THE Bacolod City Council unanimously approved during its regular session on Wednesday the appropriation ordinance amounting of P60 million intended for Environment and Sanitary Services. On July 26, Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, who was acting city mayor from July 21 to 27, requested the appropriation in behalf of Mayor Evelio Leonardia who was on leave. The fund will be sourced from the underestimated income for 2016 for the essential needs of the city, based on the certification issued by City Treasurer Giovanni Balalilhe. Familiaran said the P60 million will be used for garbage collection from September 2 to December 31 this year. The contract between the City Government and hauler Dynamic Builders and Construction Co. will end on September 1. Familiaran said a bidding will be conducted to find a new contractor. He added that the garbage collection of the city only costs more or less P15 million a month, whereas the previous administration had been city spending between P25 million to P30 million on a monthly basis. The city has a P170-million appropriated annual budget for the collection and hauling of garbage for 2016, but the fund was already used by the previous administration from January to June. “So what will happen in the next six months?” Familiaran asked. Last week, the Solid Waste Management Board convened and approved a resolution requesting the Bids and Awards Committee to conduct a bidding for garbage collection. Sun.Star Bacolod By MERLINDA A. PEDROSA
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An ordinance appropriating P60 million for environmental and sanitary services of Bacolod City from September 2 to December 31, was unanimously passed by the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod on first, second, third and final reading yesterday. Acting Bacolod Mayor El Cid Familiaran requested the SP on Tuesday for the passage of the appropriation ordinance as Mayor Evelio Leonardia was away on official business. The fund to be used for garbage hauling and collection under a new contractor will be sourced from the underestimated income for 2016 local taxes based on the certification issued by City Treasurer Giovanni Balalilhe. Familiaran was designated by Leonardia as officer-in-charge from July 21 to 27, while Councilor Cano Tan was designated as acting Vice Mayor. The P60 million will be used for garbage hauling and collection covering the period September 2 to December 31, Familiaran said. This will only cost the city about P15 million a month compared to the current contract where the city spends about P25 million to P30 million a month for garbage collection, he said. Familiaran said this will involve a new bidding for garbage hauling and collection since the city can no longer extend the services of Dynamic Builders and Construction Co. after having extended its services twice already. He said the city has appropriated in its 2016 annual budget about P170 million supposedly for the collection and hauling of garbage for one year. Unfortunately, the budget was already used up in just six months from January to June. So they passed a supplemental budget for July to August, he said. Councilor Caesar Distrito pointed out that the city had spent almost P230 million for payment to the garbage contractor covering eight months after the contract of the Dynamic Builders was extended. Meanwhile, Department of Public Services head Nelson Sedillo said the Solid Waste Management Board convened last week and approved resolutions requesting the Bids and Awards Committee to conduct bidding for garbage collection, as the extended contract of Dynamic Builders with the city government will expire on Sept. 2. The board also approved a resolution creating the Technical Working Group that will come up with the terms of reference for the contract with the new garbage collector, he said. Sedillo, a member of the SWMB, said that the city must start the bidding process for garbage collection since the law will no longer allow the existing contractor another extension after its contract with the city ends on Sept. 2. Before the city extended the contract of Dynamic Builders from July 2 to Sept. 2, its contract had already been extended for six months covering January 2 up to July 1, he said. Sedillo said that with the re-organization of the SWMB, changes could be made in the terms of reference in which the city pays the contractor based on the volume of garbage collected per cubic meter. He said the city pays Dynamic Builders about P30 million a month for garbage collection, hauling and maintenance, compared to previous the contractors, Metrowaste Solidwatse Management and Enviroking which were paid a fixed amount of P9 million a month for garbage collection and hauling only. BAC chairman and City Agriculturist Goldwyn Nifras said they can only start the biding process once there is already a purchase request.