CAGAYAN de Oro City Councilor Teodulfo Bong Lao Jr. wants to amend a local ordinance that is being cited by police as the basis of its “anti-tambay” drive to flesh out which places can be considered public and which are private.
Lao said there is a need to revisit City Ordinance 5133-95 which prohibits drinking alcohol in public places considering that over 100 “tambays” or loiterers have already been arrested by police since the campaign started last June 28.
Lao said it remains vague how the police identifies whether the area is public or private.
"For instance, most of those that were arrested were drinking in convenience stores, and they were drinking the beverages that the stores sold them. Aren't areas that surround convenience stores are private areas? Where do the police draw the line?" he said.
"This clarification is only meant also to protect our police force, because what if they are implementing something that is already beyond the ordinance? We don't know," he added.
Lao, however, clarified that he does not want the campaign suspended but only wishes to clarify some provisions in the ordinance.
According to police, the anti-tambay drive is geared toward the strict enforcement of anti-loitering ordinances to deter and curb street crimes.
He said he hopes to meet with officials of the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (COCPO) to talk about the anti-tambay drive, and also eventually amend the city ordinance to produce a clear definition between the "public and private places" issue.
Councilor Ian Mark Nacaya, meanwhile, said it was not the intention of the ordinance to arrest residents who are merely hanging out.
Nacaya is the author of the said city ordinance.
Nacaya said he was saddened that the ordinance he authored in 1995 appear to be targeting mostly the poor.
"What I am against is taking out spaces of poor people who don't actually have spaces on their own because they have limited resources. I think it is anti-poor," he said.
City Councilor Rueben Daba for his part said it is best to make implementing rules and regulations to guide the public on the dos and don'ts of the anti-tambay drive.
City Councilor George Goking also said he will meet with business owners particularly those who sell liquors to clarify if they acquire permits to operate as a bar and allow drinking in their vicinity.
"The city government issues 2 permits, namely permit to sell liqour, or permit to operate as a bar, now do convenience stores such as 7-11 have permit to allow drinking outside their stores? We will look into that," he said.
Cagayan de Oro has only 1 anti-loitering ordinance, which is the prohibition of drinking of alcoholic beverages in public.