Cebu local news (daily update)

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For purchase of buses: P24 million slashed from Rama's P221 million SB

CEBU, Philippines – Some P24 million from the proposed P221 million Supplemental Budget (SB) intended for the projects and programs during the first 100 days of Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama had to be slashed by the council's committee on budget and finance to give way to the city's statutory obligations on the 20 buses purchased last year and donated to the mountain barangays.
Items affected are the proposed P15 million for the purchase of dredging equipment, P4 million of P20 million for the purchase of brand new garbage trucks, P4 million of P30 million for the fuel expenses of the city and P1 million of P2 million for the establishment and purchase of instruments and other equipments of the planned City Hall band.
The P24 million comprises 20 buses procured at P1.6 million each last year. It was not included in the initial proposal because of the delays in the submission of necessary documents to consider it as accounts payable.
The office of the councilor Augustus Pe Jr., wrote a request to councilor Jose Daluz III, chairman of the committee on budget and finance, to include the obligation in the appropriation.
"By law, as a statutory obligation, we have to include that. The committee on budget was informed of that contractual obligation so we have to put it up and the council approved its inclusion. In effect however, we had to slash some of the items in the original proposal," Daluz said.
There are two appropriations, SB 3 of Special Accounts and SB 4 of the General Fund, which the council is set to approve during their regular session on Friday.
Yesterday, the council's committee on finance conducted the budget hearing and so far came up with items approved by the committee which include among others P30 million for the city's medical assistance, P9 million for the burial assistance, P31.5 million for the paving and retreading of city streets and bridges P15 million for traffic maintenance and P15 million for the renovation of the city hall building including the purchase of additional furniture and fixtures for offices in City Hall.
Some P8 million is appropriated for the supplies and repairs of city's motor vehicles. The renovation of the Plaza Independencia gets P20 million while P7 million is allotted for the purchase of 44 motorcycles for the city police.


The purchase of dredging equipment for the dredging project of the committee on infrastructure headed by councilor Roberto Cabarrubias will no longer be included. Cabarrubias agreed to just get the funding from the next supplemental budget that the mayor promised to pass in August or September.
The P2 million intended for the establishment of the band, the brainchild of Rama, which aims to promote culture and arts, fun and recreation for the 5,000 employees of city hall were also reduced to P1 million where half shall be used for the seminars and workshop of the group while the other half is for the purchase of equipments and instruments.
The proposed budget for the instruments was originally for P1.5 million but since the proponent of the project was not able to submit a breakdown and the council believes that it is not a priority at this time, they slashed it to P500,000.
During the budget hearing, councilor Margot Osmeña questioned the establishment of the band which she said is a duplication of the function of the Culture and Historical Affairs Commission.
But Rama said that the performing arts group he is planning to create does not aim to compete with the CHAC but to coordinate with it and to other non-government organizations that seek to promote the culture and arts of Cebu.
It will also be joined by city hall employees and later may expand to the outsiders. Rama said he only wants to give color to the life of City Hall employees.
But Osmeña instead wants the money for CHAC that only has about P30,000 left.
"We have five coming city sponsored activities and yet we don't have money which is ironic," Osmeña said.
Other members of the council agreed to reduce the proposed P30 million fuel budget to P26 million and the P20 million budget for the purchase of five garbage trucks to P16 million since the need for these are not so urgent.
"This is still subject for approval by the council on Friday. But since we already have 10 councilors here who attended, I think mao na to. If other councilors have questions, they can raise it during the session," Daluz said.
Eighty percent of the source of the two SBs is from the realignment of previous appropriations that were not utilized.
The biggest chunk would come from the realignment of this year's Financial Assistance to barangay projects amounting to P153.5 million.
Some P20 million will come from the realignment of the unused funds of the city's Scholarship Program. The city can also use about P4 million from the realignment of unused funds for the Special Program for Employment of Students.
Other sources are from the Internal [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]Revenue[/COLOR][/COLOR] Allotment Difference in the years 2000, 2001 and 2004 that would reach almost P26 million while P17 million will be sourced from the reversion of accounts payable in 2007 and 2008.

