Capitol bonus NEXT WEEK
PROVINCIAL government employees will have to wait another week for their P15,000 cash bonus.
“That can be done within the third week of August. If we can submit it within the week, then the PB will hold a session on Monday next week. After that, the bonus will be released,” Budget Officer Danilo Rodas said.
The cash bonus was not part of the province’s annual budget and needs a supplemental budget.
The bonus was announced last Aug. 6 during the province’s 444th founding anniversary celebrations. Gov. Hilario Davide III announced the across-the-board bonus as a Collective Negotiation Agreement incentive. /Correspondent Peter L. Romanillos
Docs confirm sisters’ death due to poisoning
THE younger surviving siblings of two teenage sisters who died after eating canned beef loaf in barangay Poblacion, Alcoy last week were flown to Manila for further medical examination.
The siblings who also ate the canned food suffered vomiting and severe abdominal paid, said Provincial Health Officer Cynthia Genesolango.
She said the canned meat was contaminated, confirming the food poisoning incident.
“According to findings, the deaths were due to cardio pulmonary arrest, severe dehydration and possible electrolyte imbalance due to severe vomiting,” she told reporters yesterday.
Genesolango said the family’s perimission will be asked to conduct an autopsy to pinpoint the cause of death of the two sisters.
Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III said he will refer the incident to experts in the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD).
He said the province will provide financial assistance to the family. /Correspondent Peter L. Romanillos
Lot claimant seeks dismissal of gov’t case
THE owner of a contested lot in barangay Apas, Cebu City asked the Regional Trial Court Branch 12 to dismiss the civil suit filed against him by the national government.
Mariano Godinez’s lawyer Roberto Palmares accused the Department of National Defense (DND) of making misleading claims and forum-shopping by filing multiple cases against his client in different courts.
Palmares said the two cases which involved the same parties have similar causes of actions.
“The prior case is not merely an action for recovery of possession over the lot but ownership. Going by the allegations of the complaint and their rationale and ultimate relief, the core issue in this case is: Who owns Lots 937, the Republic of the Philippines or Mariano Godinez?,” he said.
Palmares cited a ruling of the Supreme Court which states that the filing by a party of two apparently different actions but with the same objective constitutes forum shopping—a ground for dismissal of the case.
Regional Trial Court Judge Estela Alma Singco has yet to resolve the motion to dismiss.
Godinez claims ownership of the lot in barangay Apas that was occupied by 140 families.
The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) earlier discovered that the lot previously owned by Eustiquio Godinez was expropriated by the government in the late 1930s.
The OSG through its lawyer Vernie Hernandez filed a petition to cancel the reconstituted lot title issued to claimant Mariano Godinez before the Cebu City Regional Trial Court.
The OSG said Godinez purportedly made “false representations” in order to be declared the owner of the contested lot located within Camp Lapu-Lapu in nearby barangay Lahug, Cebu City.
The plaintiff also asked the court to order Godinez to surrender the title to the Register of Deeds and to pay for damages sustained by the affected families.
The Register of Deeds was also requested to cancel Godinez’s title. Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol