Newsbriefs

LUCENA CITY

Hero is tax poster boy

The provincial government of Quezon, saddled with a P740-million debt, is appealing to residents to pay taxes early, using a hero of the revolution against Spain as a poster boy.

The campaign featuring local hero Hermano Pule, however, won’t stop at appealing to the sense of patriotism of Quezon residents to collect the right amount of taxes which amounted to only about P400 million this year out of an P800 million estimated target.

Asking Quezon folk to emulate Pule, who founded an anti-Spanish organization called Cofradia de San Jose and was killed in battle on Nov. 1, 1841, Gov. David Suarez said what the province needed now was the heroism of people which they could demonstrate by paying taxes early.

The appeal was made during rites celebrating Pule’s 170th death anniversary last Nov. 4.

The new tax campaign, dubbed “Damayan at Serbisyong Publiko ng Bawat Pisong Buwis Mo,” was aimed at generating the right amount of taxes from real estate and other taxable sources of income in the village, municipal and provincial level, the governor said.

He said had the provincial government been able to collect the right amount of taxes, the provincial coffers would have been P800 million richer.

The Quezon provincial treasury is in the red as it has been saddled with more than P740 million in debts left by the past administration of the late former Gov. Rafael Nantes, Suarez said.

Delfin Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon

BACOLOD CITY

Osmeña clan matriarch dies

The matriarch of a faction of the powerful Osmeña clan is dead. Lourdes de la Rama Osmeña, 98, died at the Pablo O. Torre Memorial Hospital last Sunday.

Five children survive her. Among them are Sen. Sergio Osmeña III and Cebu Rep. Tomas Osmeña.

Lourdes was married to the late Sergio Osmeña Jr. and belonged to the landed De la Rama clan.

Serge said his mother had lost her ability to recognize people for the last three years. “Her eyesight was failing,” the senator said.

Her remains would be brought to Cebu City on Friday, said Serge, and buried at the family mausoleum in Barangay Carreta on Saturday.

President Aquino, according to Serge, was expected to visit the wake of Lourdes today. Carla P. Gomez, Inquirer Visayas

Workers demand P30-40 pay hike

A labor group in Western Visayas is seeking a P30-P40 increase in wages for workers in the region.

Wennie Sancho, labor representative in the Western Visayas wage board, said the Negros-Panay Alliance of Labor on Tuesday sought the wage increase during a meeting called by the wage board in Bacolod City.

The board is currently consulting with various groups on the need for a new wage order following the lapse of the current wage order on Oct. 13 that granted a P12 monthly cost of living allowance to workers.

Sancho said a new wage increase was needed because the actual value of the current minimum wage of P265 per day was only P153.

He said the regional wage board has failed to address the need to preserve the purchasing power of workers’ wages.

Several members of the militant labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno on Tuesday held a picket at the venue of the regional wage board meeting at the Business Inn in Bacolod calling for the abolition of the wage board and reiterating a demand for a P125 legislated wage increase.

Carla P. Gomez, Inquirer Visayas