Parañaque to impose liquor ban for next three weeks

The local government of Parañaque City will suspend the sale and service of liquor and other alcoholic beverages for the next three weeks, as Metro Manila enters stricter quarantine restrictions.

In an advisory posted through its official social media pages and shared by Mayor Edwin Olivarez, the Parañaque government said the sale and service of liquor and other intoxicating and alcoholic beverages will be banned in all establishments from August 2 to 20, 2021.

Metro Manila is under general community quarantine “subject to heightened and additional restrictions” from July 31 to August 5, 2021.

This will be followed by the strictest enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) which will be in place from August 6 to August 20, 2021.

In the mean time, the current GCQ with heightened and additional restrictions already bans indoor and al fresco dining, while the ECQ will only allow essential trips and services.

The decision to reimplement strict quarantine restrictions came after the Metro Manila Council met with the government’s inter-agency COVID-19 task force to appeal for the imposition of stricter measures.

Independent  group OCTA Research said Metro Manila would possibly see as many as 2,000 new COVID-19 cases daily this week.

Earlier, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said each week of ECQ in the National Capital Region will cost the economy P105 billion, and increase the poor by up to 177,000, and the unemployed by 444,000.

On July 13, the Philippines reported a total of 8,147 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 1,588,965. This includes 60,887 active cases; 1,500,189 recoveries; and 27,889 deaths. —LBG, GMA News