LGU imposes curfew on minors

IF CHILDREN and teens defy their parents’ wishes to come home early, they will most likely get a scolding from barangay officials in Mandaue City.

This, as 27 barangays in Mandaue adopted a City Council ordinance imposing an eight-hour curfew for minors starting 8 p.m.

The move aims to curb the rise in the number of crimes involving minors.

Barangay Subangdaku chief and Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) President Ernie Manatad said yesterday most of the barangays in Mandaue began implementing the curfew last month.

Problem

Subangdaku, he said, adopted the measure in May.

Manatad said barangays share the problem of minors playing video games and surfing the web in Internet cafés late at night, or worse, until dawn.

Aside from enforcing the curfew, barangay tanods will also be on the lookout for minors in areas where there are coin-operated computers.

The City Council recently passed an ordinance prohibiting Internet cafés from admitting children, especially during school hours.

Porn

Manatad said owners of Internet cafés should also not allow minors to access porn sites on the Web or view Web pages with pornographic content.

Children or minors found inside Internet cafés during school hours will be required to present a note from their school principal, allowing them to access the Internet during school hours.

First-time offenders will be reprimanded by the tanod.

But second-time offenders will be temporarily detained in the barangay hall until their parents come to pick them up, Manatad said.

Service

He added that erring minors will also be made to do community service.

In Subangdaku, Mana-tad said he has ordered tanods to pay extra attention to the area behind the old football field, just before the San Roque Parish Church, where youngsters reportedly converge and engage in lewd acts.

Manatad said bara-ngay officials thought, at first, that parents would oppose the move and make implementation of the measure difficult.

But they were surprised that parents are very supportive of the curfew ordinance, he said.