Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista has approved an ordinance prohibiting the selling and promotion of junk food and soft drinks within a 100-meter radius from schools.
Bautista approved City Ordinance 2579, or the Quezon City Anti-Junk Food and Sugary Drinks Ordinance, designed to promote the health and welfare of the school children as one of his priorities of concern.
The measure, authored by Councilor Irene Belmonte, covers all private and public preparatory, elementary and high school levels in the city.
“Furthermore, giving away of junk food and sugary drinks as a mode of promotion, encouraging the buying thereof, giving samples, marketing, advertising and sponsorship by the aforementioned products will no longer be allowed,” the ordinance read.
“Even the promotion of junk food and sugary drinks, such as the use of tarpaulins and flyers, is not allowed. There are times a sugary drink company would repaint walls of schools. That would not be permitted since it is also a form of promotion,” Belmonte explained.
To enforce the measure, the city government shall form a joint task force to monitor and implement the measure and identify the prohibited junk food and sugary drinks.
The task force is made up of the Health Department, Department of Public Order and Safety, Market Development and Administration Department, Division of City Schools, the committee on health of every barangay in the city, and the City Council’s committee on health.
Establishments caught selling junk food and sugary drinks will be fined P1,000 for the first offense, P2,000 for the second offense, and P5,000 and grounds for revocation of barangay or business permits for the third offense.
“Our primary goal is to promote healthy eating habits among the youth. By banning the sugary drinks and junk food, we can help the students to form healthy meal plans,” Belmonte said.