MANILA, Philippines — Starting November 4, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Benhur Abalos said that curfew hours in Metro Manila will be lifted.
In an interview, Abalos told Inquirer that “This will be on November 4 pero subject to the ordinance of each LGUs (local government units) in Metro Manila regarding minors because some of them have this ordinance that minors cannot just loiter around at a given time.”
“We’re just respecting their prevailing ordinance on minors. Although bawal pa lumabas ang minors. We just can’t say, baka mamaya magchange tayo ng alert levels (Minors are still not allowed to go out but we just can’t say because maybe our alert levels will be changed),” he added.
At present, the curfew hours in Metro Manila cover 12 midnight to 4 a.m.
According to the MMDA chairman, the mayors have approved the lifting of curfew in order for mall hours to be extended. Abalos said that mall owners were concerned about the limited public transportation and curfew if they will extend mall hours in time for the holiday season.
“Kaya namin ginawa ito because we had a meeting with mall owners. For Christmas shopping we are anticipating the rush of shoppers, so we have requested na baka pwedeng ‘yung mall hours i-extend nila ang pagbukas at pagsarado,” said Abalos.
(We did this because we had a meeting with mall owners. We are anticipating the rush of shoppers for the Christmas season so we have requested that they extend the mall hours.)
“But their concerns are two. Number 1, ‘yung public transport ng mga empleyado nila and number two, curfew. ‘Yung public transport, ok naman ang DOTr (Department of Transportation) with the 70 percent capacity pero ito namang sa gabi, that’s why we moved for this curfew [to be lifted] to accommodate [more shoppers] also and at least to help also the economy,” Abalos said.
(They have two concerns: First is the public transportation of their employees, and the second is curfew. The DOTr was okay with 70 percent public transportation capacity, but we had to adjust the curfew. That’s why we moved for this curfew to be lifted in order to accommodate more shoppers and at least help the economy.)
INQUIRER.net