NEWS BRIEFS

Gov backs Gwen Senate run

NEGROS Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo expressed support to Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia if she decides to run for the Senate.

Degamo told reporters last week that his support isn’t tied to the assistance the Capitol extended to his province. “Even if we’re not in the same party, we will help her,” he said.

Gov. Garcia earlier said that she is keeping her options “open”. Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, who visited the Capitol last Feb. 6 reiterated her support to any Senate run by Governor Garcia.

“It’s a real problem to get women candidates. We all know that the Visayas is massively under represented in national governance and the Senate. The solid north is behind the solid south,” Marcos said. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus

Jail inspection to monitor drug contraband

ANTI-NARCOTICS agents will inspect the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) for any drug contraband hidden by inmates as part of the Capitol’s “Operation Greyhound.”

Luis Astillero, chairman of the Capitol’s Committee on Discipline and Investigation (CDI), said the inspection will be done in coordination with Jose Marie Gastardo, the provincial consultant on jail matters.

“Sometimes these inmates are quite clever in hiding contrabands. We need sniffing dogs and we will conduct that regularly,” he said in a phone interview yesterday.

Astillero said the inspection will start this month.

“The governor wants that we will strictly implement the rules and regulations especially at CPDRC,” he said.

Last December, Alvin Pitogo of barangay Yati, Liloan was arrested after CPDRC jail guards discovered that he has a small packet of shabu.

The contraband was discovered in one of the seams of the shorts that he was allegedly trying to sneak into the facility.

The committee already submitted the recommendation for preventive suspension of a Cebu provincial jail guard who allowed ex-mayor Alfredo Arsenio to eat lunch in a restaurant after attending a court hearing. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus