BACOLOD City – Personnel of Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) are not allowed to arrest people loitering at night, said Councilor Caesar Distrito.
That is unless these people are breaking local ordinances, like the curfew for minors, or other national laws.
If not, the “police have no grounds to arrest them,” stressed Distrito, adding that there is no law prohibiting loiterers during nighttime.
The anti-vagrancy law had already been scrapped in 2012, according to Distrito, a lawyer.
He fielded this statement a week after President Rodrigo Duterte directed the Philippine National Police to rid the streets of tambays (loiterers).
Distrito, who chairs the Sangguniang Panlungsod committee on laws, ordinances and good government, said the BCPO must be “careful in handling the issue.”
BCPO head Senior Superintendent Francisco Ebreo in a text message sent to Panay News said his personnel are implementing the President’s directive “within the bounds of law.”
Ebreo added that they are only employing “Oplan Sita” or the stop-and-frisk method.
The BCPO head earlier said they have been cautious in arresting tambays in the city even before Duterte issued the directive.
He added that he will ensure that human rights won’t be violated in their operations./PN
