Capitol open to road widening with trees kept in center island

CEBU Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said Capitol and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will have a joint survey on the road widening project in San Fernando town and the cities of Naga and Carcar.

Also joining the survey are the mayors and representatives of the tourism and heritage council and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

BOC returns $10K to Chinese

THE $10,000 of the $20,000 seized by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) Port of Cebu was returned to the Chinese national who was earlier arrested at the Mactan Cebu International Airport on suspicion that he brought ephedrine, which is a precursor of shabu.

Lawyer James Edward Dy Buco, chief of the Port of Cebu legal division, said that the US$10,000 was taken back last March 21 by Chinese national Tek Man Wong, 54. He was accompanied by Edgar Lato, a Filipino-Chinese national who speaks both English and Chinese.

Rare shells seized from exporter

CEBU CITY -- More than 1,500 Cascis shells or "budyong" and other endangered species of seashells were confiscated Thursday afternoon inside a shellcraft company in Bakilid, Mandaue City.

Uphold warrant: CIDG 7 asks court

THE Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 7 yesterday asked the court to uphold its issuance of a search warrant that empowered authorities to raid the house of Bella Ruby Santos last March 4 on suspicion that she and her foreigner partner had a hand in the abduction and murder of Ellah Joy Pique.

The CIDG 7, through counsels Inocencio dela Cerna and Glenn Condor, filed a vehement opposition to the motion to quash search warrant, and argued that Santos’s pleading is “completely bereft of any legal or factual basis.”

City to insist on tax-free SRP lot sales

CEBU City Mayor Michael Rama yesterday said the City Government will not pay the tax on its income from the South Road Properties (SRP), as he wants the money to be used for the delivery of the basic services.

As the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) 7 insists of taxing the City on its income for the sale of lots for the 290-hectare property, the mayor said he will also insists that the City will not be paying it.

MCWD reports: lower wastage

THE Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD) reported a significant reduction of water wastage or systems loss last year.

Ernie Delco, MCWD assistant general manager for operations, said systems loss or non-revenue water (NRW) was reduced from 30 percent to 28 percent.

Dizon wants soil tests conducted at cemetery

CEBU City Hall has found “tunnel-like holes” at the Lorega-San Miguel Cemetery, raising concerns about the safety of the construction of the six-story medium-rise building in the area.

This prompted Councilor Alvin Dizon, who chairs the committee on housing, to ask Mayor Michael Rama to allocate P200,000 from his discretionary funds to conduct soil tests.

No graduation collection, please, schools reminded

A DEPARTMENT of Education (DepEd) 7 official called on school officials to comply with the ban on collecting graduation fees.

“Graduation ceremonies don’t have to be lavish. What’s important is for the ceremony to be meaningful and memorable,” DepEd 7 Assistant Director Carmelita Dulangon told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.

Ex-SK official ‘behind attack’

CATERER Maria Lina Mier implicated her daughter-in-law, Manilyn Mar-Mier, as the brains behind a foiled robbery last March 20.

She learned from the police that the suspects, Sim Abordo and Roldan Ranollo, were “hired by Manilyn, through Vicente Maestrado, to kill us,” Mier said in her affidavit submitted to the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office.

Cebu ‘to lose’ 200 megawatts if Kepco shuts down over dumping issue

THE government stands to lose 200 megawatts if Kepco shuts down their power plant, as the company has nowhere to throw their coal ash, said Capitol and power plant officials yesterday.

“If we will not be allowed to temporarily dump our ash, we may be forced to cease operation,” Kepco’s lawyer Guillermo Dabbay Jr. told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday in response to a court order.

DENR urges public, gov’t offices to join Earth Hour on Saturday

THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 7 is encouraging the public to participate in the Earth Hour activity this Saturday.

The Earth Hour, which entails participants to put off lights and other electric appliances, will be held simultaneously around the world on March 26 between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

City Hall fears P800-M tax on sale of SRP lots

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) 7 insisted on taxing the Cebu City Government for its income from the sale of lots at the South Road Properties (SRP), which could mean an additional tab of at least P800 million for City Hall.

No pay for LGU staff for 3 mos.

AT LEAST 19 job-order employees of the Cebu City Hall’s Parks and Playgrounds Commission have not been receiving their salary since January.

City Councilor Nida Cabrera confirmed that the salary of the said workers amounting to P5,400 a month has not been released yet, but she expects it to be released this Friday.

Rama stays out of TRO-gov tiff

CEBU City Mayor Mi-chael Rama wants nothing to do with the latest verbal tussle between Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and Rep. Tomas Osmeña.

He said he would rather focus on issues the City is facing, like the 93-1 lots, the ownership of the Fuente Osmeña rotunda, the zooand the Banilad-Talamban area development, among others.

Police official faces sex rap

A POLICE official faces trial for allegations he repeatedly molested an inmate while serving as police chief of a municipality four years ago.

