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We received a letter from the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)
in September, the year it was established. Upon reading
the letter it was clear that troubles were brewing. The
date typed under the letterhead: 23 April. In the letter
we were informed that our establishment should register
with the DENR within two weeks, failure to do so would
result in a penalty of PHP 50,000.
The stamp on the envelope showed
clearly that the letter had not been posted any earlier
than the end of August, nearly four months after the
date on the letter. Although I was abroad at that time,
I made several calls to rectify the situation as soon as
I received the information. I was told to come over to
the head office to talk matters over and to pay the
mentioned penalty.
When I arrived from abroad the office, I was bluntly
told that DENR was aware that we had not been informed
on time and that letters were sent too late. The reason
of sending us this information later was because they
had been understaffed, but "as a business owner I should
have known about the newly created agency", an therefore
the penalty should be paid in full. When I asked the
question why they sent a purposely wrongly dated letter
if they believed that I should have been aware of their
existence in the first place, I was over shouted from
different directions, but never received an answer to my
question. I was told to pay by check or through bank
transfer and was given a number account for this
purpose. When I asked for an account that said
"Department of Environment and Natural Resources", the
reply was "This is it". I refused to pay in such a
fashion. The simple answer was that if I did not want to
pay the PHP 50,000, I could fight this matter in court.
I decided that I should get an attorney.
I contacted an attorney, who was very willing to assist
in the matter. His initial fee was however PHP 50,000. A
child could conclude that the procedure was going to
cost me more than the so-called penalty. After pondering
what to do next, I return to the DENR and bluntly told
them that I would pay "only" PHP 15,000 since that was
the amount I had with me in cash, and if they did not
agree they could take me to court, which would have cost
them probably PHP 50,000 as well. Surprisingly enough
they quickly agreed and even gave me an official
receipt. leaving me with the feeling that I should have
paid less or nothing at all.
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