NEWS BRIEFS

Best practices for LGUs

DISSEMINATNG information and maximizing community involvement are crucial factors that lead to the success and sustainability of projects in local government units (LGUs).

Vice Mayor Alfredo Arquillano Jr. of San Francisco town said bringing the projects to the barangay level resulted to success to the projects he initiated.

Arquillano was among the speakers during yesterday’s forum dubbed “Kisaw na! Haring Lungsod sa Brgy” organized by the Dilaab Foundation in Cebu and the University of Cebu College of Law.

He said the purok system is effective in implementing the programs on health, education and disaster risk management.

“We need to continually mobilize the community because we still have a lot of things to do,” Arquillano said. Arquillano served as a three-term mayor of San Francisco.

His town bested 57 other towns and cities in Cebu in the E-Gwen program of the Cebu provincial government.

Early this year, San Francisco also won the United Nations Sasakawa Award for Disaster Risk Reduction 2011 given in Geneva, Switzerland.

Among the criteria for the award is the sustainability of projects despite scarcity in resources and putting people first. Reporter Candeze R. Mongaya

Anti-drug canine unit

A NEWLY created anti-drug commission in Cebu wants to set up a canine unit fpr deployment in the province’s airport, seaports and bus terminals.

Regional Director Jigger Montallana of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) presented the proposal during the commission’s inaugural meeting yesterday. Montallana said these dogs will serve as “front liners” in the commission’s narcotics detection.

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, who chairs the Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Commission (CPADAC), said they will study the proposal.

The Cebu Provincial Board (PB) approved the creation of an anti-drug abuse commission last September. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus

Funeral services debt reaches P1.6M

A FUNERAL parlor is asking Cebu City Hall to settle P1.6-million worth of services it delivered to them through the city’s burial assistance program.

Zigfred Diaz, the funeral parlor’s vice president for operations, wrote Councilor Margot Osmeña last Oct. 20 to ask help for their payment. Osmeña chairs the council’s budget committee.

Diaz said they and several barangays already submitted the required documents since last year. He said barangays Basak San Nicolas, Tisa and Guadalupe owed them P984,000, P360,000 and P224,000 respectively.

Diaz said the last payment they received from the city government was last year yet. Correspondent Edison delos Angeles

Right-of-way payments

Lot owners affected by the road-widening project covering Tayud, Consolacion, and Liloan towns will be paid accordingly, the Capitol said yesterday.

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said the payment will be based on how the lots are assessed by the Provincial Assessor’s Office with technical assistance from the Department of Public Works and Highways in Central Visayas (DPWH-7).

Provincial engineer Eulogio Pelayre said they are targeting to finish the first phase of the project which covers 6.4 kilometers by December this year.

About P50 million of the P379-million road-widening project was already turned over to the province. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus