News Briefs
Rape victim to file charges today
THE 21-year old rape victim will be accompanied by her parents as she files charges against her alleged molester, a security marshal known only as “Billy” at the Guadalupe police precinct today.
Test results at the pink room of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) showed the victim, who is under the witness protection program, was molested repeatedly.
The victim’s mother said, she might again ask for police assistance to fetch them to the Guadalupe police precinct to secure their safety. Correspondent Norman V. Mendoza
Mercury ban on cosmetics law under review
A proposed ordinance to ban cosmetic products suspected of containing mercury will be reviewed by the Cebu City Council in their Wednesday session this week.
Councilor Nida Cabrera, who authored the ordinance, said the ordinance also covers cosmetic products unregistered with the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) and those that are mislabeled in city stores.
Cabrera, chairperson of the council’s environment committee, said most of these products are sold cheap in Chinese medicine and health supplement stores located along Manalili, V. Gullas and Colon Streets in the downtown area.
A test buy done by the EcoWaste Coalition on September 13 and 14, 2012 resulted in the discovery of eight China-made skin whitening products that contain mercury.
These were sold for only P35 to P99 per pack and were identified to be among the 50 beauty products banned by the FDA.
The ordinance will prohibit manufacture, importation, sales and and disposal of mercury containing cosmetic products.
Cabrera’s draft ordinance is adopting penalties imposed by Republic Act 9711 or the Food and Drug Administration Act which include imprisonment of one year to 10 years and fines ranging from P50,000 to half a million pesos on violators. Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac
Registrants urged to be patient
CEBU City residents registering for the October barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections should exercise more patience, an election official said last Friday.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Cebu City officer Marchell Sarno defended two assistants who supposedly failed to entertain registrants after lunch at the Plaza Independencia.
“Ni-ingon ra man to sila nga mag lunch break pero wa na ningbalik unya kagahapon kay naa pa man to sila in-aron nga oras (They said they’re going to have their lunch break but they never returned in the afternoon unlike yesterday when they were still here at this time),” said 22-year-old registrant Michelle Ann Diaz of barangay Talamban.
She said a certain woman asked the Comelec assistants to prioritize her daughter who suffered asthma.
But Sarno said these Comelec assistants already reached their quota for the day.
“Our Comelec personnel are being insulted even for one mistake,” he said. The deadline for the registration ends tomorrow, July 31. Correspondent Apple Ta-as
Yayoy wants cash aid for seniors
Senior citizens in Cebu province could soon enjoy financial assistance from the provincial government.
According to Provincial Board (PB) member Raul “Yayoy” Alcoseba, he is currently drafting an ordinance for the creation of an office that will solely focus on the welfare of senior citizens.
Alcoseba said the office will also aim to provide a P1,000 financial assistance to senior citizens and replicate what the Office of Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) under the Cebu City government is doing.
Close to 60,000 senior citizens in Cebu City are entitled to receive P10,000 cash assistance from the City Hall, which allocates P600 million for the funds in its annual budget.
Alcoseba, a former Cebu City councilor, said the elderly in the province are not given enough attention by the Capitol.
“It seems that the senior citizens in the province are forgotten that’s why they want to transfer to the city,” he said.
Alcoseba heads the PB’s committee on senior citizens./Correspondent Peter L. Romanillos
Capitol to City Hall: We’re ok with Fuente co-management
The Cebu provincial government is willing to jointly manage the Fuente Osmeña Rotunda with the Cebu City government.
According to Orvi Ortega, provincial legal officer, the province and the city can “co-manage the operations of the Fuente lot.”
But the province of Cebu, he said, will continue to assert its ownership of the lot, which is subject to a pending case before the Cebu Regional Trial Court (RTC).
“We are willing to have it co-managed but the ownership will always be mantained with the province of Cebu. We have the title,” he told reporters yesterday.
If Cebu City accepts the proposal, Ortega said both parties can work for a court settlement.
The Capitol under former governor Gwendolyn Garcia earlier asked the court to order the Cebu City government to turn over ownership of the rotunda to the province.
The provincial government wants to recover possession of the 1,100-square-meter park that sits on two adjacent parcels of land in barangay Capitol Site.
Earlier, Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III described the ownership debate as “pointless because Fuente is a landmark” of both the province and city.
Ortega said Davide will meet with Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama to discuss./Correspondent Peter L. Romanillos
