Cebu City to lift liquor ban but biz told to still follow health protocols

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella on Tuesday, May 4, announced that he is planning to lift the liquor ban here.

“We have favorable recommendations from the EOC and City Health officials (to lift the liquor ban), and a request from the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) to help revive our economy, especially our restaurants,” said Labella in Cebuano.

Labella is eyeing to issue a new Executive Order (EO) this Friday, May 7, laying down guidelines to regulate the selling and distribution of alcoholic beverages in the city amid prevailing health protocols.

This includes deploying marshals from the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to monitor establishments’ compliance in observing minimum health standards.

The mayor also warned restaurants and bars serving liquors that lifting the ban does not mean repealing health protocols such as social distancing, and capping the number of customers allowed inside and the quantity of drinks served to them.

“This is the task of our marshals. They will go around and check if health protocols are being implemented. If they will find out they still violate our protocols, they might be losing their business permits,” explained Labella.

The city reintroduced the prohibition of consuming alcoholic beverages last February in an effort to address the spike of COVID-19 cases it experienced at that time.

Cebu City, which remained under Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ), is currently enjoying a downtrend in the number of new infections since March.

As of May 3, the latest bulletin from the Department of Health in Central (DOH-7) showed that the locality only has 819 active cases of COVID-19. /dcb

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