The long-standing practice in the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) of giving fire safety permits to business establishments only if they buy fire extinguishers from favored suppliers has been exposed. This practice has been accepted by the public as an SOP (standard operating procedure) of the BFP and its predecessors, the pre-martial law fire departments of towns and cities. Business establishments that buy good- or high-quality brands of fire extinguishers other than the ones approved by the BFP go through the wringer when they apply for a fire safety permit. Most of the brands favored by the…