Villarete stands pat on closure of food firms along Salinas

Fulfilling the requirements of the zoning ordinance does not guarantee that those establishments ordered closed by the city will be re-opened, said city planning officer Nigel Paul Villarete amidst a request to lift the closure order on Grill sa Salinas.

Grill sa Salinas and three other food establishments along Salinas Drive were ordered closed in January for violating parking lot requirements.

The other establishments were Goodah Gud, Dhara Tapsilogan and AA-BBQ Restaurant.

Yet Chuck Wisley Gothong-Tio, proprietor of Grill sa Salinas, sent Villarete a copy of his sworn affidavit, indicating his intention to fulfill the requirements of the city’s zoning ordinance. In the affidavit, he also asked the city to reconsider the closure order.

But Villarete said fulfilling the requirements of the ordinance will not guarantee that the closure order would be reconsidered. Besides, Villarete said, the request would only be formally entertained after all documents have already been processed for the issuance of a new business permit.

Aside from Tio, another owner had also reportedly made the same request, albeit verbally.

“We will just let them complete their processing of the required clearances and permits that’s the time that we will entertain the request for the lifting of the closure order…they have to complete the locational clearance, the building permit, the occupancy permit, and business permit but that doesn’t even guarantee that the closure order will be lifted,” Villarete said.

Mayor Tomas Osmeña, Villarete said, has the last say but as a policy, the order may be lifted only after a “considerable time” since its implementation.

“It’s not that easy to simply just comply after you’ve been slapped with a closure order. It’s the prerogative of the mayor to grant the lifting of the suspension order after a considerable time,” Villarete said.

“We have to take note that they were issued the closure order precisely because they did not comply with the requirements of law and I guess it’s a sort of a lesson to everybody that you cannot just evade the law and get away with it,” he added. — Joeberth M. Ocao/LPM