‘What will we leave behind?’
A MIX of Cebuano, Chinese and Spanish culture and heritage was met with enthusiasts taking long strolls or flitting on horse-drawn carriages from one museum to another.
The annual Gabii sa Kabilin (Night of Heritage) began with a mass, which also served as an introduction to the Cebuano-Chinese culture, at the Archdiocesan Shrine of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
DILG names 75 LGUs in region, 26 in Cebu, good housekeepers
LOCAL Government Secretary Jesse Robredo said he will issue a circular that will disallow local government units from using 70 percent of their calamity fund if they do not have the Seal of Disaster Preparedness.
Robredo made the announcement yesterday during a forum attended by mayors from all over Central Visayas.
“I will issue the circular in two weeks’ time,” he said at the forum, held at the Cebu International Convention Center in Mandaue City.
Police office denies relief of chiefs
SENIOR Superintendent Celestino Guara, acting chief of the Personnel and Human Resource Development Division of Police Regional Office, dismissed reports on Friday that the city police chief, including the head of police anti-narcotic team and five other policemen will be relieved from their posts effective May 31.
Guara said the regional office does not have any copy of the rumored relief order of Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) Director Ricardo De la Paz and City Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operation Task Group (CAIDSOTG) head Santiago Rapiz, together with five others police non-commissioned officers (PNCOs).
Calatrava nurse tops Army training
A REGISTERED nurse from Calatrava town emerged as number one among the 96 Army trainees who underwent the Candidate Soldier Course (CSC) Class 291-2011 in Camp Peralta, Jamindan, Capiz.
Marc Henri Fermin from Barangay Look, Calatrava town in northern Negros opted to join the Philippine Army and with other trainees, he cross-trained with Jungle Welfare Mountain Operation Course (JWMOC) training.
Court resets hearing of SM vs Capitol-Ayala
THE court reset the hearing scheduled Friday on the petition for the nullification filed by SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPHI) on the contract for the sale and purchase of the 7.7-hectare property of the Provincial Government to Ayala Land Inc. (ALI).
Judge Estefanio Libutan of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 50 reset the hearing to June 29, after counsel for the provincial officials lawyer Mary Ann Lamis requested for a postponement, citing she had gastroenteritis.
Construction of Mambucal hydropower plant underway
BOARD Member Salvador Escalante confirmed that a 1.36-megawatt (MW) hydro-electric power plant is underway in Mambukal Resort in Murcia.
This was announced after the Provincial Board during its regular session approved the allocation of P260 million for such project.
City Hall employee killed in La Carlota
A CITY Hall employee of La Carlota was shot and killed by unidentified suspects riding in tandem a motorcycle at Corner Rainbow, Red Street, Canson Subdivision in Barangay 2 Thursday morning.
Chief Inspector Eduardo Corpus, La Carlota Police Office commander, identified the victim as William Yanson, 52, a government employee assigned in the General Services Office.
Corpus said the victim, a resident of Pukatod, San Agustin Street, sustained multiple gunshot wounds in different parts of his body after he was shot by the suspects around 9:25 a.m.
16 lass vie for Ms. Silka Bacolod
SIXTEEN candidates from Negros Occidental are competing in the Search for Miss Silka Bacolod 2012.
The contestants aged 15-23 years old were presented to the public Friday at the Gaisano City Mall Activity Center.
SRP preferred as site for mass
THE archdiocesan committee tasked to prepare the venue for the thanksgiving activities for the canonization of Blessed Pedro Calungsod prefers to hold the mass at the South Road Properties (SRP).
Fr. Raul Gallego, chairperson of the committee on venue, said the group considered a list of criteria to help them choose the best venue for the nationwide celebration.
“Solemnity, the celebration should be kept solemn at all times. Visibility, this means that during the mass the people would be able to watch what’s going on,” he said.
Fever downs 59 residents in Tuburan
FIFTY-NINE Tuburan residents, mostly children, have developed fever and rashes, said Tuburan Mayor Democrito Diamante.
Provincial and regional medical officers have been to the town to assess the situation.
Hardest hit by the measles-like symptoms is Barangay Lusong, located 15 kilometers from the town proper, said Diamante.
Most of the victims are between five years old and 10 years old, Regional Epidemiological Service Unit (Resu) chief Renan Cimafranca said.
Boy drowns in flashflood; other kids survive incident
BEFORE Daryl Yuson was found dead in Cotcot River in Liloan, Cebu yesterday morning, his friend Kent Durano saw the 11-year-old boy raise his hands, try to jump out of the muddy water and shout for help last Thursday afternoon.
“Tabanga ko ninyo! Tabanga ko (Help me)!” Durano remembered Yuson as saying.
Yuson was crying, Durano, 14, said.
In just three seconds, the water rushing from the mountains carried Yuson away.
Quiboloy, Duterte support Gwen
INFLUENTIAL religious leader Pastor Apollo Quiboloy will support Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia’s Senate bid in 2013.
Garcia paid Quiboloy a visit last Thursday in Davao City, where she was invited as the guest of honor of the first Liga ng mga Barangays in Region 12 at Marco Polo Plaza Hotel.
The event was a gathering of all Liga presidents in the region.
Quiboloy is the founder and leader of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, which reportedly has over six million members worldwide.
City Hall program transferred away from BOPK streamers
“ELECTION na!”
This was the declaration of Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama yesterday after he was asked on the transfer of venue of the medical and dental program of the Cebu City Government in Barangay Cogon Pardo.