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150 positive in city in 6 months: Alarming rise in HIV cases

CEBU, Philippines – Health officials yesterday confirmed that the number of persons found positive of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Cebu City has reached 150 from January to June 30 this year.
Dr. Ilya Tac-an, head of the City Health's sexually-transmitted diseases (STD) section, considers this as already alarming considering that there were only 95 persons found HIV positive in Cebu City from 1989 to 2009.
Tac-an said there were more than 350 persons, who availed of the government's free laboratory testing for those who believe they have HIV because they are intravenous drug users or have many *** partners.
Of those persons subjected to laboratory testing at the Cebu City Health Department, 150 have been found positive of HIV.
Tac-an said based on their interviews they found out that the victims acquired the virus through the use of needles.
Those found HIV positive admitted that they are [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]drug[/COLOR][/COLOR]
dependents, who usually use syringe, one after another, in injecting Nubain.
Barangay Kamagayan situated in the central district of Cebu City is the popular place that was identified by the drug dependents where they have themselves injected with Nubain.
Dr. Gerard Belimac, the program manager of the Department of Health (DOH)'s national AIDS/Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention and Control Program, said the rapid increase in HIV cases is attributed to injecting drugs.


According to Belimac, drug users using injection might soon become the biggest contributor to the HIV/AIDS epidemic because the virus spreads faster through injection than by any other means because an infected needle is often used by four to 10 drug users.
Tac-an advised the drug users to stop injecting drugs.
"Posible man gud nga inig tuslok nila sa dagom sa vein, birahon nila aron tan-awon kon mogawas ba ang dugo usa pa nila i-inject ang drugs mao nga kon positive sa HIV ang maong tawo, kadtong uban nga mogamit sa needle ug syringe matakdan usab," Tac-an explained.
There is no cure yet for HIV that leads to AIDS and there's also no vaccine to prevent infection. There is a new medication that can only slow the progression of the infection.
The HIV virus cannot be destroyed and lives in the body undetected for months or years before any sign of illness appears.
DOH records show that since January 1984, the HIV/AIDS Registry has already recorded 5,123 HIV cases, with 841 already having progressed into full-blown AIDS.
In Cebu City, Tac-an said most of those who have been found positive of HIV are men and only about 10 per cent are women.
While HIV and AIDS may also spread through ***, but Tac-an said they learned that most of those HIV positive got the virus by injecting drugs.
Tac-an encouraged those persons, who believed that they are afflicted with HIV because they have themselves injected drugs and engage in *** with multiple partners to visit their office.

[cobraKing]

-----------------------------------july 29,2010---------------------------

Mike wants study, Tom says it's nice: City is interested in buying planes
CEBU, [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]Philippines[/COLOR][/COLOR]
– Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama is being cautious while Cebu City South District Rep. Tomas R. Osmeña is very interested that the city would buy three defective light planes worth P4.6 million offered by the Department of Education.
Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young announced yesterday that he wants that the city will participate in the bidding for the three units of Helio aircraft owned by the DepEd.
Young, who had just arrived from Manila yesterday after he met with DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro, quickly prepared the Letter to Bid, because to beat the deadline for the submission of such.
But Rama did not sign the document, instead he asked Young to draft a communication only to inform the DepEd officials that Cebu City has the intention to participate in the bidding, but they need more time to think about it.
Rama's concerns are hinged on the fact that maintaining aircraft is very expensive, so the plan to buy the planes must be studied very well, including of how often such will be used.
For his part, Osmeña described the suggestion of Young as nice because the plane can be used by the city for whatever purpose, particularly for search and rescue operations during disasters.
"It's nice. We can use the plane to support during disaster operations, like search and rescue, and also for aerial photography," said the former city mayor.
The FREEMAN tried to get the reactions of the city councilors, but many of them are hesitant to give their reactions to the issue because they did not know about it.


