Question & AnswerQ&A (EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 319)
A night club is any place or establishment selling to the public food or drink where customers are allowed to dance.
These establishments are places where dancing is permitted to the public and where professional hostesses or dancers are employed or where an admission fee or other charge for dancing is collected.
A professional hostess is any woman employed in the defined establishments to entertain guests at their table or dance with them.
They cannot be established within 1,000 lineal meters from city halls, municipal buildings, provincial buildings, public plazas, public schools, churches, hospitals, athletic stadiums, public parks, or institutions of learning or charity.
These establishments must have a properly ventilated, well-lighted, sanitary dancing space with no private rooms except for lavatories, dressing rooms for ladies, bar, and kitchen, be certified safe for dancing, have at least two sets of lavatories (for men and women), be enclosed with a fence with one entrance only, and have proper parking facilities.
They may operate from 5 p.m. to 12 midnight daily except Saturdays, days preceding official holidays, and town fiestas, when they can remain open until 2 a.m. of the following day. On Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, these rules do not apply.
Minors under 18 years of age (unless accompanied by parents/guardians in private parties), persons carrying deadly weapons (except government officials), and intoxicated persons are not allowed.
They must be at least 21 years old and have a written certificate from the District or City Health Officer confirming they are free from contagious or infectious diseases, renewed every three months. With parental consent, women 18 or older but below 21 may be employed.
The Department of the Interior supervises and enforces the provisions of this Executive Order.
The Secretary of the Interior shall withdraw the permit and revoke the license for violations. The revocation forfeits all sums paid for the permit and license to the city or municipality concerned.
Operators must obtain a permit from the city or provincial treasurer after complying with the Order's provisions, and a license with a fee of not less than 200 pesos annually or 50 pesos quarterly.
If there is satisfactory evidence that gambling or prohibited games have taken place within the premises.
Yes, establishments operating on January 1, 1941, within prohibited zones or not meeting building requirements are given one year to comply or close. Continuance in location may be authorized in special cases with approval from the Secretary of the Interior and the President.
Such decisions can be appealed to the Secretary of the Interior whose decision is final.