- Penalty for public urination increased
LAWMAKERS amended an ordinance penalizing urination and defecation in public places, effectively increasing the fines for violators.
The ordinance further amended Ordinance No. 111 series of 1986, which prohibited any person from urinating and/or defecating within the public viewing any street, alley, highway, and any place within the vicinity of any public building in Davao City.
Councilor Jesus Joseph Zozobrado, committee chair on rules, privileges, laws and ordinances, proponent, named the ordinance “Anti-Urinating and/or Defecating within Public View Ordinance of 2024.”
With the amendment, violators will be fined P500 and imprisonment of not more than 10 days or both at the discretion of the court.
In the existing ordinance, series of 1986, violators would receive a warning for the first offense, be fined P50 for the second offense; P100 for the third offense, and P200 or may face not more than 10 days of imprisonment.
Under Section 4 of the amendment, the violator who does not wish to contest the offense can pay the imposed administrative penalty of P200 to the City Treasurer’s Office, within three days from apprehension. The no-contest provision can only be availed once.
The 60% of the penalty collected from payment of the administrative penalty is accrued to the apprehending office, while the remaining 40% will proceed to the general fund of the city.’
Under Section 5, the Davao City Police Office and barangay officials duly deputized by the City Health Office are directed to enforce the ordinance after undergoing training.
In the committee report, Zozobrado cited the request from Lino E. Pequiro Jr., safety manager of Felcris Hotels and Resorts Corporation, who raised an alarm over a customer found urinating in the mall’s parking area.
“There might be a need to amend the sanctions and fines stated in the law since the monetary fines were relatively small and negligible compared to the value of the current time,” Pequiro Jr. said in the letter addressed to the City Mayor’s Office.
In the amendment, public places refer to streets and alleys, public parks, schools, buildings, malls, bars, restaurants, transportation terminals, public markets, spaces used as evacuation centers, government offices, public utility vehicles as well as private vehicles covered by app-based transport network services and other recreational spaces such as, but not limited to, cinema halls, theaters, and spas.
