PARENTS can now heave a sigh of relief when their children go to the controversial Embassy Bar located at The Fort, Taguig City as it was transformed into a “wholesome bar” with a new name.

Starting Saturday, Embassy Bar would be known as “Encore,” said Taguig City Vice Mayor George Elias.

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He cited a report submitted by the City Council’s joint committee on trade, commerce and industry, and peace and order and drug abuse prevention, which endorsed the business permit application of the establishment.

“The business concept is entirely different from Embassy that we used to know,” Elias said.

According to its owners, Encore will provide a more wholesome entertainment and with stricter security and lesser capacity.

“The establishment however will be operated by the same proprietors of the Embassy Superclub with an entirely new and unique entertainment concept with stricter and tighter security to comply with the requirements of the city government,” the vice mayor added.

It will provide jazz music, stand-up comedy acts, bazaars, and ballroom dance sessions, a far cry from its entertainment prior to its closure last August after a stabbing incident occurred.

The new bar's maximum capacity will also be reduced and additional measures are to be taken to prevent bar brawls, disorderly conduct of guests, and any illegal activity such as the installation of 70 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, walk-thru metal detectors, drug sniffing dogs, and 60 security guards.

The stabbing incident, which injured a bar customer was not the first that took place in the establishment.

Last December 2007, international pilot Carlo Jose Castillano, 34, was mauled to death by customers of the Embassy Superclub.

Castillano is a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Batch 1995 and was the son of former Air Force Brigadier General Cicero Castillano.

Prior to that, model Borgy Manotoc, the grandson of the late strongman, Ferdinand Marcos by his daughter, former Congresswoman Aimee Marcos, also figured in a similar incident when he was accused of mauling Carlo Brown, the grandson of former Social Welfare secretary Mita Pardo De Tavera.

But the Taguig prosecutor’s office junked the case against Manotoc citing lack of evidence. (AH/Sunnex)