By Jel Santos
Following a raid at a KTV bar allegedly being used as a prostitution den, the local government unit (LGU) of Makati City closed down the bar located at the penthouse of a hotel in Barangay Poblacion.
(Photo from Makati LGU)
On Friday morning, the bar located along Burgos St. in Barangay Poblacion was raided by policemen, who rescued 13 Filipino women and apprehended the two Taiwanese operators and 14 Chinese men who are reportedly POGO (Philippine offshore gaming operators) employees.
A closure order was then served by the Makati’s Business Permit and Licensing Office to bar operators Shih Fang Chen, 65, and Po Yi Chen, 55, for violating the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012 and Section 4A.01 of the Revised Makati Revenue Code or operating without a mayor’s permit.
Makati Police Investigation Unit chief Major Gideon Ines said the Chinese customers of the alleged prostitution den transact with the bar operators through the We Chat app.
Seized in the raid was a tablet used at the KTV bar that contains all the conversations of the bar customers and the operators, he said.
“Based on their conversations, they tell their Chinese customers that they have to check-in first at the hotel so that they can gain access to the penthouse where the bar is located,” the chief investigator said in Filipino.
“Now that they have a room, they just need to pick a girl that they want to have sex with.”
Makati Police also found condoms inside the bags of the women allegedly being prostituted.
“We also found condoms inside the bags of some of the women we rescued. They admitted that they are into the sex trade. Most of them come from the province,” he said.
Weeks before the raid, Ines said a 22-year-old woman from the province went to the KTV bar and applied for a job. “However, when she learned that there was sex trade there, she immediately left and reported it to us.”