Unfair Goverment Officials

Hi, I am SO glad I found this page. My name is Rona and I am from San Fernando Pampanga. Bago po ako sa larangan ng negosyo. Namuhunan po ako ng canteen at billiards 87 meters away from the school. Noong okay na po yung establishment I started to get all the requirements needed for the business permit. Nag inspection po yung isang employee ng Munisipyo at sinabi nia na kaylangan naming kuhanan ng "prangkisa" ang billiards dahil ito daw po ay isang type ng amusement. Pumunta po ako sa Sangguniang Panlalawigan office para kumuha ng prangkisa. I was informed na ang 100 meters radius daw po ang minimum required distance ng kahit anong amusement sa school sinabihan po ako ng isang city councilor na gagawan daw nila ng resolution at pag uusapan nila sa session nila. They advice me to wait at pumunta din daw po ako sa barangay to ask for a brgy resolution as well. I did what they told me to do. To make the story short, I went home. Nagpatuloy po ako sa pag ooperate habang wala pa akong malilipatan na pwesto at habang nag hihintay dun s sinasabi nilang "resolution". then just this morning po bumalik yung nag iispection at sinabi na isara na ang bilyaran ko. Pumunta po ako sa office nila para mag tanong. Ang sinabi po nila sa akin ordinance po ng city yun which was aproved last December 2015. Binigyan po nila ako ng copy ng ordinance nila. Pagkabasa ko po 100 meters ang minimum distance ng pool at billiards at ang mga computer shop po ay 500 meters. Eto po yung question ko, how come ako at ako lang ang binabalikan at binibigyan ng warning ng mga nas business permit samantalang yung mga computer shop sa mismong harap ng school na wala man lang 50 meters ang layo ay patuloy na nakakapag renew at nakakapag operate. I really really hope that you could help me on this. Anong pwede kong gawin? Pwede ko ba silang ireklamo? Ano yung pwede kong sabihin kung sakaling bumalik yung nag iinspection at sabihin sakin na isara ko na ang billiard? I am desperately hoping for the answers po. Please take time to read understand and answers my message. Malaking malaki po ang maitutulong ng isang legal adviser sa bagay na ito. Thank you in advance

There are much corruption - and incompetence - among officials.

You are corect, the inspector would have told you,
BUT in legal point of view business owners are expected to know ALL laws and regulations even when the inspector don't know...

I suppouse you have tried talking to someone higher in the barangay/municipaly.
It's possible to try to get assistance from the "Ombudsman" too,
BUT it wouldn't help I guess because you are within the regulation distance.

Ok na po. Nag punta po ako ng PAO. Sabi po sa akin kung city ordinance po yun wala talaga akong magagawa. But if the same office gives business permits to computer shops within 500 meter radius pwede daw po namin questionin yun. Kasi daw po kung ordinance yun it should be applicable to all. Questionable daw po yung ako lng ang binabalikan nila at yung mga comp. shop owner ay hindi aware at hindi nila iniinform. Ang instruction po ng atty sakin pag bumalik daw po yung nag iinspection at sinabi po na mag sara ako verbally, hingi daw po ako ng notice of closure. Tapos daw po balikan ko daw po sya.

The main problem is the regulation say NO ONE of you and the other are allowed to be there,
so I WOULDN'T start a fight with the officials.
INSTEAD I would try to ASK for an EXCEPTION.

You know the "lose face" importance in Asia, so I would try to AVOID making it a "lose face" case ((except if someone with more power dislike the inspector

Have you tried talking like that with the barangay captain or the boss for the permits?

Nakausap ko po yung bgry captain ang sabi po sakin ise session daw po nila ng mga konsehal. Naki usap din po ako kay kap sabi ko po kahit na bigyan nalang ako ng parang conditions sa pag ooperate like if ayaw nila akong mg papasok ng students during class hours or open lang dapat kmi hanggang 6pm. Mga ganun po. More than one month na po akong pa balik balik din ng brgy at ang laging sagot sa kin ay "pag uusapan namin sa session" . Every friday po may session sila pero wala po akong nakukuhang feedback till now.

Sir, im sorry di po yata ako familiar sa term na "lose face", but it does sound negative. 😊

Tsaka po paano po or ano po ang magandang aproach para humingi ng exception?

(My Tagalog is bad, so I'm not sure I understood, but I believe the main was there have been meetings, but no result.)

"im sorry di po yata ako familiar sa term na "lose face", but it does sound negative. 😊 "
"Lose face" is an ASIAN thing, so sure you know what it is, I just don't know how to say it in Tagalog My translator say it's "mapahiya".

"Tsaka po paano po or ano po ang magandang aproach para humingi ng exception?"
ASK/beg for an exception.
DON'T confront = Try to let the error makers "KEEP face" = Try to NOT show any of them have had made misstake.
That's hard, because to add chance to get exception you need to tell why, and the reason is others made errors
Perhaps just say CALM and NICE something like:
"The computer shop is closer, which made I didn't know my location could be a problem. Can you give me an exception from that rule, please? "
If possible DON'T tell the error the inspector made, because that could make it harder for you, if you get same inspector in the future.