Cebu City cops who raided bar bribed?

CEBU CITY — Mayor Tomas Osmeña is wondering why no case has yet been filed against the owners of a videoke bar which the police raided last week.

Osmeña said he is beginning to suspect the reason has something to do with bribes.

The Infinity KTV Bar was raided for allegedly allowing indecent acts in its private rooms but Osmeña said that so far only three guest relation officers caught naked during the raid have been charged.

But as far as the bar owners are concerned, the police have failed to file charges against them.

Osmeña said he has been monitoring the city police and found that some policemen do engage in extortion.

He, however, said he is not really saying that the raiding team did extort money from the bar owners but that he has suspicions.

He said he has to be alert and suspicious because things like these have really been done by some policemen.

Osmeña said some policemen only appear good before the public but are actually engaged in extortion.

He said the police should have filed a case against the owners of Infinity KTV Bar who are also liable for whatever violations the establishment is liable for.

But Chief Inspector Paul Labra II, intelligence and investigation chief of the city police, denied the allegations.

Labra said the filing of charges against the bar owners is delayed because the police are still determining what appropriate charges can be filed against them.

As far as he knows, he said the owners are not criminally liable for the indecent acts of their employees and that the most he can do is recommend to City Hall administrative sanctions against the establishment such as its closure.

Dionisio Chiong, whose name appears as the bar’s registered owner but who is widely thought to be a mere dummy, was not present during the raid.

Infinity’s real owners are believed to be businessmen Peter Lim and his brother Wellington who, however, both have denied this, saying they are merely "financiers" of the bar.

The Lims have been tagged as drug lords by their two former employees in a recent congressional hearing. Both have denied the charges.

Another name that has surfaced as Infinity’s registered owner is Bonifacio Nieves Jr. but he, too, is also considered just a dummy.

Osmeña, meanwhile, warned other nightspots engaged in indecent acts that they will be padlocked and their owners prosecuted.

There are at least 57 nightspots officially registered as music lounges, 87 as bars, and five as KTVs. — Freeman News Service