News Briefs

MAYOR’s  partial veto

THE partial veto which Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama issued against the city college scholarship ordinance could prohibit Councilor Rodrigo Abellanosa from sitting as a member of the scholarship committee.

The rest of the ordinance, which creates the scholarship committeestands

Councilor Jose Daluz III said the  partial veto meant that only “the provisions that weren’t vetoed and can stand independently are valid and enforceable.”

Will the council override the veto?

Abellanosa said the majority Bando Osmena-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) bloc hans’t decided yet on their response.

The mayor cited a “conflict of interest” in his  veto message sent to the city council secretariat on  Friday.

Abellanosa owns the Asian College of Technology (ACT) where most of the city scholars are enrolled.

Rama said he wanted all universities and colleges in he city scholarship program to have an equal share of scholars.

“This can be elevated to the Ombudsman.  Whether we like it or not, (the conflict of interest) it will always be be inferred,” Rama said.

Abellanosa said he saw no need to resign because he could inhibit from decisions of the committee when  ACT is in the agenda.  Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac

NEXT VISAYAN  SAINT

While the Cebu Archdiocese is busy preparing for the canonization of  Blessed Pedro Calungsod,  work continues on nominating another Visayan for sainthood.

A commission formed  two years ago   is gathering documents and information on the life of Archbishop Teofilo Camomot, a native of Carcar City, southern Cebu.

Camomot, who died in 1988, was cited for various charitable works, zeal for prayer, and vigor in performing his pastoral ministry.

He founded the Daughters of St. Teresa and was cited for his generosity and love for the poor.

Camomot also demonstrated the ability to  bilocate or be in two places at the same time based on testimonies of some individuals.

Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal executed an affidavit to attest to this. He said Camomot was asleep  beside him during a meeting of the College of Consultors while a woman insisted she saw  Camomot administering to a dying person in Carcar City at the same time.

Last week, former Cebu Auxiliary Bishop Antonio Rañola, chairman of the Archdiocesan commission working for the cause of Camomot’s beatification, called  a meeting. They decided  to add more members of the historical and theological committees to speed up  the study on Camomot’s life.  Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol