Baguio vice mayor: Ban Pokemon Go' in gov't offices, churches, schools

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – A Baguio City official is seeking a ban on the famous mobile application Pokemon Go in government offices, churches and schools.

 

Vice Mayor Edison Bilog also wants people to stop playing the game application while driving or crossing pedestrian lanes because doing so is dangerous.

 

Bilog said that the game lures players to areas of significance like landmarks, government offices, schools and churches and even near pedestrian lanes, roads and streets. 

 

“Work at government offices are affected as players visit these offices no longer to transact business but to play the application while several government employees are likewise lured to the game, affecting their productivity,” Bilog noted.

 

“Churches in the city are likewise found to be areas where Pokemon stops or gyms are set disrupting religious worship,” Bilog said. This has prompted Baguio-Benguet Vicariate Bishop Carlito Cenzon to also urge the faithful at Baguio Cathedral to refrain from playing the game while inside the church.

 

Bilog also cited that the use of mobile phones while driving is also prohibited as per the recently approved Anti-Distracted Driving Act.

 

“To ensure the effective and efficient service of government offices, solemnity of churches and or other places of worship and safety of the pedestrians and drivers of motor vehicles, the city should prohibit the playing of… Pokemon Go and other similar applications inside government offices and churches and while crossing pedestrian lanes and driving a motor vehicle within the city,” Bilog said. 

           

He proposes penalties ranging from P500 to P1,500 for offenders.

 

For the ban in schools, Bilog proposed a separate measure urging the Department of Education-Cordillera to issue a memorandum prohibiting the playing of the game and similar ones inside all elementary and secondary schools in the city.

 

Most school administrators, it was observed, allow their students to play the game inside school premises.

 

“It was observed however that some students spend their free time playing the game inside school campuses and some even tend to leave the school premises just to be able to catch these virtual creatures instead of studying or preparing for their next subject,” the Baguio vice mayor said.

 

“To ensure that students are able to concentrate on their studies thus avoid any untoward accident.., the (DepEd-CAR) should be urged to issue (the said) memorandum,” he said.

 

Baguio residents have since been “lured” into playing the free-to-play mobile application developed by Niantic Inc., enabling players to use their mobile devices to hunt, capture, train and engage virtual creatures in battles in augmented reality.

 

A similar ban has been proposed in Quezon City.