Marikina City Mayor Marides Fernando is enforcing an ordinance imposing a 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. curfew targeting computer online games.

She said network games have been criticized by parents, noting that their children stayed up late playing network games in at least 330 Internet shops and caf?s.

?Complaints have been received that many patrons of these computers shops, most of them are students, play until the wee hours of the morning. As a result, attendance in school is [marred by] absences,? she said.

Fernando has directed the police and the Business Promotions and Development Office to work together to implement the measure and go after erring establishments.

The ordinance, authored by Councilor Ponciano Ubaldo, prohibits shops from running computer games from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m.

Violators face revocation of business permit or permanent closure.

City police commander Supt. Sotero Ramos Jr. said the ordinance also barred the entry of grade and high school children in uniforms to video, computer arcades and Internet venues except when doing research and related academic activities.

?Roving policemen also look inside computer shops to ensure that the order is followed to the letter,? Ramos said. Gigi Mu?oz David