Newsbriefs

Old vehicles for sale

TO cut down on maintenance costs, Councilor Jose Daluz III proposed the public auction of government vehicles aged eight years old.

Daluz said the General Services Office agreed that maintenance costs for some government vehicles were high owing to their deteriorating condition.

A Commission on Audit (COA) circular said a motor vehicle can be in good running condition for seven years.

Vehicles aged seven years old are assessed at 10 percent of its cost in purchase, said the COA circular.

Daluz said he proposed the sale of government vehicles aged seven years old and secondhand vehicles aged five years old.

Daluz said a draft ordinance that he would soon present to the council would allow current users to buy the vehicle being auctioned.

He said they are only waiting for an inventory of all City Hall vehicles aged seven years old. Chief of the Reporters Doris C. Bongcac

X-ray machines, please

LOCAL Customs officials called on their national office and the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) to fund the purchase of an X-ray machine to no avail.

In yesterday’s 888 news forum, Customs Collector Paul Alcasaren of the Mactan port said an X-ray machine will help detect smuggled drugs and contraband being shipped by traffickers and smugglers to the province.

Alcasaren said the three kilos of shabu confiscated from a Kenyan may have been detected earlier and spared work for agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Last week, 24-year-old Asha Atieno Ogutu was caught with shabu in her travel bag at the Mactan airport.

Despite their limitations, Alcasaren said they were able to perform their job well.

Cebu District Collector Ronnie Sylvestre said they will double their monitoring efforts to prevent the smuggling of goods in the province especially those being shipped from China. Correspondent Chito Aragon

School buildings for Mandaue

AN agreement was signed between the Mandaue City government and the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. to build P30-million worth of school buildings, facilities and classrooms in the city.

Mayor Jonas Cortes, RAFI president Jon Ramon Aboitiz and school officials, signed the agreement for the projects, which will kick off in the next few days and will be finished by February next year.

Under the agreement the foundation and the city government will build the school buildings on a 70/30 scheme with the foundation providing 70 percent and 30 percent from the city.

Among the project sites were barangays Canduman, Cabancalan, Banilad, Tingub, Jagobiao and Subangdaku. Correspondent Norman V. Mendoza