In Cebu, new law slows fun runs, imposes fees

CEBU CITY—The city government is enforcing a set of rules that runners said would remove the fun from fun runs.

The city council has passed an ordinance limiting the number of fun runs to only one a day. The new measure also bans fun runs on weekdays. Fun runs, the ordinance said, may be held only on weekends and during holidays.

Aside from putting a limit to the number of fun runs and fixing the days these may be held, the ordinance also required fun run organizers to pay fees ranging from P7,500 to P15,000 to the city government for these events.

According to the ordinance, organizers of fun runs covering a distance of less than 10 kilometers would have to pay P7,000 to the city government. Fun runs covering a distance of less than 21 km would be charged P10,000 in permit fees. Those covering more than 21 km would be charged P15,000.

The ordinance said money from the fees would be used to pay overtime rates of traffic enforcers and policemen who would be tapped to keep order in and provide security to the fun run if these are held after office hours.

Haide Acuna, running enthusiast and lawyer, expressed support for the ordinance. “Runs have been unregulated and this greatly affects traffic,” she said.

Proponents of the ordinance said the new law would also prevent accidents during fun runs, citing as example some cases of runners being hit by vehicles because of the absence of traffic enforcers and policemen.

Cebu City is among many places that had caught the running bug with instances of three fun runs being held in a day.