Makati bars, clubs closed if drugs seized in premises, Abi Binay says

The Makati City government will soon be ordering the immediate closure of business establishments caught with illegal drugs inside, city mayor Abigail Binay said Wednesday.

An offshoot of a recent local bar raid that allegedly yielded ecstasy tablets, cocaine, shabu, and drug paraphernalia, the local government's "one-strike policy" will also cover establishments whose patrons are caught in possession of illegal drugs, she said. 

"Kahit na hindi involved 'yung bar itself," the city mayor told reporters during the weekly Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum. "Because they can always say that 'Wala kaming kinalaman dyan, dala ng costumer yan.'"

"Problema ng business establishments 'yan, that is the only way we can ensure that there is no hanky panky, there is no illegal activity happening in the business establishment. It is also to protect them," she said.

The "one-strike policy" is a collaboration between the city government and business owners in Barangay Poblacion, where the raided Time in Manila bar is located, Binay said, adding that local authorities are also looking into the procurement of drug-sniffing dogs.

"Hopefully by next week we will ask not just the owners of business establishments in Poblacion...hopefully we can also ask that for the entire city," she said.

'Blown out of proportion'

The Time in Manila bar raid last August 11 led to the alleged seizure of drugs but also to the arrest of 31 people and the rounding up over a hundred.

Days later, the lawyers of one of the bar's owners were arrested during a police search at the establishment, detained, and charged with obstruction of justice, disobedience and resistance to authorities, crossing police line, and "constructive possession" of illegal drugs.

The complaint is now pending before the Makati city prosecutor's office. The three lawyers have been released pending further investigation. —NB, GMA News