Cebu City to speed up clearing of rivers, creeks
By Eli C. Dalumpines
CEBU CITY, Apr. 29 (PIA) --- The Cebu City government saw an urgent need to speed up the clearing of its rivers and creeks to anticipate the onset of the rainy season which normally comes in the month of June.
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, in a recent radio interview, said that the
water in Mahiga River, which traverses Barangays Banilad and Mabolo, now reached a critical level that may pose danger to nearby residents.
Rama bared that based on the latest inspection which he personally
initiated, the water level in the Mahiga River now measured almost six feet, two times higher than its normal level of only three feet deep.
“The water level in Mahiga River at almost six feet or twice as deep compared to its usual water level of three feet now puts the lives of those living near the riverbank at risk. How much more when the rainy season is here? Clearing must be done immediately,” Rama said.
This, he said, will definitely result to flooding when heavy rains occur like what happened a few months ago.
To avert any disaster, the mayor said he will direct Noel Artes, Director of the city’s Squatters Prevention and Encroachment Elimination Division (SPEED) to really be speedy in removing structures that are causing obstruction in the flow of water.
Artes, in an earlier report though, disclosed that they are already scheduled to start their clearing operations on Monday.
“the first phase will focus on the dismantling of illegal structures on the river after which dredging will follow,” Artes said.
One of the objectives of the clearing operations, Rama stressed, is to recover the 2.5 meter-portion from the river bed. This will serve as an easement area where heavy equipment that will be used in the future clearing and dredging operations will be placed, this is learned.
The city government is allocating P91.3 million from its calamity fund for its flood mitigation measures. (FCR/ECD/PIA 7-Cebu)
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BIR seeks public’s help to hike tax revenues by demanding official receipts
By Fayette C. Riñen
‘BIR promotes its “Premyo sa Resibo” as one way to up taxes’
CEBU CITY, Apr. 29 (PIA) --- Help the government raise tax revenues as the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) appealed to the public that just by asking for official receipts during any purchase is a tremendous contribution in curbing corruption.
Eva Gonzalez of the BIR Central Office said one means of strengthening tax collection efforts is through the taxes generated from the purchase of products or services with official receipts (ORs) and that the non-issuance of ORs deprives the government of the necessary taxes that could have been spent on social services and projects for the people.
“The official receipt or resibo is the principal basis for taxation,” according to Gonzalez.
Gonzalez in a recent briefing to regional directors and infocen managers throughout the country on the BIR’s ‘Premyo sa Resibo’ (PSR) Project, said an effective tax collection stems from an accurate audit through the financial data provided by the ORs, of which paved the way for the agency’s project dubbed “Premyo sa Resibo.’
“The PSR is a tactical support to tax efforts and a source of relevant data mining,” Gonzalez declared.
The PSR is a SMS Text Raffle Project that also provides incentives to the public in winning cash and non-cash prizes, The BIR official said.
More importantly, the PSR serves as a deterrent to establishments or entities to issue proper ORs and motivates compliance to proper OR issuance, Gonzalez stressed.
Based on the data provided by the ORs, the BIR can determine whether issued ORs are fake and to go after these tax evaders which could again be the subject of their another priority program called RATE (Run After Tax Evaders), this is learned.
Based on the results of the BIR monitoring of the PSR and the issuance of No OR among establishments, the penalties collected against erring entities since 2007 has reached P4.1M for the PSR drive while the NO ORs has reached P2.4M as of August 31, 2010, Gonzalez presentation showed.
“Help the government collect the right taxes through the ORs and by this alone, you are helping the government curb corruption,” Gonzalez said.
Since January this year, the PSR Project has been giving out weekly draws of two winners receiving P25,000 in cash and monthly draws of P1M, this is learned.
The PSR started in June 2006 and has been identified as one effective approach to hike tax revenues. (PIA 7 – Cebu)
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Cebu info officers to strengthen the power of communication in towns, cities
CEBU CITY, April 29 (PIA) --- The Cebu Association of City and Municipal Public Information Officers (CAOCAMPIO) with its new set of officers, promises for a more active and much better leadership for the incoming years.
Cebu City PIO Carlo Dugaduga, the newly inducted president of CAOCAMPIO stressed the importance of the power of communication in bringing progress to every town and cities in Cebu.
He said the main purpose of CAOCAMPIO is to provide government communication to the people and to use I it to promote the products, services and places of Cebu.
He said that one of the advocacies of the new CAOCAMPIO administration is to convince local executives to designate Public Information Officers (PIO’s) as a regular item in each city and municipality in the province.
He pointed out that one of the problems of the association is that some of the Local Government Units (LGUs) don’t have PIO’s while some are only designated by their local chief executives.
He added that public information can be a great help for the development of the cities and municipalities of Cebu that is why “we should not underestimate the power of communication.”
Before the induction started, the outgoing CAOCAMPIO president Nelson Ares, hoped that the association meets their thrusts throughout Carlo’s term.
“Ang kalamboan sa tagsa-tagsa ka mga lungsod maoy kalamboan sa atong nasud.” (The development of every town or city is the development of our nation).
These are the parting words of Duga-duga in order to achieve improvement not only in the field of good governance but also in tourism. (PIA-7/CTU Interns)