This photo posted on Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s Facebook page shows garbage that is allegedly being disposed by the Rico’s Lechon commissary in Barangay Talamban into a nearby river.
/FB Grab
Rico’s Lechon did not only lack a business permit.
The company was also found to have violated several other government regulatory requirements, the reason why their business was ordered closed.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said the list of deficiencies was discovered during a review of the company’s City Hall records by the City Business Permit and Licensing Office.
“(But) instead of just working to complete their requirements, Rico’s Lechon went to court today (Tuesday) for the second time to compel me to sign their business permit. It’s been less than a week, and already 2 times in a row they tried to ask a judge to force me to let them reopen. 2 times in a row, they failed,” Osmeña said on his Facebook post Tuesday night.
Osmeña also attached to his FB post 12 pictures showing the dirty surroundings of the Rico’s Lechon commissary in Barangay Talamban.
The mayor said that nearby residents have already complained that blood and fecal matter coming from the pigs that they slaughter are being disposed in a nearby river, causing sickness among the residents.
Osmeña is also calling on the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to review the company’s finances because of failure to properly declare their daily gross revenues.
Enrico “Rico” Dionson, owner of Rico’s Lechon, earlier said personal vendetta was behind City Hall’s pursuit of their business.
He alleged that closure notices were issued on their two branches and their Talamban commissary after management decided to already cease their partnership on the operation of their Mabolo branch with Bea Villegas-Osmeña, the mayor’s daughter-in-law.
“If Rico Dionson wants to drag my family into this after I had to sacrifice my daughter-in-law’s own income in the course of doing my job, then we will never be friends again. I have enough enemies already. I do not need ‘friends’ like him,” Osmeña said on FB.
“I’ve made more enemies as mayor because I say no to friends. If Rico cannot understand that, then he is no longer. I don’t care that he’s influential in one of the biggest barangays in Cebu City. I will do my job,” Osmeña added.
Osmeña said his decision to have their businesses closed was simply because of their failure to secure government permits despite series of warnings.
Rico’s Lechon operated in the absence of a barangay clearance, sanitary permit from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), fire safety certificate, tax declaration and a certificate of property holdings that are requirements for the issuance of a business permit.
“How can I give a business permit when they cannot comply with even the most basic of requirements? How can they demand to do business when the City still has to assess them for their previously undeclared 500,000 pesos daily gross revenue?” Osmeña added.