Starting on Friday, August 20, the new curfew hours that will be implemented in the City of Puerto Princesa will be from 11:00 PM until 5:00 AM and there is a modification to the imposed liquor ban.
After the meeting of the Puerto Princesa City Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) early this afternoon, they announced that the modified liquor ban has 3 conditions which are time, place and people.
Modifications as to time refers to the allowed consumption of liquor in public places is only until 10:00PM. These places are only those al fresco dining establishments that have filed an application for a safety seal with the Business Permit and Licensing Office (BPLO), require all customers to log in via their StaySafe app, and only allow a capacity of 50-75% limit or ensures a 1-meter physical distancing between customers. Alfresco dining business refers to establishments that “allows free air movement from all directions and is not surrounded by walls.”
People who are allowed to consume alcohol in the said places need to be fully vaccinated and will have to present their vaccination card or ID. It will then be recorded by establishments for contact tracing purposes. Only residents of Puerto Princesa City are allowed while Non-resident Authorized Persons Outside Residences (APORs) are prohibited hence customers will have to bring an ID proving their residency.
Attorney Norman Yap, City Legal Officer and Puerto Princesa City IATF spokesperson, explained that these are necessary as a precautionary measure of the city especially as there is a threat of the COVID-19 Delta Variant.
The reason behind only allowing fully inoculated people is because, according to the city’s data, fully vaccinated individuals are less infectious if they are carriers of the COVID-19 virus and there has been no known mortality for those who received their complete vaccine. On the other hand, the city has recorded high mortality of those unvaccinated and who only received their first dose.
The serving of alcohol is only allowed for two Fridays and two Saturdays starting this weekend, August 20 to 21 and August 27 to 28 under this Resolution no. 56 s. 2021.
The decision of allowing the serving of alcohol, as petitioned by local business owners in the city, will be studied and observed first before deciding later on if it is possible to allow the businesses to operate as usual.
The IATF reminds the public that bars and any form of live entertainment such as karaoke bars and concert halls are still prohibited by the local government. And stresses that this is not a lift of the ban being imposed but only a modification in response to the local restaurant owners’ petition.
Meanwhile, any person caught violating this will be fined or penalized as COVID-19 sheriff personnel will be ensuring that the public follows the minimum public health standards as well as the public following the conditions under this resolution.
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