NEWS BRIEFS

UN AVE. REPAIR DONE BEFORE CALUNGSOD MASS

Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes said the issues over lack coordination by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) on the UN Avenue road repair project has been ironed out.

 
Now is the best time to start the road repair , said Cortes. He said delays in implementing the project may affect the Thanksgiving Mass for the sainthood of Pedro Calungsod on Nov. 30 or even Christmas.

 
Traffic authorities in Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu cities are figuring out how to cope with the heavy traffic brought by the road repair in UN Avenue which drives into the Marcelo Fernan Bridge from Mandaue City.

 
Edwin Ermac, head of the Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (TEAM) said they will work with their counterpart in the other side of the bridge, the Lapu-Lapu City Traffic Management System to ensure that the ‘no stopping zones’ in the bridge is implemented.

 
Violators will have their licenses confiscated until they pay fines ranging from P500 to P1,200.

 
Team will also deploy at least four traffic enforcers to assist the DPWH in controlling traffic./Correspondent  Fe Marie D. Dumaboc

PDP-LABAN RIFT DELAYS CEBU OATHTAKING

The planned oath taking of new members of the PDP Laban party will have to wait pending the resolution of party conflicts in the national level, said former Cebu City south district representative Antonio Cuenco.

 
But Cuenco is certain that he will remain with the national party of Vice President Jejomar Binay when he files his certificate of candidacy (COC) in October.

 
“Maybe things will be clearer before we file our COCs,” he said.

 
Cuenco and the other PDP Laban Cebu allies could not yet take their oath because of the need to resolve the conflict between their party chairman, Vice Pres. Jejomar Binay and party president Sen. Koko Pimentel.

 
Vice President Binay heads the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA)  which is fielding a full Senate slate in the 2013elections. UNA is a coalition of the PDP-Laban Binay group  and the Partido ng Masang Pilipino of former president Joseph Estrada.

 
Cuenco said he doesn’t see any problems about his membership with PDP Laban and Mayor Michael Rama’s membership with the Liberal Party. Rama, he said, can be PDP Laban’s guest candidate.

 
A formal local alliance between PDP Laban with Team Rama is also being threshed out said Cuenco.

 
Pimentel bolted the UNA over the inclusion of former senator Juan Miguel Zubiri in its Senate slate. He will be LP’s guest Senate candidate in 2013. /Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac