Village chief clarifies bar dress code ordinance

ANGELES CITY -- Balibago barangay chief Rodelio Mamac clarified on Monday that Ordinance 11 here only seeks to “prescribe a proper dress code” for door girls along bars in this barangay’s entertainment district, and does not intrude on the attire worn by entertainment workers inside their respective establishments.

“The ordinance only seeks to have those girls who attend to the front doors of their bars to wear proper attire. This is part of our effort to uplift the image of the entertainment district here,” Mamac said in an interview with Sun.Star Pampanga.

The said ordinance invokes Section 16 and 391 of the Local Government Code of 1991 which empowers the barangay to approve ordinances for the general welfare of the barangay particularly on the issue of “public morals”.

Mamac stressed that the said ordinance also seeks to regulate the number of door girls to a minimum.

He said the ordinance is aimed at making the whole stretch of Fields Avenue more appealing to a wider range of tourists.

To enforce the ordinance, first-time violators will be given a formal written reprimand and followed by P500 and P1,000 in fines for second and third time violators, respectively. This will be coupled by a penalty of community service for the employees of the bar.

“Balibago also has hotels and restaurants and there are a lot of people who visit Balibago not necessarily because of the bars,” Mamac said.

The village chief assured that Ordinance 11 passed through proper consultation and was backed by majority of the bar owners of the barangay.

Mamac added that the ordinance is just the start of their series of programs to re-package Balibago’s entertainment district and remove the otherwise unsavory reputation attached to it.