The Davao City Vices Regulation Unit (VRU) under the Office of the City Mayor is taking the lead in the implementation of City Ordinance No. 0410-18 also known as “The Sobriety Ordinance of Davao City.”
The Executive Order No.11 which was signed by Mayor Inday Sara Duterte earlier this month, has included the Sobriety Ordinance as among the ordinances to be implemented by the Interim Vices Regulation Unit.
“The City Government is currently confronted with various challenges and concerns in relation to the implementation and observance of the provisions of various ordinances,” the mayor said.
Under the Local Government Code, the mayor is empowered to enforce all laws and ordinances relative to the governance of the city and issue such executive orders for the faithful and appropriate enforcement and execution of laws and ordinance;
Among the ordinances being implemented by the city are the City Ordinance No. 0367421 Series of 2012 known as the New Comprehensive Anti-Smoking Ordinance of Davao City; Ordinance No. 004-131 Series of 2013, otherwise known as the Liquor Ban Ordinance; and Ordinance No. 064-02, Series of 2002, known as “An Ordinance Prohibiting Retailers, Wholesalers, Grocery Stores, Convenience Stores and other Businesses from Selling or Allowing to be Sold to Minors in their Respective Store and Establishments Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products, Beer, Liquor and other Intoxicating Beverages and Prohibiting All Minors, Aged 17 and Below from Buying Ordering and Serving, Selling or Drinking Beer, Liquor, Coconut Wine, Ordering or Smoking cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products from Wholesale, Retail Grocer or Convenience Stores and all other Business Establishments in the City of Davao” in relation to Section 7 of the Ordinance.
This necessitated the creation of the VRU in 2017 to implement the various vice implementing measures of the city government.
However, the EO creating the VRU does not include Sobriety Ordinance among the ordinances to be implemented, prompting the mayor to issue EO 11.
The VRU is now tasked to ensure effective and efficient enforcement not only of the Liquor Ban Ordinance but also the Sobriety Ordinance.
The VRU is also tasked to lead the enforcement of the New Comprehensive Anti-Smoking Ordinance, in coordination with the Anti-Smoking Task Force. CIO
