3,000 ‘tambays’ arrested in public order drive in Metro

PNP Chief Dir. Gen. Oscar Albayalde. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/ JAM STA. ROSA

Police arrested almost 3,000 people in Metro Manila the past five days in a renewed crackdown on “tambays” or nighttime idlers violating various ordinances.

PNP chief Dir. Gen. Oscar D. Albayalde said the National Capital Region Police Office arrested a total of 2,981 people from June 13 to 18.

Of these, 944 were arrested for violating curfew hours, 653 for drinking in public, 651 for going half-naked; 456 for smoking in public, 138 for traffic violation, and 139 for various offenses like littering, late-night videoke and urinating in public.

Albayalde said there was nothing new in the police’s crackdown against nighttime idlers, noting they were just implementing local ordinances.

He said policemen only arrest nighttime idlers if they violate ordinances on drinking, smoking or urinating in public places, illegal peddling, littering, breaching peace and order, or concealing deadly weapons.

Albayalde said simply loitering was not a violation since vagrancy was already decriminalized in 2012.

The crackdown against “tambays” came after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered authorities on Wednesday to get rid of people loitering in streets especially at night. /cbb