What to do if police raid the bar or club you are in

MANILA, Philippines — More than a hundred customers were rounded up after authorities conducted a drug sting in a Makati City bar early Saturday, raising concerns among patrons.

The individuals—a mix of local and foreign customers as well as employees of TIME in Manila, a club in Barangay Poblacion—were brought to the police station for questioning.

Posts about the drug sting had been circulating online over the weekend, with social media users saying the customers were detained without explanation and were coerced to give information.

“They were not ‘invited’ to the station. They were coerced. They were not allowed to leave the club for three hours. After the long wait fatigued them and all they wanted to do was go home and they were told that if they wanted to leave, they needed only to provide their names and signatures then they can go to ‘verify’ the identities of those captured in CCTV footage. The police were in plain clothes. They were not told why they were detained,” wrote Twitter user @staennis, whose friend was one of the 123 individuals rounded up.

The Twitter user added: "This war is racking up numbers but the processes are imperfect and damaging. What goes in these police operations is more than what they confiscate. They’ve juiced information through coercion. They’ve detained people without explanation."

Senior Superintendent Rogelio Simon, Makati City police chief, however, said Monday that the city’s anti-drug unit strictly observed police operational procedures.

“I think that in the raid conducted by the Drug Enforcement Unit, they observed the proper procedure. Now, if some who were there feel it was really out of procedure, they can always question the actions of the police,” Simon told Philstar.com in a combination of English and Filipino.

Simon said that a drug pusher arrested last week told the authorities that the bar supplied drugs to some patrons.

Police recovered 19 ecstasy capsules, 18 sachets of cocaine, a sachet of kush marijuana, as well as drug paraphernalia in the sting operation, which is more commonly referred to as a "buy-bust" operation.

The police arrested 31 employees because they allegedly served as drug distributors along with the bar's owner.

READ: 57 foreigners, 66 Pinoys held in Makati drug sting

CHR, Karapatan: Know your rights

Twitter user @staennis said there were individuals who gave police their names and signatures “so they can all go home.”

But for the Commission of Human Rights and for rights group Karapatan, the bar goers have the right to know the reasons for the raid as well as the rights to remain silent and to have legal counsel assist them.

CHR spokesperson Jacqueline De Guia said that it is best to distinguish whether the arrest is being made on the basis of a warrant or if it is a warrantless arrest.

If there is a warrant of arrest, De Guia said, the police should inform the person that he is being arrested on the basis of a warrant.

“A person can actually ask to see that warrant of arrest so that the person can actually validate the details specified in a warrant,” De Guia told Philstar.com.

The authorities should also introduce themselves as police officers and inform the person being arrested of the crime he is being charged with.

“They have the duty to inform you that you have the right to remain silent and that you can ask for counsel if you want to, and that anything you say may be used against you in any court of law,” De Guia added.

But if it is a warrantless arrest, it is best to remain silent, the CHR spokesperson advised.

“It’s best not to divulge anything without your lawyer. You have the right to call a lawyer or insist on having a lawyer if you do not have one. The Public Attorney’s Office can provide that service and, in some circumstances, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines,” De Guia said.

She added: “[If] they don’t have a warrant of arrest, it’s not also mandatory for anyone to go to the police station unless they are effecting an arrest already.”

RELATED: ‘Drug bar’ owner, 31 employees charged

Makati police chief: Be responsible

The Makati City police chief, for his part, has this to say to bar goers: be responsible.

“If you want to enjoy, you have to make sure that the place you are going to is a 'clean' place, so you won't get dragged into trouble if there is a raid,” Simon said, pointing out the bar had been used as a “drug den.”

“You have to be responsible enough because you are of legal age. You already have discernment, you can evaluate the things around you, so before you go there and stay for a long time, you have to observe [your surroundings] because you know the trend nowadays is the use of drugs everywhere," he also said.

Simon also said that those who happen to be in a place that is subject to a sting or drug bust should act naturally.

“If you're not doing anything wrong, you won't be in trouble. But since you are in that place, you will just be invited for questioning or for verification,” he said.

According to previous reports on Oplan Simultaneous Anti-Criminality Enforcement Operations, where police patrol the city and accost people suspected of violating ordinances like the smoking ban and going out without a shirt on, "verification" means checking whether a person has pending cases.