A fair warning to all lechoneros

Go to any coffeehouse in Metro Cebu and the talk of the week is the closure of the famous Rico’s Lechon restaurants by Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña. Initially we really thought that the closure of the stores of Rico Dionson was simply because he didn’t secure a business permit. But as the days went on, we learned that it was bigger than what we thought it was. Apparently we learned that Rico was the partner of Bea Osmeña, the daughter in law of the Cebu City Mayor. In the end, this was a business spat gone bad!

Just like the marital spat between Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres Bautista and his estranged wife, Patricia, we would never know the real score until the husband and wife made their marital spat public. You can say that the same seems to be true in the problems between Bea Osmeña and Rico Dionson who have been operating his stores for some time now. But because their spat has become public news, it is only now that we learned that Rico’s businesses didn’t have any business permit. This is something very basic to businessmen, where every New Year, the first order of business is to secure a business permit. As they say, taxes and death are two of life’s unavoidable issues.

Frankly speaking we don’t want to take sides in this very public business spat between Rico’s and the Osmeña. However my Facebook friends apparently pointed to me what Mayor Osmeña wrote in his Facebook page, about the Lechon making facility of Rico’s in 77 Highway in Talamban, wherein the mayor reveals more than what most people know, that Rico’s threw all his garbage into the river and that he didn’t have any septic tank, an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC), Fire Safety Certificate, Sanitary Permit, etc. etc. etc!

This should be fair warning to all lechoneros out there because this business problem with Rico Dionson and the Osmeñas could spread like wildfire to all people who are in the business of roasting lechon simply because just like Rico’s Lechon, I don’t think that lechoneros out there secured a business permit or even an ECC. Roasting lechon in Metro Cebu after all is a mom and pop operation, which happens in someone’s backyard. Some call it the underground economy.

I’m pretty sure that this is happening to 99% of all lechoneros in the entire island of Cebu. So to all you lechoneros out there, be ready if government bureaucrats come to visit you. Just hope that they won’t be asking for free lechon when they come to visit. However if you have become a huge enterprise like Rico’s Lechon, then I’m sure that the Bureau of Internal Revenue would take a keen interest in your business. So the lesson here really is, when you open a business is sure to secure all your business permits from your barangay and your municipality or city.

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While there is a public outcry on the killing of 17-year old Kian delos Santos during a raid in Caloocan City last week, however it is sad to note that last week, the Philippine National Police lost a good officer and a gentleman in the person of 37-year old Senior Insp. Mark Gil Garcia, Chief of the Special Operations Unit of Rizal Provincial Police dubbed as “The Best Intelligence Officer” by his superiors.

This police operation was his third last Friday, but his assailant fired a shotgun at him, hence he died of his wounds in the Antipolo hospital. Senior Inspector Mark Garcia figured in 65 recent arrests with drug pushers or drug lords. This is quite a lot coming from one police officer, which earned him the title as “The Best Police Intelligence Officer.” Unfortunately his luck ran out and while there is an outrage for the killing of Kian delos Santos, there is none for Senior Insp. Mark Gil Garcia.

Indeed the war on drugs gets drug addicts or drug lords killed and it doesn’t exempt the police from being killed during their operations. While many of excuses forwarded by the police that their prey fired at them is often a very much misused statement, however in the case of Senior Insp. Mark Gil Garcia, it was really for real.

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