El Nido sets business forum

The El Nido Business Permit and Licensing Office (BPLO) has set a forum on November 23 at the Municipal Covered Court regarding the environmental law compliance of businesses in relation to the renewal of their permits. Bernie Bero, municipal business and licensing officer, said Monday that the forum will specifically discuss the enforcement of environmental compliance as a requirement for the renewal of business permits in 2019. This comes after the order of the national government to implement strict environmental laws as part of the town’s six- month rehabilitation. Municipal officials expect a 30 percent drop in business permits next year compared to this years 75 percent because of the imposition of strict documents’ compliance, implementation monitoring, of environmen-tal laws and “Even renewal ng business permits natin kailangan maghihigpit tayo although, of course, kailangan din natin ng money for our environmental programs at may tungkulin po tayo,” said Bero. Bero told Palawan News that they have already submitted the list of establishments for closure to Mayor Nieves Rosento. However, Rosento has given the erring establishments a sev- en-day extension to comply. Failure to do so, will force the municipal government to implement the closure. Bero also appealed to business owners to prepare all the required documents early for the renewal nexr year to avoid delay. During the renewal this year, some business owners called the additional health and sanitary requirements as “expensive”. “Sana dumalo tayo sa Business Forum na ito upang lahat ay ating mapag-usapan at mabigyang linaw ang mga katanungan. This time, maging mas strict po tayo pagdating sa mga papeles lalo na sa compliance ng environmental laws,” Bero said.