Newsbriefs

Rama faces plaint on lot case

ONE of the heirs of Rev. Fr. Vicente Rallos filed  another complaint against Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama.

Lucina Rallos asked  the Ombudsman-Visayas to investigate Rama for violation of  Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

She cited Rama’s failure to respond to a two-page letter sent by Rallos last July 23.

Under section 5 paragraph a or RA  6713, all government officials and employees must  “act promptly on letters and requests.”

In her letter to the mayor,  Rallos said the family was  willing to strike  a compromise agreement with the city government over the city’s unpaid dues to the family whose lot was expropriated for a road in 1963.

“It cannot be denied that every step of the way, my co-claimants and I consistently offered a compromise to Cebu City, which would have entailed a much lesser expenditure on its part. But the city government ignored or refused the offer,” Rallos said in her letter.

Rallos said the family was offering Cebu City a compromise that would have given a substantial discount to the city. Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol

DILG chief ineffective, Magpale says

COMPOSTELA town residents deserve better than an acting mayor like Regional Director Pedro Noval of the Department of Interior and Local Governments in Central Visayas (DILG-7), said a Capitol official.

Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale said she received complaints from residents about Noval, whom they described as “unfair.”

“I won’t specify who, but there’s the perception that he is unfair,” the vice governor said.

Magpale said with his limited authority, Noval was ineffective as acting mayor.

“There’s no municipal council. It’s up to the Commission on Elections to resolve the leadership vacuum in Compostela,” she told Cebu Daily News.

Interior and Local Governments Secretary Jesse Robredo ordered the reshuffling of regional rectors in Central and Eastern Visayas and the Davao Region. The order reassigned Noval to Region 8.

Assistant DILG-7 Director Elias Fernandez said they will wait for clarification from their  central office because Noval is designated acting mayor of Compostela. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus

Hospital bewails equipment lack

THE government-owned Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) has the specialists but not the equipment to treat patients with breast cancer.

Dr. Herbet Tagab, surgical oncology fellow of the VSMMC, said they continually train surgeons who specialize in oncology but they cannot administer radiation therapy in the hospital.

“We provide chemotherapy, operations and consultations, but we can’t provide the radiation therapy,” he told reporters yesterday.

Tagab said such services are only available in private hospitals like Chong Hua Hospital and Cebu Doctors’ University.

He told Cebu Daily News early detection of breast cancer has a 90 percent chance of survival while stage 2 has a 70-85 percent rate of recovery.

Stage 3 to 4 cuts the patient’s survival rate by 50 percent. Reporter Candeze R. Mongaya