Irish nabbed in Cebu City bar for violating protocols, curfew to undergo inquest proceedings

Police roundup quarantine violators in a high-end bar in Barangay Luz past midnight on Sunday, June 20, 2021. | screenshot from FB live of Police Colonel Josefino Ligan

Cebu City, Philippines—A 49-year-old Irish will undergo an inquest proceeding on Monday, June 21, 2021, after police here filed a complaint against him for disobedience, or for violating  Article 151 of the Revised Penal Code.

Police identified the foreigner as Gavan Kennedy, who temporarily resides at a building in Barangay Luz, the same building where he and 121 others were nabbed in a bar for violating health protocols and curfew hours on past midnight on Sunday, June 20, 2021.

READ: Authorities round up curfew, health protocol violators in Cebu City

Kennedy is reportedly a program director of the Bayanihan Mission, a private group of individuals who do relief operations in Cebu City since the start of pandemic.

The complaint stemmed after Kennedy allegedly resisted arrest when police, in coordination with the Prevention, Restoration, Order, Beautification and Enhancement (PROBE) team led by Raquel Arce, rounded up health and curfew violators in the high-class bar at the 22nd floor of a building in Barangay Luz during a surprise inspection part of the Oplan Bulabog program.

The program is the Cebu City Police Office’s (CCPO) premier monitoring and surveillance program for quarantine violators during the pandemic.

Police have received numerous reports of this bar operating beyond curfew hours, sometimes reaching 3 a.m. Cebu City’s curfew starts 11 pm.

There were at least 122 individuals that were caught on act drinking liquor, not practicing social distancing, and not wearing of face masks.

The argument between Kennedy and Police Colonel Josefino Ligan, the CCPO director, was caught in a Facebook live video and posted in Ligan’s Facebook page.

Ligan said that the number of customers they caught inside the said bar was beyond the bar’s 100 percent capacity, which is only supposed to be 60 individuals.

“Naabtan namo didto, more than a hundred. Nag inom pa…tataw nga naa gyuy violation,” Ligan said.

(We saw more than a hundred when we got there, proof that there was really a violation.)

READ: Tips from netizens + Oplan Bulabog = 122 violators caught from high class bar in Cebu City

Kennedy was among those in the bar during the inspection.

CDN Digital tried to get a comment from Kennedy but he refused to give one pertaining to the complaint he is facing.

As of this posting, police from the Mabolo Police Station and Kennedy are waiting for the order from the fiscal after the latter said that he is ready to pay the bail amounting to P3,500.

/bmjo