bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

JUST 12 months after Alfedo Lim, Mayor of Manila, nicknamed Dirty Harry for his moral crusade, declared war on the bar-owners of the notorious Ermita red light area, the whole strip has become a ghost town.

  Every bar in the two parallel streets notorious for prostitution and drug dealers, Del Pilar and Mabini, has been forced to close its doors.

  But some of the biggest on Mr Lim's hit-list, including the Australian Club and Firehouse, have snubbed their noses at the mayor and re-opened in premises only a few minutes drive from Ermita.

  And many of the girls have moved with them, dancing only in bathing suits and available to be bar-fined for prostitution.

  Ironically, Mayor Lim's police officers can watch the girls come and go, but are unable to do anything about it. For the bar complex is only a few metres outside their area of jurisdiction.

  For cross Vita Cruz, the narrow road off Roxas Boulevard which overlooks Manila Bay, and you are officially in Pasay City, and Mayor Cuneta of Pasay is welcoming the bars from Ermita.

  They are sprouting up on the lot that used to be the International Food Complex.

  Among the other well-known Ermita bars which have re-opened here and on Roxas Boulevard are the Pussycat and Dunhill Club. Others have re-opened, but changed their names.

  The entrance to the Australian Club in Del Pilar is boarded up with corrugated tin sheeting, and Mayor Lim's men have nailed placards on the premises warning ''AIDS - an incurable disease. Keep away from prostitutes'' and ''Drug addicts never grow old. They die young.''   But at the new Australian Club, hoardings declare ''The legend lives on'' , rock music blares out and about 20 girls are dancing on raised stages behind the bars. They can be bar-fined for around 1,500 pesos (HK$425).

  Floor girls who don't dance can be taken out for less. One girl told me she could be bar-fined for only 500 pesos.

  Asked about Mayor Lim's closure of the Ermita bars, she said: ''We just go elsewhere. He will not stop prostitution.

  ''There have been prostitutes for thousands of years. There was never AIDS before, so how come they blame this disease on sex. It must be caused by something else.''   Mayor Lim's campaign against prostitution and drugs is still going on, with regular public burning of pornographic literature and guards posted outside some of the bars in Ermita which have been forced to close.

  What was once Manila's biggest red light area, with dozens of girlie bars which attracted thousands of sex trip tourists from Europe and the Middle East, is virtually deserted.

  One or two of the bars are being converted into restaurants, and Rosie's Diner is expanding into the premises which only a few months ago was one of the strip's raunchiest bars, Blue Hawaii.

  But most are just boarded up shells, and street-sleepers lie under cardboard at the entrances to some of them.

  Most of the premises fetched fat rentals for Filipinos from mainly European bar-owners. Now they are being offered as offices, but there don't appear to be any takers.

  One of the bars which was forced to close, Manila Sounds, had just been renovated. The notorious Blackout disco has been demolished.

  Among the other well-known bars to fall after raids by Dirty Harry and his men are Flames, Superstar, and the Bangkok.

  The hotels in the Ermita strip, however, still say business is good, as customers can get to the new complex where the Australian Club has re-opened in minutes.

  They are also going to girlie bars in the Makati district of Manila.

   Many tourists stay in Ermita before going on to Angeles City, which is booming as a sex city despite the closure of Clark Air Base and nearby Subic Bay naval base.

  Despite the fact that his new bar is allowed to operate in Pasay, the European owner stays very much in the background and fears recriminations. He said he will only answer the phone at home to his close friends who must use a secret dialling code.

   He never answers the door to his home unless the visitor phones him first, using the code, and his business card does not carry his name, only the telephone number of the club.

  The European owner of another new girlie bar in Pasay, who asked not to be named, said: ''Mayor Lim wasn't after kick-backs. He seems to genuinely want to end prostitution.

  ''But he closed the bars illegally and now some of the restaurants in Ermita are running prostitutes, but not openly, like us.

  ''Yes, our girls are prostitutes, but it is their decision. They are not forced into it. And if a customer wants a girl, then that is his decision.

  ''But most customers come here not to take a prostitute but just to enjoy a beer, the music, and watch the girls dance. They like the fun atmosphere.

  ''The Pasay mayor allows us to open, but he will not allow the girls to wear teeny bikinis like they used to in Ermita. Now they must wear a bathing suit.

  ''Mayor Lim has not just closed the bars in Ermita, he has put thousands out of work who made honest money from tourists, right down to the vendors and shoe-shine boys.

  ''The mayor has about 18 months left in office. I don't think he will be voted out, but it is rumoured he may retire at the end of his term.

  ''We hope he will, of course. A new mayor might adopt a different stance, and allow the bars to re-open in Ermita. We are all keeping our fingers crossed.'' 



Ermita's sleaze bars defy Dirty Harry