City loses none from fake biz permits Tom

Mayor Tomas Osmeña yesterday said the city government will actually lose nothing due to fake business permits because the supposed losses could be recovered anyway through payment of penalties by errant businesses.

"Theoretically, the city government will lose nothing because once they are caught, they will really have to pay," the mayor told reporters in his regular press conference.

It is the businessmen who will be in the losing end because, aside from the grease money they gave their contacts inside city hall in exchange for the fake permits, they will be ordered to pay penalties once caught in possession of such bogus documents, said Osmeña.

Osmeña made the statement after another establishment, the Banilad Auto Parts, was found using a fake permit and ordered closed yesterday. It was the seventh establishment the mayor ordered closed in a week.

He also urged all business ownrs to check on their permits and report immediately to the City Hall any irregularities they might found so that appropriate action would be undertaken against the perpetrator.

If it is the city government that discovers the fake permits, the business proprietor will be made to pay a fine of as high as P400,000 plus his or her establishment will be closed, he said. - Mitchelle P. Calipayan