"Pero bisan unsa nga lakang nga makaayo sa dakbayan, ilabi na para sa disaster operations akong suportahan," said Councilor Rodrigo "Bebot" Abellanosa, chairman of the City Council's committee on social services.
Young was in Manila last Tuesday when he learned personally from the DepEd Secretary of the agency's move to sell through a bidding three units of 40-year-old unserviceable Helio aircraft.
One of the aircraft, a Helio Model H-391B will be sold at P935,504, while each of the two Helio Model H-295 costs P1,871,542.
DepEd officials said the aircraft require specialized maintenance procedure, in which parts are not readily available in the market.
But Young has suggested that the city will buy the three unserviceable planes hoping that the needed spare parts can be found in the other two units.
Young said he and Osmeña tried to convince Luistro that the three planes will just be donated to Cebu City, but the DepEd Secretary explained that he could no longer do it because these have already been subject to bidding.
The vice mayor said they have offered Luistro that instead of paying cash to DepEd, the city will just construct more school buildings in the city as one way to solve the DepEd's problem about the shortage of classrooms here.
"Tan-aw namo maayo kaayo kon mosugot ang DepEd kay masulbad ang kakuwang nato og classrooms unya makaangkon pa unya kita og airplanes," Young explained.
Some of the Helio aircraft that were introduced in 1954 are still flying as of last year and these are used by private pilots.
These aircraft are built of aluminum airframe and features a welded 15G steel-tube roll cage, complete with shoulder harnesses that protect the occupants in an emergency.
Helios can also be float equipped - both straight and amphibious floats being offered.
Osmeña said he is sure that the city can also earn out of the aircraft if it will have it rented by some businessmen. The former mayor said the city can hire a pilot for P25,000 a month for the plane.
Former City Councilor Sylvan 'Jack' Jakosalem, an aviation enthusiast, said that the Helios are good airplanes because they are capable of short take off and landing.
"Especially in the scenario in Cebu City, the Helios are very useful, you won't even need a runway," Jakosalem said.
He, however, added that he has no idea about the condition of the planes from DepEd, but said that such planes are used extensively

[cobraKing]

NFA 7: No rotten rice in Central Visayas

CEBU, [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]Philippines[/COLOR][/COLOR] – The National Food Authority (NFA) in Region VII assured that as far as the region is concerned, there are no bags of rotten rice stored in any of its warehouses.
NFA Regional Director Danilo Bonabon said that although there were 2,000 bags of rice that were considered as "sweeping" or spillage, these do not go to waste as these were either reconditioned or sold as feeds or for industrial use.
"But never for human consumption," Bonabon said.
President Benigno Aquino, in his state-of-the-nation address, had disclosed of rotting rice in some NFA warehouses in the country while many Filipinos suffer from hunger.
Bonabon assured the stability of rice supply although what are considered "lean months" are already here.
The NFA has a total of 2.5 million bags of rice stocked at their warehouse.
Bonabon said that NFA has unloaded a total of 700,000 bags of rice from [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]Vietnam[/COLOR][/COLOR] last week.
"This is part of the inventory build-up for the lean months," Bonabon told The FREEMAN.


He said that lean months starts this month until September. But with the drought due to El Niño phenomenon, the period is most likely to be extended until October.
Bonabon assured the consuming public that there is nothing to worry as there is enough rice supply.

[cobraKing]

NFA 7: No rotten rice in Central Visayas

CEBU, [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]Philippines[/COLOR][/COLOR] – The National Food Authority (NFA) in Region VII assured that as far as the region is concerned, there are no bags of rotten rice stored in any of its warehouses.
NFA Regional Director Danilo Bonabon said that although there were 2,000 bags of rice that were considered as "sweeping" or spillage, these do not go to waste as these were either reconditioned or sold as feeds or for industrial use.
"But never for human consumption," Bonabon said.
President Benigno Aquino, in his state-of-the-nation address, had disclosed of rotting rice in some NFA warehouses in the country while many Filipinos suffer from hunger.
Bonabon assured the stability of rice supply although what are considered "lean months" are already here.
The NFA has a total of 2.5 million bags of rice stocked at their warehouse.
Bonabon said that NFA has unloaded a total of 700,000 bags of rice from [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]Vietnam[/COLOR][/COLOR] last week.
"This is part of the inventory build-up for the lean months," Bonabon told The FREEMAN.


