BACOLOD City – Four city hall employees in this locality were placed under investigation for alleged involvement in extortion and the issuance of fake business permits.
Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez disclosed that two regular employees assigned as building inspectors of the Office of Building Official (OBO) were recently served by the City Legal Office with a notice to explain.
A complaint lodged against the employees alleged that the two demanded P5,000 to expedite approval of OBO clearance on Jan. 11.
The city hall personnel were given three days to respond to the accusation.
In addition, also under investigation were two other employees assigned to the City Treasurer’s Office (CTO) and the Business Permits and Licensing Office (BPLO).
Benitez said the city government tapped the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) last year regarding complaints from some business establishments that some permits were fake. Those were allegedly processed through fixers.
The two CTO and BPLO employees received the subpoenas on Tuesday for further investigation regarding their alleged involvement in the release of fake permits.
The mayor has yet to confirm if the employees being summoned by the NBI were regular employees.
Benitez said he sought the NBI’s intervention to ensure a thorough and impartial examination of the matter, underscoring the city’s commitment to upholding transparency and integrity in its administrative processes.
“We want to find out sin-o ni ang naga-fake sang business permit kay basi syndicate na sila, they might be involved in business syndicate scamming ang aton taxpayers,” the mayor said in a media interview yesterday, Jan. 24.
“I trust the NBI in investigating to ensure that those who did the faking of business permits will not be able to do it again,” Benitez added, saying those found guilty will be dismissed.
The mayor was also grateful to the owners of business establishments who made the complaints for their help in ‘cleaning’ the department./PN
