The curfew in Bacolod City will be from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. starting tomorrow, December 16, for the holidays, Councilor Archie Baribar said today, December 15.
The shortened curfew will be observed from December 16 to 31, he said.
If Bacolod remains under Modified General Community Quarantine by January 1, the city curfew will return to 11 p.m. to 4 a.m., he added.
Bacolod Bishop Patricio Buzon earlier appealed for shorter curfew hours to enable the holding of the traditional Aguinaldo masses this Christmas from December 16 to 24.
The Aguinaldo masses are held at dawn for nine consecutive days up to Christmas.
The bishop suggested that the curfew end at 3 a.m. “so that the Diocese can offer more early morning Masses to reasonably accommodate churchgoers and thereby, prevent the overcrowding of our churches”.
“At least in this setup, we can have a schedule of two Aguinaldo Masses daily, one, as early as 3:30 a.m. and another at 5 a.m.,” he said
“The Diocese believes that in this difficult time our people need more than ever, the Christmas spirit and the Yuletide cheer,” the bishop said.*