Rescuers survive
A MOTORIZED banca crammed with passengers and relief goods got stalled in Tañon Strait yesterday afternoon after violent waves broke one of its outriggers.
About 80 passengers were rescued, including volunteers from the Philippine Red Cross, on their way to the quake-stricken La Libertad...
Victims leave home for peace of mind
NICK Ashlee Vargaso played with his yellow toy car yesterday afternoon, his hair still wet from his first bath in four days. His cousin Cherry Mae, sitting beside him, drew the images on his worn-out stickers in the pages of a big spiral notebook.
Last Monday, when the ground shook in...
Forum scoffs at city proposals for flyovers, undersea tunnel
A FLYOVER then an undersea tunnel?
Businessmen and technical experts who shared their ideas in the Sustainable City Dialogues 2012 last week didn’t agree to some proposed projects that were not backed by proper planning.
They were referring to the flyover projects supposed to be...
P50M to be spent for Calungsod canonization
CEBU CITY -- At least P50 million in funds is being raised for the canonization of the Visayan martyr Pedro Calungsod, an official said.
The amount is double than that spent for Calungsod beatification in 2000.
Negros fault line discovered since 2008
CEBU CITY -- A Manila-based environment studies professor said the fault line that caused the strong earthquake in Central Visayas last Monday has been known since 2008.
The statement is contrary to claims of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) that a new...
Fear of being buried alive grips barangay residents
THE fear of being buried alive continues to plague residents of a mountain barangay in Ronda, Cebu.
Barangay Vive has been living in fear since last Monday’s earthquake that left cracks on its mountainsides.
Rains and aftershocks are feared to cause landslides anytime, geologists...
Guv shares tourism ideas with Puerto Princesa
PUERTO Princesa City, Palawan-Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said the benefits of tourism should not be focused on metropolitan areas but on the countryside as well.
Garcia shared the Suroy-Suroy Sugbo, a local tourism program of the Province, during the first tourism summit of Puerto Princesa...
More rain due to climate change
CLIMATE change will bring more rain to the Philippines, said a presidential consultant.
Elisea Gozun, presidential adviser on climate change and former environment secretary, said an Asian Development Bank (ADB) study on the economic impact of climate change in Southeast Asia revealed...
Environmentalists to sue project’s LGU proponents
NATURE conservationists threatened to file a case in court if the Cordova reclamation project pushes through.
They said the reclamation project would result in the loss of marine and land ecosystems.
“There would be extensive damage on seagrass, mangroves and coral reefs,” said Dr...
800 families have to go: Speed
SOME 800 families in Cebu City will be affected by the clearing operations of the Squatters Prevention Encroachment and Elimination Division (Speed) in the coming days, said Speed chief Noel Artes, after the final notices have lapsed.
The informal settlers living near the banks of rivers...
Group to raise P10M more for Cebu City face-lift
THE Beautiful Cebu Movement Foundation Inc. (BCMFI) will hold a masquerade ball on Feb. 29 to raise P10 million to finish the beautification of Osmeña Blvd. in Cebu City.
BCMFI head Mariquita Salimbangon-Yeung said the amount will cover the expenses for the sidewalks from Fuente Osmeña to...
Verification of signatures is premature, says lawyer
THE lawyer of Danao City Mayor Ramon “Boy” Durano Jr. maintained that the verification of signatures or thumbmarks set by City Election Officer Ian Dominic Marigomen tomorrow, Feb. 13, is premature.
Atty. Gloria Lastimosa-Dalawampu said the pre-verification conference called by Marigomen...
CH restores use of civilian drivers for patrol cars
STARTING tomorrow, policemen in Cebu City will no longer be allowed to drive service patrol vehicles.
The Cebu City Government announced it is bringing back the civilian drivers, and will be deploying 19 of them to the Mobile Patrol Group (MPG) of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) as...
Mining firm asked to accommodate power plant’s coal ash
IN AN extraordinary move, the environmental court in Mandaue City asked a mining company in Toledo City to accommodate the coal ash of Kepco-Salcon Power Corp.
“This is more of a plea,” Mandaue City Regional Trial Court Branch 28 Judge Marilyn Lagura-Yap said during a hearing on an...
International architect makes no apologies for ‘criticisms’
INTERNATIONAL architect Senen Antonio acknowledged he may have offended some Cebuanos when he criticized Cebu City’s land use plan, but he’s not apologizing.
Antonio even chided Cebu City Hall for failing to develop coastal areas and for not telling the Metro Cebu Development and...
Waste project still at bid stage
AFTER a failure of bidding in managing Cebu’s solid waste was declared in 44 towns and seven cities last year, one of the bidders submitted last Thursday an unsolicited proposal to develop an integrated waste-to-energy facility project.
Three bidders—Sinova Capital, Green Energy Solutions...
2 ‘drug pushers’ arrested in separate operations
A SUSPECTED drug courier was arrested at a checkpoint in Barangay Canduman in Mandaue City yesterday, while a man, who is allegedly in the watch list of drug pushers, fell during a buy-bust operation in Barangay Umapad the previous day.
In Barangay Canduman, a 34-year-old man was...
Families in Cebu town ordered to leave danger zone
CEBU CITY -- After massive cracks were found in a mountain in Ronda town, authorities said the residents should be evacuated to safer ground.
The cracks -- about three kilometers long -- found in Sitio Langin, Barangay Vive were caused by the 6.9-magnitude earthquake that hit the...
Cebu City has P2.3B in banks, almost P800M collectibles
CEBU City Treasurer Ofelia Oliva disclosed yesterday the City Government has over P2.3 billion in its depository banks as of Feb. 8.
This is aside from the City’s collectibles amounting to almost P800 million from real property taxes and business taxes.
Private sector to the rescue
SOME members of the private sector will shoulder P6 million of the P10-million budget for Cebu City’s 75th Charter Day celebration.
Their action was in adherence to the private-public partnership thrust of Mayor Michael Rama, said Belinda Navascues, the mayor’s secretary.
The...
Capitol wants to distribute manuals to provincial jail guards
PROVINCIAL jail guards should have a book of instructions with a list of their responsibilities. That’s why the Capitol wants to implement the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) manual.
A series of incidents involving prison guards who were reportedly lenient on...
‘Vacate unsafe Gotiaco Bldg., area’
AFTER he ordered four Cebu City Hall offices to vacate the Gotiaoco Bldg. immediately for fear it might collapse, Mayor Michael Rama now wants the whole block where the structure is located to be cleared of occupants.
Adjacent to the building is an open space surrounded by tall fences...
Blocktimer sued over tsunami scare
CEBU CITY -- The police filed Friday a criminal complaint against radio blocktimer Danilo Cogtas for allegedly triggering the tsunami scare in Cebu after last Monday’s earthquake.
Police officials went to the prosecutor’s office a day after they invited, for questioning, witnesses who...
Families in Cebu town ordered to leave danger zone
CEBU CITY -- After massive cracks were found in a mountain in Ronda town, authorities said the residents should be evacuated to safer ground.
The cracks -- about three kilometers long -- found in Sitio Langin, Barangay Vive were caused by the 6.9-magnitude earthquake that hit the...
Judge gets death threats
FOR allegedly denying an inmate to post bail, Regional Trial Court Branch 14 Judge Raphael Yrastorza Sr. received a death threat.
In a report over GMA 7’s Balitang Bisdak, Yrastorza said the letter came from a certain Ka Jerry, who claimed he was a member of the New People’s Army (NPA)....
