Bar floor manager pleads not guilty to prostitution charges

The Karaoke bar floor manager who was arrested several weeks ago by the National Bureau of Investigation has pleaded not guilty to human trafficking charges.

Steve's Music Bar floor manager Kara Grace Guisando, of legal age, and living in Tres de Abril, Cebu City appeared before RTC judge Ireneo Lee Gako Jr. last Friday. The establishment is located along Gorordo Avenue and Echavez Street.

The pre-trial conference of the case would be conducted on April 24. Guisando is out on bail.

NBI operatives have claimed Guisando received P4,000 as bar fine for one of the girls during an entrapment operation.

NBI regional director Medardo De Lemos said the acceptance of the money as bar fine is evidence which would link the establishment to prostitution..

The registered owner, Jocelyn Raco, was included in the charges filed by the NBI before the Cebu City Prosecutor's office but she was excluded in the filing of charges before the court because there is no enough evidence to indict her.

City prosecutor Nicolas Sellon said being the registered owner, one will immediately suspect that she is also involved. But, Sellon explained, under the law mere suspicion that a person is involved in the commission of a crime is not, and cannot ripen into, evidence no matter how strong. - Rene U. Borromeo