The city government of Makati City has closed the KTV bar at the penthouse of a hotel in Barangay Poblacion allegedly being used as a prostitution den following a raid the other day.
The bar on Burgos St. in Barangay Poblacion was raided by policemen and rescued 13 Filipino women and apprehended the two Taiwanese operators and 14 Chinese men who are reportedly Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations employees.
A closure order was afterwards served by the Makati 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.
Police Major Gideon Ines, Makati police Investigation Unit chief, said that the Chinese customers of the prostitution den transact with the bar operators through the We Chat app.
A tablet of the KTV bar was seized during the raid and it contains all the conversation 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 at the penthouse where the bar is located,” Ines said.
“Now that they have a room, they just need to pick a girl that they want to have intercourse with,” Ines added.
Makati police also found condoms inside the bags of the women allegedly being sold to foreigners.
“We also found condoms inside the bags of some of the women we rescued. They admitted that they are into sex trade. Most of them came 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.
“However, when she learned that there was sex trade there, she immediately left and reported it to us.” (Jel Santos)