He said that lean months starts this month until September. But with the drought due to El Niño phenomenon, the period is most likely to be extended until October.
Bonabon assured the consuming public that there is nothing to worry as there is enough rice supply.

[cobraKing]

DepEd secretary lets city draft program for school buildings

CEBU, Philippines – Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young yesterday announced that Department of [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]Education[/COLOR][/COLOR] Secretary Armin Luistro has agreed to let the city government prepare the program of works and estimates of school buildings that will be constructed here.
Young said he was able to convince the new DepEd secretary that the national government can save millions of pesos if it will adopt the programs of [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]Works[/COLOR][/COLOR] and estimates prepared by personnel of the City Hall's Department of Engineering and Public Works, which are much cheaper in cost.
The vice mayor flew to Manila last Tuesday to meet with Luistro and personally told the latter that the school buildings constructed by DepEd in the city cost more than P1million per classroom, while other school buildings built by the city only cost P575,000 to P828,125.
Young said Luistro is amenable to his suggestion, but the city government will not intervene in the conduct of the biddings for the projects.
He said the costs of the city-constructed classrooms are much lower even if the school buildings are equipped with eight units of toilets for boys and girls, lavatories, and stainless steel water tanks.
DepEd-7 Regional Director Recaredo Borgonia earlier assured to look into the details of the POWE of the school building projects implemented by their agency.
Young said not only that the buildings constructed by the DepEd are overpriced, but these are also substandard because some of them have no stairs, not painted, no ceiling on the upper floors.
DepEd is scheduled to construct more school buildings in the city worth P21 million and Young said he will make sure that it will based on the POWE that are to be prepared by the city engineers.

[cobraKing]

DepEd secretary lets city draft program for school buildings

CEBU, Philippines – Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young yesterday announced that Department of [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]Education[/COLOR][/COLOR] Secretary Armin Luistro has agreed to let the city government prepare the program of works and estimates of school buildings that will be constructed here.
Young said he was able to convince the new DepEd secretary that the national government can save millions of pesos if it will adopt the programs of [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]Works[/COLOR][/COLOR] and estimates prepared by personnel of the City Hall's Department of Engineering and Public Works, which are much cheaper in cost.
The vice mayor flew to Manila last Tuesday to meet with Luistro and personally told the latter that the school buildings constructed by DepEd in the city cost more than P1million per classroom, while other school buildings built by the city only cost P575,000 to P828,125.
Young said Luistro is amenable to his suggestion, but the city government will not intervene in the conduct of the biddings for the projects.
He said the costs of the city-constructed classrooms are much lower even if the school buildings are equipped with eight units of toilets for boys and girls, lavatories, and stainless steel water tanks.
DepEd-7 Regional Director Recaredo Borgonia earlier assured to look into the details of the POWE of the school building projects implemented by their agency.
Young said not only that the buildings constructed by the DepEd are overpriced, but these are also substandard because some of them have no stairs, not painted, no ceiling on the upper floors.
DepEd is scheduled to construct more school buildings in the city worth P21 million and Young said he will make sure that it will based on the POWE that are to be prepared by the city engineers.

[cobraKing]

Driver arrested for bribing cop

CEBU, Philippines – A 44-year-old truck driver who attempted to bribe a traffic police officer with P100 was arrested yesterday at the Manuel L. Quezon Highway in barangay Ibo, Lapu-Lapu City.
Oscar Milla, a resident of barangay Guizo, Mandaue City, stopped his delivery truck after SPO1 Ismael Zerna of the traffic police office signaled him to stop.
Zerna said he stopped the delivery truck because it was overloaded. He said he also noticed that Milla's break lights was malfunctioning.
To stop Zerna from issuing a TOP, Milla handed over P100 to Zerna.
Upon handing it to the police officer, Milla was arrested and taken to the police station.
Aside from violation of a traffic law, Milla will also face a bribery charge.

