Negros Oriental
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Aside from a liquor ban, the province of Negros Oriental will be having a province-wide curfew as the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections draw near.
The Regional Joint Security Control Center in Central Visayas decided to implement a curfew for Negros Oriental beginning this Saturday, October 28 until the eve of the elections on Sunday, October 29.
The curfew will run from 10 p.m. on Saturday up to 4 a.m. the next day which is Sunday.
In a three-page resolution issued on October 24, the Regional Joint Security Control Center in Central Visayas also created a Special Task Force: Negros Oriental.
The task force’s responsibility, among others, is to implement the curfew as well as other election-related policies.
READ: Negros Oriental curfew set ahead of barangay, SK polls
Those exempted from the curfew included employees from business process outsourcing (BPO), healthcare workers, and workers transporting goods, said Ivan Delos Santos, administrative officer of Comelec-7.
“All they have to do is show their ID as proof,” Delos Santos said in a phone interview.
Nevertheless, Comelec-7 assured that the implementation of a curfew in Negros Oriental is nothing to be alarmed of.
The curfew will serve as an additional means to ensure peace and order in the province. In addition, those who will be caught violating curfew will be released on Sunday.
“Anyone caught violating the curfew will only be detained for a few hours, and will be released the next day so that they can vote and exercise their right to vote,” Delos Santos explained in Cebuano.
On the other hand, Comelec officials remind the public, both voters and candidates, to comply with election-related rules, especially with the looming long weekend.
In particular, the liquor ban which mandates the prohibition of selling, distributing, and consuming of alcoholic beverages from October 29 to October 30. /rcg
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