Businessman seeks closure of Punta Taytay resort

The owner of a beach resort in Barangay Punta Taytay, Bacolod City is seeking the establishment’s closure as it has been operating without a business permit for four years.

Mushroom Realty Development Corporation legal counsel, Atty. Erfe del Castillo, said her client, Rey Francis Cabuga, wants the beach resort Villa Iska shuttered. The attorney noted, while the property is listed under her client’s name, it is managed and operated by his estranged wife Catherine Brios.

Del Castillo said her client, after learning the resort was operating without a building permit, along with the interior structures being constructed without permits, found he was listed as the “registered owner” on all related documents, including those with the Department of Trade and Industry.

In response to the Bacolod City government intensifying their campaign against establishments operating without proper documentation, the lawyer said, “He wants to remedy the problem and iron [out] the documents [for] his business, so he wanted to close the resort.”

She added, the resort would be temporarily closed until all documentation is completed.

According to records, when the business first opened in April 2014, then-Barangay Punta Taytay Captain Rufino Alcala complained the resort has no business permit, along with lacking permits for the construction of two swimming pools and other facilities.

With the Bacolod City Permits and Licensing Division announcing it would be closing 10 establishments for operating without a permit, del Castillo challenged city officials to shut down Villa Iska

“Do the work you are elected to do,” she stated.

Watchmen Daily Journal tried contacting Brios for comment but, as of press time, she has yet to respond.