To strengthen the city’s efforts to protect children, Mayor Toby Tiangco has ordered the closure of computer shops that defy ordinances on computer shop regulations and disciplinary hours.
Tiangco instructed the City Business Permits and Licensing Office to issue notice of violations to computer shops that allow minors, unaccompanied by a parent or guardian, to enter and stay in their establishments during school hours or beyond 10 p.m.
If found to have three or more unaccompanied minors in its premises beyond curfew, the computer shop may face closure and revocation of business permit.
In his letter, Tiangco cited complaints received through the Text Johnrey oR Toby (TEXT JRT) facility that several computer shops violate City Ordinances No. 2014-08 and 2017-16.
Section 7 h.2 of City Ordinance No. 2014-08 states that “Computer gaming shops or centers are strictly prohibited from allowing the entry of students of minor age during school hours and beyond 10 p.m., except when accompanied by a parent or guardian.”
Section 11, on the other hand, enumerates the penalties that a computer shop may face for violating the said ordinance.
The mayor wrote that CBPLO should interpret Section 11 as implying that one unaccompanied minor constitutes one offense for the computer shop. Thus, three minors would be treated as three offenses, warranting closure of the establishment and revocation of their business permit.
Tiangco also directed the Navotas City Police and the barangays to strictly implement the city’s disciplinary hours.
City Ordinance No. 2017-16 imposes curfew hours from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. for Navoteños below 18 years old and penalizes parents or guardians in case of violations.
Minors, whether singly or in groups and without adult supervision, are prohibited from wandering or staying in and about public places during the disciplinary hours without lawful purpose or justifiable reason.
Since Tiangco took office as mayor in July, barangays have rescued 1,168 minors for violation of the curfew ordinance.
