Sison Mayor Kimi Cojuangco permanently closed down last week eight beer houses which were operating near two schools, and temporarily closed the others until they complied with the local government’s “strict health requirements.” 

            Cojuangco said the town had gotten a bad image for so long because of its seedy joints that are fronts for prostitution, and said it was time that “we cleaned up the image of the town.” 

            “The residents themselves clamored for the closure of the beer houses, and during a public hearing, they brought the issue up,” she said, noting that the bar owners and the bar workers were not locals but from other provinces. 

            There were 15 beer houses along the highways of Sison, eight of them within the 200 square radius of the Asan Sur National High School and Asan Sur Elementary School. 

            “We immediately closed them because it is against the law to operate bars near schools,” she said. 

            She issued strict health requirements for bar operations, such as certifications that the bar workers are free of sexually-transmitted diseases, including Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome. 

Another requirement is the authenticated original birth certificate as “we know that most of the girls who work in bars are underaged.” But she said she did not know how many girls work in the bars because “they (owners) hide them from us.” 

. Only one bar was able to complete the requirements and was allowed to operate, while the others are temporarily closed. 

“I’m making it difficult for them. If they want to stay, they can stay but they have to follow the requirements,” Cojuangco said.  

She added that many “clients” of the bars have been found positive of sexually-transmitted diseases, and “we do not want more to get sick.” 

            Sison is the location of the Northern Cement Corporation and truck buyers waiting for their supply are the usual clients of the “Paldit bars” known as such because they are located in that barangay.