Duterte tells top trader to close duck plant without permit

DAVAO CITY—Mayor Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday asked one of the city’s most prominent businessmen to cease from operating a duck dressing plant for lack of permit from the city government.

In an interview with reporters, Duterte said he had asked Vicente Lao, chair of Mindanao Business Council (MBC), to stop the operations of his plant in Barangay Tamugan in Marilog district until he is able to complete the papers for his permit.

The plant, owned by one of Lao’s firms, Maharlika Agro-Ventures, is touted to be the first of its kind in the Philippines.

Duterte, however, said it should be padlocked if it continued to operate even without permit from the city government.

“No business should operate if it has no permit. If you have no permit, you should stop [operating],”  Duterte said.

He said a business enterprise that is operating without a permit violates the law and could be sanctioned.

It was learned that Lao’s company had applied to  the city government  for a business permit in July but it was disapproved for lack of endorsement from the city council.

The city government, however, learned that despite the rejection of the application for a permit by Lao’s firm, the company started operating.

The city council’s food and agriculture committee took notice of the operations of Lao’s company in November.

“You cannot circumvent the law,”  Duterte said. “It is not proper that you operate even if your permit is still being processed.”

Lao had earlier said the company’s processing plant in Tamugan was still under construction and had not started operating.

He said the ducks were grown in Bukidnon province and in Arakan Valley between the boundaries of Davao City and North Cotabato province.

“The ducks are then processed in Cagayan de Oro City, pending the completion of the company’s processing plant in Tamugan,” Lao said.

But Duterte said even the mere construction of facilities needed the approval of the city government.

“You open yourself to charges because that is a violation of the building code,” he said. Judy Quiros, Inquirer Mindanao