Mandaue to strictly enforce Anti-Mendicancy ordinance

A beggar asks for alms from motorists and commuters along Osmeña Boulevard in Cebu City. (CDN FILE PHOTO)

The City Council of Mandaue has approved a resolution seeking to strictly implement the Anti-Mendicancy Ordinance of Mandaue in light of the Christmas season.

The resolution particularly intends to categorize street carolers under mendicants and to police their growing number in the city, habitually boarding on public utility jeepneys (PUJs) to sing jingles and beg for money thereafter.

Councilor Carmelino del Mar Jr., proponent of Resolution No. 113-2016, lobbied for the passage of the resolution, which was approved during the council’s regular session last December 14 to prevent the riding public from the threats that the street carolers might pose.

“These street carolers scare the commuters with veiled threats to give them money. One of the carolers would stand at the entrance of the jeepney while the two others sing Christmas songs inside the jeepney, sending fear to some commuters that they would not be able to disembark from the vehicle if they would not give them money,” part of the resolution stated.

The resolution further intends to curb the proliferation and commission of mendicancy and the exploitation of children, differently abled persons or senior citizens through the act.

Del Mar said that mendicancy has been rampant throughout Mandaue City, which has now involved little children aged as young as five years old.

Along with the tight implementation of the ordinance, the city government has tasked the barangay captains, tanods, the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO), the Traffic Enforcement Agency Management (Team) and the City Social Welfare Services Office (CWSO) in rounding up the mendicants down to the barangay levels.

“The street children will be apprehended by the city police. If they persist in begging, then the children will be taken to the CSWO. There, they will be asked about their families and we will summon their parents to the office,” Del Mar told Cebu Daily News.

Adult mendicants aged 18 years old and above who are able-bodied will be penalized with imprisonment for a period of five to ten days for the first offensem, while habitual mendicants will be penalized with imprisonment for a period of one to two months at the discretion of the court.

Ordinance No. 12-2011-639 or the Anti-Mendicancy Ordinance of Mandaue City was approved on September 23, 2011, by the twelfth Sangguniang Panlungsod under the administration of then city Mayor Jonas Cortes.

Section two of the ordinance declares the act of giving to and soliciting by mendicants of cash or any kind of material goods in public places, including but not limited to PUJs, buildings, offices and commercial establishments as unlawful.

Under the ordinance, any person who shall be caught giving cash or any kind of goods to the mendicants will be issued a citation ticket and shall pay the fine of P200 or render community service for eight hours.