Baguio has more than 2,000 accommodation establishments

The City Permits and Licensing Division of the City Mayor’s Office disclosed there are more than two thousand accommodation establishments operating in the different parts of the city catering to the accommodation requirements of students and tourists.

Permits and Licensing Officer Allan Abayao stated that this figure is based on the accommodation establishments that had processed the renewal or applied for the issuance of their business permits from the city government.

The added that the permitted accommodation establishments include the boarding houses and apartments serving the accommodation needs of students and transient houses that provide the accommodation for tourists frequenting the city.

However, the city permits and licensing officer admitted there are some boarding houses that converted to transient houses because of the enormous demand for accommodation by the increasing number of tourists wanting to visit the city.

According to him, of the more than 500 establishments in the different parts of the city that were closed by the local government for certain violations, 1 percent of these are accommodation establishments that failed to comply with the rules and regulations governing the operation of boarding houses and transient houses.

Abayao urged residents to report to their barangays or the concerned offices of the city government the operation of illegal accommodation establishments so that appropriate action will be taken by the city.

Upon receipt of such complaints, he disclosed that immediate inspection will be conducted on the establishment being complained of for the issuance of the notice of violation giving the owner at least 5 days to secure the needed permit to operate from the city.

If no action will be taken by the owner, Abayao pointed out that the city has no recourse but to issue the subsequent closure order directing the owner to cease and desist from operation until such time that the said business had been issued the necessary permit following compliance to pertinent requirements.

He stipulated that the number of permitted accommodation establishments in the city is more or less 10 percent of the total number of businesses that had been issued permits by the local government last year.

Based on the data obtained from the City Permits and Licensing Division, there were more than 23,000 various businesses operating in the city which were issued permits aside from the more than 2,000 business activities that were issued special permits. – Dexter A. See