BAGUIO CITY – The Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) is firm in implementing the prescribed closing time of bars and night establishments in the city as part of sustaining its anti-crime campaign for the good of the residents and visitors.
Senior Superintendent Ramil L. Saculles, BCPO City Director, said they analyzed cases based on data obtained through the geographic information system-based crime analysis and challenged the organization of bars and night establishments questioning to present their own scientific and actual data to counter the police findings to justify their claim that they be allowed to operate beyond the prescribed closing time of night spots.
Under the provisions of Ordinance No. 88, series of 2009, bars without dancing are mandated to close at 12 midnight while night establishments with dancing are required to stop operations at 2 am daily.
Violators of the ordinance are fined P1,000 for the first offense, P2,000 for the second offense, P4,000 or imprisonment or community service for the third offense and P5,000 for the fourth offense plus the revocation of the business permit of the owner and closure of the establishment.
“We will aggressively campaign to compel bar owners to strictly comply with the prescribed closing time of their establishments pursuant to an existing ordinance. We have in our possession the data that will support our recommendation for the night establishments to have a uniform closing time,” Saculles stressed.
Of rape, Saculles reported that 25 of the 41 rape cases recorded in the city for this year were said to be liquor-related wherein the victim and the suspect were under the influence of liquor.
According to him, BCPO cannot afford to concentrate the deployment of its personnel primarily to monitor the compliance of business establishments to the prescribed closing time at the expense of their other duties and responsibilities such as anti-criminality and peacekeeping initiatives to keep peace and order in the city.
The BCPO official reported the hot spots in the city are mostly found in the areas where liquor establishments are situated that is why the different police stations had been alerted of the crime situation in their areas of jurisdiction for them to implement the appropriate measures to prevent the occurrence of untoward incidents that will affect the city’s peace and order situation.
Saculles urged owners of night establishments to strictly comply with the prescribed closing time as their contribution in lessening crimes against persons and property.
Earlier, the local legislative body passed a resolution urging the BCPO to provide bar owners at least an hour of winding up their operations when customers are still inside their establishments after the prescribed closing time.
However, the BCPO official interpreted the resolution as a mere expression of the sentiments of local officials relative to the said issue but the resolution did not actually amend the provisions of the ordinance that prescribed the closing time of night establishments operating in the city.
By Dexter A. See
