DUMAGUETE CITY – Authorities have apprehended and penalized eight hundred one (801) violators since the full implementation of the discipline zone covering the city limit in Barangay Bunao up to Robinson in Barangay Calindagan.
The vast majority of the offenses involved illegal parking with 738 citation tickets issued (some motorcycles were impounded), 59 were apprehended for smoking in public and 4 for jaywalking.
Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo has approved the hiring of additional personnel and procurement of equipment to ensure sustainability of the program.
The city government has mobilized six composite teams from the Land Transportation Office, Philippine National Police, Provincial Highway Patrol Team, Department of Interior and Local Government, Environment and Natural Resources Office, Bureau of Fire Protection, Special Enforcement Unit, Tourist Police, Traffic Management Office and Department of Public Works and Highways to enforce with zero tolerance all applicable laws and local ordinances in the 4 kilometer long national highway from Monday-Sunday.
The zone will serve as an exhibit for citizens to realize how orderly, clean and safe our city would be if people will only follow the rules and not break them.
Among the prohibited acts in the discipline zone are: illegal parking, illegal vending, smoking, panhandling, littering, jay walking, mendicancy, etc.
Enforcers admit the difficulty in dealing with recalcitrant and cantankerous motorists and pedestrians, many of whom are not even residents of the city.
However, there are also establishments that continue to defy repeated warnings to avoid using the sidewalks as an extension of their businesses. After citation tickets will be issued, the city will send a team that will assess the compliance of these establishments to the building code and probe legitimacy of their operations.
