News Briefs

BUHISAN DAM EXHIBIT

THE Metropolitan  Cebu Water District (MCWD) yesterday opened an exhibit of pictures that tells the history of the Buhisan Dam and the people behind its construction 100 years ago.

MCWD general manager Armando Paredes, board member Leo Pacaña, Councilors Margot Osmeña and Nida Cabrera,  Architect Melva Java and commissioners of the Cultural and Historical Affairs Commission attended the opening of the exhibit in the  at the Sinulog hall of the Rizal Memorial Library and Museum.

Osmeña  said  the exhibit is meant to “inform public of the existence of the Buhisan Dam. Many Cebuanos do not know of the existence of the dam and that it is now 100 years old.”

The Buhisan Dam marker, designed as a  “dance of the water,” was unveiled during the exhibit opening.

MCWD will launch the marker on February 2012.  MCWD and CHAC mounted seven photos of the Buhisan Dam and its detailed plan and three paintings of  persons—Don Sergio Osmeña Sr., Eusebius Julius Halsema and Dr. Arlington Pond—who were responsible for its construction in 1912

Don Sergio collaborated with then governor Dionisio Jakosalem to build the dam with Halsema as architect./Correspondent Edison A. delos Angeles

WORKERS’ COMMISSION IN BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE

THE creation of a commission on labor in the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines would be discussed by prelates in their Janury 2012 plenary assembly.

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, who will assume as   CBCP president this December, said he hopes the bishops would be open to the creation of the commission that would help workers address concerns like low wages, contractualization and  union busting.

“That is the sad reality of all workers and we share those sorrows,” Palma said during Mass at the end of a four-day national conference between the church and the labor sector  in Cebu City.

“I really hope and pray that it would happen,” Palma told  reporters, referring to the creation of a CBCP workers’ desk, which he said would lead to the formation of  a permanent commission.

“The creation of a desk would already be a big achievement,” the archbishop told reporters.

Delegates of the church-workers conference earlier agreed to create a Church People and Worker’s Solidarity organization to address the concerns of workers.

The incoming CBCP head said injustices to workers is happening everywhere and should be addressed.

” The church people also play a big role in trying to answer the concerns of the workers.”/Reporter Candeze R. Mongaya