BACOLOD City – A public hearing will discuss the proposed anti-loitering ordinance in this capital city.
Councilor Caesar Distrito, chairman of the Sangguniang Panlungsod committee on laws, ordinances and good government, said the hearing will determine if Bacolodnons want such an ordinance to be passed.
Distrito added that he will invite representatives from 61 barangays in the city, the Commission on Human Rights, and the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO), and other stakeholders.
There is no fixed schedule for the hearing yet but Distrito said it will be “announced soon.”
The plan to hold the hearing came after BCPO head Senior Superintendent Francisco Ebreo wrote Acting City Mayor El Cid Familiaran a letter regarding a memorandum he received from the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6).
Ebreo said the PRO-6 wants local government units to pass or implement ordinances against loiterers (tambays), specifically those drinking in public places.
“We have to conduct a public hearing before we propose for the creation of an ordinance,” said Distrito, noting that the anti-vagrancy law was already abolished.
He added that the city government must “consider the rights of the people.”
In an interview last month, Ebreo said his men are “cautious” in arresting tambays in Bacolod.
He stressed that they “cannot arrest anyone na nakatambay lang [at] wala namang ginagawang violation.”
“We want to assure the public that their rights will not be violated,” Ebreo added.
Ebreo fielded his comment a week after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the Philippine National Police to rid the streets of loiterers, especially during nighttime.
Ebreo said even before the President’s directive, BCPO personnel have already been enforcing related ordinances, like the curfew for minors and the smoking ban in public places.
“We’re implementing these [ordinances] the right way. We don’t want to be like the policemen who were relieved because they had a wrong interpretation of the directive,” added Ebreo./PN
