Cebu City to let President decide on resto closing issue

THE Cebu City government will bring their case to the Office of the President on the issue of the Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary ordering the city to reinstate the building and fencing permit of a restaurant that it closed last year.

City Hall lawyer Bernard Inocentes Garcia, who is handling the case, said they will file a petition for review before the Office of the President after DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson denied their motion for reconsideration on Singson’s order.

Singson said there is “no cogent reason to disturb, overturn or set aside” his Nov. 9, 2015 order directing acting City Engineering chief Jose Marie Poblete to issue the needed permits to Camia Cafe.

Singson denied the city’s motion last Jan. 25, 2016.

The DPWH Secretary said he does not find merit in the motion for reconsideration which City Hall filed to appeal his Nov. 9 order.

“Here, in the long line of proceedings which occurred prior to the revocation of the Appellant’s Building Permit, it is glaringly apparent that the Appellee Building Official did not conduct an inspection and a hearing in his capacity as such and merely relied on the Cebu City Zoning Board’s (CCZB) resolution,” said Singson’s Jan. 25 order.

The order said that any revocation must be based on the outcome of hearings and inspections conducted by building official “and not solely on the findings of another body which in this  case is the CCZB, where the building official is a member.”

Suspended Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama ordered Camia Cafe along Don Gil Garcia Street in Barangay Capitol site closed on July 9, 2015, citing its owner Adrian Lee’s failure to comply with zoning and building requirements.

“The point of the DPWH is we did not give due process, although, personally, I don’t believe they are right.  Not the permit per se, ang issue but (the) lack of supporting document which no amount of due process can correct,” he added.

Poblete said the revocation of Camia Cafe’s building permit was a result of the zoning board’s revocation of the cafe’s local clearance.

However, while they prepare to file their appeal before Malacañang, Garcia said the Office of the Building Official must follow the DPWH order and must reinstate the building permit of the establishment.

“But the question there is whether he can open the business since there were three other grounds for the closure order issued by Mayor Rama,” Garcia said.

Aside from the revocation of the building permit, the other grounds for the closure of the business were: (1) expired temporary business permit, (2) revoked locational clearance and (3) lack of certificate of occupancy.

Without settling these other grounds, he said, Lee’s business establishment cannot reopen yet.