ANGERED by Bakak Resto Bar’s opening while the closure order is still in effect, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña yesterday ordered the bar closed for an indefinite period.

Osmeña said he has had enough of Bakak’s violations of the City Liquor Ordinance, after learning that the bar still serves liquor to students under 21 years old during class hours.

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City Treasurer Ofelia Oliva confirmed yesterday that the establishment still has no business permit and a special permit to sell and serve liquor.

An inspection team from the City Treasurer’s Office (CTO) visited the bar the other night and learned that Bakak has also expanded their bar, and has become more noisy at night.

No drugs

Bakak reopened last Nov. 12 after City Councilor Gerardo Carillo reportedly notified the owner, Ricky Aznar, that the mayor has already authorized their reopening.

Carillo said the mayor gave the go-signal for Bakak to reopen, provided its owners comply with all requirements under the Liquor Ordinance, and they make sure that illegal drugs don’t circulate in the bar.

“I might have agreed to open but not to sell liquor, and worse not to sell liquor to minors. We’ll just have it closed kay samok kaayo. We’ll just close it permanently na lang, they don’t know how to follow instructions,” Osmeña said.

During his news conference yesterday, the mayor called City Attorney Joseph Bernaldez and instructed him over the phone to write another closure order and to serve it immediately.

Osmeña signed the order yesterday afternoon, but as of 5:30 p.m., the bar continued to operate.

Yesterday morning, traffic enforcers and policemen responded to an alarm at Bakak Resto Bar, not because of university students getting drunk and rowdy, but because of an accident involving a black Toyota Camry that rammed into a portion of Bakak bar, causing the steel frames supporting the tarpaulin roof to collapse.

Incident

Traffic Enforcer Robert Sarona said the sedan owner and driver, University of San Carlos student Brixcy Shane Yu, stepped on the accelerator instead of the brakes when she parked in front of the bar, hitting and damaging a parked Honda CRV before ramming into the steel frames. No one was injured in the incident.

In the second closure order, Bakak’s owners were “ordered to close and stop the operations of your business immediately upon receipt hereof. The order shall take effect immediately, and will continue to be in effect indefinitely until such time that the order is lifted or revoked, without prejudice to the filing of appropriate charges.”

Carillo said yesterday that he served as the “bridge” of Aznar to the mayor, and relayed the owner’s request to be allowed to resume the operations of his bar along Pelaez St. in Barangay Kamagayan.

Although the owners still don’t have a business permit and a special permit to sell and serve liquor, they have paid the necessary fees and have complied with the requirements of the Office of the Building Official, he said.

“The owner requested me to ask the mayor if they can reopen and the mayor said it’s okay, as long as there is no drugs being circulated, they can comply with the requirements and our ordinance, and they won’t sell liquor to minors. Unfortunately, they still continue to do so, so it’s now up to them to talk to the mayor,” Carillo said last night.

Bakak Resto Bar was issued a closure order last Oct. 5 by then Acting Mayor Michael Rama for operating without a business permit and a special permit to sell and serve liquor within a 100-meter radius from schools.

It became controversial after a drinking binge there resulted in a conflict among friends, and the eventual dragging of the mayor’s son Miguel into the issue.

Miguel was accused of sending threatening messages to Samantha Benitez and shooting her camera with a gun, allegedly because she left his girlfriend to pass out at the bar.