*CGS Visayan Daily Star Bacolod councilor has sought the National Bureau of Investigation's help to determine who are the persons behind the spread of text messages falsely accusing him of being an illegal drugs financier so that legal action can be taken against them. Councilor Cano Tan yesterday said he sought help from the NBI through Ferdinand Lavin, former NBI Negros Island regional director and now national spokesman of the bureau. Tan said he submitted to the NBI the phone numbers from which the text messages accusing him of being an illegal drugs financier came, and so far, the sender of one has been traced for investigation. He urges those who get anonymous text messages accusing him of having links to illegal drugs to provide him with the phone numbers used so they can be submitted to the NBI. Those spreading messages falsely accusing others should not be tolerated, libel cases should be filed against them, Tan said. This is not the first time such false accusations have been alleged against him, it has been going on for the past 20 years, especially near election time, Tan said. But he said the NBI and the police have certified that he is not engaged in the drug trade, and is not on their watchlist, he said. “I want to put an end to all of that…it is painful for my family for me to be wrongfully accused,” Tan said. It is no joke to be falsely accused of being involved in the illegal drugs trade, he added. “I have never engaged in any illegal business, my life and business have been open books,” he said. Tan said he, too, has campaigned against the use of illegal drugs. Meanwhile, Tan said he has been designated acting vice mayor from July 21 to 26, and Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran will be acting mayor while Mayor Evelio Leonardia is out of town.*CPG Visayan Daily Star BY CARLA GOMEZ The barangay captain of Brgy. 41, Bacolod City, said they are planning to seek a temporary restraining order or injunction from the court to stop the Araneta family and Megaworld from closing the access road of the Bacolod Murcia Milling Company leading to Doña Juliana Heights. Barangay Captain Leonilo Colegado, in an interview over Aksyon Radyo yesterday, said the residents of Brgy. 41 are willing to transfer to the Arao Relocation site, but the area is not yet ready. He said that since the property owner closed the access road from BMMC leading to Doña Juliana Heights yesterday, about 1,000 residents living near the riverbank have been affected. BMMC has provided them access through Lopez Jaena–Galo streets, but they are asking for reconsideration since the road is too far for the residents, Colegado said. They submitted a barangay resolution to the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod last week asking for a survey and ocular inspection by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the City Engineer's Office on the boundary of the Araneta property and Gonzaga property in Purok 4, beside the creek in Purok 5 near the riverbank, because they believe the survey done by the property owner is not correct, he said. They also wrote the Araneta family on the matter but have not received any reply, he added. Megaworld is planning to build its first township, to be called The Upper East at the 34-hectare property that used to be the BMMC on the eastern side of Bacolod and is just across the city government center. Meanwhile, Felipe Minerva, Megaworld operations manager for the Visayas, had earlier written the SP, that they cannot delay the closure of the main gate of the BMMC compound because the present occupants of the property have alternative routes going out and getting in to the compound, such as the Galo-Lopez Jaena road. He said they have given the occupants/squatters enough notices and all the accommodations they need to relocate, such as relocation site and helped them in processing Bacolod Housing Authority requirements for lot allocation, including financial assistance, demolition/hauling assistance, water facilities at the relocation site (4 units deep well) and electrical facilities. The continued presence of informal settlers in the area will cause a delay in the project and its completion, Minerva added. On the other hand, Councilor Renecito Novero, chairman of the SP Committee on Urban Poor, Housing and Resettlement, said they will study the possibility of creating a trust fund for manmade disaster under an ordinance that was authored by former Councilor and now Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran. Under the ordinance the fund will be taken from the calamity fund, which can be utilized in providing assistance for victims of relocation and ejectment, that can be considered as manmade disaster, he said. Novero said they have discussed the matter with the urban poor and this will be among the items to be taken up in their July 29 conference at the government center. They have invited Mayor Evelio Leonardia to give the welcome address and answer the concerns of the urban poor during the conference, he said. One of the problems of the urban poor is urban housing and relocation. He met with them before June 30 on the matter, Novero said. However, the Bacolod Housing Authority has no official head yet so, it could not decide as far as providing assistance, identification of beneficiaries and relocation sites, he said.*CGS Visayan Daily Star BY CHRYSEE SAMILLANO The calls for mandatory drug testing of all officials and employees working in the city government has garnered the support of Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran. Prior to being elected as vice mayor, Familiaran said he forwarded three resolutions of the same kind before the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) while serving as councilor. He said, besides regular employees, even job order casuals (JOs) should also undergo drug testing as part of their requirement before being hired to work for the city government. “This is a welcome development from Mayor Evelio Leonardia and this will be in line with the directives of President Rodrigo Duterte,” he said. Familiaran added the drug tests should be carried out yearly to stomp out delinquent government workers if any, and to deter the employees from engaging in illegal drug activities. Last Wednesday, Leonardia ordered the City Legal Office (CLO) to draft a memorandum ordering and requiring all city officials and employees to undergo mandatory drug tests. Councilor Ricardo ‘Cano’ Tan has also revealed plans to file a resolution before the SP for the mandatory testing of all city workers. /WDJ Watchmen Daily Journal By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga CPOC: Bacolod City Mayor and Chair of the City Peace and Order Council Evelio Leonardia (center) with (l-r) LGOO Dino Ponsaran and Councilors Mona Dia Jardin and El Cid Familiaran welcomes the newly installed OIC-City Police Director Ricardo de la Paz during the regular meeting of the CPOC recently. (PIA/EAD)
The Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod yesterday repealed City Ordinance No. 08-14-700, series of 2014, or the ordinance that updated the schedule of market values of real properties in Bacolod City. The tax ordinance, that was also declared by the Department of Justice as null and void for being “unjust and confiscatory”, was repealed with eight SP members voting in the affirmative. Those who voted in favor of repealing the ordinance were Councilors Cano Tan, Caesar Distrito, Cindy Rojas, Renecito Novero, Em Legaspi-Ang, Elmer Sy, Dindo Ramos and Bart Orola. Councilor Wilson Gamboa voted against its passage while Councilors Sonya Verdeflor and Ana Marie Palermo abstained. Distrito, chairperson of the SP Committee on Laws, Ordinances and Good Government and the author of the repealing ordinance, said there is a need to finally put the final nail on the ordinance to allay the fears of the 173,000 landowners in the city about the unreasonable tax hike, and to once and for all resolve all questions regarding its passage. With its passage, real property owners in the city will pay their land taxes based on the old rates, he said. “This is a victory for our poor and oppressed small landowners and taxpayers who can finally sleep soundly every night without being bothered or threatened by any unconscionable and oppressive land tax increase.” Distrito added. Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia thanked the SP for its swift and decisive action in repealing the Real Property Tax Ordinance as he had requested. “While this ordinance has been considered inutile after having been declared unconstitutional by both the Department of Justice and the courts, its repeal puts to rest one of the most abusive measures the previous administration foisted on our people,” he said. “I had always considered it excessive, exploitative, confiscatory and immoral, and am sure most of the councilors now feel the same. I thank Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran and the rest of the SP. Indeed, we can do big things together, and put Bacolod "Back on Track" faster, Leonardia added.*CGS Visayan Daily Star BY CHYRYSEE SAMILLANO POLICE Regional Office 6 Director, C/Supt Cipriano Querol Jr. (2nd from right) seals the muzzle of the issued firearm of Supt. Joseph Bayan, deputy city director for administration of Bacolod City Police Office, while BCPO Director Ricardo Dela Paz and Councilors El Cid Familiaran and Al Victor Espino look. The activity is in compliance with the directive from higher office to seal all short and long firearms of every police officer to prevent them from firing illegally or indiscriminately during the holiday season.
Jared Esquilla City Administrator John Orola said they are planning to remove several illegal vendors operating at the three major public markets in Bacolod City. Orola explained the illegal vendors along Central Market, Burgos Public Market, and Libertad Public Market must be removed since they could pose as a traffic, environment, and safety hazard to the public. “They have been appealing to us to let them stay, however, we cannot allow them to return anymore as long as they are illegal vendors,” Orola said. “We will also see to it that those who have existing contracts will be reviewed and, if they are breaking regulations, we will exercise our right to remove them as well.” The city administrator also said they are now doing several consultations with Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran and Bacolod Traffic Authority Office (BTAO) Head Armando Tubongbanua to carry out clearing operations. He said the presence of the illegal vendors is one of the root causes of last week’s floods and traffic problems. Orola added, they are planning to remove several illegal structures built beside river banks, citing these are not only a hazard but they also block the flow of flood waters./WDJ Watchmen Daily Journal By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga THE City Council of Bacolod approved a resolution authorizing City Administrator John Orola to be a signatory in all documents and checks of the various accounts in the depository banks under the name of the city government. The resolution was approved during the inaugural session Thursday. The checks will be countersigned by City Treasurer Giovanni Balalilhe. Those who voted for the approval were Councilors Caesar Distrito, Ricardo Tan, Cindy Rojas, Renecito Novero, Em Ang, Wilson Gamboa Jr., Dindo Ramos, and Sonya Verdeflor. Councilor Ann Marie Palermo chose to abstain. Councilors Claudio Puentevella and Noli Villarosa were absent. Distrito said that under the Local Government Code, only the city administrator can sign the check and it will be countersigned by the city treasurer. “The city mayor cannot sign the check because he is the one who approves the voucher,” he said. The City Council also approved the resolution authorizing Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran and Balalilhe to sign checks issued by the City Government drawn against the funds of the SP. Sun Star Bacolod By MERLINDA A. PEDROSA |
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