TV host, 113 others nabbed in Makati bar

MANILA, Philippines — Police apprehended on Sunday celebrity and television host KC Montero along with 113 people for supposedly violating social distancing rules in a Makati bar while Metro Manila remains under general community quarantine or GCQ.

Police officers raided the Skye bar and restaurant located on the 18th floor of M1 Tower along M.V. dela Costa street, Salcedo Village in Barangay Bel-Air before 6 p.m.

Felix Pericet, owner of the bar, and his employees were also arrested.

Maj. Gideon Ines Jr., city police deputy chief for operations, said they received information that the customers reportedly violated social distancing measures while dining in the bar.

“We received videos showing that some of them were drinking. The place was really crowded,” Ines said. “Some of them are foreigners.”

Among those arrested were six Taiwanese, two British, three Irish, a Korean, an American, a New Zealander, two Australians, a Thailander and a Brazilian.

Montero, Casey Miller in real life, said he and his wife went to the bar for dinner.

He said they were loaded onto police trucks following their arrest.

They were taken to the Makati police headquarters on charges of violating Republic Act 11332 or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act, disobedience to persons in authority and the city government’s executive order on the strict enforcement of physical distancing policy.

Police transferred them to a gym in Barangay Guadalupe Nuevo to observe physical distancing.

The customers said they were invited by Pericet for the bar’s reopening.

Pericet said they did not hold a party at the bar.

Under government guidelines, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said bars and other leisure establishments are not yet allowed to open in areas under GCQ.

“But it’s OK if these have dining function,” Lopez told reporters.

He said restaurants and cafes were allowed to operate at 30 percent capacity up to 9 p.m. only.

Dine-in service has been allowed in GCQ areas since June 15.

Last week, the Makati police nabbed 15 foreigners, all Cameroonians, for partying in a bar in Barangay Poblacion.

The Department of Health (DOH) yesterday reminded the public that mass gatherings are still prohibited to curb the transmission of the coronavirus disease 2019.

The DOH made the statement after joggers and bikers gathered at the Cultural Center of the Philippines on Sunday, disregarding physical distancing rules. Louella Desiderio, Pia Lee-Brago