Fill court vacancies

Budget Secretary Butch Abad clarified that it is not true that the administration  of President Benigno Aquino III is cutting the budget of the judiciary, the reason  the Supreme Court is  protesting.

Abad said, however, that government institutions like the Supreme Court are being asked to fill vacancies in their offices or else the budget for the unfilled positions shall go back to the treasury.

SC Administrator Jose Midas Marquez complained that this did not happen before.  Abad retorted that this is the new administration’s way of  correcting some of the problems that happened  under the administration of president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

In a way what the government is saying is: You have a budget. Please use it  or else the unusued allocation goes back to the  government for other urgent  purposes.

I think the government is correct here. What’s the use of allocating a budget for  your office when it’s not going to use it?  Offices should be circumspect in spending well its budget instead of  hoarding it when other agencies need the money.

The classic example is that the SC has a budget for unfilled positions but in Cebu many court branches still have no judges. Hopefully with the new policy, the vacancies in Cebu will be filled.

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Let me congratulate Cebu  officials for helping make  the island the 8th best island destination in Asia as cited by readers of the prestigious travel magazine Condé Naste.

I am happy that efforts of leaders headed by Gov. Gwen Garcia and Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama  paid off despite criticism from some politicians.

For Cebu City what is most important is to address the traffic and flooding problems of the city.

Traffic and drainage master plans should already be drafted so that these can be implemented soon. Our congressmen should help local government units in this endeavor instead of doing their own  thing regardless of what city leaders and residents say.

Another challenge for the mayor is  street children who prey on foreigners. Recently, members of Rotaplast International Medical Mission who assisted  the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center were victimized by  a boy snatcher near the Fuente police station. The visitors were  walking from the Circle Summit Hotel.

Mind you, this is not the first time street children  broke the law. This  is the same complaint that Cebu City Police Chief Supt. Ramon Melvin Buenafe expressed to me in one of the parties held at the Rama Compound. I immediately  reported the snatching incident to the mayor.  He said city officials were  talking about the same issue recently with the police.

So what are are we going to do with this street child who has mastered the art of stealing valuables from foreign visitors?  Should we amend the Justice Juvenile Law so that minors can  be arrested and sent to jail?

I think it won’t  make any difference.  It would even be more detrimental to these children.

The activities of these youngsters should be  monitored and regulated by the police and the community. Policemen should be assigned to areas  frequented by  street children so that they no  longer prey on  tourists.

I think  a syndicate is  behind some of these street children who steal. The amounts they  steal is sometimes substantial. One  would wonder where all this goes.

It’s time the Cebu  city government and our community seriously look into this problem and address it so that it would not cause a black eye on our tourism promotion efforts.