NEWS BRIEFS

YOUTH CONGRESS BUDGET

THE budget for the 1st Cebu City Youth Congress on Aug. 12 will be reviewed after some cost items were questioned as too expensive.

The Cebu City Council last Wednesday deferred its approval after Councilor Leah Japson called for a review to maximize public funds.

Japson said spending P900 per delegate at the Cebu Business Hotel in downtown Cebu City and P350 for each event T-shirt was too much.

She recalled organizing a women’s summit in the same hotel for P450 each to include lunch and two snacks.

Vice Mayor Joy Young also noted that the city government’s usual expense for a printed T-shirt was P160.

At least 220 youth leaders from the city’s 80 barangays and officers of the Federation of Supreme Student Government of different colleges and universities will attend the congress.

A total budget of P393,900 for the event was requested by Councilor Sisinio Andales.

He said the the figures in his proposed resolution were “estimates” but agreed to review the budget after the council deferred passage of his resolution until the next session.

The congress aims to “harmonize” government projects and identify programs for youth development. Reporter Doris Bongcac

SUROY-SUROY MIDWEST KICKS OFF TODAY

About 200 tourists will be joining the Suroy Suroy sa Sugbo tourism caravan as it heads for midwest Cebu today.

Visitors taking part in the Cebu provincial government’s countryside tour on June 11 and 12 will see heritage and tourist attractions in the Toledo City and the towns of Aloguinsan, Balamban, Tuburan, Pinamungajan, Asturias and Tabuelan.

Among the visitors are Consul General of China, He Shi Jing, and his wife, said Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, who leads the tour.

“It’s really full of surprises. Dili ingon kay sum-ol… Proof of the pudding is in the eating” she said, in response to negative commentaries about the tour, which is on its fifth year.

She said municipal residents get “excited” when the tour buses come to their town. Participants are charged a package rate that includes the cost of staying in a hotel and sightseeing.

The governor’s daughter, Christina Codilla-Frasco, who was appointed last week as Capitol consultant on projects and programs institutionalization, will not be joining the tour. She said she has a previously scheduled business trip.

Frasco, in an e-mail, said she presented a general framework and process during last Monday’s meeting of Capitol department head and consultants.

She said she was gathering information about past Suroy Suroy tours and will meet this week with organizers to show them a draft “framework” on “information, logistics, details” needed in the program.

Part of her tasks as consultant is to come up with guidebooks for each provincial program to ensure they continue beyond the present administration.

Day 1 includes a tour of the ship building compound of Tsuneishi in Balamban town, visits to different churches and heritage structures in Asturias and Tuburan, then a sunset dinner at the Maravilla Beach Club in Tabuelan town.

On Day 2, visitors will take in the sights of Pinamungajan and Aloguinsan towns and take a boat ride through the Bojo River.

The caravan will end in Toledo City for the the Hinulawan Festival. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus