Rama warns vs. beer in Fuente

CEBU, Philippines - While the cat is away, the mouse will play.

After learning yesterday that that some of the vendors at the Fuente Osmeña rotunda insisted on selling alcohol despite his order not to, Mayor Michael Rama did not say what he will immediately do about it.

Although he gave a hint of what will happen.

“Kadtong masakpan bisan og mag-unsa pa kamo’g luhod-luhod ako g’yud nga ipatuman ang balaud,” he said.

When The FREEMAN called up the Fuente Osmeña Police Station chief Michael Anthony Bastes said he did not receive any order from the mayor to confiscate liquor being sold by the concerned vendors.

“Wala man mi manakop kay duna man na sila’y permit,” Bastes said, but City Hall records showed that the Fuente Osmeña vendors do not have special permits to sell intoxicating products.

City Ordinance 1413, the ordinance that regulates the sale of liquor and beer products, provides that any intoxicating products cannot be sold within the 100-meter radius from the public plazas such as Fuente Osmeña, schools, churches and hospitals.

While the ordinance provides that the mayor may issue a special permit allowing somebody to sell liquor products in prohibited places with the payment of a P6,000 fee, Rama said he will not grant them a special permit.  (FREEMAN)