MANILA – On Friday, July 3, Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong has lifted the three-month long liquor ban in the city. He cited the incidents of profiteering by some business establishments and easing of quarantine measures, like the city’s new modified community quarantine (MCQ) classification by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF).
But drinking in public is still prohibited, states Magalong’s executive order effecting change in economic activity in this summer capital, which is used to liquor-starved local and foreign tourists due to its cold climate. Thus bars, nightclubs, cocktail lounges, beer gardens, and other similar establishments that mainly sell liquor shall remain closed.
Baguio has only 45 confirmed Covid-19 cases and it earned praises for its infection prevention and control measures including effective tracing and testing of suspected positive. Entry to the city is so strict that a mayor in Metro Manila had a scuffle in one of its checkpoints.
Other cities in Metro Manila are also planning to ease their liquor restriction once the MCQ is declared. But Davao City has maintained its stance against serving alcoholic drinks in public even under MCQ. Early in June, Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio refused the request of a giant beer company to start supplying their products with local retailers.
In one of her radio programs, the mayor said anyone can drink liquor in his own home if he has enough stocks but he can’t buy anything in the stores.
