City oks ordinance banning use of masks during strikes

CEBU, Philippines - Wearing of face masks during labor strikes, protests and pickets in the city is now illegal.

This after the Cebu City Council, during its regular yesterday, approved on the third and final reading the ordinance authored by Councilor Hilario Davide III entitled “An Ordinance Prohibiting Strikers and or Protesters from Concealing their Identities During Labor Strikes in Business Establishments.”

The ordinance punishes any person, including employees of business establishments participating in a labor strike, picket or protest in any business establishment who conceals his or her identity by covering all or part of his face with a mask.

Violators will be slapped with one year imprisonment or a fine not exceeding P5,000.

According to the ordinance, the presence of these “faceless” strikers can only lead to suspicions that they are intruders and not legitimate strikers who are about to inflict economic sabotage and that they are purposely hired by management to infiltrate the ranks of its striking workers.

“To minimize the risk of disorder, that a labor strike, picket or protest can cause to provide adequate and proper law enforcement, it is believed that strikers or protesters who cover their faces with masks to conceal their identities should be prohibited,” the ordinance reads.

Meanwhile, the City Council also conducted a public hearing on the ordinance authored by Councilor Edgardo Labella that seeks to amend the city’s Traffic Code, particularly the provision on the use of “fancy lights” by vehicles.

Jose Manuel Cuenco, general sales manager of Toyota Cebu, said there has to be a distinction on whether the fancy lights being referred to is the halogen or the high intensity discharge (HID) lights.

Labella, in his proposed measure, used the term halogen light or lamp of the vehicle as the one that produce glaring lights causing disturbance and temporary blindness to the driver in the opposite lane.

Cuenco said halogen is the filament type of head lamps and produces a yellowish to bright yellow lights while the HID is more modern and produces white to bluish glaring lights.

He suggested there should be regulation on the strength of the head lamp which is 45 watts for halogen and 4,500 kebbel.

He said there should also be a regulation on the installation of the head lamps since an HID being fitted into a halogen type head lamp will destroy the focus of the light.

“This will scatter the lights and may be quite disturbing to the driver of the opposite direction,” Cuenco said.

The ordinance was also welcomed by the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI).

In response, Labella said he will consider the observations of those who attended the public hearing during the discussion for the finalization of the proposed ordinance. — Ferliza C. Contratista/WAB(THE FREEMAN)