Sr. Insp. Crisanto Duque of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) said the charge was made up upon the instigation of two female subordinates he didn’t name.

Nearly 5,000 kids underfed in Cebu City

CEBU CITY -- The numbers are better, but at least 4,955 children five years old or younger were found malnourished in this city last year.

At least 1,856 pre-schoolers or 1.4 percent of the 132,755 children weighed last year were found overweight, in the City Health Department's Operation Timbang.

Belgian reps see CCMC’s needs

A FIFTEEN-minute walk through the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) was enough for the Belgian government representative to say the hospital equipment is outdated.

Stijn Van Dierdonck, Kortrijk, Belgium Department of Welfare coordinator and Johan Bonnier, a solid waste management expert, were given a tour at the CCMC yesterday.

18-year-old sells marijuana, nabbed

AN 18-YEAR-OLD student will not be able to attend his graduation rites today after he was arrested for alleged selling and possession of marijuana.

Mark Lester Ybañez Fariolen, a fourth year high school student, was arrested inside the campus of San Remigio National High School in a buy-bust at 11:25 a.m. last Monday.

Task Force Ellah Joy readies evidence for case

THE Task Force Ellah Joy is winding up all its evidence in preparation for the filing of charges before the end of this month.

Yesterday morning, Pique’s father Renante met with Senior Supt. Patrocinio Comendador Jr., the task force spokesperson, at the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) headquarters to discuss the developments in the investigation and the plan of the police to file the charges.

Mom tries to keep son from jail, fails

A LAST-MINUTE attempt to save him from being jailed failed.

Judge Gilbert Moises yesterday denied the petition for habeas corpus filed by the mother of a 42-year-old man whom police nabbed on suspicion of having participated in the killing of PO1 William Mangubat last March 11.

Guv asks CPPO to trace P10M for headquarters

CEBU Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia advised Senior Supt. Patrocinio Comen-dador to trace how much was spent of the P10 million that was supposed to be allocated by the Philippine National Police in the construction of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) headquarters.

She recalled CPPO first asked her to donate a provincial lot so they can build their headquarters, but she turned them down and instead offered to construct them a building at no cost to the PNP.

All barangays to put up women’s desk: council

ALL 22 barangays of Talisay City will each have their own women’s desk soon.

During its regular session last Tuesday, the Talisay City Council approved a resolution requiring all the barangays to establish a violence against women desk.

Renal therapy replacement cases increasing nationwide: institute

HEALTH officials noted a decrease in the number of renal disease patients in Central Visayas, which now ranks ninth among the regions with the highest number of renal disease patients.

Dr. Jocelyn Abellana, renal disease control program (Redcop) coordinator of the Department of Health (DOH) 7, attributed the decrease in the number of patients to the availability of information regarding kidney ailments.

5 Cebu solons support trial

FIVE Cebuano members in the House of Representatives voted to send the articles of impeachment against Ombudsman Ma. Merceditas Gutierrez to the Senate, for the country’s second such trial so far.

Three of the nine Cebuano representatives voted against the impeachment, while no vote was recorded for Rep. Arturo Radaza (Lapu-Lapu City).

Capitol gives posthumous award to policeman killed while chasing robbers

SLAIN policeman William Mangubat received a posthumous commendation from Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia yesterday.

Mangubat’s mother Marilyn cried when she received the plaque from Garcia. She called for a speedy resolution of his son’s case.

Kepco-SPC coal plant starts operations

THE construction of coal-fired power plants in Naga City is almost complete, with the facilities to be operational by the end of April, said a Department of Energy (DOE 7) official.

Environmentalists warned Naga residents of an increase in pollution while a local executive pledged to monitor plant activities.

Japanese NGO to continue aid

TEARY-EYED, Dr. Florante Labitan, former president of the Cebu Dental Society (CDS), recalled the time when he and Dr. Yoichi Kikuchi, a Japanese dentist who visits Cebu every year for charity missions, went to a mountain area in Carmen, Cebu to distribute gifts to orphans.

Kikuchi gave them notebooks, crayons and other school materials. But he noticed one child who seemed unhappy. When asked what else he wanted, the child said he wanted a bicycle.

Capitol to TRO: Are you Cebu’s best mayor?

HOW would Rep. Tomas Osmeña (Cebu, south district) answer the question: “Are you the best mayor Cebu ever had?”

Capitol spokesperson Rory Jon Sepulveda yesterday said he would like to pose the question to Osmeña, former mayor of Cebu City.

Police prepare to file charges

Desperate.

This is how Task Force Ellah Joy spokesperson Senior Supt. Patrocinio Comendador described the camp of Bella Ruby Santos, who claimed she received death threats through her cell phone.

City’s groundwater sources ‘not improving’

THERE is no improvement in the level of saltwater intrusion in Metro Cebu in the last five years, said a University of San Carlos (USC) water expert.

To augment water supply, the construction of additional reservoirs is recommended.