NEWS BRIEFS

NO ELECTION IF BANAWA-ENGLIS CREATED

While the plebiscite for the separation of Barangay-Englis from Guadalupe will push through on July 28, the Commission on Elections of Cebu City South District said there will be no special election to choose barangay officials if the “yes” vote wins.

Election officer, Edwin Cadungog said that there is “no feasibility” in having a special election since the budget set aside for all special elections is “minimal.”

The plebiscite to be held in 79 clustered precincts in Guadalupe will be using manual voting.

The diminishing population of Guadalupe if a yes vote prevails will also affect the income of barangay Guadalupe./Correspondent Tweeny M. Malinao

DSWD LOOKS FOR 5TH BOY IN GANG RAPE

City Hall’s assistance will be sought in tracking the 15-year-old boy involved in the gang rape of a 9-year-old girl in Dumanjug town, Cebu.

Jaybee Binghay, spokesperson of the Department of Social Welfare and Development -7, said they are trying to find the boy in order to facilitate psycho social intervention for the child.

Earlier, the Provincial Women Commission headed by Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale met with four of the child offenders and their parents to facilitate their psycho therapy. The fifth boy, however, was transferred by his parents to Cebu City.

The 9-year-old girl is also undergoing psychosocial therapy.

Under the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act, children 15 years old and below are exempted from criminal liability. /Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus

MIXED REACTIONS FOR ANTI-SPANKING ORDINANCE

The passage of the anti-spanking ordinance in Cebu City drew praise from the social welfare department but opposition from the non-government organizations Human Life International.

“We are very happy that the Cebu City government has now seen the importance of banning corporal punishment and promoting positive discipline instead,” said Emma Patalinghug, child and youth welfare program specialist of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-7).

But Dr. Rene Josef Bullecer, country director of Human Life International, said he will ask Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama to veto the ordinance.

“We are not totally against the ordinance. But the government should not interfere in the way parents discipline their children,” Bullecer said./Correspondents Carmel Loise Matus and Patricia Andrea Pateña