ILOILO City – The city government has ordered the regular inspection of nightspots, particularly those engaged in the dispensation of alcoholic drinks, to ensure that they comply with regulations aimed to maintain peace and order in the metro.
The inspectors are from the Iloilo City Task Force on Morals and Values Formation, the Iloilo City
Police Office (ICPO) and city government compliance officers.
The short-lived midnight ban on the sale and consumption of alcoholic drinks may have been lifted but this does not mean everyone now has access to liquor, according to Mayor Jerry Treñas.
The liquor ban for minors stays. Violators face sanctions.
On July 27, the city’s chief executive limited the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages up to midnight only, citing the series of brawls in nightspots involving mostly inebriated people.
But after the operators of bars, clubs, restaurants and other establishments primarily engaged in preparing and serving alcoholic beverages submitted affidavits of undertaking committing to comply with the policies set by the city government to safeguard their customers, the mayor had a change of heart.
The midnight limitation was lifted on Aug. 2. The public sale and consumption of liquor returned to the usual time of from 8 a.m. to 4 a.m.
The liquor ban for minors, however, stays and to ensure this is carried out, sellers are required – as has been the policy – to demand valid identification cards from buyers to make sure that the latter are of legal age.
The legal age in the country is 18 years old. Those below 18 are considered minors.
Establishments violating the liquor ban for minors risk the cancellation of their permits to operate.
On July 31, Treñas convened the city government’s Business Permits and Licensing Office, Iloilo City Task Force on Morals and Values Formation, the ICPO, and members of the Iloilo Bar Owners Association (IBOA) and re-evaluated measures against rising incidents of improper conduct and harmful behavior by consumers and the proliferation of criminal activities in nightspots.
IBOA members with personnel and bouncers who have secured certificates evidencing completion of the necessary security training shall be permitted to sell and allow public consumption of any form of liquor or alcoholic beverages in their premises from 8 a.m. to 4 a.m.
Those that have none of these are still permitted to sell and allow public consumption of alcoholic beverages in their premises but from 8 a.m. to 12 midnight only./PN
