Newsbriefs
INMATE ESCAPES GUARD
AN inmate of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) charged with murder escaped after a court hearing in Bogo City, northern Cebu, before noon yesterday.
Medellin police said inmate Kim Invento managed to convince jail escort Felix Betasalo to allow him to go home in barangay Lamintak, Medellin town, also in northern Cebu.
The police said Betasalo agreed to escort Invento for a quick visit to his father onboard a tricycle.
In a stopover at an eatery, Betasalo opened the cuffs on one of Invento’s hands since he drank soda at the time.
The moment he did so, Invento ran towards a mangrove plantation and Betasalo failed to give chase.
While another jail guard waited for them at the Bogo City Regional Trial Court (RTC), Betasalo reported the incident to the police. Invento remains at large. Correspondent Rhea Ruth V. Rosell
NEW CYBER LAB FACILITIES
Representatives of the Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program of the US Embassy and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Central Visayas confirmed the delivery of cyber crime laboratory equipment for the province.
Ed Schlachter, program manager told Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia that the second tranche of the equipment arrived last Tuesday night in Cebu.
These will be turned over this Saturday during the lab inauguration in Lahug, Cebu City.
The first outside Manila, the cyber crime lab consist of equipment like an image enhancer that can clear distorted images from closed circuit TV cameras.
Cebu police will also undergo forensic training in the coming weeks. The 100-square-meter building housing the cyber crime laboratory costs P1.045 million. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus
DENGUE DOWN IN CEBU
DENGUE incidence in Central Visayas went down by more than 60 percent or about 4,963 cases with 27 deaths last year, health authorities said yesterday.
The Regional Epidemiological Surveillance Unit (RESU) said dengue cases in 2010 were pegged at 16,189 cases and 122 deaths.
Most of the patients were males aged one month to 88 years old. Majority of the patients were from Cebu City with 2,091 cases with 16 deaths. Lapu-Lapu City followed with 260 cases and one death and Mandaue City with 224 cases and two deaths.
RESU-7 chief Dr. Expedito Medalla said 2010 witnessed a dengue outbreak. “The public should not be complacent even if the cases decreased,” Medalla said.
He said sanitation activities should be intensified on the barangay level with households removing stagnant water that served as breeding grounds for dengue-carrying mosquitoes. Reporter Candeze R. Mongaya
TAX EXEMPTION SOUGHT ANEW
CEBU City Hall will ask the Department of Finance (DOF) to order the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to grant tax exemption to SM Prime Holdings for the lot it bought at the South Road Properties (SRP).
In a resolution, Councilor Edgar Labella said the city will lose P200 million in income if the company pays its taxes to the BIR.
Taxes to be paid included expanded withholding tax and documentary stamp tax. SM has been asked by BIR to remit to their south district revenue office the 5 percent expanded withholding tax on the purchase of the 30.41-hectare SRP lot amounting to P197.2 million inclusive of penalties for late remittance.
SM pays the city at least P100 million per quarter for its SRP lot purchase. Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac
CHARGES AGAINST PHILHEALTH POSEUR
CHARGES were filed in court yesterday against the woman who posed as a Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) trainee to claim P240,000 worth of checks from the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC).
The Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office found probable cause to indict Janice Dizon Tecson, also known as Concha Ruth Adlawan, on eight counts of estafa through falsification of commercial document. Bail was placed at P142,000.
The case stemmed from a complaint filed by the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) who conducted an investigation on Tecson.
NBI-7 investigation showed that the woman who claimed the checks is not connected with any city official or personnel. Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol
