Retired firefighters to hold “Run for Safety’
In celebration of March as Fire Prevention Month
Cebu City (11 March) – In observance of March as Fire Prevention Awareness Month, the Central Visayas Firefighter Retirees Association, Inc. (CVFRAI) in cooperation with theBureau of Fire Protection (BFP) -7 will spearhead a Fun Run event dubbed ‘Run For Safety.’
The fun run slated on March 25 is a five-kilometer run which will kick-off at 5:00 in the morning at the New Talisay City Hall, South Coastal Road, Cebu traveling 2.5 kilometers towards Cebu City and back to Talisay City.
Top three winners of the fun run from the male and female category will be awarded with prizes and medals.
Each participant will be provided with an individual “singlet,” for purposes of identification and uniformity.
A registration fee is collected to those interested to join the fun run to defray the cost of expenses but more importantly, for the benefit of the BFP-7 retirees.
The event is part of the month-long activities for this year’s celebration of Fire Prevention Month that carries the theme “Kahandaan sa Sunog…TUngo sa Kaunlaran.” (PIA-Cebu/Fayette C. Riñen)
Cebu Archdiocese to lead ‘Walk Against RH Bill’
Cebu City (11 March) - Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma together with other top Church officials will lead a prayer procession next Saturday, March 19 in an activity dubbed “PenitentialWalk for Life” to rally against the rejection of the much-debated controversial Reproductive Health (RH) Bill pending in Congress.
The Walk-Against-the-RH Bill will start from the Fuente Osmeña Rotunda at 6:00 p.m. going to the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral and end with a mass to be officiated by Palma.
Church officials are calling the proposed “Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population and Development Act of 2011” as anti-life because of its pro-abortion provisions and called on the public to oppose the bill, this is reported.
“It’s killing and some don’t know it.” Palma was quoted in a news report citing that the bill will make legal the use of abortifacients, which would kill unborn children and violate their right to life.
March 19 marks the feast of St. Joseph and is also the Cebu prelate’s birthday.
“Immoral, anti-cultural, unconstitutional and financially questionable,” Palma added in the same news story as he negated reports that because the church is opposing the bill, it is anti-women and unmindful of the poor.
Lawmakers who favor the passage of the bill have argued that the bill will be the answer to the country’s rapid ballooning population which is pegged today at 94M while the use of contraceptives should be left for the people to decide based on the freedom of choice.
Negros Occidental fourth district Representative Jeffrey Ferrer, one of the co-authors of the bill, previously said that one must respect an individual’s decision on reproductive health.
"Let us respect the individual’s decision. Let's give the people a chance to choose what they like," Ferrer said.
But Rep. Pastor Alcover Jr. of the Anad Party-list on the other hand, said he would vote for the passage of the bill because it will make medical services mandatory on the part of the government, this is reported.
“I want to make this clear. I am against abortion. But there are several good salient features in the bill like the mandatory health services that prompted me to support it,” Alcover said in the same news article. (PIA-Cebu/Fayette C. Riñen)
Cebu bus operators demand hike fare amid rising oil prices
Cebu City (11 March) - Bus and minibus operators in Cebu want to collect the 2008 fare approved by the Land Transportation Franchise and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) amid rising prices of gasoline.
The 2008 LTFRB-approved fare rate was P8.50 for the first five kilometers and P1 for each succeeding kilometer. But based on the 2008 fare matrix, commuters only pay P8.50 and P1 for the succeeding kilometer.
Operators did not collect the LTFRB-approved P1.35 rate for the succeeding kilometer per request of Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia to suspend its implementation, this is reported.
But with the rising costs of gasoline prices, operators are now demanding to collect the P1.35 succeeding kilometer rate instead of the P1 approved rate.
Gov. Garcia on the other hand, will meet with the local transport operators tomorrow to further discuss the issue.
Just recently, the Cebu Integrated Transport Service Cooperative (Citrasco) has filed a petition to increase the minimum jeepney fare from P7.50 to rate to P8.
Citrasco chairman Ryan Benjamin Yu said that the drivers’ income is getting smaller and that they could better cope with the prevailing economic crisis with P8 as the minimum basic fare as he requested jeepney operators not to hike rentals.
The group filed a petition in 2009 yet to hike the minimum basic fare to P8 but the LTFRB only approved the P7.50 rate.
