"From what i know from reliable sources, Ponytails was raided, all the girls, two mama sans and the DJ were all taken into custody. The mama sans were charged with human trafficking. No word on what happened to the girls after they were taken into custody (but if history is taken into account, they were virtually certainly forced to sign papers saying something to the effect that they were forced to be prostitutes against their will or something along those lines. If the girls are kept in "detention" then you can expect some horrible things to be happening to them, including rape).

Also from a reliable source is that Compact 4 (the local fields ave police station) has said that "No more t-backs, No more body shots, 1 door girl only outside, No see-through uniforms and No shower shows will be or are allowed".
So basically they just significantly took away a significant portion of the what use to be allowed fun inside the bar. So if you want or are looking for anything that you have done in the past in AC (with the exception of currently taking the girl out of the bar and to a hotel) you are seemingly out of luck bro."

On the good side, at least barfines haven't gone up

Fucking puritanical Americans!! We should keep our morals, religion and troops at home!

Still have the bikinis and everything else is the same but the rumors are that things will go low-key for a while.

Excellent article on Margaritastation.com:

NEW GUIDLINES FOR THE BARS IN ANGELES *
Due to the volume of false rumors floating around and the “Sky is falling” mentality on the local message boards, I though I would try to put things into perspective from my point of view and some observations from my years in Angeles and discussions I have had in the years past with Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan.

Edgardo Pamintuan was the mayor of Angeles City from 1992 to 1998 and he was recently reelected again in 2010. He is a lawyer by trade with an extensive back ground in Human Rights. I have personally known him since the mid-90’s. I believe he was one of the best mayors I have seen in Angeles City in the 30+ years I have been in Angeles.

HISTORY:

On 2 August Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan told attendees at a flag raining ceremony that he had been pressured by Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jess Robredo to close one to two thousand bars in Angeles City. He said he told Secretary Robredo that there were less than 250 clubs in Angeles City and there was no problem with human trafficking in the city. He further told the secretary that he would not close any of the bars because they were not involved in ‘Human Trafficking.”

This apparently resulted in Manila saying they would send teams to inspect all of the Fields Avenue and Balibago establishments “in the next few weeks” to look for any human trafficking or young prostitution within their operations. These were not secret inspections. All clubs were given advanced notice on August 6 & 7th via newspapers articles and notices published on local websites that warned that any establishments found guilty will most likely face an immediate and unconditional permanent closure as well as heavy jail sentences.

IMO this should have served as a warning that all clubs should not push the envelope with special shows that inspectors or undercover media might find sensational.

On 8 Aug Ponytails bar situated on Perimeter Road, just past Checkpoint, was raided by the CIDG police. The bar was having a special event (Who Let the Dogs Out) which was advertised on their website indicating that it would included body painting and erotic shows. Near the end of the event the girls were starting a “banana & whip cream show” when the club was raided. As of 10 August Pony Tails Bar was still closed and indications are that it will remain closed . It should be noted that the CIDG reportedly did not have a specific Mission Order signed by the mayor for this raid on Pony Tails.

At the recent city hall meeting following the raid at Ponytails bar, many issues were discussed around the central human trafficking issue.

As a result, the Mayor has ordered an all-out anti human-trafficking mission to numerous departments and stations in the city, including the Clark International airport; “to hunt and close down any establishment or syndicate group guilty of human trafficking.”

Furthermore, the Mayor has issued a new set of rules to be implemented at all nightlife establishments. The list of new rules are:

· No topless

· No body painting

· No see-through apparel

· No G-strings or thongs

· Only one 'doorgirl' per bar

· Ban of all special bar events which promote overly erotic shows

DEJAVU

During Edgardo Pamintuan first term as Angeles City mayors in the 1990’s he started out with pretty much a hands off approach to Fields Ave. At that time Angeles was just starting to recover from the devastation of the Mount Pinatubo eruptions. There were very few clubs, but they were bringing tourists back to Angeles City and employing a significant number of Filipinos in the clubs, hotels and restaurants that were starting to rebuild. Then, as now, these tourist businesses accounted for a significant percentage of the city’s tax revenue.

