Heavier penalty for drunkenness proposed before the Cebu city council

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Council has approved on first reading and referred a proposed measure that raised five-fold the fine and doubled the imprisonment term for public drunkenness to the body’s committee on laws for its comment.
Authored by City Councilor David Tumulak, the draft ordinance seeks to amend City Ordinance 512, which penalizes drunkenness “in public areas such as in the streets, alley, plaza, and parks in the city to the community on laws in order to strengthen so that this will not be taken for granted by various individuals.”

“Well ang main purpose pag-amend aning ordinance is pagdisiplina sa mga tawo nga magsige’g hubog-hubog in public places,” said Tumulak, chairman of the council’s peace and order committee.

He said that the ordinance was enacted on March 6, 2002 purposely to reinforce the drive against any person to be in the state of drunkenness.

As proposed, Section 4 of the ordinance provides that any violation shall be punishable with six-month imprisonment or a P5,000 fine, or both upon the discretion of the court. The original provision of the March 3, 2002 ordinance set a three-month imprisonment or a P1,000 fine, or both, at the discretion of the court.

Another amendment is that a violator who opts not be prosecuted in court pay an administrative fine of P 2, 000 imposed through a citation ticket to be issued by the arresting officer.

Tumulak said he decided to come up with the amendments after hearing complaints against rowdy behavior of drunken people.

“One of the complaints na-receive nato, especially katong mga asawa nga ang ilang mga bana, by the time sila mahubog, mao nay pautangon sa tindahan. Unya ang grabe ra ba ug away during night time, tingpahuway. And most of the alarms akong nakita sa command control center sa mobile patrol division is mostly during night time drunkenness,” he told reporters.

This ordinance, though, does not only apply to inebriated husbands but to all people, particularly teenagers whom Tumulak said are fond of drinking in public places during night time.

“Kani, pagdisiplina lang ni dili lang kay sa mga bana, apil na sad sa mga palahubog na mga batan-on,” he said, adding that the proposal would also hopefully help prevent girls from getting raped because they got drunk.

He advised that those who like to drink but get rowdy afterwards to might as well drink inside their homes to avoid public disturbance.

“Karon, by the time mag inom inom ka, adto sud sa balay or sud sa establishment. Og hubog ka ayaw pag wandog-wandog. Ayaw pangita og gubot kay daghan kaayo’g kasamok. Drink moderately,” he further said. (FREEMAN)