Saturday, December 30, 2006 Speak out: Yo Latino is the victim By Rodney Sebua Operations Supervisor Yo Latino Bar and Restaurant
On Dec. 28, the Office of the Building Official (OBO) of Cebu City sent a letter to the management of Yo Latino Bar and Restaurant alleging that the business establishment does not have a building/renovation permit.
The same office also requested Yo Latino to submit a sketch plan of the parking slots for its customers.
Let me clarify, Yo Latino is merely a tenant in its current premises at Salinas Drive.
OBO inspected it and it was further scrutinized as to various requirements, including whether it had sufficient parking space.
The City of Cebu then issued it a mayor’s business permit. A copy of the permit is transmitted herewith for your reference.
The trouble started when DEN’s Development Corp., the landlord and the owner of the building, started constructing two more buildings. These buildings are located in and occupy the very same parking area formerly reserved for Yo Latino’s patrons.
Naturally, with the construction, Yo Latino’s old parking space disappeared.
Yo Latino is aware that as early as October, there were already complaints filed with the OBO regarding these new buildings.
These complaints asked why construction was allowed considering that the future buildings would not be able to enjoy parking space, and whether there was any building permits granted to DEN’s.
Despite these complaints, no action at all was taken by OBO.
It was only this December that OBO decided to look at the construction, at a time when construction was already almost complete, and rendering the previous complaints moot.
Yet, instead of requiring the landowner to comply with the parking regulations, OBO has suddenly focused its attention not on the new construction, but on Yo Latino.
This was a shock. Instead of questioning DEN’s Development Corp. for constructing a structure without a building permit and for looking into the issue only now when the structure is practically complete, we are being made a fall guy. We are being made to look like the villain.
We are victims here. We have incurred tremendous losses because of the construction of two buildings that used to be our parking space.
