Padlocked

With five days to go before Christmas, a KTV bar in Cebu City will have no customers to entertain.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama yesterday ordered the one-year closure of the Las Vegas KTV for presenting nude female dancers to its patrons.

A chain and padlock were used to lock the bar’s front door by Lucella Mercado, head of the Cebu City Anti-Indecency Board (CAIB), which recommended the closure for violating City Ordinance No. 1408 which bans lewd shows.

About 100 workers, including waiters, clerks, and cashiers, were instantly out of work.

The bar’s lawyer Inocencio del Cerna said the owners will file an appeal on Monday to lift the closure order because “the management does not allow any nude conduct or nude dancing” and has not violated any laws since it opened two years ago.

City Prosecutor Aida Sanchez, a CAIB member, said the bar, located on the second floor of the annex of APM mall in the North Reclamation Area, will not be allowed to operate for a year.

If they reapply for a permit to operate after the ban, they have to stick to serving liquor to clients as stated in this year’s business permit, she said.

“We have been receiving anonymous reports at CAIB that the bar is employing nude female dancers. We placed the bar under surveillance as early as July until we were able to confirm and document their lewd shows,” Sanchez said.

The city’s anti-indecency ordinance carries sanctions of a fine, revocation of a business permit or closure.

STRIPPING AS ART

Sanchez said CAIB decided to recommend immediate closure to the mayor after confirming that naked female dancers were performing and even allowed customers to smell their private parts.

“We already gave them a chance to explain. We called them to our CAIB meeting but their representative who came reasoned that what they were doing is a form of art.

They promised to do away with strippers but they continue to offer them,” she said.

Sanchez said undercover agents sent to the bar were able to take photos of the lewd performances and submitted a report to the CAIB.

This was made the basis for a recommendation for the mayor to close the bar.

“Dili na sila madala ug fine maong closure na lang gyud ang among gi-implement,” she said.

(A fine is not enough to correct this that’s why we’re implementing a closure.)

Earlier this year, CAIB also convinced the mayor to close Cheetah, a gay bar, for lewd performances by its male dancers.

The bar’s lawyer said he would file a motion for reconsideration before CAIB on Monday.

PERSONAL ACT

Dela Cerna admitted that there was one instance when a female dancer took off her clothes upon the instructions of customers. He said the dancer was fired and the floor manager was suspended.

“She may have gone beyond what was expected of her. But what that dancer did was purely her personal act. It may have been her personal decision to do that,” he said.

The lawyer said the bar’s closure was unexpected and his client was not given due process.

“Despite our explanations, the board did not conduct any hearing for us to be informed of the evidence they based their resolution on,” he told CDN over the phone.

He said the CCAIB report mentioned that the alleged indecent act transpired on Nov. 1 “but the bar was closed during that day.”

Dela Cerna denied the CAIB report that the bar was selling Red Horse Beer for P100 per bottle. He said the bar does not sell that brand of beer.

“The bar’s closure was one sided. We were asked to explain but no hearing was ever conducted,” Dela Cerna said.