BUSINESS ‘CLOSED’

City Hall personnel posted a copy of the closure notice outside ofthe Rico’s Lechon Escario branch on Thursday.
CDN FILE PHOTO

It’s not just Rico’s Lechon. There will be more.

In his aim to crack down on establishments in Cebu City operating without securing a business permit, Mayor Tomas Osmeña has shut down two more firms yesterday.

The Cebu City government served a closure order to Rico’s Lechon’s commissary located in Barangay Talamban early morning yesterday. This is the third establishment owned by Enrico “Rico” Dionson that was shut down by the city.

Before the day ended, Chuva Chuva Spa, a massage parlor located on Tres Borces Street in Barangay Mabolo, experienced the same plight as Rico’s Lechon’s.

Osmeña said there are “thousands of business establishments” in the city that are operating without a business permit and that he would create a team, which he would head, to go after these businesses.

He said he would give the team a quota to close 15 establishments with no business permit per week.

There are roughly over 30,000 registered businesses in Cebu City.

The Rico’s Lechon’s commissary that was shut down yesterday was where the company prepared and cooked their lechon (roasted pig) that were then delivered to its restaurants in Escario Street and Barangay Mabolo, both of which were also closed by the city last August 3 for operating without a business permit.

“The commissary was already given due process through a notice to comply dated August 8, a show cause order dated August 14 and closure order is given now. It (closure) was fully implemented after it was signed and received (by the manager of the establishment),” said Raymund Paul Taboada, executive assistant of the mayor who was among those who served the closure order yesterday morning.

Also present during the serving of the closure order were Dr. Alice Utlang, head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries (DVMF); Dr. Alma Corpin, head of the City Health Department (CHD); lawyers from the City Legal Office and the Office of the Mayor; Prevention Restoration Order Beautification Enhancement (PROBE) team; and Councilor Dave Tumulak.

The closure order for the commissary stated that the establishment has been operating without an approved final business permit, in violation of the City Tax Ordinance.

The order was addressed to Susan Claire Gabuya, the general manager and corporate secretary of Rico’s Lechon.

‘Can’t reopen’

In his news conference yesterday, Mayor Osmeña said the city would not allow Rico’s Lechon to reopen its establishments in the city.

Osmeña said Dionson has been reaching out and begging him for a chance to reopen their business, but since the establishment did not have a business permit, it should be closed.

“Don’t make it personal. No matter how close you are to me, no matter how big you are, I am going to do my job,” he said.

At the same time, however, the mayor said he was going to help his daughter-in-law Bea Villegas-Osmeña, an erstwhile business partner of Dionson now in dispute with the Rico’s Lechon owner, should she decide to file a case against the Dionsons.

“It’s up to her (Bea to file a case). But if she wants to sue, I will help her. If my son wants to sue, I will help him,” he said.

Bea is the wife of the mayor’s only child, Miguel. The Dionsons, in a press conference on Thursday, revealed that Villegas-Osmeña owned 30 percent of Rico’s Lechon’s Mabolo branch, which the family wanted to recover from her as they wanted to keep the business within the family.

Dionson suspected personal vendetta as the reason why the mayor is running after his businesses. He said they had asked Villegas-Osmeña that they wanted to operate the branch as a family business starting this year. They said they didn’t get a response from her and instead received City Hall’s notices to shut down their business.

The Dionsons also maintained that it was Villegas-Osmeña who was tasked to secure the business permit for Rico’s Lechon, and they did not know they were operating without one.

Mayor Osmeña, however, insisted the only reason he ordered Rico’s Lechon restaurants and commissary closed was that they violated the rules and regulation in establishing a business in the city.

According to Osmeña, his daughter-in-law had actually been reminding Rico’s Lechon to secure a business permit, as gleaned from her text messaging exchanges with Dionson’s daughter Susan Claire Gabuya, the general manager of Rico’s Lechon corporate office.

He said the exchanges showed that Villegas-Osmeña has been following up with Gabuya on their business permit since February this year.

“If you look at the dates very carefully, way ahead she was telling them to renew their permits. And now they said it’s her job? They even removed her from active management,” he said.

He said the text messages kept by Villegas-Osmeña are admissible in court.

Osmeña said he would settle things with Dionson. “I don’t want to see his face because I’ll kick him. I hate traitors. He thinks he is entitled to something?” he said.

The notice, which was issued by the City Treasurer’s Office (CTO), only pointed out that they had to calibrate their weighing scale as it did not undergo sealing and testing by CTO.

On the same day they received the notice, Gabuya said they immediately went to CTO to have their weighing scale calibrated, and they have receipts to prove so. But even after doing so, they still received a show cause order dated August 14 from the mayor.

Gabuya said they sent a reply to the order the next day explaining that they already addressed their deficiency, as pointed out in the first notice to comply.

Cebu Daily News tried to get the comment from the Rico’s Lechon owners regarding the closure of their commissary yesterday, but a representative of the family said the Dionsons were still consulting their lawyers and would rather not issue a response at the moment.

Chuva Chuva

On the other hand, Chuva Chuva Spa’s owner has appealed for reconsideration from the mayor.

The closure order for the massage parlor was addressed to Alfredo Janobas, but in a thread of conversation posted by the mayor in his Facebook page, a certain Reuben Chavez said he bought the business from Janobas.

He appealed to the mayor not to close the establishment as they were already working on all other documents needed for them to secure the business permit.

“As soon as we will have the tax declaration for the three air condition unit, we will submit it right away. I am appealing to you because this is our bread and butter. We are pro-Osmeña. Please don’t close our business,” Chavez said in his post on the mayor’s official Facebook page.

But the mayor said the establishment had been given ample time to comply with the documentary requirements, yet they still failed to do so.
“Why you move only now after you get attention is not my problem,” Osmeña told Chavez.

Closure or amnesty?

But while Osmeña said he intended to run after the “thousands” other establishments in the city without a business permit, he said he was also willing to give “amnesty” to violators that would come forward before city regulators catch them.

Considering that there are thousands of establishments in the city that are operating without a business permit, it would be easier for the city government to just grant them amnesty if they come forward rather than file a case against each one.

However, “if you have been previously charged, (like Rico’s Lechon), (you are) not included. If you are not yet caught, you will be given amnesty,” he said.

The mayor said he would soon announce the deadline with which businesses operating without business permits can still secure the needed permits without getting penalized.