REVIEW SOUGHT ON MCWD LOAN
CEBU City Councilor Alvin Dizon asked the council’s energy and utilities committee to review a multimillion-dollar transaction between the Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Dizon said he wants the utilities committee to make recommendations on the proposed deal.
Dizon said his call for review is in support of “the appeal by various sectors for transparency on the alleged $400-million loan” entered into by MCWD and ADB.
The Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC)-Cebu and the MCWD Employees Union earlier questioned the water district’s agreement with ADB.
Dizon’s resolution cited the claims of the groups that the $400-million loan is part of the $800-million package to be accessed by MCWD to address water needs within its franchise area.
The loan payment for the Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Project is said to be within a 10-year-period from 2012 to 2022. The resolution will be presented in today’s council session.
While MCWD denied the report, Dizon said the water district admitted that the ADB is doing a study for the said project.
HEALTH CHIEF TOLD: EXPLAIN BUDGET CLAIMS
CEBU City Health Officer Stella Ygonia will be invited to this morning’s Cebu City Council session to explain her statement to the media last week about the large reduction in her department’s budget.
Ygonia said the reduction from a proposed P133 million to P20 million affected her office’s medicine purchase.
“She has to present to the council her slashed budget . . . Maybe we also missed something during the budget hearing,” said Vice Mayor Augustus Joy Young.
Councilor Margot Osmeña, the council’s budget committee chairperson, said in an earlier interview that additional appropriations my be passed as supplemental funds depending on the availability of more funding.
Young said it was also difficult for the council to approve the city health budget that Ygonia proposed because it consisted mostly of lump sum appropriations.
“We will be asking Dr. Ygonia to present her proposed budget again in an executive session with the council,” he said. Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac
DRIVERS TEST POSITIVE FOR DRUGS
TWO public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers tested positive for drug use during a random roadside drug test last in Cebu City yesterday morning.
Asst. Regional Director Arnel Tancinco of the Land Transportation Office in Central Visayas (LTO-7) said the roadside drug test was done along N. Bacalso Avenue where 15 public utility vehicle drivers underwent the test.
The test was done by the LTO-7 in cooperation with the Cebu Truckers Association. The two drivers were a passenger jeepney driver plying the 13-C Talamban route and a taxi driver.
Tancinco said their licenses were confiscated pending the results of the confirmatory test. If the confirmatory test still comes out positive, their licenses will be suspended for three months or revoked.
The drivers will also be required to undergo a rehabilitation program before their licenses will be renewed. At least 27 PUV drivers tested positive for drug tests in six random roadside drug tests last year. Correspondent Jhunnex Napallacan
FUND MISUSE ROW IN TUCP
THE alleged misuse of funds had fueled the feud over control of a major labor group in the country.
Democrito Mendoza, president of the Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP), accused former senator Ernesto Herrera of failing to liquidate P2.5 million in cash advances.
In a press statement, Mendoza said two checks issued on March 2010 were deposited on Herrera’s private account during the former senator’s tenure as TUCP secretary general.
Mendoza said their audit report revealed that a first check worth P300,000 was issued by Herrera in February 2010 and the second check worth P2.25 million issued on March 2010. Both checks were allegedly deposited to Herrera’s private account.
Mendoza said the incident caused his resignation, which was eventually ordered retracted by the TUCP executive board sometime this month. Reporter Candeze R. Mongaya