But DepEd 7 Director Salustiano Jimenez urged officials of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) to exempt students of the city’s public night high schools as most of their classes end at 9 p.m.
“For Cebu City, we have night high school students whose classes start from 6 p.m. [and end at] 9 p.m. I think it is okay that there is an exemption as long as they can present their student IDs,” Jimenez told SunStar Cebu on Monday, Oct. 17, 2022.
Jimenez made the reaction in response to the statement of CCPO Director Col. Ireneo Dalogdog that he plans to suggest to the City Government to widen curfew hours for minors from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. to 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. after observing that minors usually create trouble in the early hours of the evening.
Dalogdog cited the recent ncident in Barangay Kamagayan in which a group of teenagers were reportedly victimizing bystanders there.
Jimenez also urged school officials to mark the identification cards of their students with the words “night class” to indicate the students’ class schedule.
Though Jimenez could not determine the exact number of night high school students in Cebu City, he explained that most of them are working students and do not have time to attend regular school hours.
“Most of them are working students. We give them all the possible opportunities and accessibility to go to school at night despite having other jobs during the day,” Jimenez said in Cebuano.
Dalogdog also instructed his men to tighten police visibility in public places this holiday season, during which crimes are expected to rise.