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Thursday, November 27, 2003
Lawmakers to seek Glo help on power crisis
By Charmaine Y. Rodriguez
CEBU -- President Arroyo is expected in Cebu next week to drum up support from the barangays for maintaining national roads, but her help will also be sought on Cebu's critical power supply situation.
Rep. Antonio Cuenco will ask the President for a meeting with other Cebuano representatives next week to discuss Cebu's power shortage problem.
Before that, the nine Cebuano members of the House of Representatives will have to meet with local leaders and the Visayan Electric Co. to discuss the problem at the local level, Cuenco said.
If Malacaņang agrees to a meeting, Cuenco will ask the President to send power barges to Cebu as an "immediate solution" to the problem.
Power barges
The Cebu Private Power Corp. has offered to send to Cebu two idle power barges in Navotas until the Leyte-Cebu submarine cables are completed in 2005.
The business sector had also planned to send a letter to the President to request for the barges.
Arroyo is expected to visit Cebu next week to launch a project aimed at benefiting barangays that will help in the maintenance of national roads.
The "Kalsada Ko, Aalagaan Ko!" program of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will be introduced in Cebu on Dec. 5.
The DPWH will avail itself of the services of personnel from the country's different barangays that will be asked to "ensure a proper year-round and all-weather maintenance of roads."
In Cebu City, 56 barangays, which have national roads in their areas of jurisdiction, will avail themselves of the program, said Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) president Eugenio Faelnar.
He also confirmed that next week's launching will be held either in Barangay Guadalupe, which he heads, or in Mandaue City.
Employment
The program will generate employment among the barangay's marginalized workers, who will be paid P120 a day. They have to be either unemployed or underemployed, out-of-school youths, off-peak season agricultural workers or informal settlers.
The workers will help in the desilting of drainage canals, cutting of weeds, removal of obstructions and in the cleaning of sidewalks. They may also plant ornamental plants.
Although the project is up to Dec. 31 only, Faelnar learned from DPWH District Engineer Nicomedes Leonor that it may be extended until next year if the government finds it effective.
Opao Barangay Captain and ABC president Joy Ouano welcomes the project although she has not received notice of Arroyo's visit next week.
Under the project, which Arroyo launched last month, the DPWH will provide each of the barangays with a shovel, a pick mattock, a scythe or bolo, a rake and a wheelbarrow.
The workers will also get shirts, raincoats, rubber boots and a hat.
(November 27, 2003 issue)
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