Saturday, September 27, 2008 Council sets aside asking funds
CEBU City Councilor Gerardo Carillo withdrew his proposed resolution seeking to appropriate funds for the airing of anti-dengue commercials, following irregularities in the placement of the ads in a local TV station.
As the number of dengue cases continues to drop, the City Government continues to consult the barangay officials and look for best practices in dengue prevention.
During their session last Wednesday, Vice Mayor Michael Rama asked if the decrease in the number of dengue cases is a direct result of the City’s anti-dengue measures, or this is just a nationwide trend due to climate change.
From Jan. 1 to Sept. 20, the City Health Department has recorded 970 cases with 39 deaths. The number is 8.2 percent lower compared to the same period last year, which had 1,057 cases and 23 deaths.
The City Council passed a resolution asking the Cebu City Schools Division’s engineering office to address a flooding problem within the Mabolo Elementary School, which was blamed for dengue cases in the barangay.
Mabolo barangay officials reported to the council the flooding inside the school campus, as well as measures and anti-dengue campaign activities they have undertaken to control the dengue virus.
“We have to put filling materials in that area so that it won’t be flooded... We’ll ask the Department of Education’s engineering division to look into the possibility of filling a certain area of the school where there is water,” Councilor Augustus Pe Jr. told the council.
The council was also supposed to tackle the resolution charging to the City’s calamity funds the amount of P313,600, which was supposed to be used to pay ABS-CBN Cebu for the airing of the dengue public advisory.
But because the mayor already announced that Sen. Mar Roxas will be paying for the airing service fee, Carillo withdrew the proposed resolution from the council’s agenda.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña decided to use private funds after irregularities were found in the placing of the ads, which did not go through a public bidding and did not have the council’s approval. (LCR)
