One thousand Vic Enterprises workers face bleak Christmas

EMPLOYEES of Vic Enterprises reported for work on Thursday only to find closure notices posted on the door of their establishment.

For 53-year-old Nanding Daclan, who worked as a checker in the famous hardware for thirteen years, the closure was tantamount to losing his job just a few days before Christmas.

“What are we going to do now?,” Daclan wondered aloud in Cebuano.

A father of four, Daclan is among an estimated 1,000 workers displaced after the Cebu City government fully enforced a closure order on Vic Enterprises yesterday.

According to Daclan, even if management decides to move them to their Mandaue branch, not everyone can be accommodated.

The company’s 13 stores and warehouses, including its main branch in Barangay Mabolo, were shut down by a team from the City Legal Office, Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CCENRO) and the Prevention, Restoration, Order, Beautification, Enhancement (Probe) upon orders of Mayor Tomas Osmeña.

Probe head Raquel Arce said they will assign personnel to monitor that Vic Enterprises will not resume operations.

Tarpaulins announcing the closure were also placed outside the stores and warehouses.

Arce explained that since the company voluntarily heeded the mayor’s order, they found no need to padlock the establishments.

Vic Enterprises was ordered closed by Osmeña for its failure to comply with several regulatory requirements and traffic regulations.

Josephine Cayacap, secretary and accountant of Vic Enterprises said that all their stores and warehouses were already emptied on Wednesday.

“Sayang gyud ni kay dugay na baya mi diri nagtrabaho. Dugay nako diri, almost 60 years na (What a waste, we’ve been working here for a long time. I’ve been here for almost 60 years) ,” said Cayacap.

But Osmeña stood firm on his decision not to lift the closure order.

“Vic Enterprises can pay them. Vic does at least 1 billion a month, plenty of money. So don’t put the blame on me. They have violated the law, I have to close them down,” Osmeña said.

“Economically speaking, whatever business that Vic Enterprises is losing, which is at least, maybe half a billion to one billion a month, would be served by somebody else because all those other buildings under construction they have to continue, they will buy from somebody else. So these people can be hired by those other people,” he added.

“They can do business in Mandaue but they cannot do business in Cebu City,” Mayor Osmeña said.