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Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Tom hits council ‘inaction’
The Cebu City Council drew the mayor’s ire again for the delay in the approval of the ordinance that seeks to implement a citywide alarm system.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña warned yesterday he will find out who among the councilors is responsible for “sitting” on the ordinance if another major heist happens in the city.
Osmeña said the mobile alarm response system (Mars) could help the police in responding immediately to robberies, such as the one on a Western Union money transfer facility last Sunday.
The City, he said, has already funded and set up the alarm system but the council has stalled its implementation.
“One of the gaps I have long identified is the absence of an alarm system, which the council has been sitting on for the past several months already,” said the mayor.
Meanwhile, Senior Insp. Jonathan Abella remains chief of the Fuente Osmeña Police Station despite his and his men’s failure to arrest the perpetrators in the two robberies of money transfer firms in less than a month.
No need
Acting Cebu City Police Director Melvin Gayotin told reporters yesterday he does not see the need yet to relieve Abella with the robberies on Universal Storefront Service Corp. last Sunday and of Ebusiness Services Inc. (eBiz) last Oct. 15, both agents of Western Union Money Transfer.
EBiz lost over P745,000 in Philippine and US currencies while Universal Storefront lost more than P11,000 in the heists that were allegedly pulled by a newly organized gang whose members are said to be remnants of the robbery groups formerly headed by jailed Rey Torres and Danny Limotan.
Gayotin instead blamed the incidents on the security lapse of both firms that made it easy for the robbers.
Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau (CIIB) Chief Pablo Labra II said a meeting with all the managers of Western Union has been scheduled within the week.
Security
Labra noted that most agents of Western Union lack security measures.
“There are no iron grills at the table wherein the clients and employees will have direct contact. Unlike other shops like jewelry shops wherein aside from the glass window, iron grills are also set up,” Labra said.
Mayor Osmeña, meanwhile, is getting impatient with the City Council to approve the alarm system ordinance, which was referred to the committee on budget and finance.
“That will improve our peace and order, but we can’t implement it yet because the council is busy analyzing it. I’m so tired waiting for this I don’t know why they’re not giving urgency to this,” he said.
In a phone interview yesterday, Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera said the executive department may already proceed with the implementation of Mars since the pending ordinance only seeks to establish the fees that alarm system subscribers would have to pay.
Pesquera, who heads the council’s committee on budget and finance, said they have long approved the budget for the installation of the system.
“The ordinance is more on the collection of the subscription fee but even without the ordinance, they can already proceed with the setting up of the system, although we cannot collect yet the subscription fee,” she told Sun.Star Cebu.
Pesquera said it will take another month before the ordinance is approved since the council will have to hold a public hearing before its approval. (LCR/JST)
(November 8, 2005 issue)
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