Newsbriefs

AUSTRALIAN FALLS IN MANHOLE

An Australian national yesterday went to the mayor’s office in Cebu City to complain after  falling into  a manhole in downtown Manilili Street and injuring his leg.

George Sydney Carlsen showed up at City Hall and showed reporters his injured leg.

“The Filipino government should be ashamed of themselves … People from foreign countries come here only to meet this kind of an accident,” he said.

Mayor Michael Rama said he would direct the city engineering office to locate  the damaged drainage cover and fix it.

Carlsen said the accident took place 11 a.m. yesterday when he, his Cebuana fiancee Marie Jell Fernandez and two other companions were walking along Manalili Street to canvass prices of water pumps.

Carlsen accidentally stepped on a damaged drainage cover that collapsed.  He fell into the manhole , injuring his right leg and bruising his upper left leg.

“He didn’t notice the damaged drainage cover and he fell. When I turned around he was nowhere to be found,” said Fernandez.

A pensioner from Western Australia, Carlsen has been living in Dumaguete City for two years. He used to work as a miner.

Carlsen arrived in Cebu yesterday for a visit.  It was his second visit to Cebu in two years. He plans to spend Christmas in Cebu.

Fernandez said people from a nearby fishing equipment store helped them and gave Carlsen Betadine ointment to treat his wounds.

They brought him to the clinic in the  City Hall legislative building for treatment then went to the mayor’s office.

“I wanted to bring the issue to the mayor for having streets like this and not doing anything,” he said.

The mayor wasn’t in. His staff arranged for a vehicle to bring the  Australian  to a hospital to have his wound checked. Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac

GUARD PLEADS NOT GUILTY

THE Cebu provincial jail guard accused of stealing 35 sacks of rice stored at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) in barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City entered a “not guilty” plea on charges of qualified theft.

Antonieto Babor appeared for arraignment before Regional Trial Court Judge Sylvia Aguerra-Paderanga of Branch 16 yesterday.

A mediation  between the parties is scheduled on Jan. 16.

A preliminary conference is scheduled on Feb. 29 while the pre-trial conference will be made on March 29.

The Cebu Provincial Social Welfare and Development (PSWD), which has  custody of the rice supply, blamed Babor for the loss of 35 sacks of rice  intended for disaster and emergency purposes.

An investigation led by Chief Supt. Cesar Veloso, provincial consultant on peace and order, revealed that 35 sacks of rice deposited by PSWD at the CPDRC house van were withdrawn by Babor at 3:40 p.m. last April 25.

Babor allegedly instructed 17 inmates to load the sacks of rice on a CPDRC canter van and drove out of the CPDRC gate, telling guards he would deliver the rice to the Capitol.

One of the jail officers told Veloso about what transpired.

Capitol security personnel went to Babor’s home in  Veterans Village in barangay Kalunasan.

They  saw three sacks of rice that were unloaded from the CPDRC van.

The Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office found probable cause to indict Babor on charges of qualified theft.

Babor posted bail of P60,000.

At least three witnesses executed affidavits against  Babor. Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol