Councilor, witch, termite
A FACEBOOK post attributed to Cebu City Councilor Niña Mabatid alleged that among the rats and cockroaches at City Hall, "naa gyuy nag-inusarang ANAY nga nag cge ug kutkot hangtod karon." Addressing the mayor, she said, "Mayor Mike, mag termite-control tawon ta kay ma lumpag unyat tungod aning Anaya. Mag-da ko ug Baygon ugma."
She made before a loud and repeated noise over the "ungo" or witch at City Hall. But her being a councilor, second top vote-getter in the 2019 Cebu City south elections, has not made any difference because she didn't go beyond the media rant.
She didn't succeed in beating the witch. She didn't even identify him, her, or it. Maybe she could stamp out this one termite. Unless the persistent termite is also the "ungo."
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Sports complex, Country Club
The Cebu City Council declared a state of calamity during a special session Saturday, December 18 -- not at City Hall but at the Abellana Sports Complex. The sports site temporarily serves as the incident command post of the local government.
The legislative building's fourth floor houses the Sanggunian session hall, library and secretariat and many rooms there are damaged by Typhoon Odette, City Council Secretary Charisse Piramide told Bzzzzz.
At the special session, the councilor "deliberated and debated" on the supplementary annual investment program (AIP #7) for almost "eight hours," which is supposed to tell the public that it was not approved as fast as Odette devastated the city. Some comfort to the spending watchers is that the councilors from both Barug and BOPK rival camps didn't just approve a lump sum but they agreed on the breakdown of the spending.
The second site of another special session, held Monday, December 20, was held, Atty. Chappy said, at the Cebu Country Club. Definitely more plush and comfortable than the Sports Complex. At the Country Club, the Sanggunian passed a P979.3-million budget for the Odette response.
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'Is Yap a Filipino?'
Candidate for Cebu City North congressman, Avenescio "Aven" Piramide, asks how Richard Yap, a rival for the same post, would act as legislator, if he'd get elected, on the issue of the West Philippine Sea.
Atty. Aven raised the question to Bzzzzz Monday, December27. His basis for questioning whether entertainment personality and businessman Richard Yap qualifies to become a member of the House of Representatives:
(1) Richard's parents Alfredo Yap and Felisa Toh Uy are (or were) both Chinese citizens when they married in 1962;
(2) Richard's paternal and maternal grandparents were all Chinese;
(3) Richard must be Chinese, under the principle of "jus sanguinis," unless his parents got naturalized before he was born;
[4) In a past Facebook post, Richard "announced he his full-bloodied Chinese, whatever that means" but the said post was "apparently withdrawn";
(5) congressmen, along with senators, president, vice president and justices of the Supreme Court, are required under the Constitution to be natural-born citizens.
Piramide doesn't say if he'll file a complaint with Comelec on the issue of Yap's qualification as candidate. For now, he wonders whether Yap wouldn't be a "Chinese pawn" on the issue of protecting the national sovereignty.
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