Mayor Labella will not allow minors in malls

Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella will not allow minors into malls because with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) still around, it is still very dangerous for minors to be at the malls. | CDN Digital file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella will not allow minors below 15 years old to enter malls even if they are accompanied by their parents or guardians.

The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has recommended that minors be allowed to enter malls with their guardians provided that a local government unit (LGU) has passed an ordinance allowing such under a public health quarantine.

Labella has said that there is no ordinance in the city allowing minors into malls, and that he has no plan in requesting the City Council to draft one because the Department of Health (DOH) has advised against it.

The mayor consulted the Cebu City Health Department (CCHD) regarding the matter and the health office deemed it too risky to allow the minors to enter the malls in the current state of the city’s coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Read: Minors will be allowed to go to malls if accompanied by parents — Año

The city has 215 active cases as of December 2, 2020, with an additional 8 cases recorded on the same day.

Based on the data of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), the outside transmission remains high causing 79.34 percent of the active cases.

Supermarkets and malls comprise at least 9 percent of this outside transmission, making it risky for the minors to go out even with supervision.

“I will not allow the minors to go to malls just yet because it is still very dangerous,” said the mayor.

For now, the mayor urged the parents to keep their children safe by keeping them at home. He pleaded patience from the parents because the city could not afford another increase in the COVID-19 cases. /dbs

Read: DTI urges malls to hold sales promos online