Rama transferred the “City Hall at Your Doorstep” program from the barangay sports complex to a neighboring private property.
In a TV Patrol interview, a doctor involved in the medical mission said they would have preferred holding it at the sports complex where it is not as hot or as dusty.
The program was done under tents.
Woman jailed for ‘throwing’ her baby away
A WOMAN was arrested on suspicion she threw her dead baby girl inside a plastic bag in a vacant lot in Barangay Catarman, Liloan, Cebu last Tuesday night.
Yolanda (real name withheld as requested by the police) was caught by a barangay councilor and a staffer of the Liloan Muncipal Social Welfare and Development Office last Thursday afternoon, after neighbors reported that her large belly mysteriously became small.
Change in appearance
“They said she was pregnant, but they never saw the child,” said SPO3 Gay Servilla, the Women and Children’s Protection Desk in-charge.
Renew license or else, owners of guns warned
IF YOU have an expired firearm license and don’t plan on renewing it soon, take heed. You might be part of the police watch list.
Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Marcelo Garbo said they are serious in implementing the gun control policy with the rise in the number of loose firearms and with elections coming up.
He said it’s also part of accounting for firearms, especially loose ones, adding that the PRO 7 ranked second in the nationwide statistics of firearm-related incidents last year.
Moratorium
Life after the inferno
SHE just finished putting her two little children to sleep when Shirley Nudalo heard shouts outside. When she looked out the window, she saw flames devouring her neighbors’ houses and coconut trees.
Alarmed, she told Angelica, her eldest child, to bring the sleeping toddlers and her two other siblings outside. She rushed upstairs and took her marriage contract, their birth certificates and other documents.
Spat with media leads to transfer of policewoman
THE head of the Minglanilla Police Station’s Women and Child’s Protection Desk was relieved after she had a falling out with police beat reporters, who tried to obtain information regarding a rape case.
Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Marcelo Garbo said Maria Theresa Guitierez was reassigned for three months to the police community relations office.
PR blitz
“This is part of the good relationship of the Philippine National Police and the media. We always want to maintain that connection,” he told reporters.
Ombudsman suspends town’s traffic official
THE anti-graft office has suspended for a month without pay a traffic official from San Remegio town, Cebu for his refusal to renew the franchise application of a tricycle driver in 2010.
Alfred Yann Oguis, graft investigation and prosecution officer, found Cornelio Saberon, officer-in-charge of San Remegio's Traffic Management Office, guilty of violating Sec. 11 of Republic Act 9485, or the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007.
“This office finds the reason given by Saberon in failing to process the renewal of license flimsy and self-serving,” Oguis wrote in his nine-page decision.
GSIS to fund college studies of 200 children of members
LOW-salaried government workers need not worry about sending their children to college as the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) will offer scholarships to low-income members.
The GSIS, though, will offer only 200 college scholarships for this school year.
The GSIS began accepting applications last May 15. The deadline for applications is June 15.
Ma. Fatima Alvarez, GSIS regional manager, said the 200 scholarship grants will be for the entire country and 10 will be for Central Visayas.
Order allowing drug suspect’s release ‘disadvantageous’
CEBU CITY -- The new Department of Justice (DOJ) circular allowing the release of a drug suspect before the prosecutor’s dismissal of his or her case is reviewed can be “disadvantageous” to the campaign against illegal drugs.
Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) Director Patrocinio Comendador said that when prosecutors decide to reverse the dismissal of the case against a drug suspect, law enforcers will have to go through the entire process of hunting for the suspect again.
Rebel attack on airport not true
THE Misamis Oriental Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) cried foul over reports of a possible attack on the Laguindingan International Airport allegedly by the New People’s Army (NPA).
Teddy Sabugaa, PPOC executive director, said the reports that came out in one radio station in the city have no basis, though he expressed apprehension on the report.
Cop shot dead by communist rebels
A POLICE officer was shot dead Thursday afternoon by suspected communist rebels in Barangay Umagos, Lagonglong town in Misamis Oriental, a top police official said.
Killed was Police Officer 1 Al Tinampay, a resident of Lagonglong town and was assigned as intelligence operative at the Lagonglong Municipal Police Station.
Guv orders probe into case vs youth leader
MISAMIS Oriental Governor Oscar Moreno has urged the Provincial Legal Division to review the documents presented by some complainants against a youth leader who claimed to be an employee of Capitol.
James Gregor Asuelo, who was arrested last Monday for unsettled accounts, is not an employee of the Capitol but is only a volunteer of the Provincial Youth Development Council (PYDC), Moreno said.
Brigada Eskwela benefits 63 Lanao Norte schools
TUBOD, Lanao del Norte -- At least 63 elementary schools in the province received building materials from the Provincial Government for the ongoing implementation of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Brigada Eskwela.
Among the construction supplies received were roofing materials, plywood, concrete and wood nails, roof sealant, paint and paint brushes, paint rollers and trays, and door knobs.
Theater group to hold outreach program for kids
THE Xavier Stage, one of Xavier University’s theater companies, will have an outreach program for the children of Gugma sa Kabataan Inc. on May 31, from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Part of the program will be presentations about values education, sanitation and hygiene, gift giving, feeding and giving out of books and bags from the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
The Xavier Stage actors will also perform “New Yorker sa Burgos,” an adaptation of Marcelino Agana Jr.’s play “New Yorker in Tondo.”
The project is the company’s way of promoting cultural and values education.
