Camiguin residents file TRO vs provincial QR Code ordinance
IN an unprecedented move, concerned residents of Camiguin filed a petition for a temporary restraining order against the Smart Tourism Ordinance of the province recently.
Led by businessman Paul Rodriguez, Camiguin residents asked the local court to issue a TRO against the “despotic” and “unconstitutional” QR Code ordinance that the provincial government continues to enforce throughout the island.
The case was heard in the sala of Judge Nanette Lao of Branch 28, RTC of Mambajao, Camiguin last Monday.
The Camiguin provincial government has continued to enforce the QR code ordinance, with some revisions, which the complainants said controlled the people’s rights to travel and mobility – more than a year after President Marcos Jr. lifted all COVID-19 restrictions, including “all prior orders, memoranda, and issuances that are effective only during the State of Public Health Emergency” in July 2023.
The Smart Tourism Ordinance requires individuals, before visiting the island, to undergo the QR Code before being allowed entry.
The counsel for the petitioners – lawyers Barbara Ocaba, Frances Margaret Aparte, and Anna Katrina Rodriguez – said the QR code violates several provisions of the Bill of Rights such as monitoring the movement of tourists and does not warrant its continued implementation.
They said it should be “urgently nullified.”
The petitioners said the continued implementation of the ordinance gives politicians more control over the island.
The petitioners said the ordinance violates several provisions of the law pertaining to free movement and the right to privacy based on the Data Privacy Act, which requires the expressed consent of the data source or the person.
During the hearing, the counsel for the provincial government led by its Provincial Legal Officer, Atty. Pol Ochavillo, filed a motion to inhibit Judge Lao from trying the case on the ground that one of the counsels for the petitioners used to work for the judge.
Judge Lao voluntarily inhibited herself from the case, which will now be raffled off and tried at the Cagayan de Oro courts.
