The Quezon City government on Thursday reiterated its call to business operators to avoid transacting with fixers.
Margarita Santos, Business Permits and Licensing Department chief, told the public visiting the city hall to deal only with authorized employees regarding licenses and other permits.
She reacted to the supposed fraud involving a business owner—Norberto Reblora Jr. of Massive Integrated Tech Solutions—who was duped of P339,499.95 by an alleged fixer who promised to expedite the renewal of his business permit.
Reblora filed an estafa case against Mariecris Bobiles after she was arrested by a joint team composed of operatives of the city hall police detachment and the city’s legal department.
Santos said Reblora’s case must serve as warning to other businesses to stop from transacting with fixers in processing their permits and other documents.
“There should be no reason for you to approach a fixer to expedite the process of your permit, license and other pertinent documents relative to your business operations,” Santos said.
Last January, Bobiles offered her services to fast track the renewal of his business permit in exchange for P339,499.95 in manager’s check.
He said he received a copy of the permit from Bobiles through his e-mail, but noticed a minor error in his company’s address so he went to the city hall to have it corrected.
He, however, discovered he was not issued a business permit.