News Briefs

DILG: COUNCIL APPROVAL REQUIRED FOR MARKET PROJECT

The contract for the planned reconstruction of unit II of the Carbon Market complex should have City Council approval before it is awarded to a winning bidder.

This was the opinion of Regional Director Ananias Villacorta of the  Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

Based on documents submitted to the DILG, Villacorta said the 2011 and 2012 budget for the project didn’t say what improvements are allowed and needed.

Villacorta cited the case involving suspended Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and then Provincial Board (PB) Member Luigi Quisumbing which required PB approval in unspecified projects or those described in “generic terms.”

But Villacorta said “ a proper judicial determination is necessary” to determine if the budget item for the Carbon market applies here and justifies the awarding of the contract by the mayor without council authority.

A copy of Villacorta’s opinion was sent to outgoing Cebu City Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young on Monday.

With this opinion, Young said the council will insist that Mayor Michael Rama secure council authority for the market project.

“This is a matter of control and check and balance. You can’t give the mayor a wide latitude of authority,” Young said.

Rama earlier ordered the termination of the city’s contract with Young Builders Corp. on the Carbon Market Unit II reconstruction project, saying it failed to comply with the contract requirements.

The city’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) called a rebidding and later awarded the P167.3 million project to Geety Realty. Rama signed the contract with Geety proprietor Andra Tan on April 18.

Councilor Margot Osmeña, head of the council’s budget committee, questioned Rama’s awarding of the contract to Tan since the contract signing lacked council authority.

She insisted that use of any funds for any unspecified project should have prior council authority. Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac

TOUGHER LAWS PUSHED FOR COASTAL PROTECTION

TOUGHER laws and equally tougher enforcement agencies are needed to stop the decline of coastal resources in Cebu and the rest of the country, a marine biologist said yesterday.

Mario Marababol, administrative officer of Ocean Care, said inadequate enforcement of the country’s environmental laws resulted in the decimation of 80 percent of the corals in the country.

He cited the case of the Cebu Yellow Submarine, a tourist submarine in Lapu-Lapu City which reportedly damaged corals near the Kontiki Wall in barangay Maribago as an example of government’s negligence in protecting its resources.

He said there should have been an environmental impact assessment done in the area by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) before the operation of the tourist submarine started.

“We are so receptive to new activities, we do not know what agencies would implement (corresponding laws),” he added.

He also called on the public to join the Coral Triangle Day celebration on June 9 in Cebu.

Activities include coastal and underwater clean-ups in barangays Ibo, Buaya, Mactan and Punta Engaño in Lapu-Lapu City, mangrove bagging and planting, fish house launching and a mini exhibit.

The activity is supported by 17 government agencies, private companies, and non-government organizations. Correspondent Joy Cherry Quito

PB RE-ALIGNS FUNDS FOR SANTANDER TOWN

ABOUT P1.5 million worth of projects were realigned by Provincial Board (PB) members Wilfredo Caminero and Peter John Calderon to Santander town in southern Cebu.

Caminero, who will serve in Congress representing Cebu’s 2nd district, sponsored a resolution to transfer P900,000 allocated for the purchase of wooden bancas into drainage works and concreting of roads in barangay Liptong, Santander.

He also sponsored another resolution to reallocate P100,000 intended for a perimeter fence around a basketball court to an unspecified project in barangay Liptong.

In a resolution, PB Member Peter John Calderon also realigned the funds for the purchase of wooden bancas into the same project.

Calderon filed another resolution that sought the reallocation of P1.3 million intended for a municipal birthing center to buy a municipal ambulance. The resolutions were passed by the PB last Monday. Correspondent Peter L. Romanillos