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CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) on Thursday, January 21, announced that they had filed formal cases against three individuals for holding a Sinulog live-band in Cebu I.T. Park in Barangay Apas, and reportedly for their failure to enforce health protocols last Sunday, January 17.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla, deputy director for operations of CCPO, told reporters in a press conference that charges were lodged against the owner, manager, and branch manager of the resto-bar that was among the multiple establishments subjected to the police’s Oplan Bulabog.
“We filed cases against a total of three individuals,” Parilla said.
He said the cases were formally lodged before the City Prosecutor’s Office last Wednesday, January 20.
CDN Digital has opted not to disclose their names, as well as the name of the establishment, as of this point as it is still trying to reach out to them for their comments.
The three accused, said Parilla, would be facing charges for violating Article 151 of the Revised Penal Code, or Disobedience of a Person in Authority, in relation to the city’s Executive Order (EO) that mandated minimum health standards should be implemented in all public areas, including restaurants and bars.
The resto-bar was included in the police’s Oplan Bulabog last Sunday wherein law enforcers noted that aside from having live-band gigs, physical distance, and the limit on customer capacity and serving of liquors were not strictly enforced.
“This would be a strong message to other establishments that they should not be violating the prevailing health regulations and protocols,” added Parilla in Cebuano.
Read: Oplan Bulabog: 130 curfew violators nabbed in Cebu City
There are at least 11 establishments, consisting mostly of restaurants and bars, which were caught violating minimum health standards during the CCPO’s Oplan Bulabog in January, an earlier report from Cebu City’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) stated.
Parilla said the resto-bar in Cebu I.T. Park is the first to be formally charged while the others were issued with show-cause orders.
“The apprehended violators were given show-cause orders to explain their side before the Cebu City Hall’s BPLO (Business Process and Licensing Office),” he explained.
Possible penalties for businesses found not following the city’s rules and regulations made against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) could include revocation of their permits to operate.
It can be recalled that officials both from the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) and the EOC pointed to social gatherings such as parties that drove the recent surge of new COVID-19 cases here.
Health experts said in events like these, people tend to relax in following precautionary measures, such as wearing face masks and observing physical distance, that would protect them from the virus.
Read: Still rising, COVID-19 active cases in Cebu City nears 700
The number of active COVID-19 cases in the city, which refer to patients still infected with SARS-CoV-2, has risen to 680 as of January 20, which is approximately a 680 percent increase compared to the 87 recorded in mid-December 2020. /dbs
RELATED STORY: 11 restos, bars in Cebu City face possible permit revocation for quarantine violation