The FARANG Speaks 2 Much (tfs2m)

13 Responses to “No BARFINES in AC”

1. 1 smitty Jan 16th, 2008 at 5:17 pm

   I just got this email from another friend who manages one of the bars in AC:

   Well Bro., it’s the new drama!

   They warned everyone 4 days ago and then 2 days later they started sending foreign agents into the bars to bar fine and one hour later they busted the managers, girls, mamasans, owners when they could find them and managers. Its is a total shit storm!

   The word from those in the know is that the new mayor is trying to push it all over to Mabalacat to benefit his buddy the mayor there and spruce up the area.

   The point is that Fields real estate is rapidly becoming very valuable and they want to encourage the area to go upscale, which it is doing already. The all new sixty million peso Club Atlantis just opened and it is truly world class. More as it comes.
   View all comments by smitty

2. 2 Shadow Jan 17th, 2008 at 5:16 am

   From their local newspaper:

   …………..Pineda believed that, probably, the series of raids on alleged prostitution fronts is mainly aimed to force the establishments to pay P50 daily per entertainer as “protection money” by some persons closely connected with City Hall…………
   View all comments by Shadow

3. 3 Shadow Jan 17th, 2008 at 5:17 am

   Sorry, forgot to post the link;

   http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/pam/2008/01/17/news/group.hits.arrest.of.entertainers.html
   View all comments by Shadow

4. 4 GoodLife Jan 17th, 2008 at 8:09 am

   http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/pam/2008/01/15/news/angeles.police.launch.no.barfine.drive.html

   Here is a link to some of the info on that.. and this is a copy of the letter that bar owners recd:

   Republic of the Philippines
   National Police Commission
   Philippine National Police
   Angeles City Police Office
   Police Station No. 4
   M.A. R.. St. corner C…. St., Balibago, Angeles City

   PS4-IN

   January 13 2008

   Dear Sir/Madame,

   This is in connection with the information received by our Office coming from the
   International Concerned Community regarding the issue that :”ANGELES CITY is
   the source of AIDS in the Country.”

   In this regards, we are very alarmed to such issue, thus we are strictly
   implementing all laws with respect to “PROSTITUTION” in the City, particularly
   Balibago and nearby Barangays.

   Hence, we are advising you to strictly observe “NO BARFINE” policy, and/or any forms
   of Prostitution activities in your establishment to totally eradicate such immoral acts in
   this City in order to prove to the International Concerned Community that the information
   is baseless and untrue.

   We have already started campaigning on anti prostitution by way of rescuing minors in
   the streets of Balibago and will soon be launching operations on sexually oriented
   establishments in the city.

   We are hoping for your kind cooperation with this matter and rest assured that your local
   police force is ready and willing to serve you.

   PEDRO G RAMOS
   Police Superintendent, DSC
   Deputy City Director for Admin/
   Station Commander, Police Station 4, ACPO
   View all comments by GoodLife

5. 5 Brewster Jan 17th, 2008 at 11:46 am

   Next stop Pattaya?
   View all comments by Brewster

6. 6 smitty Jan 17th, 2008 at 12:01 pm

   b - I was waiting for someone to start the when will this come to Thailand thread. I just think Thailand and the Pinnes are such different beasts. The corruption is so thick there and it is in Thailand as well but here the corruption seems to have a purpose with part of that purposes rooted in the naughty nightlife.

   This is a tough discussion but somehow I think the scene in Thailand was originally started by the Thais themselves but that is not the case in places like AC where it was started by the foreigners with those same people profiting the most from it. Not the locals but in places like Patpong and say Nana - the Thais are some of the biggest earners there. And the downstream police and military boys who take their cut.

   All in all things will shrink anyway. They have to. Pattaya is already going to get forced to shrink the nightlife to make way for malls and rich tourists. Bkk has done this already.

   Let’s see if others have something to add to this. Hoping folks from AC will chime in as well.
   View all comments by smitty

7. 7 Pants Elk Jan 18th, 2008 at 12:16 am

   I can add something off-topic if you think things are too quiet. I’ll be in the third cubicle, wishing I’d bought some toilet paper.
   View all comments by Pants Elk

8. 8 Combover Jan 18th, 2008 at 9:46 am

   A Manila bar owner recently explained to me that he had changed his ‘policy’, I suspect to get around an issue such as this. There are no “barfines” in his bar, but there is a system.

   Essentially, he has contracted the girls to work for him, and their obligation to the bar before they are allowed to leave on any given evening is 10 drinks. These drinks can be from multiple customers, and don’t even need to be drunk, but when 10 drinks have been ticked off against a girl she can leave. She gets a commission on each drink. What she does after that with a punter is up to her, but it is done this way to cover the pimping angle.
   View all comments by Combover

9. 9 smitty Jan 18th, 2008 at 6:48 pm

   I put a large post in from an AC insider on the forum since it would be too large a comment.

   thx

   http://www.tfs2m.com/sf-forum?forum=2&topic=9&page=1
   View all comments by smitty

10. 10 DJ Jan 20th, 2008 at 5:37 pm

    My thoughts on the situation:

    The Clark Economic Zone, directly adjacent to the bar strips, is attracting large international corporate investments, including over $USD 1 billion by Texas Instruments. As a result of this local boom, several high-end hotels have been opened or are being built to accomodate the expected business trade.

    Common sense says that CEZ officials would like to see the infrastructure area adjoinging its property to be upgraded (it’s started with a new shopping mall) to continue attracting investors. At what point will site locaters tell govt. officials they don’t want to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into facilities adjoining a strip of brothels. Change may take a few years to happen, but it seems very likely with current events.

    According to my friend currently staying in AC, the current police supt. raided some clubs and sent out the infamous letter abolishing barfines. The stated reason in the letter was to improve the image of the city, and prevent the spread of HIV. However, the real reason was to extort more money from the barowners (surprise surprise).

    Some email updates from my friend in AC both during and after the ‘raids’:

    16 Jan: “A number of bars have been raided and supposedly no barfines allowed. Some bars are ignoring it. Others are doing it secretly. You leave first and then the girl comes to your room. There is a mess of poor info.

    Barowners feel it will eventually pass, and they are trying to get rid of the chief asshole. Diferent bars and diferent stories. Last night both XXX and I barfined girls from Stingers. Joy at Dirty Duck told me they do it secret as stated. Pay the barfine and the girl will meet you at your room. Barowners are saying the real reason is police extortion, and they are talking with their contacts to get this stopped.”

    18 Jan: “The current police commander was just sacked and replaced by the infamous Major XXX. A mixed result as Major XXX is known to work with barowners to keep business thriving, but is also known to lead a group of thugs who setup and extort naive male tourists.”

    19 Jan: “Things seem to returning to normal. I’ve barfined everynight including raid night. There were no problems and only a few bars are still doing the ‘9 LD = 1 barfine scheme’. No difference in the end result.

    Expats who live here are not think this is temporary and are not bothered by these events. Corruption is part of the bar business and these events will occasionally happen.”
    View all comments by DJ

11. 11 Rick M Jan 25th, 2008 at 9:34 pm

    I go to AC every year for vacation but not inclined to spend money where I’m not wanted. Where is the next best option in the Philippines?
    View all comments by Rick M

12. 12 Combover Jun 30th, 2008 at 11:03 am

    moved to a post:

    http://www.tfs2m.com/reader-submissions/2008/06/30/combover-on-ac/
    View all comments by Combover

1. 1 the usual tourist hangouts like Phuket, Bangkok and | Test WCS Pingback on Jan 20th, 2008 at 1:04 am

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