Dave Achondo
I WAS wondering how the impending “curfew ordinance” would be effectively implemented by the city government. I don’t really have the details yet but City Social Welfare and Development (CSWD) office head Teodoro Sabuga-a said the guidelines have yet to be finalized and that the curfew for minors would start at 10 pm.
I guess the way this city will go for it is by “a call to arms” type of move wherein the barangay tanods and police will make rounds to inspect establishments such as Internet cafes and “piso nets,” and parks in their respective barangays.
However, the city should first disseminate the information to barangay officials and then to the parents in order for them to be guided. It would be hard if they pretend they didn’t know about it.
Ordinance 13195-2017, otherwise known as the Parental Responsibility Code of Cagayan de Oro, was authored by councilors Enrico Salcedo and Ian Mark Nacaya. Based on this new ordinance, parents, guardians or their immediate kin will be held responsible for minors who are outdoors after 10 pm and will get slapped with fines, penalties including community service for parents and imprisonment for repeat offenders.
Based on the ordinance, such responsibilities are also to be exercised by school administrators and teachers or institutions engaged in child care while the child is under their supervision, instruction or custody, whether outside or inside the school premises or institution.
Now, all they have to do is act on it. Don’t get me wrong, I am optimistic that this curfew rule will be sustained and be effectively implemented by the authorities but as we’ve seen countless times in this city, rules are temporary and die a natural death. Soon, we’re back to our old habits again.
But where do minors go when caught? I am sure not in a holding cell of police stations. Most probably, they will be gathered in the barangay gyms or similar places where they are to wait to be fetched by their parents.
I do have one concern though--what about the street children who really have no place to call their home, those who were abandoned by parents and have no families? You can clearly see them in Divisoria, sleeping on park benches, sidewalks, etc.. Will they be exempted from this curfew? If not, where do they go?
I am eagerly waiting to see the details on how city hall would implement this ordinance. And I would like to check out Magsaysay Park from time to time the moment the ordinance is implemented.
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I understand that some of the people living in the streets are no longer minors. There are adults, and some are even senior citizens who were left on their own by their own children. Would the city government have an ordinance for them, too, so that they can be taken care of?
I pity children being used by their parents to earn for them, and I feel the same thing towards the elderly, the sick, and the phyisically challenged begging for their next meal. Instead of finding ways to open a casino in this city, why not focus on something that’s a little close to the heart.
We need an ordinance for these people, too. The sacrifices a parent makes for their children are beyond compare and the responsibility falls in their children’s hands to take care of them. They owe them that much. If ever the children fail or there is no next of kin, then the government should do its part, and I am not talking about providing them free graves and coffins.
