NEWS BRIEFS

MALABUYOC TOWN COUNCILOR CHARGED WITH BIGAMY

THE OFFICE of the Ombudsman in the Visayas has charged a former municipal councilor with bigamy.

Elizabeth Almeida of Malabuyoc, southern Cebu, was accused of contracting a second marriage in 1994 while she was Malabuyoc’s municipal councilor although her first marriage wasn’t dissolved yet.

The anti-graft office found probable cause to elevate the charge to the Regional Trial Court.

Bail was set at P24,000.

Under the Revised Penal Code, a person can be held liable for bigamy if he or she contracts a second or subsequent marriage before the former marriage has been legally annulled, or before the absent spouse has been declared presumptively dead by the law.

The penalty is imprisonment of six to 12 years. Reporter ADOR VINCENT S. MAYOL

BETTER EFFICIENCY NOTED IN CEBU CITY TAX COLLECTION

Improved collection efficiency and savings from Cebu City’s Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) is expected to reduce this year’s deficit from a projected P800 million to only P214 million.

City Treasurer Tessie Camarillo said her office already collected P3.3 billion from local taxes and its Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) share or 80 percent of its collection target of P4.2 billion as of Nov. 30.

“But we still have an uncollected amount of P695 million (which we will try to collect until Dec. 31),” said Camarillo.

City Budget Officer Nelfa Briones said that while the city has yet to collect P695 million in taxes, it had savings of P480 million from its MOOE thereby reducing the city’s shortfall to P214.7 million.

Briones said the city also identified savings of about P125 million from the Personal Service appropriation as of Wednesday.

The PS savings was identified as source of the P46.5-million appropriation that the city needed for the distribution of P10,000 extra cash gift to its 4,610 employees.

But Briones said that the PS savings could further reduce “because we are still processing (for payments) now.”

Camarillo told the council they have managed to improve CTO’s collection efficiency to 80 percent as of Nov. 30. CHIEF OF REPORTERS DORIS BONGCAC