Cebu City offers house, car, cash for the vaxxed

CEBU CITY — To encourage more people to get inoculated against COVID-19, the city government announced it would raffle off a number of prizes for fully vaccinated residents.

The prizes include a house-and-lot package, a car, P100,000 worth of gift certificates for hotel accommodation, P100,000 worth of scholarships, and P100,000 worth of groceries, according to acting Mayor Michael Rama.

The mechanics of the raffle draw will be announced during its official launch on Oct. 18. The city government is targeting to vaccinate at least 700,000 of its 1 million residents to achieve herd immunity, which happens when 70 percent or a large part of the population is immune to a specific disease. As of Wednesday, Cebu City registered 322,063 fully vaccinated residents.

The city, Rama said, has enough supplies of COVID-19 vaccines given by the national government. Rama, the city’s vice mayor, is temporarily assuming the duties of Mayor Edgardo Labella, who is recuperating from an illness.

The city, he said, has enough supply of COVID-19 vaccines from the national government. Rama, who served as mayor of Cebu City from 2010 to 2016, is again running for mayor in next year’s elections.

But lawyer Chauncey Boholst, Cebu City north district election officer, did not see anything wrong with the raffle draw to be implemented under Rama’s watch. —NESTLE SEMILLA