MANDAUE CITY, Philippines—There will be no changes in the policies implemented by the Mandaue City government with regards to penalties for violators of health protocols here.
Lawyer Lizer Malate, head of the city’s Emergency Operations Center, said city ordinance no. 15-2020-1531, penalizing anyone caught not wearing a face mask or failing to properly wear face masks in public places, is still in effect.
In the city ordinance, violators will be fined P5,000
The city government made this statement days after Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia announced that she plans to do away with penalties for failure to wear face masks.
Read: Garcia mulls removing monetary penalty for mask violators in Cebu
Malate said the regulation cannot be changed right away as it was based from the approved city ordinance. He said making changes would take further study.
Malate said whatever improvements and progress the city attained in their COVID-19 management is because of these policies which were in place for months.
He said people are more hesitant to violate a policy if there is a monetary fine.
Malate explained the collection from these penalties goes to the city’s general fund.
In the neighboring Cebu City, the EOC there also recommended to continue imposing penalties to individuals caught not wearing face masks in public.
Read: EOC: Penalties for no face mask remains
Cebu City currently imposes a fine of P500 as first offense for violators of existing health protocols which included the proper wearing of face masks in public areas.
/bmjo