The 40 violators of Mandaue City’s Anti-Bonnet Ordinance, who had already paid the P5,000 fine, will have to wait longer to get their refund.
This developed as the proposed amended ordinance, which will involve the lowering of the fine from P5,000 to P500 had yet to be passed on second and final reading especially with the City Council going in recess for the Holy Week.
Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna, who is the presiding officer of the City Council, said that the proposed amended ordinance would be discussed for second and final reading on Wednesday next week because council sessions had been suspended this Wednesday due to the Holy Week celebrations.
Aside from that, Fortuna and the City Council said that they had yet to meet with the City Treasurer’s Office and the Commission on Audit (COA) to discuss how the refund would be given to the violators, who had paid the P5,000 fine.
Fortuna said that this would be one of the rare ordinances that would be amended because it would involve a refund, which we had never encountered yet.
“This is more of a consideration. We thank them for immediately settling their (fines for the) violations, and we hope they will bear with us on when can we refund them,” said Fortuna.
He said that the Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (TEAM) had advised those newly apprehended violators of the Anti-Bonnet Ordinance to pay the fine for the violation only when the ordinance would be amended.
The TEAM has recorded 581 violators of the ordinance after a week of implementation before Mayor Gabriel Luis “Luigi” Quisumbing and the City Council decided to amend the ordinance.
Forty of these number had paid the P5,000 fine.
The proposed amended ordinance sponsored by Fortuna, Councilors Nilo Seno and Carmelino del Mar, was passed on first reading at the City Council.
“This shows that we are also sensitive to the needs of the people,” said Fortuna, about the move to amend the ordinance.
Quisumbing and the City Council made to move to amend the ordinance after they received several criticisms from motorists and netizens in social media about the strict implementation of the ordinance and the high penalties for the violators.
Motorcycle riders complained about the dust and smoke of vehicles in Mandaue City’s streets while others raised their concerns about their health as those even advised by doctors to wear surgical or medical masks would be apprehended as these would be prohibited in the current ordinance.
The proposed amendments of the ordinance include the lowering of the penalty from P5,000 to P500 for the first offense. This will increase to P1,000 for the second offense and P1,500 for the third offense.
Surgical or medical masks will no longer be prohibited, and tricycles and its passengers will no longer be included in the proposed amended ordinance.
The use of bonnets, balaclava, covering of face by tinted visors of helmet and face masks will remain prohibited in the proposed amended ordinance.