew ordinance that prohibits minors from loitering outside their homes from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. the following day, Mayor Tomas Osmeña issued a directive to all barangay tanods in Cebu City that he will suspend the P4,000 monthly allowance the city gives them. What can I say, but it’s about time that these tanods realize that if someone reports that children are still playing well into the night, they will lose their allowance from the Cebu City government.

Not many residents or parents know or realize that the curfew ordinance exists. But indeed, so many youngsters are out at night being exposed to possible involvement in criminal acts or worse -ending up as victims! For the information of unsuspecting parents, the curfew ordinance states that for the first offense, the parents will have to pick up their children at the barangay hall, where they will sign an agreement that they won’t allow their children to wander at night.

If this happens again, the offender’s parents will have to attend a seminar. For the third offense they have to do mandatory community service. Finally, for the fourth offense, the city government will charge parents or guardians with violating Republic Act 7610, or the AntiChild Abuse Law. This means these parents have to appear in court.

But the problem that Mayor Osmeña faces is when children are out at night and the tanods are nowhere to be found. While I fully support this move, what the mayor needs to do is create a special team of policemen perhaps with social workers to enter a barangay so they can enforce this law. Mind you, one of the biggest problems that many barangay residents face today is the noise that is caused by nightly discorals. This has been a reality in the past and our biggest problem is when we report the noise made by those huge speakers that cause the walls of your house to vibrate, even the police will not enforce the anti-noise ordinance.

Then there are those karaoke singers in the barangay that crank up their volume to the max and disturb the peace in the neighborhood. Some friends even joke that they can tolerate loud karaoke singers for as long as they have a good voice. What we cannot stand are those out of tune (yabag) or out of sync singers. But then the tanods or policemen do not stop these loud and disturbing singers. So I certainly hope that Mayor Osmeña creates that special force that can enforce curfew and anti-noise ordinances.

Perhaps Mayor Osmeña does not realize that some of his pronouncements like the limiting of new buildings to only four stories high and his proposal to close the road leading to the Redemptorist Church have made him very unpopular. Add the problem of our potholed city roads. In fairness to the Department of Engineering and Public Works these are slowly being fixed. They recently asphalted C. Rosal St. all the way around Harold’s Hotel. But I’m sure there are still many roads out there that need a lot of fixing.

So in the end, Mayor Osmeña needs to do something to regain the confidence he lost in the past month and certainly enforcing the no-counterflow policy, the curfew ordinance and the anti-noise ordinance with a new team to apprehend violators would win him the applause of his constituents. If the Mayor asks around, discorals have been the biggest disturbance to many Cebu residents and a lot of them are foreigners who complain that Cebu City may be a great city, but they can’t even have a good night’s sleep.

If there is anything positive that the Land Transportation Office has done with uncanny efficiency it was to remove the very noisy and offensively loud motorcycle pipes or these motorcycles don’t get registered. This act cut by 90 percent all the loud motorcycles in Cebu City. So let’s all get into the act to not only make Cebu City a great city, but one where we can sleep soundly! Mind you, this has been happening in my own neighborhood were some people cannot even respect our privacy and give us a good night’s rest.

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For email responses to this article, write to vsbobita@ gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www. philstar.com.