Belmonte bans fixers in QC Hall

Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. ordered heads of city offices to ban all fixers that offer assistance and also fake documents for people transacting business at the city hall.

"Do not leave room for fixers. Do something to prevent them from doing their thing here," Belmonte said.

Belmonte said concerned offices should post the photographs of arrested fixers in public places to serve as a warning to the public.

He said city officials could coordinate with the Quezon City Hall police detachment to get the photographs and profile of known fixers.

City Health Department officer-in-charge Dr. Antonieta Inumerable said the health office has posted 27 photographs of fixers recently arrested by the police while victimizing applicants for health clearances.

Inumerable said her department releases health certificates five to seven days after the result of the stool and sputum laboratory test show that the applicants are healthy.

Quezon City Police District deputy director Sr. Supt. Elmo San Diego said the fixers usually sell fake documents that have been traced to the forgery syndicates that have proliferated at the University Belt along C.M. Recto Ave. in Sampaloc, Manila.

Mayor Belmonte directed Ramon Matabang, head of the City Civil Registry Office (CCRO), to meet the lawyers conducting business at the city hall to organize themselves and set standard notary service fees to prevent fixers from victimizing the public.

Matabang said that during his meetings with the lawyers he discovered that many of the notary public have expired licenses and do not have hawkers’ permits required by city hall.

Acting city legal officer Christian Valencia proposed that lawyers peddling notarial services should be banned from the city hall premises, because there are already lawyers available in various offices of the city government.

Belmonte urged Matabang to post a list of services being offered by the CCRO and the corresponding fees outside the office for public information.

He said standard fees of lawyers should be displayed in public places for the public to know.