Mayor orders crackdown on Baguio illegal traders

By Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio Domogan recently ordered punong barangays here to submit a detailed list of business establishments operating in their areas of responsibility with or without business permits.

           

The deadline for the barangay heads to submit the said lists has lapsed.

           

In a memorandum, the mayor said this was line with the city’s goal to “establish a benchmark on the actual number of business establishments operating with or without business permits in the city and to provide a database for our revenue-generating and service-oriented establishment.”

           

The mayor asked the barangay captains to include in the report “the actions you have undertaken to force all business establishments in your barangays to acquire the appropriate business permits from the city government prior to their operations.”

           

Since he reassumed office in 2012, the mayor has ordered a crackdown on illegal business establishments operating in the city without the required business permits.

This year, the mayor has issued a total of 489 closure orders even as inspections of various establishments continue by the city monitoring team from the city licensing office under CristioLagyop, the public order and safety division under Fernando Moyaen and the city police under acting chief Sr. Supt. Roberto Soriano.

The campaign resulted in the padlocking of 660 establishments last year.

The mayor said the drive will continue through the city monitoring team conducting year-round inspections of business establishments.

           

The city’s procedures on the closure of illegal business operations as set by the city treasurer’s office under city treasurer Thelma Manaois are as follows:

Non-complying business firms will be issued a notice to stop business operation and will be given five working days to comply with the permit requirements;

After the deadline, a second and final inspection will be conducted by the permits and licensing division (PLD) to check if the establishment has complied;

If the business establishment still fails to comply, an administrative order for the closure will be prepared and signed by the city mayor for closure and will be implemented immediately;

The establishment will be allowed only to open if he secured the required permit and an administrative order lifting the closure order has been issued also by the city mayor.