Rico’s lechon: Revenge prompts closure?

CEBU, Philippines - Personal vendetta allegedly prompted Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña to shut down two branches – one in partnership with his daughter-in-law – of the famous Rico’s Lechon owned by his political supporter.

The mayor vehemently denied the allegations in his Facebook post.

Enrico Dionson, chief executive officer and owner of the popular Rico’s Lechon, said the city government started running after them after they decided to stop their partnership with Bea Villegas Osmeña because the family wanted to run the business alone.

Dionson said Bea, the mayor’s daughter-in-law, owns 30 percent of their branch in Barangay Mabolo. The branch was closed by the city government on August 2 along with the N. Escario branch for operating without business permits.

Dionson said Bea was their Mabolo branch partner for five years. He said sometime in July, the family decided to stop the partnership because they wanted to solely operate the business.

“Gihangyo namo among partner (Bea) nga kung mahimo sa pamilya  lang usa ang negosyo. Mao gyud na ang tinuod. Among gihangyo among partner nga og mahimo sa amo lang usa ni. Mao ra na ang sinugdanan, ug pagkahuman ana, nakadawat na dayon ta og mga notice to comply, naa nay show cause order then closure na,” Dionson told reporters.

The records show that the Cebu City Legal Office issued the show cause order on July 21 asking the restaurant management to explain why it should not be closed for violating the omnibus tax ordinance of the city.

Prior to the order, the management was given time to comply the requirements from July 1 to 13. However, the management reportedly ignored the notice. Dionson explained that they trusted their partner’s bookkeeper to process business permit.

“Among partner nagpasalig siya nga ang ilahang bookkeeper ang mo-process tanan and we just find out last year,” said Susan Claire Gabuya, Dionson’s daughter and general manager of the company’s commissary.

Asked why they did not check the records personally, Dionson said they trusted Bea to work for their permits.

“Ang rason siguro nataligam-an nato is nisalig mi sa among partner, ikaduha, ang among utok sige og lihok, nagsige pa mi og tuon, kay nagplano mi nga mag-abli, siguro ingon ana,” Dionson said.

He claimed that they have documents to prove that they are regularly paying business taxes to the city government.

Denial

Osmeña, in his Facebook post, pointed out several inconsistencies in Dionson’s claim.

According to Osmeña, Dionson claimed two weeks ago that he has business permit but is now admitting that he has none.

The mayor also posted the exchanges of text messages between his daughter-in-law and Dionson’s daughter, Susan Claire. In the exchanges of text messages show that Bea was making several follow ups of their business permit.

Bea even reminded Susan Claire about the strict policy of the city government on business permit.

Bea, at one point, blamed her partner for not informing her about the status of their permit. She said she only knew about the show cause order in the news report because she was not informed about it.

“Why are you saying that my daughter-in-law is responsible for getting the permit? Is this the arrangement you had for the past five years? The corporation's name is Dionson and Villegas, not Dionson and Osmeña because my daughter-in-law WASN'T EVEN MARRIED to my son when that corporation was formed,” the mayor’s post read.

Osmeña said he had to close the business even if his daughter-in-law was part owner to set an example.

“Because of your own incompetence, I was forced to shut down a business that is a major source of my own daughter-in-law’s income,” Osmeña said.

Dionson was a political supporter of Osmeña in the last elections. He admitted during the press conference yesterday to have contributed to the campaign of Osmeña in the last elections. (FREEMAN)