DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 16 Dec) – The City Government of Davao will penalize persons who will tamper and forge a fake Food and Medicine (FM) pass after the local council approved on Tuesday the FM Pass ordinance for accessing essential goods.
Authored by Davao City’s 1st District Councilor Mabel Sunga-Acosta, the ordinance imposes a fine of P5,000 against any person who will be caught changing any important information in the FM pass such as the names of the holder or the control number, producing fake FM pass, and using any tampered or forged FM pass.
A similar penalty will be meted against persons who will present themselves as owners of the FM pass.
The use of FM pass was reimplemented through Executive Order 62 issued by Mayor Sara Duterte last November 13, to control the movement of the people after seeing a sharp increase in the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the city.
Section 2 of the ordinance provides that each FM pass must contain names of two individuals but only either person can use it at any given time to buy food and/or medicines, and must be accompanied with a valid ID to verify the name indicated.
It added that FM pass holders must follow the odd/even scheme. Passes with last digits 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 can only be used on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 can only be used on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
The pass cannot be used on a Sunday or during curfew hours. Minors and senior citizens cannot be issued an FM pass, unless it can be proven by the barangay that such individuals live alone or live with others who may also be immunocompromised.
Barangays have been directed to create and maintain a master list of all households and individuals who have been given FM passes, with corresponding control numbers.
It added that FM pass holders are advised to keep their FM pass safe and undamaged, and keep a copy of their control number.
For lost FM pass, residents are advised to submit their control number to the barangay to claim a temporary certificate, as a replacement. FM passes can only be replaced once.
As of December 14, Department of Health-Davao reported a total of 10,836 COVID-19 cases in the region, with 2,272 active, 8,137 recoveries, and 427 deaths.
Of the total cases, Davao City reported 7,580, Davao de Oro with 535, Davao del Norte with 1,311, Davao del Sur with 800, Davao Occidental with 122, and Davao Oriental with 488.
Davao City reverted to General Community Quarantine (GCQ) from Modified GCQ last November 20 to 30, and has been extended until the end of this year. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)