FILE PHOTO Policemen apprehended violators of curfew in Binondo, Manila, among them minors. —LYN RILLON
MANILA, Philippines — Curfew in Metro Manila will be lifted starting November 4, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Benhur Abalos said Wednesday.
“This will be on November 4 pero subject to the ordinance of each LGUs (local government units) in Metro Manila regarding minors because some of them have this ordinance that minors cannot just loiter around at a given time,” he told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview.
“We’re just respecting their prevailing ordinance on minors. Although bawal pa lumabas ang minors. We just can’t say, baka mamaya magchange tayo ng alert levels (Minors are still not allowed to go out but we just can’t say because maybe our alert levels will be changed),” he added.
At present, the curfew hours in Metro Manila covers 12 midnight to 4 a.m.
According to Abalos, the mayors decided to approve the lifting of curfew so that mall hours can be extended. He said mall owners were concerned about the limited public transportation and curfew if they will extend mall hours for the Christmas season.
“Kaya namin ginawa ito because we had a meeting with mall owners. For Christmas shopping we are anticipating the rush of shoppers, so we have requested na baka pwedeng ‘yung mall hours i-extend nila ang pagbukas at pagsarado,” said Abalos.
(We did this because we had a meeting with mall owners. We are anticipating the rush of shoppers for the Christmas season so we have requested that they extend the mall hours.)
“But their concerns are two. Number 1, ‘yung public transport ng mga empleyado nila and number two, curfew. ‘Yung public transport, ok naman ang DOTr (Department of Transportation) with the 70 percent capacity pero ito namang sa gabi, that’s why we moved for this curfew [to be lifted] to accommodate [more shoppers] also and at least to help also the economy,” he added.
(They have two concerns: First is the public transportation of their employees, and the second is curfew. The DOTr was okay with 70 percent public transportation capacity, but we had to adjust the curfew. That’s why we moved for this curfew to be lifted in order to accommodate more shoppers and at least help the economy.)