Enrico “Rico” Dionson (right), owner of Rico’s Lechon (right), and his legal counsels Ramon N. Ventura (left) and Diolito Alvarez (center) leave the sala of Cebu RTC Judge James Stewart Ramon E. Himalaloan at the Palace of Justice on Qimonda Building after attending the hearing of the case he filed against the Cebu City government.
CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA
The management of Rico’s Lechon has sought court intervention to compel the Cebu City government to grant the business permits applied for by the company.
A petition for mandamus and injunction filed by 3MRS Dionson Corp, which is doing business under the name “Rico’s Lechon,” was given due course by Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Cebu City Branch 7 Presiding Judge James Stewart Ramon Himalaloan.
But the management’s request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop the city government from closing their business was not granted by the judge since the two branches and commissary of Rico’s Lechon in Cebu City had already been closed by the city.
Instead, Himalaloan directed the respondents to answer in 15 days the amended petition filed by Rico’s Lechon seeking to reopen its closed establishments. Named respondents in the petition were Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña and City Treasurer Tessie Camarillo.
Enrico “Rico” Dionson, who established the famed Rico’s Lechon chain of restaurants in Cebu, was present during the hearing together with their legal counsels led by Lawyer Ramon Ventura. The city government was represented by Lawyer Joseph Bernaldez.
Yesterday’s decision meant that the possibility of reopening the commissary of Rico’s Lechon at Highway 77 in Barangay Talamban, and its two restaurants in Barangays Mabolo and Kamputhaw now lies on the hands of Judge Himalaloan.
Himalaloan has set the next hearing date on September 6.
Rico’s Lechon, in its petition, said that Mayor Osmeña has a “positive legal duty” to act on their business permit applications but the mayor has “unlawfully refused” to do so.
They said they already complied with all the requirements for their business permits applications as of August 8.
They pointed out that under the Cebu City Citizen’s Charter, the mayor has one to two days to act on business permit applications submitted by establishments.
In previous interviews, Osmeña said he would not approve Rico’s Lechon’s business permit application even if they comply with the requirements, saying it could not undo the fact that they operated for the past five years without a business permit.
Rico’s Lechon management, however, argued that the mayor could not arbitrarily refuse to grant the company a business permit.
“A Writ of Mandamus is proper to compel Mayor Osmeña to perform his ministerial duty which he has unlawfully neglected and adamantly refused to perform,” the petition said.
Rico’s Lechon also reiterated the owners’ earlier allegation that the city government was going after their business as a form of vendetta following the soured business relationship between the Dionsons and the mayor’s daughter-in-law, Bea Villegas-Osmeña, the wife of Osmena’s only child Miguel.
The petition claimed it was “evident” that Bea and Miguel were allegedly asking the help of the mayor “in making the business undertaking of petitioner difficult.”
Bea and Miguel were both incorporators and stockholders of Dionson & Villegas Inc., which was formed in 2012. Bea was managing the Rico’s Lechon Mabolo branch in the past five years until the Dionsons, by their own admission, decided to end its contractual relationship with Bea last July, as they wanted to manage the branch on their own.
The company said that it was after the Dionsons decided not to renew their partnership with Bea Villegas-Osmeña that their problems started.
“Thereafter, a series of events unraveled showing how BEA and MIGUEL’s influence reared its ugly head in closing establishments connected with or using the RICO’s LECHON trade name,” the petition read.