PASIG CITY, (PIA) -- The Municipal Government of Pateros imposed a liquor ban to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Pateros Mayor Miguel Ponce III issued Executive Order No. 21, imposing the liquor ban and prohibiting the sale and purchase of liquor and other intoxicating and alcoholic beverages in the municipality until August 20, 2021.

"Availability and sale of liquor and other intoxicating and alcoholic beverages, which are not regarded as basic necessities, encourages rather than discourages the congregation and personal socialization and interaction of individuals, which is counterintuitive to the guidelines set forth by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Municipality of Pateros Task Force COVID-19 and will have the dangerous propensity to spread the contagion which is proliferating in the country at an exponential rate," the measure reads.

“Violation of this Executive Order shall be a ground for the revocation or cancellation of the Permit to Operate business and the confiscation of the liquor or alcoholic beverages subject of sale,” the order states.

Metro Manila is currently under the general community quarantine (GCQ) with heightened and additional restrictions until August 5 due to the highly contagious “Delta” variant of COVID-19.

Then from August 6 to August 20, 2021, Metro Manila will be placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). ECQ is the most restrictive quarantine classification. (Pateros/PIA-NCR)