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Friday, September 02, 2005
Micame: Will Consolacion and Liloan heed COA?
By Rel P. Micame
REACTION. This corner received two e-mails the other day - one from Raul Herrera, an electronics and communications engineer of Poblacion, Consolacion, and the other one from Nixon Go, a Cebuano now based in Florida.
In his e-mail, Herrera expressed his apprehension over the spread of dengue cases in Cebu. He reported to me cases of dengue in Borbon town in the north.
He is worried that municipal and barangay officials in Consolacion did not seem to be alarmed by the killer disease.
The town officials are not conducting any information campaign on how to prevent the dreaded disease.
When will these officials act?
SUGBUAK. On the other hand, Go expressed his surprise why Rep. Emilio Macias II (Negros Oriental, 2nd district), chairman of the House committee on local government, is firm in his stand not to conduct a public hearing in Cebu on the bills creating new provinces.
“The people of Cebu deserve to be heard, and the committee should, at this point, consider their stand. Cebu is, undoubtedly, the premier province in the Visayas and Mindanao. Dividing Cebu into four provinces would lead to its downgrade and, obviously, this is a welcome development for Macias, a former governor of Negros Oriental. This process will make Negros Oriental overtake Cebu as a premier province. Macias, being biased against Cebu, should inhibit himself and allow the conduct of a public hearing in Cebu,” Go said.
REFUND? Will the Municipality of Consolacion heed the advice of the Commission on Audit (COA) to stop granting signing bonuses? Will the municipal officials and employees refund the government the amount they have collected? Or, they will just imitate Mandaue City officials, who continually defied the COA?
COA has asked officials and employees in Consolacion to refund the amount, totaling P2.25 million, for last year’s release alone.
LILOAN. In Liloan in northern Metro Cebu, the COA also discovered that municipal officials and employees collected P4 million in bonuses last year, beyond what is allowed under budgeting rules and regulations.
According to COA’s audit report, the municipality gave P15,000 in “extra cash gift” aside from the regular cash gift of P5,000 for each employee last year.
Will the officials and employees refund what they have collected, or just ignore COA’s advice like what the Mandaue City legislators are doing?
COA stressed that the Supreme Court, in a ruling, prohibits the granting of a signing bonus. The same advice applies to the Cebu Capitol and Pinamungahan town.
RIGHT MOVE. Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmena is right in asking the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to help the city police respond properly to alarms.
The city mayor made the request for NBI assistance, believing that the local police force is not quite familiar with the rules of engagement. Osmeña has learned a lesson from two city policemen, who responded to an alarm but got killed instead.
But, the NBI cannot go on continually assisting the city policemen, as they also have duties and responsibilities to perform. Why not ask the NBI to train city cops on how to respond to alarms properly and well?
WATER RATES UP. Brace yourselves. The Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD) increased water rates by 12 percent starting yesterday.
MCWD corporate communications manager Terry Andaya suggested that the best way to fight a rate increase is to conserve water.
The new rates are P122 for the first 10 cu.m., P13.40 per cu.m. for consumption of 11-20 cu. m., P15.75 per cu. m. for consumption of 21-30 cu. m., and P43.20 per cu. m. for consumption of 31 cu. m. and above.
SCRIPTURE READING. Suggested reading of the Holy Bible for today is found in the Gospel according to St. Luke 5:33-39, “The Question about Fasting,” and for Sept. 3, St. Luke 6:1-5, “The Question about the Sabbath.”
(e-mail: relmicame@yahoo.com Tel. (6332) 423-9956.)
(September 2, 2005 issue)
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