Tom warns bar owners of “unnecessary noise”

Mayor Tomas Osmeña yesterday warned owners of disco pubs and video-karaoke joints in Cebu City that the City Hall wouldn’t have second thoughts on carrying out drastic actions against them if their operations become annoyance to the public and to other business establishments here.

Osmeña yesterday vowed to act on complaints involving “unnecessary noise” from disco pubs and videoke joints, most especially on the failure of the owners to comply with the requirements on the installation of sound reduction devices.

An existing city ordinance provides that disco pub and videoke joints should be enclosed in walls equipped with sound reduction devices.

Osmeña cited the case of Pump 2, a restobar in Mango Square on Juana Osmeña Extension, that reportedly created unnecessary noise even beyond its surrounding which prompted clients of a nearby hotel to check out and transfer to another hotel.

The mayor even instructed hotel owner Joy Cabay to call him up if Pump 2 again creates unnecessary noise and promised he will personally go there to observe.

Also, the mayor wondered why a hotel and a resto bar, only a few feet apart, have been allowed to operate in said area. “The problem could be traced to improper zoning,” he said.

Meanwhile, witnesses of the recent Loft Restobar incident involving retired Colonel Rico Palcuto surfaced at the office of the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Branch to give their statements pertaining to the incident.

The city police have invited them to shed light on the incident after an allegedly drunk Palcuto, a resident near the restobar located at the IT Park in barangay Apas, reportedly pointed a gun at Dodie Conejero, manager of 101.9 Charlie FM, and angrily demanded to see the manager and the organizer of the event.

Conejero said that contrary to previous reports, he was there to help his friends in the conduct of a musical production, not as one of the organizers.

In a statement sent to The FREEMAN, Palcuto vehemently denied the allegations. He said he went to see the restobar’s manager or the event organizers, unarmed, to ask that the volume of the sound system be lowered because the loud music had disturbed him from sleep.

In fact, he said, he also lodged a complaint at the Mabolo Police Station of the annoying loud music from the event held in front of his house.

Witnesses were accompanied by councilor Sylvan “Jack” Jakosalem and Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas-Cebu president Edward Abad.

Abad told reporters yesterday that the incident started only from a complaint on loud music and should not have ended up in pointing guns at anybody.

“It is not necessary to draw out a gun and point it to anybody,” Abad said adding that Palcuto could have just called the City Hall or could have filed a formal complaint against the restobar and the organizers.

Meanwhile, Sr. Insp. George Ylanan, who will lead the fact-finding investigation on the incident, said they are having trouble on how to measure the volume of sound based on the 40-decibel stated by the city ordinance as the city police office does not have an instrument for this.  — Rene U. Borromeo and Edwin Ian Melecio/MEEV