DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte warned business establishments for possible closure if it violates the liquor ban implemented in the city.
"There is a law and we must implement it," Duterte said, addressing both sober and intoxicated partygoers at the posh Metro Lounge along Quirino Avenue. "I want to arrest all of you, but how will you all fit into our prison cells?"
Duterte went to the lounge early Sunday morning and ordered the poker club to stop operations, reminding the waiter that he should no longer be serving alcoholic drinks as he was caught doing.
Duterte ordered the responding policemen to arrest the bar managers, supervisors, and waiters, but the policemen only got the head waiter named "Albert".
Association of Barangay Captains president and Councilor Paolo “Pulong” Duterte was spotted earlier at the establishment and is a frequent client.
Based on reports obtained by Sun.Star Davao, the city mayor was on his way home from a sortie somewhere in the north when he passed by the throng of establishments along F. Torres St., which as the mayor would put it, "had 3,000 to 5,000 violators of the liquor ban."
Davao City has been observing a long established liquor ban since 1988, which prompts nightspots and other establishments to close by 2 a.m.