Just like in Manila, the use of videoke and other sound-producing machines disturbing the communities are also banned in Pasay City.
Pasay City Mayor Imelda Rubiano said her administration is strictly enforcing an ordinance against loud noise from videoke sessions, construction works, factory machines and other sources of excessive sounds that might disturb students attending online classes amid the coronavirus disease outbreak.
“The national government especially through the Department of Education has exerted all efforts to ensure the continued education of our youth amid the pandemic, through online classes, modular system and other special arrangements. Our communities and neighborhoods must make their corresponding contribution to this endeavor by simply not making excessive and unnecessary noise which could otherwise adversely affect our students in their study sessions,” said Rubiano.
The city chief executive said the youth’s study hours “could be amply protected by Ordinance 6010 entitled “Anti Sound Pollution in the City of Pasay”, a measure approved by the City Council on June 2019, or months before the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“The ordinance prohibits anyone from producing or playing excessive, unnecessary and unreasonable noises from any and all sources in the community,” she said.
The measure prohibits particular decibel (dB) levels of sounds in private properties, public properties, construction sites, and commercial or industrial locations during specific hours of the day and specific days of the week.
Officials of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, and the Philippine National Police earlier said that local governments must have an ordinance prohibiting loud noises during online class hours and independent study periods.
The two agencies stated that loud sounds ‘can distract pupils and students alike from concentrating on their online classes, schoolwork, and other activities now that every home in the country has been turned into an extension of the school.’
In Manila, the city government banned the use of karaoke and videoke machines as well as other sound-producing devices from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday to Saturday.
Mayor Francisco Domagoso said he passed the ordinance upon receiving multiple complaints from parents of students whose online classes were “disturbed by neighbors using karaoke machines” since the school year opened last Monday, October 5.
Mayor Rubiano said violators in Pasay City will be penalized ranging from a minimum of P2,000 fine or imprisonment of one month or both depending on the discretion of the court (for a head of a family or residential house), to a fine of P2,000 and/or imprisonment of three months (for proprietors, presidents or general managers of Karaoke joints, night clubs, disco joints and similar establishments) plus cancellation of their business permits.
Presidents and general managers of construction firms that would violate the ordinance likewise face penalties of fines and imprisonment.
Aside from Ordinance 6010, the city is also implementing a policy prohibiting private or public utility vehicles, including motorcycles and tricycles, with tailpipes emitting loud noise.
Mayor Rubiano reminded residents as well as the general public that noisy “tailpipes are prohibited in Pasay based on City Ordinance 6009, or the Anti- Modified Tail Pipe Ordinance of Pasay City, which was enacted in June 2019.
The ordinance defines modified tailpipes as ‘(a)n alteration, replacement or removal of the original tailpipe or muffler/silencer or parts thereof, of a motorcycle and tricycle.”
Based on information, mufflers or silencers were developed as part of the exhaust gas system of vehicles to reduce the noise of their engines.
But over the years, according to Rubiano, a number of vehicle owners have been removing these mufflers/silencers or modifying their vehicles’ exhaust system to make their engines emit various loud sounds.
Ordinance 6009 states that, “Excessive noise is a serious hazard to the public health and welfare, and that, exposure to certain levels of noise can result in physiological, psychological, and economic damage.” It further avers, “Any sound becomes unwanted when it either interferes with normal activities such as sleeping, conversation, or disrupts or diminishes one’s quality life.”
Penalties for violation of the ordinance range from a fine of P2,000 for the first offense, up to, for the 3rd offense, a fine of P4,000, cancellation of Driver’s License, and cancellation of franchise of the transport business.