MANILA, Philippines — The city of Muntinlupa on Wednesday warned students under its education program that their scholarships would be suspended if they were caught violating curfew rules set amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The local government also cautioned non-scholars of the city that they would be slapped with a P300-fine if authorities apprehend them for breaching the curfew rules.
In a statement, Muntinlupa City said local government scholars who violate the curfew rules the first time will get a “stern warning” but their scholarships would be halted if caught the second time.
Both scholars and non-scholars would be fined P500 if caught violating the curfew rules for the third time onwards.
Parents or guardians of the students who are minors would be asked to pay the fines, the local government noted.
Citing reports of barangay watchmen and the Muntinlupa City Police Station, the Muntinlupa Scholarship Division (MSD) said that as of September 22, some 70 students have been caught violating curfew hours. Among them were six scholars, whose education grants were already suspended, and 64 students who were given a stern warning.
“Second offense violations shall be suspended for one academic year and shall sign an undertaking for their strict compliance to curfew rules,” the local government said.
MSD said the list of violators will be forwarded to their respective schools and scholarship coordinators and rightful actions will be administered to erring students, accordingly.
Mayor Jaime Fresnedi appealed to parents and guardians of minors to guide their children on curfew rules, including the minimum public health protocols.
Muntinlupa City was currently imposing a daily curfew from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., as with the rest of Metro Manila which was placed on general community quarantine or GCQ Alert Level 4 until September 30.
As of September 22, Muntinlupa City has 2,143 active COVID-19 infections out of the 25,295 confirmed cases. It also logged the recovery of 22,639 patients and the death of 513 others as of the same period.
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