AFTER 500 years of Catholicism, if the Philippines is to drop its dubious title of poorest and most corrupt in the region, one institution that has to turn on its head is the Catholic Church. It has had the greatest influence on the attitudes and values of the Filipino people and must, consequently, take responsibility […]
Category: Finance
Land bank offers Cebu City P5B standby loan
THE Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) has proposed a P5 billion standby loan facility to the Cebu City Government. Cebu City Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia, Committee on budget and finance chairman, said the LBP tapped the City’s local finance committee for its proposal to lend the City P5 billion pursuant to the Bayanihan 2 […]
HRRAC seeks help from LGUs
WITH constant low occupancy, the Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu (HRRAC) has called on local government units (LGUs) to help them stay afloat during the Covid-19 pandemic. HRRAC president Carlo Suarez said LGUs play an important role in stimulating consumer confidence. “LGUs should announce that they are open. We have Covid but it’s […]
Cebu City Police Office records first coronavirus case since August
A POLICE officer who was assigned at the Basilica del Sto. Niño in downtown Cebu City has tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). City Councilor Joel Garganera, deputy chief implementer of the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC), said the result came out on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, a day after she was swabbed. […]
Faster Covid testing in Cebu soon
AFTER seeing a decline in the number of Covid-19 cases in Cebu City during the last quarter of 2020, a rising trend in active cases has again been noted since the start of January 2021. From 93 remaining active cases in the city on Dec. 20, 2020, the number rose to 689 a month later, […]
Aid awaits families affected by flood control project
THE Cebu City Government has released P2.5 million as assistance to around 70 families affected by the flood control project in the river that passes through Barangays Tejero and Tinago. Each owner whose house violated the three-meter easement rule will receive P35,000. The Cebu City Council approved the resolution sponsored by Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia […]
Banker, 59, dies during sex with girlfriend, 24
A BANK manager’s tryst with his younger lover inside a resort in Compostela town, northern Cebu ended not in bliss, but in his death. The 59-year-old man reportedly succumbed to cardiac arrest during sex with his 24-year-old girlfriend past 5 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. Before this happened, the man, a resident of Barangay Yati, […]
Cebu City residents with Q-passes can attend Hubo mass
ALL residents in Cebu City who have the City-issued quarantine pass can physically attend the Hubo mass regardless of the ending of their quarantine passes’ code; however, authorities encourage the public to hear the mass online. The Hubo mass at the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño on Friday, Jan. 22, 2021, signifies the end of […]
Wenceslao: Not surprising
THE rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in many places (not just the city) should not surprise anybody. Even the blame game now being played by politicians is not surprising, too, because they are looking for issues to pounce on considering that the next elections would already be next year. This development actually shows […]
Kai in, Kobe out
NBA G-League Ignite’s Filipino big man Kai Sotto has committed to play for the Gilas Pilipinas in the third and final window of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers and is expected to arrive this week to join the national team’s preparations inside the bubble at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna. The 7-foot-3 […]
Thingamabobs: ’Arts and Crafts Collective’ for creatives, entrepreneurs
THESE days, a lot of people have given up on art. Fortunately, this was not the case of creative director and calligrapher Charmaine Pia Tan, who left her corporate job years ago to take a shot at being a “starving artist,” as what she calls herself. Charm happily recalled how she grew up surrounded by […]
Preparations for vaccine rollout begin in Region 7
THE Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH 7) has started briefing its personnel and local government officials on the impending vaccination program against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) as part of measures to prepare the public for the rollout of the vaccines. It will be the task of the local government units (LGUs) to cascade […]
Lapu-Lapu City Covid-19 cases ‘under control’
THE increasing new cases of Covid-19 in Lapu-Lapu City is not a cause for alarm. Grace Mary Chan Carungay, city epidemiological and surveillance unit (Cesu) officer, gave this assurance on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021.“We are a bit worried because the cases increased, but the situation is still under control,” she said. Double digits Lapu-Lapu City’s […]
Lawyer ‘killer’ silent during arraignment
FAUSTO Edgar Peralta, alleged triggerman of slain lawyer Joey Luis Wee, opted to be silent during the reading of the murder charge filed against him by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 during the virtual arraignment on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021. Lawyer Wenceslao Galendez, one of the NBI 7 agents who handled the Wee […]
Minglanilla cancels ‘Sugat Kabanhawan’
WHILE other provinces and cities in the country have been allowed to hold fiesta-related activities, it’s being foreseen that for the second year in a row, the much-anticipated Sugat Kabanhawan Festival in Minglanilla town will once again be suspended. This was announced by Minglanilla Mayor Elanito Peña on Jan. 20, 2021. Peña said with the […]
Samboan suspends issuance of LGU acceptance letters
TO PREVENT the spread of Covid-19 in the town, the local government of Samboan has suspended the issuance of LGU acceptance letters for all locally stranded individuals (LSIs) from other provinces starting today until Jan. 31. According to what has been agreed on by the barangay captains along with the anti-Covid-19 team, only Samboan residents […]
Editorial: Carnival of disruptions
THE Senate hearing on the government’s vaccine deals hits a wall with an argumentum ad misericordiam with vaccine czar and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. smarting about how they have been unfairly accused of corruption in relation to the purchase of vaccines. The accountable officials also set up […]
Briones: Course of action
If the number of coronavirus cases in Cebu City continues to rise, local and health officials will have to do something. I heard the Covid ward of one private hospital is almost or already full and so is one public quarantine facility. It’s a good thing the isolation center at the former Sacred Heart School […]
Tell it to SunStar: “Protect academic freedom”
(Department of National Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana sent University of the Philippines president Danilo L. Concepcion a letter on the government’s decision to revoke the UP-DND Accord, a pact that prohibits military and police authorities to enter the university premises without notification from the school heads. The following is Concepcion’s reply to Lorenzana’s letter sent […]
Andanar: Vaccine doses begin Feb.
THE National Government will start giving Covid-19 vaccine shots to medical frontliners, senior citizens and indigents in Cebu by the middle of February 2021. Thus said Secretary Martin Andanar of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) during his visit to Cebu on Tuesday, Jan. 19. Andanar led the PCOO’s #ExplainExplainExplain campaign, which focuses on explaining […]