Slot machine arcade to remain closed, Tom: VIP Club not a draw for tourists

CEBU – Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is insists that the VIP Club inside Rajah Park Hotel around Fuente Osmeña should remain closed despite the case filed against him.

The mayor said that the business is not exactly drawing tourists as it is hoping to do so.

“We gave them a chance for five years. But it hasn’t worked. It does not attract tourists. They are just sucking the economy of Cebu and sucking the pockets of Cebuanos,” Osmeña said yesterday.

The mayor now faces a P2 million suit filed by Waz Lian Management Philippines Inc (WLMPI) and MYALL Group limited, the lessee of the VIP Club and the provider of state of the art machines to the club.

“They are located in an old-dilapidated building with a severe parking problem,” the mayor said.

Also sued together with the mayor is City Attorney Rodolfo Golez.

Osmeña also pointed out that he is not playing favorites contrary to the claim of WLMPI, that while he ordered the closure of the VIP Club, he is in favor that slot machines will be put up at Osmeña Tower now Club Ultima, a condotel situated a few hundred away from Rajah Park Hotel.

“I am not making any favorites here. We have to help the major hotels to be financially viable. But Rajah Hotel is not a hotel, it is just like a pension house,” the mayor said.

The VIP Club at Rajah Park Hotel was ordered closed by Osmeña last September 19 for its failure to secure the necessary certificate to operate and other related permits from Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation and for its failure to secure a consent permit from the city government.

It was also ordered closed for failure of the operator to secure sanitary permit and fire safety inspection certificate.

The city government also bared that WLMPI and MYALL have not paid taxes when it operated five years ago as the latter allegedly has been “hiding under the skirt of PAGCOR.”

As a result of such closure, the fate of the club’s 80 employees remain uncertain.

Regional Trial Court Judge Sylva Aguirre-Paderanga of Branch 16 had already questioned the right of WLMPI and MYALL to file civil charges against Osmeña and Golez as they are not the operators of the VIP Club, but PAGCOR.

WLMPI however contended that the closure order is null and void as the alleged absence of a valid certificate to operate or license issued by PAGCOR does not present a valid ground to close the VIP Club operations because the application for a permit is not required because it is operated by PAGCOR itself.

 “It’s PAGCOR that approved slot machines operations but in this case, I object,” the mayor retorted.

The mayor further said that he will only allow slot machine operations when it is part of the hotel’s come-on for tourists and guests.—(/NLQ) (THE FREEMAN)