THE Cebu City Legal Office will investigate a coffee shop and convenience store that reportedly sold liquor to four senior high school students accused of raping a 16-year-old girl.
City Attorney Rey Gealon said he would urge Mayor Edgardo Labella to close the establishment if the inquiry would prove it violated an ordinance that prohibits serving of liquor within a 100-meter radius of schools.
Violators of the ordinance may lose their business permits, said Gealon.
City Ordinance 1413, or the Cebu City Liquor Ordinance, states that only those 21 years old and above can buy liquor. It also prohibits the sale of liquor within the 100-meter radius of schools, hospitals, public plazas and churches.
Labella said the owners of the business establishments will be given a chance to explain their side.
Before she was molested, the girl and her fellow senior high school students had been drinking beer and other hard liquor that they reportedly bought from a coffee shop and a convenience store outside the gate of their university in midtown Cebu City.
A video showing at least four male students molesting a girl who appears to be unconscious inside a car was uploaded by one of the accused on Instagram. The photo went viral after it was shared in social media.
One of the accused admitted in his sworn statement that he raped the girl.
The accused are facing complaints before the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office. (FROM PAC OF SUPERBALITA CEBU / KAL)