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The Commission on Audit (COA), the guardian of our public funds, has highlighted and identified as “irregular” the several transactions that Lapu-Lapu City undertook last year.

The transactions that COA deemed irregular were the absence of signatures of eight Typhoon Odette victims and 46 persons who received financial assistance twice, either receiving P5,000 or P2,000, for a total of P221,000, as this deprived the other equally deserving beneficiaries.

It also questioned the purchase of overpriced alcohol amounting to almost P181,000 and payments of P4.751 million for supplies, meals, accommodation and various maintenance and other expenses made through reimbursement instead of direct procurement from suppliers, depriving the City Government of an advantage in competitive prices. (SunStar Cebu)

State auditors also discovered that the cash aid was marked as fully liquidated in the account book of the disbursing officer and in the subsidiary ledger. Ahem, something smells fishy, Mayor Ahong Chan.

According to COA, “the absence of the signatures of the payees on the payroll creates doubt as to the actual payment made to the concerned payees. In case payees could not receive payments personally, they are allowed to authorize in writing, persons specifically allowed by law and regulations to represent them.”

I wonder who the disbursing officer will ask to sign the payroll now that the COA audit team recommended (or ordered?) the City to let beneficiaries sign the payroll as an acknowledgment receipt. Did the eight beneficiaries, who supposedly received the aid without signing for it, really receive the aid? Just asking.

Is alcohol expensive? In Lapu-Lapu City, yes, according to COA. State auditors found that the City’s procurement of alcohol worth P180,779.85 was “overpriced” based on the Department of Health circular, “Price Freeze of Essential Emergency Medicines and Medical Devices due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Heath Event.” Maybe, Mayor Ahong’s trusted people bought the alcohol after the price freeze was lifted.

According to a SunStar report, the trusted people of Mayor Ahong failed to notice the DOH circular. The alcohol purchase violated Section 5 of COA Circular 2012-003, which defines excessive expenditures.

Let me quote the reply of Lapu-Lapu City as reported in SunStar Cebu: “The City explained that during the purchase, it had not received a copy of the said circular. The Bids and Awards Committee also made sure that the purchase of the alcohol was not ‘unreasonably high and excessive’ in accordance with the City’s expenditures.”

“From one supplier to the next, the committee remained attentive to the different prices of the medical supplies and, to the best of their discretion, chose the most inexpensive ones available. Yet, admittedly but inadvertently, they failed to recognize the applicable department issuances due to the urgency of the matter because of the pandemic,” the City said.

What is more telling in the COA report is the City’s reimbursement of purchases of supplies, meals, accommodation and various maintenance and other expenses that amounted to P4.751 million. This practice, according to COA, violates the Local Government Code on procurement that mandates public bidding.

COA has ordered Mayor Chan to stop the practice, and directed the city accountant and city treasurer to ensure that all payments are done in check paid directly to the creditor.

King Solomon, in deciding the dispute between two mothers in the Book of Genesis, looked beyond technicalities and subtleties of human laws and human reasoning. He employed wisdom, conscience and a moral compass to come up with the right, wise judgment.

Thus, the problem was solved, quickly and easily. Solomon found out who the real mother was. Sanity prevailed over “legalism” (and politics).

Television and Production Exponents (Tape) Inc. is the registered/legal owner of the trademark Eat Bulaga. But who owns Eat Bulaga apart from the trademark? And to whom should the trademark go?

Obviously, TVJ vs. Tape is a battle that goes far more than a dispute over who owns the trademark. It is about the legitimacy and ethicality of ownership of the child or of the program. If the mother is the mother by blood, what is it in the child that the mother does not own, much less if the mother has never left/abandoned the child?

Now who’s the real mother of Eat Bulaga? Is it Tape who owns it on paper? Or is it Tito, Vic and Joey (TVJ) who themselves are the very heart and soul of Eat Bulaga; they who breathe and own every bit and part of it (not just the name) as originators and pioneers of the show in every sense/aspect of its existence? Tape, for its part, can only own and keep its Intellectual Property Office (IPO) paper at best -- but just for now that the IPO hasn’t decided yet on the case.

