You will be fined at least P1,000 or jailed for at least 10 days if you are caught spitting and blowing your nose in public places in Caloocan City.
This came after the city council passed Ordinance No. 11-111 or the anti-spitting ordinance which aims “to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 diseases in the city.”
Councilor Orvince Hernandez, author of the ordinance, said that when they “approved this ordinance, it was very clear in [their] minds that this would boost [their] effort to reduce, if not totally stop, the transmission of the coronavirus.”
Under the ordinance, “no person shall carelessly, deliberately or indiscriminately spit saliva or expel phlegm, mucous, or other substances from the mouth or from the nose in public streets, alleys, sidewalks, parks, squares, malls, markets, halls, public motor vehicles, buildings, banks, terminals, shopping and business centers, schools, churches, hospitals, clinics, and other public places.”
For the first offense, the ordinance said violators will be fined “P1,000 and will be required to attend a health seminar to be conducted by the City Health Department, or subsidiary imprisonment of 10 days in case of insolvency, or both at the discretion of the court”
Meanwhile, “a fine of P5,000 or subsidiary imprisonment of one month in case of insolvency, or both such fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court for the second offense.”
Although spitting in public places has already been prohibited under the anti-littering ordinance which was passed in 2018, Hernandez expressed belief that “a strong, more focused, more stringent, and comprehensive anti-spitting in public places ordinance is needed in the highly-urbanized Caloocan City amid the pandemic.”
“Now, prohibiting spitting in public places is no longer dedicated only to preserving and promoting cleanliness in the surroundings, but a highly-needed health measure as well aimed at protecting our people from acquiring the COVID-19 disease and other highly communicable diseases like tuberculosis,” he added. (Joseph Pedrajas)