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Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Loss eased by offers of help
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña promised “some form of compensation as some kind of posthumous award” he will give to Elpidio “Jojo” dela Victoria’s family.
And through his intervention, owners of Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes have pledged that the dela Victorias will not be made to pay anything for its services.
He also talked with the Larrazabal family so dela Victoria’s son Vincent, who is in his third year nursing course, can be made a scholar.
Well-meaning people, the mayor said, have already donated cash to help the family of dela Victoria, the Cebu City Bantay Dagat Commission head and market administrator who was shot dead last April 12.
The suspected gunman, SPO1 Marcial Ocampo, was arrested last Monday.
Generous
For her part, Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia will give assistance other than cash to dela Victoria’s family, saying Osmeña’s offer is “already generous enough.”
She also appreciated the move of the Provincial Board in condemning the “dastardly murder” of dela Victoria as well as its request for her to put up a reward for the informant.
“We will assist in other ways. I have asked CCPO Director Vicente Loot to see to it that the suspect is well secured so that information that we may need from him can be extracted,” she said.
Garcia called it a “double tragedy” because men in uniform who are trusted to maintain peace and go after criminals are the criminal elements themselves.
In a related development, Garcia warned commercial fishers illegally operating in the municipal waters off Bantayan island that they may be shut out from the ongoing negotiations in relation to the planned closure of the Visayan Sea.
Dela Victoria was active in the Visayan Sea Squadron that recently recommended the temporary closure of the Visayas Sea to commercial fishing as it is already overfished.
Garcia has called for a meeting with all sectors that will be affected by the closure to come up with “workable solutions” for all sectors.
A meeting was held at the Capitol last week and, on May 2, another meeting is set to refine the memorandum of agreement.
“I will continue with our efforts to reach workable solutions to the issues that confront us. Don’t make me shut out one sector as I will if they continue to act in bad faith,” she said.
Meanwhile, aside from renaming Kawit Island as Jojo’s Point, Mayor Osmeña also plans to set up a modern 10-story lighthouse in the area.
Kawit, where a lighthouse now stands, is part of the South Reclamation Project.
The planned structure, according to the mayor, will not only guide sea vessels. It will serve as communications and surveillance center to monitor coastal activities.
“Kawit is one of the landmarks in Cebu. It is really designed to be the face of the SRP... the center of attraction,” he said.
The building will be put up on a sandbar and will have a walkway for easier access. Osmeña estimated the structure to cost P20 million.
It will be another way of honoring dela Victoria.
Osmeña is not in a hurry to rename Kawit as Jojo’s Point. But he hopes that the City Council will not also drag its feet and take five years to do so.
City ordinance
He was referring to City Ordinance 1791, which sets the guidelines for proposals, application and recommendation for the naming and renaming of public streets, plazas and or buildings.
Section 1 (f) stipulates that a street can be named after a person only after five years since his death. That serves as safeguard for the City to adequately research the person’s background.
But the City Council already amended it last year and includes a provision that allows the waiver of the five-year requirement for “extraordinary circumstances.”
The amendment came after the mayor said he will rename streets in honor of lawyer Arbet Sta. Ana Yongco and Lahug barangay tanod Alex Dy, who was killed when he tried to intervene in a robbery two years ago.
Yongco, who represented the Bacolod family in the case against Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) supreme master Ruben Ecleo Jr., was gunned down in 2004. (MBG/RHM)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (April 19, 2006 issue)
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