Short answer. Yes. RA 7610 Section 11 requires establishments that promote or facilitate child prostitution, sexual abuse, trafficking or indecent shows to be immediately closed and their licence cancelled. A sauna, travel agency or recruitment agency that does so — for instance as part of a tour for foreign tourists — is expressly covered.

What the law says

All establishments and enterprises which promote or facilitate child prostitution and other sexual abuse, child trafficking, obscene publications and indecent shows, and other acts of abuse shall be immediately closed and their authority or license to operate cancelled

RA 7610, Section 11 — Sanctions On Establishments. Read the full provision →

Closure and cancellation are the core sanction

Section 11 does not leave the fate of an offending establishment to discretion. It directs that all establishments and enterprises which promote or facilitate child prostitution, sexual abuse, trafficking, obscene publications and indecent shows, and other acts of abuse, shall be immediately closed and their authority or license to operate cancelled. The word 'immediately' and the mandatory 'shall' are the point: the business loses both its doors and its licence. This is aimed at the enterprise itself, on top of whatever happens to the individuals running it.

The people behind it are still prosecuted

Shutting the business is not a substitute for personal criminal liability. The section closes the establishment without prejudice to the owner or manager thereof being prosecuted under this Act and/or the Revised Penal Code, as amended, or special laws. So the closure of the premises and the prosecution of the owner or manager run in parallel — the enterprise is sanctioned administratively while the responsible individuals face criminal charges. Neither track waits for or excuses the other; both consequences can follow from the same underlying facts.

Saunas, travel and recruitment agencies are named

The section anticipates the businesses commonly used as fronts. It provides that an enterprise such as a sauna, travel agency, or recruitment agency is deemed to have committed the penalised acts if it promotes such activities as part of a tour for foreign tourists, exhibits children in a lewd or indecent show, provides child masseurs whose services include lascivious conduct, or solicits children for those acts. By naming these enterprises and behaviours, the law forecloses the argument that a nominally ordinary business was somehow outside its reach.

When an establishment is 'deemed' to facilitate abuse

The provision also fixes when the sanction is triggered. An establishment is deemed to promote or facilitate the prohibited acts if those acts occur on its premises, whether under this Act or in violation of the Revised Penal Code. That the abuse happened on the premises is what pulls the business into the section. For anyone dealing with such a situation — a complainant reporting it, or an operator facing the sanction — the facts about what took place on-site and who permitted it are central, and the matter warrants prompt legal advice.

Related provisions

Note. Statute text quoted on this page is reproduced from the official enactment and is linked to the full provision. The explanation around it is general legal information from Vivas & Nobles Law Office, not legal advice. Whether it applies to your situation depends on facts only a lawyer reviewing them can assess.