Embassy Bar: New name, management

MANILA, Philippines - A local official said the controversial Embassy Bar in Taguig City has been ordered closed permanently and was replaced with a new establishment under the same management but will implement a more “wholesome” business concept.

Vice Mayor George Elias said the Embassy Super Club was shut down for good, giving way for “Encore.” He said part of the club’s new entertainment concept is the inclusion of jazz nights, ballroom dance sessions, stand-up comedy acts, film screenings and Sunday bazaars.

“The business concept is entirely different from the Embassy we used to know. We believe that this new concept will attract a more mature audience as opposed to the younger and rowdy crowd of the former Embassy,” Elias said. He said “the maximum capacity of the club will be reduced and extreme measures are to be taken to prevent bar brawls, disorderly conduct of guests, and any illegal activity.”

A report of the Taguig City Council’s joint committee on Trade, Commerce and Industry, and Peace and Order and Drug Abuse Prevention also cited the management’s commitment to peace and order, giving credit to the new club’s intensified security arrangements.

Encore management, in its proposal, committed the installation of 70 close-circuit television (CCTV) cameras inside and outside the club, equipped with a monitoring station, and the assignment of 52 club security officers in addition to the two security guards from Ayala and two additional security guards.

The Taguig City government, in August, ordered the closure of Embassy Super Club and Embassy Cuisine, following the serious stabbing of a businessman by a certain Kilikan Jimenez, and the alleged escape of the suspect in connivance with employees of the cuisine.