All resto bars operating in Iloilo City are temporarily closed effective Monday.

Mayor Jerry P. Treñas ordered the closure until the end of month following reports that many resto bars are still serving liquor even if public consumption is prohibited under the guidelines of the general community quarantine (GCQ) status of the city.

Treñas stressed that this is in deference to the rules of the National Inter-Agency Taskforce (NIATF) on COVID-19 and the city government cannot police all bars in the city.

He also cited that Cebu and Davao also closed all their resto bars.

“Gasunod man lang kita sa IATF and DTI nga rules . We tried our best… Gintugtan naton but ang ginahambal man nila pirme nga waay sila ya kabalo,” said Treñas.

“I am finding it very difficult to check the compliance and our compliance people cannot just watch all of them all the time everyday,” the city mayor lamented.

Nevertheless, he added that he is ready to sit down with the owners and managers of the resto bars if they want to raise something related to the closure of their establishments.

Last week, the composite team which Treñas had created to crackdown erring establishments was able to close down a total of 24 establishments.

Nestor Canong, chairman of the Task Force on Moral and Values Formation, who is one of the members of the composite team, said 20 of the 24 establishments are resto bars which were caught serving alcohol drinks, while the four others are coffee shops, restaurant and bakery which do not have permit to operate.

Canong assured that the composite team will monitor the closed establishments to make sure they are not operating./WDJ