Proposed ordinance requires liquor licenses

CEBU, Philippines — Small stores are not exempted from the new rules being pushed in a proposed Mandaue City ordinance regulating the sale and the consumption of liquor.

This was one of the things discussed during a public hearing on the proposed ordinance held in the Mandaue City Session Hall last week. The hearing was attended by concerned stakeholders as well as personnel of the City Legal Office, a representative from the Mandaue City Police Office, Councilor Nilo Seno, the author of the ordinance, and Councilor Kevin Cabahug.

Based on the proposed ordinance, no establishment will be allowed to sell and serve liquor within Mandaue if they have no License to Sell and License to Serve from the Business Permit and Licensing Office.

During the hearing, former Mandaue City councilor Emil Rosal, who owns a sari-sari store, asked if the ordinance can exempt similar stores like his from the ordinance.

However, Omar Redula, head of City Legal Office, explained that they cannot grant the said request because they have received reports of several incidents of physical injuries involving youths in the past two months. For sari-sari stores, they are only allowed to sell but cannot serve liquor.

Redula explained to Rosal that the proposed ordinance requires sari-sari stores and convenience stores that are open for 24 hours to secure a License to Sell, but they will no longer be allowed to sell liquor from 12 a.m. to 7 a.m.

In between those hours, sari-sari store and convenience store owners are required to cover their alcoholic beverages with a black cloth.

According to the ordinance, once a store has secured a License to Sell, it is required that the “seal of the liquor must not be broken within the premises of the store and that it is prohibited for any person to consume liquor in any public space.”

Establishments providing food and drinks in enclosed areas are allowed to sell and serve liquor as long as they have secured a License to Sell and a License to Serve, Redula added.

Playgrounds, health and hospital compounds, transportation terminals, sports grounds or centers, church grounds, parks, resorts, walkways, entranceways, as well as the sidewalks, gasoline stations, markets, and other areas where people gather are the places not allowed for drinking of alcoholic beverages.

A representative of a popular convenience store chain, who requested not to be named, asked if it was possible they be allowed to sell liquor from 12 a.m. to 7 a.m. because not letting the customers drink the liquor they bought from them in their premises is part of their rules.

However, James Sayson of CLO said they cannot accept it and based on police records, incidents involving drunken individuals usually happen between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. because they can still buy liquor in convenience stores.

Sayson added that this proposed ordinance is not the total solution to violence and possible crimes but the city government believes that this will help prevent them.

Although drinking liquor has been a part of the culture and experience of every Filipino, the ordinance said that its regulation is important in order “to prevent anti-social behavior and intimidation to law-abiding Mandauehanons.” (FREEMAN)