‘Red light district’ bar in Angeles City closed down; 3 girls rescued

Staff of the Angeles City business permit and licensing division post a closure notice on the wall of Gold Bar along the infamous Fields Avenue for violating Presidential Decree No. 856, also known as the Sanitation Code of the Philippines. (Photo courtesy of Angeles City government)

ANGELES CITY, Pampanga —The city government closed down late Wednesday, March 22, an entertainment bar in Balibago village for employing three 15-year-old girls and for alleged violations of the Sanitation Code.

Irish Calaguas, chief adviser to Mayor Carmelo Lazatin Jr., told the Inquirer on Thursday that the city chief executive led the rescue of three girls from Gold Bar, located along the stretch of Fields Avenue.

Lazatin was with policemen and officers of the city social welfare and development office, the city business permit and licensing division, and the sanitation division of the city health office during the rescue operations.

In a separate statement, the city government said 27 workers at the bar did not have the required health identification cards, which violates Section 15 of the Sanitation Code of the Philippines.

It said Lazatin ordered the immediate closure of the bar and the filing of charges against its owner and manager.

It said the three minor females were taken into the city social welfare and development office’s custody and given temporary shelter at the Home for the Girls in this city.

Dozens of entertainment bars are along the said avenue that cater mostly to Koreans, Chinese, and other foreign tourists and expatriates.

Fields Avenue used to be known as the “sex playground of American GIs” when the US military still controlled the former Clark Air Base. INQ

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