Extended liquor ban in Parañaque

MANILA, Philippines — The ban on alcoholic drinks in Parañaque City will remain until the end of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) on May 15.

Mayor Edwin Olivarez said that the extension of the liquor ban was aimed at discouraging residents from gathering in bars and on the streets to stop the spread of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Liquor companies earlier appealed to the national government to lift the total ban on alcoholic beverages being implemented by several local governments in Metro Manila and other provinces amid the Luzon-wide lockdown.

“If this ban continues, the industry can no longer survive, a situation that can affect a large sector of the community,” the Center for Alcohol Research and Development said in a letter to Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez.

Olivarez, however, said the city government would not lift the liquor ban until May 15 “to strictly implement social distancing.”

Last month, he signed Executive Order No. 24, barring hotels, resorts, restaurants and other establishments of the same nature from selling, furnishing, offering and buying liquor within the city.

The order was set to expire after April 30, the last day of the ECQ, but upon the advice of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases, President Duterte extended the lockdown in Metro Manila to May 15. —Dexter Cabalza