Strict enforcement of law banning minors from liquor stores urged

CEBU, Philippines - City Councilor Edgardo Labella is calling on authorities to strictly enforce the city ordinance that prohibits minors from entering liquor shops and other similar establishments.

Labella made the move after a local television broadcaster reported that he personally witnessed a parent bringing a two-month-old infant and another child at a wine establishment along Gorordo Avenue.

“Minors should not be permitted entry in the first place, and in the general areas where the same should not be loitering after ten o’clock in the evening,” Labella said, chairman of the City Council’s committee on laws.

The north district councilor said the existing Ordinance 1725 prohibits children from disco pubs, bars, liquor joints or other similar places.

“While much of what a child learns is through his or her family or guardians, the State as Parens Patriae or has the right to step in where parents, guardians and adults fail to exercise their parental responsibility,” Labella said.

Councilor Edgardo Labella said and other law enforcement authorities should randomly check establishments selling liquor products, particularly at night.

Labella said his move is in exercise of the state’s vigilance against those who have violated provisions punishable as offenses under the curfew ordinance and Ordinance 1725.

He said the city government is empowered by the Local Government Code to promote and protect the health and welfare of every child within its territorial jurisdiction. 

Labella is also urging bar owners and operators in the city to strictly prohibit minors from entering their establishments, as well to closely review and observe the provisions of Cebu City Ordinance 1725. (THE FREEMAN)