TACLOBAN CITY—Various groups in Leyte opposed an ordinance approved by the Leyte provincial board requiring organizers to first coordinate with the governor before conducting any activity within the province.
Ordinance 2011-02 sets the guidelines in the conduct of outreach activities like research, economic development, leisure activities and fact-finding missions in hinterlands within the province and requires organizers to coordinate with the mayors and barangay captains of the concerned municipalities or cities.
The organizers have to submit a list of participants and a report upon the completion of their activity to the office of the governor.
A person violating this ordinance would be required to pay a fine ranging from P1, 000 to P5,000 and if a foreigner is involved, he or she faces immediate deportation.
Flor Acbo, regional chair of Bayan-Eastern Visayas, said that the provincial is unconstitutional and absurd.
“The Supreme Court has junked the proposed national ID system and this ordinance requires all those who will undertake activity to submit their names to the office of the governor. This is really unconstitutional and absurd,” Acbo said in a phone interview Tuesday.
Irma Mepico, program coordinator of the United Church of Christ of the Philippines, said on her Facebook post that the ordinance was repressive and should be junked.
In a phone interview, Mepico said that there was no need to seek a permit or information from local government officials and wait for 15 days before they would be allowed to conduct their missions. /INQUIRER