Andrew Drummond

 ‘Way of the light’ hard, says born again Christian who ran short-time hotels.

From Andrew Drummond, Manila, Monday July 29 08   -

The owner of a chain of love motels in the Philippines has shut them down for the ‘glory of god’ and to stop earning cash from the devil.

The owner is a born again Christian. But as his conversion took place in 1992 it appears it took a little while for the ‘Word of God’ to sink in.

Wyden King, 54, was earning the equivalent of £30,000 a day for renting out short time rooms in 14 hotels in the Anito hotel chain in Manila.

He once boasted that each night some 11,000 Filipinos – and foreign tourists – engaged in trysts in his rooms.

The last branch in Caloocan, Manila was closed last week. A sign outside read ‘Anito Hotel – closed for the glory of God’.

However his new hotels branded ‘Status Married Couples Place’ do not appear to have been blessed with success. One of his managers says it would take a miracle to turn a profit.  Business is dire, perhaps because couples are now photographed on arrival.

The curtains were drawn on illicit sex in a religious ceremony at the Anito Hotel, Coolacan last week, attended by family, friends, and apparently a few former patrons. Holy water was sprinkled on beds to ‘exorcise the devil’s presence.”

Said Mr. King: “The beds are altars to the demons. We have to destroy these altars of wickedness.  We are redeeming this place from the gates of hell.  I also destroy my covenant with the devil.”

Mr. King, 54, actually kept cashing in for a further 16 years after first seeing the light. The way of the light was a difficult path follow, he said.

King, who admitted paying bribes to Philippines officials explained: “It took a long time to obey God. This was a fulfilment which was not easy. But God’s grace sustained me. I knew I had to obey him.

“I was blinded by the money but it took the Lord to open my eyes. He found me but it was a struggle to let go.”

He denied he had closed the business because of the worldwide recession and falling revenues.

“The ways of the Lord are very strange and we can’t fully comprehend them,” he said. 

Meanwhile at the ‘Status Married Couples Place’, formerly Anito Motel,  in Pasay City, the manager Bing de Ocampo admitted that his hotel was now barely occupied.
“Since the new owner decided to transform his motel business into hotels for family and married couples we have dropped  from an average of 230 couples daily, the number of customers dropped to about 12 couples.
“Before entry into this motel, couples are obliged to register at the front office, and the staff ask them to present proof of their marriage, like wedding rings, marriage contract, wedding picture or ID cards showing the same surname.
He said photographs were only taken “so the next time they check in, we do not require them anymore to present proof of marriage.”