Bill requires restos to serve free drinking water to customers

The provision of clean, potable water to customers in restaurants and food outlets may soon be the norm if the bill filed by a Visayan lawmaker is passed into law.

 

House Bill 5919 filed by Bacolod City Rep. Evelio Leonardia mandates restaurants and similar establishments to serve free safe and clean drinking water to their customers regardless of whether the catered food service was for free or paid for by the customer.

 

Under the bill, drinking water is defined as “safe and clean water for human consumption either processed for its purification through distillation or in whatever means to obtain its purity, cleanliness and sanitation.”

 

Leonardia observed that it has been the practice of some food establishments and eateries not to serve drinking water even though it is a basic human need.

 

“Worse, they would yet sell this (water) their customers,” he said. 

 

Should the measure become a law, restaurants, food outlets and similar establishment will be required to post a notice they are serving free, safe and drinkable water service in the conspicuous place of their respective premises.

 

Violators face a fine of P10,000 and imprisonment of  not more than six months or both.

 

The bill mandates the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), in coordination with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) to ensure the effective information dissemination of the proposed law’s provisions. —Xianne Arcangel/KG, GMA News