CEBU CITY, Philippines – The local government of Minglanilla has reinstated its curfew policy for minors as part of its measures to address the multiple robberies in the town.
Since Monday, July 31, 2023, the municipal government has reintroduced its curfew for minors, which will run from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., the next day.
Minglanilla Mayor Rajiv Enad on Monday conducted an emergency meeting with the local police, the traffic team, barangay captains, and other concerned agencies to tackle the rampant robbery incidents in the town.
Some of the measures they agreed on included reviving the curfew for minors and establishing random checkpoints at night. The local government also planned on amending the town ordinance on curfew if it meant penalizing parents responsible for minors violating the curfew.
Enad, in a statement, also plans to make a request before the National Police Commission (Napolcom) to deploy additional enforcers in Minglanilla.
“With a current police ratio of 1:3,775 people, the mayor will ask the Napolcom to change the classification of Minglanilla from Class B to Class A so that it will be permitted to have a bigger number of police officers,” the mayor’s office wrote.
The emergency meeting last Monday also suggested that habal-habal (motorcycle-for-hire) drivers should form federations, and provide additional training for barangay tanods (village peacekeepers in English) on doing citizens’ arrests.
The proposed federation for habal-habal drivers is meant to provide ‘the riding public and local authorities can identify the trusted and recognized drivers safe for transportation.’
According to Minglanilla’s local government, they have already recorded at least six robberies in June alone, three of which had already been solved. The other three, however, were not reported to the police, they added.
Minglanilla is a first-class municipality located 19 kilometers south of Cebu City.
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