In the early 90’s very few businesses in Angeles City were on the internet, but a few enterprising Filipino reporters did have internet. Whenever they came across anything sensational they would work up an article for the national newspapers. A guy named Rob Valarie put up a website in the mid 90’s about Angeles and stated that you could get oral sex on Santos Street "for the price of a cheeseburger." When this hit the newspapers the President put pressure on the mayor to clean up his town. A round of inspections followed and clubs with short time rooms were closed down for broken toilets, fire violations, etc.

Not long after that, another sensational news article in the national press forced the mayors hand again. Malacanang sent a top PNP general to Angeles to check the story and close offending businesses. The mayors office sent word to the club owners of the impending inspections. The owner of Blue Hawaii had told the some staff from the mayors office to “F--- O--“ during a clean & green effort a few days before and the word was out that this would be their first stop. In fact, it was so well known that four of us got chairs and sat on top of the bar across the street waiting for the raid to occur. It happened on schedule, the bar was padlocked and the Israeli owner left the country not long after that. The next stop for the team was Archie’s bar, which in total disregard for the warnings had a banner hanging across Fields Avenue advertising a special show. The owner tried to throw the Mayor and General Aglipay out of the club. It was padlocked and never reopened as Archie’s.

More sensational news articles about lewd shows resulted in the organization of a vice squad, frequent inspections, and new guidelines for the clubs. These guidelines from Gray (vice squad coordinator) included: No bikinis, bras & panties had to be worn under all dance costumes and the famous “no dancing like a snake.” Despite these restrictions, Angeles City was still a fun city.

Where I’m going with all this is Mayor Pamintuan was never anti-bar or anti-foreigner. He only came out with new inspections, rules, or raid when he was pressured by Manila to stop giving the whole country a bad name. And even when he did send in inspection teams, there was almost always some advance notice when they would be coming and what they would be looking for. It was the businesses that didn’t pay attention that suffered the consequences.

Additionally, in those days is was rare that some undercover Filipino went into a club and got the information. There were virtually no Filipino guys in the clubs in those days. Almost all the information came from foreigners posting stories or photos on the internet where some reporter could gather the information and write a story without leaving his desk.

Still another major story came from a real unexpected source. A long term EXPAT ran into a friendly Australian one night and took him bar hopping and explained all the in’s and out’s to him. Several months later, this friendly Australian, Paul Wilson, published details of that night with photos in the Australian edition of Penthouse. Within days, Morris was invited by some local police to leave the country ASAP.

This is now 2010 and everyone has internet including the mayor’s staff. The mayor has become internet savvy and even has his own face book page (http://www.facebook.com/edgardopamintuan).

Today, anybody’s post on an open forum about a happening in Angeles could result in the closure of establishments mentioned in that post. Filipinos frequent all the clubs in the entertainment area. They see signs advertising special parties and it is very easy for them to attend and notify authorities of events that do not meet the mayor’s standards. All AC businesses should be aware that news paper articles or videos of lewd parties that end up on shows like Imbestigador (GMA-7) will likely bring some form of action by the current city management.

So, what I’m trying to say in this lengthy article is IMO Mayor Pamintuan has no hidden agendas and is, in fact, very pro-EXPAT & pro-foreign visitors. I believe he will allow the nightlife in Balibago to continue to operate and will even support projects to make it a safer place for tourists as long as the owners and tourists don't bring shame on Angeles City and Filipino. But, when he is called on the carpet by the President or other officials from Manila he can only defend things so far. If a warning comes down from the mayors office like the one on August 6 & 7 that some new inspections are going to occur, prepare to be inspected. Make sure your business is clean, take out the trash, check the fire extinguishers, put the staff in conservative uniforms, send the dancers that constantly have “wardrobe malfunctions” on vacation, don’t hang up banners advertising erotic shows, and by all means .. hide the bananas & whip cream.

Furthermore, EXPATS and tourists should use caution with what they post about Angeles City and more importantly be careful not to post items in an open forum where it is likely to be picked up by a Filipino reporter using Google.

Some of the old costumes from years gone by. These may return if bars continue to violate the mayors standards.

As of this morning PonyTails is still closed. I was there Sunday afternoon before all the excitement must have occured. I thought the bar was quiet for a Sunday, more so than the number of times I stopped by there on my last visit.

The presence of the Station 4 police on Fields is pretty noticeable. They seem to be driving down the street about dusk. They definately have impacted the "Door Girl" count and all the establishments are down to a single door girl in modest clothes.

Munch