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Police, traffic enforcers told to apprehend carolers inside jeepneys | Sun.Star
Police, traffic enforcers told: Apprehend carolers inside PUJs
THE Cebu City Council wants police officers and traffic enforcers to apprehend public utility jeepney (PUJ) carolers in the city.
Sangguniang Kabataan Federation (SKF) President John Philip Po, who sits as an ex-officio member of the council, has passed a resolution asking the City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) and the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) to apprehend those who will be found caroling inside PUJs.
Po said the carolers, who are usually young adults and who hop into PUJ’s, rap a Christmas carol and ask for cash are a public nuisance.
“Caroling inside a jeepney is a public nuisance since carolers occupy the aisle of the jeepneys and sometimes cause fear in the commuters,” he said.
Danger
Also, Po said caroling inside the jeepney puts the carolers’ lives in danger.
“These carolers just hop into moving jeepneys and some of them latch on to the rear portion of the vehicles,” he said.
“There is a need to regulate and stop this practice,” he said.
In October, the council also passed a resolution enjoining the Department of the Social Welfare Services and the Barangay Council for the Protection of Children to monitor the presence of carolers in the streets and discouraged the practice of caroling, which they said puts the lives of children in danger.
Cebu City’s Commission for the Welfare and the Protection of Children (CCWPC) has intensified its campaign to keep carolers safe in the weeks leading to Christmas. It has already noted an increase in the number of beggars in the city, which multiplies during holidays.
The apprehension of PUJ carolers is in line with the Anti-Mendicancy Ordinance of the City.
The ordinance prohibits the giving of alms to beggars and carolers in the city. Anyone caught giving alms would be fined P1,000 or would be required to render community service, while beggars would be rehabilitated.