63 guests, employees of restobar in Quezon City issued citation tickets for violating health protocols

A restobar on Mother Ignacia Avenue in Quezon City was raided by personnel from the city government for not maintaining social distancing protocol inside the establishment and serving alcohols without meals, among other violations, early Tuesday morning.

City's Task Force Disiplina head Rannie Ludovica said they issued citation tickets to 63 customers and employees for violating the city's ordinance on curfew hours and on "contact tracing and health protocols."

Ludovica added he would also recommend a permanent closure order against 14Q Bar and Restaurant as it was already operating without a business permit from the mayor's office.

"Wala pa naman syang mayor's permit, wala syang business permit pa (First of all, it had no mayor's permit, no business permit), so we recommended for a closure ," Ludovica told the Manila Bulletin in a phone interview.

"Unang una, nag-ooperate sya as a bar eh. Supposed to be, restobar, pero regular bar ang ginagawa nya, operating till 3 a.m. It is a violation of Quezon City's General Community Quarantine guidelines na hanggang 11 in the evening (It was also operating as a bar. It was supposed to operate as a restobar, but it did not. It used to operate as a bar and up until 3 a.m., which was a violation of the city's GCQ guidelines)," he added.

Tuesday's operation came after a concerned citizen lodged a complaint before the mayor's office against the establishment last week, according to Ludovica.

"Kay mayor nag-file ng complaint at nagsend ng videos. And then finoward samin ni mayor for operation, and then we conducted surveillance (A concerned citizen filed a complaint before Mayor Belmonte and sent videos. Mayor Belmonte forwarded us the complaint for operation)," he said.

Ludovica arrived at the establishment at 9 p.m. on Monday for surveillance before finally conducting the raid three hours later.

She said more than 10 establishments have been shut down by the city government in the previous months for the same violation.