CEBU City Mayor Michael Rama has ordered Red Lips Bikini Bar along Gen. Maxilom Ave. closed after three of its employees were found by the court guilty for qualified trafficking.
Rama also revoked the bar’s business permit.
The closure order, which was addressed to Mango Red Lips Bar Inc. representative Infante Meldy, was served by the City's Prevention, Restoration, Order, Beautification and Enhancement (Probe) yesterday afternoon.
Representatives of the International Justice Mission accompanied Probe.
The revocation of business permit and closure order against Red Lips was recommended by the Cebu City Inter Agency Council Against Trafficking in Persons (CCIACAT).
The move was in line with City Ordinance (CO) 2163, otherwise known as the Cebu City Anti-Trafficking in Persons' Ordinance.
Convicted
In decision dated Sept. 22, Regional Trial Court Branch 17 Judge Marivic Daray found Janeth Bughao, Genevieve Badiang and Sheila Dedicatoria guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of qualified trafficking in persons.
The court convicted the three individuals after witnesses testified that the three employees managed the sex trafficking operation of the Red Lips Bar that was raided by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 last June 21, 2012.
The operation led to the rescue of 26 young women, most of them from Cebu City.
The NBI 7 filed complaints against Bughao, Badiang and Dedicatoria for violating Republic Act 9208, or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003.
Law’s provisions
Under RA 9208, it is unlawful for a person “to recruit, transport, transfer, harbor, provide, or receive a person by any means, including those done under the pretext of domestic or overseas employment or training or apprenticeship, for the purpose of prostitution, pornography, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery, involuntary servitude or debt bondage.”
In an interview yesterday, CCIACAT vice chairperson Council Lea Japson said there is a need to close bars like Red Lips to prevent them from victimizing more people.
“With the closure, kung dili man gani totally mawagtang (the trafficking in persons), at least ma-minimize siya kay luoy kaayo ang mga tao (If trafficking of persons cannot be eliminated, we should reduce the incidents to protect potential victims)” she said.
Japson dismissed the possibility that Red Lips would re-open under another name like other bars ordered closed. She said that City Ordinance 2443, which amended CO 2163, provides that no new business of the same nature can be opened on the same establishment within a period of one year, if the nature of business on the new business is the same with the one before it.
If such establishment applies for business permit, registered owners or their representative are required to appear before the CCIACAT.