BY ADRIAN P. NEMES III
Policemen will apprehend individuals caught not wearing face shields in Bacolod City effective today.
This is in strict compliance with City Ordinance 944, or the mandatory use of face shields in certain areas, P/Lt. Col. Ariel Pico, Bacolod City Police Office spokesperson, said.
Section 3 of CO 944 states that “in addition to mandatory use of face mask, face shield shall be used while inside supermarkets, public markets, malls, venues for meetings (private or government service initiated); venues where private or government services are provided; all enclosed offices or establishments doing business; public transportation or public utility vehicles and enclosed work places.”
Pico reiterated that Bacolod residents caught violating the ordinance will be fined with a P200 penalty.
Residents from outside Bacolod violating the ordinance will, meanwhile, face a P300 penalty, he said.
Under the ordinance, violators who fail to settle the fines will need to undergo community service.
Bacolod residents, who fail to settle their penalties, will do an 8-hour community service in their barangays while residents from outside Bacolod will serve in the barangay where they were caught.
If violators fail to either fulfill both penalties, they will be jailed, Pico warned.
Meanwhile, the Bacolod Task Force Disiplina continues its education campaign on the implementation of the face shield ordinance.
Task Force action officer Wilfredo Geolingo said those who were caught violating the ordinance previously were given stern warnings, noting that many residents are still defiant on the order of wearing face shields in public.
Geolingo said they are also appealing to residents to use the prescribed face shields that cover the entire face.
Meanwhile, Mayor Evelio Leonardia led the distribution of face shields to traffic enforcers of the Bacolod Traffic Authority Office at the Government Center grounds on Friday.
“We should wear face shields because we are the model for the citizens,” he told the traffic enforcers.
Leonardia is also set to distribute thousands of face shields to market vendors and drivers of jeepneys, tricycles, and trisikads, a press release from the city said.
The face shields came from the City Government and from donations of private organizations, including the Silver Dragon & Group of Companies.*APN
