LA Trinidad municipal mayor, Romeo Salda, and the municipal government are seeking the amending of the municipality’s liquor ordinance after inspections showed many violations of the ordinance among the municipality’s various establishments.
Salda says that one priority amendment the government is seeking is the addition of revocation of business permits for violators.
According to Salda, the current penalties under the existing liquor ordinance are only fines, allowing business operators to continue operations even with discovered violations. Currently, the fine for violating the liquor ordinance is a measly P1,000.
Salda is looking for the amendment to the ordinance to put a limit of three violations per establishment before the revocation of business permit in order to put a stop to violations. Under the current ordinance, there is no limit to the number of violations, nor an increase in the fines for violations incurred beyond the first.
Current rules in accordance with the alert level of Benguet impose a strict operation curfew for night establishments, with operations supposed to end at 9:00 P.M. However, investigations and complaints indicate that despite the limitations on activity, many resto bars and night spots in Benguet continue to operate well past the imposed schedule.
Other violations found during the inspections include noise that disturbs nearby residents in the middle of the night, the provision and sale of liquor to minors, as well as the employment of minors in the liquor-selling establishments.
