10,000 LACK PERMITS

Get your business permits now or risk being black-listed in Cebu City, warns Mayor Tomas Osmeña. He says he’ll create a group, under the office tasked with demolitions, to inspect establishments soon.

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has warned all establishments in the city that are operating with no business permits that they will be blacklisted if they’re caught.

In his news conference yesterday, Osmeña said he will form a group that will be tasked to run after these establishments.

Raquel Arce, who heads the Prevention, Restoration, Order, Beautification and Enhancement (Probe) unit, will lead the group, he said.

“There are so many establishments in the city that have no business permits. The problem is, if you get caught, you will just pay (a minimal amount as penalty) that’s why people will just apply again. I will set up a system, I will create a counterpart of Probe. If you have no business permit now, you’re closed. No need to show cause because you have no permit anyway,” Osmeña said.

He said there are over 10,000 establishments in the city that lack business permits.

Once caught, Osmeña said, it will be very hard for the owner to apply for a business permit again, especially if the violator has been operating without the permits for years.

The mayor did not say when the group will start their inspections, but he has decided that the closures will begin once the public is fully informed.

“Let that be a warning to everybody. One day, we’ll go in there to ask where is their business permit and if there’s none, then close. I’m just giving them advance warning so they can’t say they didn’t know about it,” he said.

Arce, for her part, said she has no problem leading the group, adding that she will implement the closure orders once the directive is out.

“It’s part of my work as head of Probe. We always implement (a) closure order,” she said. /