ILOILO City – Motels, lodging houses and similar establishments were warned once more against letting minors in. There were dire consequences, according to Nestor Canong, head of the city government’s Task Force on Morals and Values Formation.
Regulation Ordinance No. 2015-447 prohibits these establishments from accepting minors and violators face a fine of P5,000, imprisonment of one year and possible cancellation of business permit.
Last week Canong had a meeting with some 40 owners and managers of these establishments and sought their commitment to uphold the ordinance.
By prohibiting anybody from spending time with minors alone in lodging houses, pension houses, inns, hotels, motels, apartelles and other similar establishments, Regulation Ordinance No. 2015-447 hopes to shield youngsters from sexual predators.
Canong said he told the owners and managers to “lantawon gid kon sin-o ang gasulolod. Ma- deploy sila personnel sa mga entrances to ensure waay makasulod nga minors.”
In June 2016, a 15-year-old naked girl was found dead at a lodge in Arevalo district. Autopsy results showed she was beaten up and had genital lacerations.
Police investigators said the girl checked in with an older man who left hours before the body was discovered.
Regulation Ordinance No. 2015-447, approved in November 2015, specified suspicious circumstances that should be a cause for alarm and must be prohibited. Two of these were:
* any person who, not being a relative of a minor, is spending time alone with the said minor inside a room or cubicle of a house, an inn, hotel, motel, pension house, apartelle or other similar establishments, vessels, vehicles or any hidden or secluded area under circumstances which would lead a reasonable person to believe that the child is about to be exploited in prostitution and other sexual abuse; and
* any person who keeps or have in his company a minor below 18 years old or who is 10 years or more his junior and is not a family member, in any lodging houses, hotels, motels, beer joints, discotheques, cabarets, pension houses, saunas or massage parlors, beach resorts or similar places.
Under the ordinance, motels and similar establishments are required to post the notice “No Entry/Admittance of Minors” in their entrances and/or any conspicuous places in their premises.
To make sure the ordinance is being followed, Canong said his task force would be conducting “discreet operations”. He did not elaborate.
“Sang una diskarte sang mga kalalakinhan kon may edad gani, apo kuno nila upod nila. Kon medyo bata bata pa sila, hinablos kuno ang upod or partidos,” said Canong./PN