[cobraKing]

Drug convict escapes from Cebu City Jail

CEBU, Philippines – An inmate convicted for possession of illegal drugs escaped from the Cebu City Jail at around 2 p.m. last Tuesday.
The jail warden believes that Reynard Marturillas, 44, escaped by hiding among the garbage that were collected by the City Government.
He was committed to the city jail in July 12, 2007 for possession of illegal drugs and for concealing deadly weapon and was convicted just last June 8.
He was sentenced to 12 to 15 years imprisonment and is set to be transferred to the New Bilibid Prison.
Insp. Anacleto Dusaran, city jail's chief of custodial and rehabilitation, said they realized that someone was missing when they conducted a final headcount at 8 p.m. They later learned that Marturillas was gone.
A television report stated the suspect asked permission to take a bath as he already smelled bad.
Dusaran added that they already inspected all the buildings and found nothing that would indicate that the suspect used something to escape.
It is also impossible for him to jump over the high fence without the authorities detecting him, stressed Dusaran.
Because of this, the jail guards theorize that Marturillas hid himself among the rubbish at the back of the garbage truck owned by the Cebu City Government's Department of Public Services (DPS).
The truck, according to Dusaran, drops by the jail facility everyday to collect garbage.
Supt. Waldemar Villanueva, City Jail warden, immediately dispatched two teams to locate the escapee but they have yet to find him.
Marturillas was detained at the 2nd floor of the Drug Offenders Building. He is a resident of Sitio Baca, Barangay Banilad.


Dusaran said investigation will be conducted against the jail guards to determine if they are liable. They were reportedly very lax as they allowed the truck to leave without inspection.
They coordinated with DPS by getting the names of four garbage collectors who could have possibly connived with the escapee.
They are also getting in touch with the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Negros Oriental because the escapee has relatives in Guihulngan town.

[cobraKing]

Lapu-Lapu can't force law on "lingam" parlor at Marina Mall

CEBU, Philippines – Unless a legal issue involving Lapu-Lapu City and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) is resolved in court, the massage parlor in Marina Mall that offers the controversial "lingam" massage technique will continue to operate.
The City Health Department has recommended the closure of two [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]Massage[/COLOR][/COLOR] parlors offering this particular service, namely, the Healing Space Massage in Marina Mall and the Chuva-Chuva Lingam Massage in Mactan Town Center. "Lingam" involves the stroking of the male *** organ.
The two parlors also lack sanitary and health permits from the city government.
But in a press conference yesterday, Mayor Paz Radaza admitted that the city government is "constrained" from closing the Healing Space Massage because of the existing case in court.
The Chuva-Chuva massage has been order to comply with the requirements.
According to Radaza the city cannot issue a cease and desist order to the Healing Space Lingam Services because the city has a case with the Mactan Marina Mall and its between Efrain Pelaez as the owner of the building and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority to decide regarding the action on the parlor.
"Akong isumbalik sa ilaha (PEZA), mo-tolerate ra diay mo og ingon niini? The Peza administrator has the right to reprimand kay ila man kaha nang jurisdiction or Pelaez as the owner of the building," Radaza said.
Radaza had warned to shut down massage and spa parlors that offer the Lingam technique describing it as indecent.


Lingam was first discovered in neighboring Mandaue.
Radaza said the service is absolutely indecent and immoral and therefore should not be allowed because it will encourage prostitution.
Last year, the city shut down the Marina Mall, which is owned by businessman Efrain Pelaez, for lack of business permits and other regulatory permits from the city government.
But Pelaez insisted the mall is under the jurisdiction of PEZA from which he obtained all his permits.
City legal officer James Abadia, who was also in the press conference, said the legal department has argued before the court that the [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]law[/COLOR][/COLOR] that created the Export Processing Zone Authority and its amendment show that it is only limited to businesses which are import and export in nature.
Furthermore, Radaza said the city's legal department is still studying the matter.
"The other option is to ask media for help or else we will use police power and coordinate with the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development)," she said.