KAMAGAYAN Barangay Captain Raquel Avila has blamed politics for the closure of the nine outlets of Jerome’s Pawnshop and General Merchandise in Cebu City.
The pawnshop chain is owned by her brother-in-law Jerome Avila, the son of former Kamagayan village chief Tito Avila.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña issued a closure order on the pawnshop chain in December last year for allegedly violating Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) rules.
Jerome, with the help of Cebu City Councilor Jerry Guardo, asked the mayor to postpone the closure of his pawnshops.
He went to the house of Osmeña with Tito and Raquel last Jan. 6. The mayor later issued an order extending the pawnshops’ operations.
A note reportedly written by Osmeña on the same day on the lower margin of the closure order stated: “OK to suspend closure for up to June 30, 2019, to allow them to comply with CB (Central Bank) requirements provided that they are current with city taxes.”
The Osmeñas and Avilas took a group picture with Guardo in the mayor’s residence.
Raquel said the mayor hit back at her family, after she refused his invitation to join his party, the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK).
Last January, BOPK members and supporters had held a dialogue with Kamagayan residents in the former CitiCenter complex that is now a van-for-hire terminal. Raquel and Tito joined the activity.
But after that, Raquel said, when she declined to join the BOPK, that’s when the move to exclude 173 voters from the Commission on Elections’ list of voters of Kamagayan came, followed by the closure of the pawnshop.
Last month, three petitioners asked the court to remove 173 people from the list of voters registered in Barangay Kamagayan, Cebu City after they were found to be living in Mandaue City.
The other members of the Avila clan switched allegiance to BOPK to protect their business interests, according to Raquel.
Jerome described the closure of his pawnshop chain as a form of harassment.
But Osmeña said he closed the pawnshops after learning it accepted stolen gadgets.
“I did not know that they were accepting stolen goods. I found out that he (the complainant) tried to recover his cell phone. The pawnshop insisted that he had to pay,” he said.
Osmeña received a report about the incident in February 2018.
After the closure of the Cebu City outlets last March 8, Jerome has let his Cebu City pawnshop employees report for work in his other branches in Talisay City, Minglanilla, Lapu-Lapu City and Mandaue City. (From PAC of SuperBalita Cebu, KAL)