LTFRB-7 Regional Director Ahmed Cuizon in a news report however quoted that, “we will study it with the end-view of also getting the sentiments of other affected sectors.” (PIA-Cebu/Fayette C. Riñen)
Hope slowly fading for kins of Cebu victims of NZ quake
Cebu City (11 March) - Hope is slowly fading away for the families of six Cebuanostudent nurses that are already feared dead 16 days after a devastating earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand (NZ) left over 150 people dead and more than 200 people missing.
As continuing operations have shifted to the long and painful process of identifying the bodies retrieved from the rubbles of the quake ruins, families of the Cebu victims are still trying very hard to accept that their loved one is indeed gone.
About 161 bodies have been recovered that needs to be identified as the medical and dental records of the victims were submitted by their respective kin for the identification process.
So far, only one body has been identified out of the 11 Filipino victims which were that of 33-year old Cebuana Ivy Jane Cabunilas. Ivy’s husband Rolando Jr. who is in NZ relayed the tragic news to Ivy’s father in Cebu who still could not accept the fate her daughter.
Cabunilas’ body would be brought to Cebu sometime next week, this is reported.
While Cabunilas’ family and relatives begin their grieving process, the other families’ ordeal continues waiting in agony as NZ authorities said it would take about three more weeks for the bodies to be identified.
Families here have already been told that to expect the worse and by this time, no one would have survived the tragedy. But the families of the Cebuano victims have maintained that unless the body of their respective loved one has been identified, they continue to cling to hope with prayers as their only refuge while at the same time, trying to cope for any eventuality.
“We just want her body brought home,” Dr Ethel Uy, aunt of another Cebuano victim Rhea Mae Sumalpong sadly revealed.
In case her remains have been identified, Sumalpong will be buried in Cebu despite the relocation
of her family to Australia as immigrants a few years back. (PIA-Cebu/Fayette C. Riñen)
PIA-7 conducts newsletter production to Balamban LGU
By: Hazel F. Gloria
Balamban, Cebu, March 11(PIA)--The Philippine Information Agency (PIA) in Central Visayas conducted a 2-day Newsletter Production and Photojournalism Seminar-Workshop to 30 participants from the various local government offices and academe in Balamban, Cebu.
In an interview with PIA-7, Balamban Information Officer Lavina Narsico said there is a need for them to produce a newsletter in order to promote the municipality's benchmark and to inform the communities of their programs and projects.
Balamban HRMO Napoloen Moralde is grateful to PIA for granting the LGU’s request for the workshop. It has been their desire to produce a newsletter because there are a lot of information to share about Balamban, he added.
On the first day of the seminar, PIA-7 RD Minerva Newman explained to the participants the process of communication and how to produce news stories. Everyone was excited and eager to learn about news writing, lay-outing and ‘making’ photos.
Chief Photo editor of Cebu Daily News (CDN) Tonee Despojo shared his expertise and the new techniques on photo journalism on the second day of workshop.
Balamban is a 1st class municipality located in the Northern part of Cebu province and 67 kilometers from Cebu City.
Balamban has rapidly grown into an industrial municipality with the shipbuilding industry located at Barangay Buanoy.
More than a decade ago, this town was a mere 4th class municipality. With determination, coupled with a strong sense of responsibility and whose vision is, first and foremost, to uplift the economic life of its people, there is no doubt for Balamban’s continuing economic growth. (pia7/Hazel Gloria)
A landmark in Balamban, Cebu undergoes renovation
By: Myna Marish Y. Conception
Balamban, Cebu March 11 (PIA) -- The Saint Francis of Assisi Parish Church, one of the landmarks of Balamban town undergoes renovation.
Saint Francis of Assisi Parish priest, Rev. Fr. Lemuel Ejercito shared that the church is always In the process of formation and renewal.
The beautification of the landmark started on January 8, 2011. Scaffoldings can now be seen inside and outside the church while the façade is now being repainted.
The churchgoers must be open to changes in order to be renewed. With this project, people get to immerse with other people, Fr. Ejercito smiled.
Fr. Ejercito said the renovation was made possible through the help of a project development committee spearheaded by Rev. Fr. Raul Gallego, VF and Dir. Recaredo Borgonia as the overall project managers.
Archt. Ramon N. Vios, Jr. leads the technical committee with the new design in a tarpaulin posted at the church premises.
The renovation project aims not only to beautify the building but also to give Balambanganons a sense of identity and belongingness as well as bringing back the spirit of unity, harmony, camaraderie and love with God and with each other.
The Balambanganons are glad to see the changes in the physical structure of the building as well as the changes in the relationship with one another in working hand in hand for the fulfillment of this project.
A landmark indeed not only in structural renovation but also in spiritual renewal! (PIA-7/Balamban LGU)