Youth group Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan assailed Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista for what they called his “blatant and malicious attempt to circumvent” the Supreme Court’s temporary restraining order on Ordinance No. 2301, or the Quezon City Discipline Hours for Minors.
Spark said they will file a motion for clarification with the SC to prevent a circumvention of the TRO.
For his part, Bautista denied accusations that the city government was bent on circumventing the SC ruling.
“As I’ve said, we in the Quezon City government welcome the filing of the petition and the subsequent issuance of the TRO as an opportunity to validate if the LGUs are on the right track. That’s the essence of the checks and balances provided by our Constitution,” he said.
“Barangay governments are authorized to promulgate ordinances within their political territories. We in the QC government are not influencing the barangays or even circumventing the law and the order of the Supreme Court. The counsel of the petitioners know that the TRO only covers the ordinances of Manila, Navotas and Quezon and NOT the barangay ordinances.”
Spark claimed that anonymous yet sympathetic residents of Quezon City warned them that the Barangay Operations Center of the city government have contacted barangay secretaries and other local officials inquiring about the status of their curfew ordinances and ordering them to implement them promptly.
If there is none, the barangay officials were instructed to immediately draft an ordinance and prioritize its inclusion in the next session of the barangay council for its speedy approval.
“Mayor Bautista cannot trample on our constitutional, this is precisely why we sought the high court’s intervention in the first place,” Spark spokesman Joanne Lim exclaimed.
Atty. Jesus Falcis, Spark’s legal counsel, said he found Bautista’s statement “troublesome” because it was issued in a radio interview.
Falcis clarified that “if a city does not have the power to implement a curfew, neither do its component barangays.”
Lim also took a swipe at Rep. Beth Herrera of Bagong Henerasyon party-list, who recently told reporters that, “It’s an ordinance, it should be honored. A TRO cannot be issued against it because it has been in effect for a long time.”
Herrera announced that she is drafting a bill to implement a nationwide curfew. She explained the need for a uniform curfew system nationwide which covers the same hours and penalties.
“The answer to the root causes of petty crimes and rebellious youth is a holistic approach providing free and accessible education for all, equal opportunities for work and livelihood and draconian measures against the syndicates that exploit the youth,” the activists retorted.