Eat Bulaga has been around for over four decades and its name has been synonymous with TVJ from the very outset. In contrast, most television viewers have never heard of Tape but just until recently when its squabble with TVJ erupted in the media.

The longest-running noontime show was birthed, nurtured and made to grow and endure by TVJ from its infancy to its adult stage, until its 44th birthday this month of July, which would be celebrated on the 29th (sans the celebrants, oddly) by a new show that wrongly/unjustly and awkwardly uses the program’s title.

What I know about tapes is that they belong to dispensers and vice versa. The same is true with Eat Bulaga as belonging to TVJ and vice versa, regardless of Tape.

I don’t watch Eat Bulaga and the other noontime shows. My interest in writing on the issue is not in any way about fondness for Eat Bulaga or disdain for its copycat, but rather on sharing some tenable, sagacious thoughts surrounding a seemingly intricate, complex situation -- to enlighten everyone, with the hope that by doing so, I may contribute to the transformation of our justice system, should authorities or our magistrates get to read this.

The case of TVJ vs. Tape is a case wherein “justice” is pitted against “law.” And it is exactly the same case as in the numerous, countless court cases (past and present) wherein miscarriage of justice was and is being committed which resulted and would result in rendering wrong, preposterous, blind decisions.

THE Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO 7) is on a full alert status for the Asia Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) Business Advisory Council meetings that will be held at Nustar Convention Center in South Road Properties (SRP) in Cebu City from July 27 to July 29, 2023.

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is expected to join the event, that will be attended by around 150 delegates from all over the world.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Ace Pelare, spokesperson of Police Regional Office (PRO 7) Director Brigadier General Anthony Aberin, they raised the alert status from normal to full alert.

Pelare said they also coordinated with the host local government unit and the intelligence community to provide security, although they had not received any reports of security threats.

Since this is a significant event, Pelare revealed that they are closely monitoring for a possible protest that will be organized by the cause-oriented groups.

Pelare, however, declared that they have strict security measures in place and urged the militant groups to adhere to their policy if they wanted to stage a protest.

Hundreds of police officers will be stationed at SRP and other tourist hotspots in the Central Visayas, where the delegates are anticipated to travel after the conference, according to Pelare.

The Cebu City police will also assist in providing security to ensure the safety of the visitors.(AYB, TPT)

John Howard's remark comes ahead of a historic referendum on Indigenous recognition.

A MAN has been charged with parricide after he killed his own father in Sitio Upper Site, Barangay Pit-os, Cebu City around 6 p.m. on last Friday, July 21, 2023.

The victim, Renel Rogon Layson, 50, was watching television inside their home when his son Renan Jay, 21, attacked him.

The victim sustained a hack wound in the back and was rushed to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, where he expired at 7:50 a.m. of the following day, Saturday.

Responding policemen immediately arrested the suspect and charged him with parricide.

Renan Jay acknowledged to the crime but said that he committed it because his father had mauled his younger sister after raping her.

"Iya man gud gi rape ang akung manghod sir nya iya pa gyud kulatahon ang akung mga igsuon nga gagmay. Nakit-an man nako sir, nakadungog pa gyud ko," matod ni Renan Jay.

(He raped my younger sister, sir, and he even beat my younger siblings. I saw it, sir, and I heard it).

Renan Jay claimed that after witnessing his sister being raped, he slammed the door, left the house, and returned in the evening to kill his father.

However, the suspect's sister, who is about to graduate from education course, refuted the claim against their father, claiming that her brother was unaware of what he was talking and adding that their father is a good man.

"Wala na gyud mi masayod anang iyang mga rason, wala gyud na sila kulataha ni papa akung mga igsuon. Ang akung dakong pangutana nganong ingun ana iyang estorya gyud. Naa na gyud nay sayop sa iyang utok nadala na siguro na sa iyang gipang hithit," she said.

(We don't know what he was talking about, my father did not beat my siblings. My main concern is why he is speaking in that manner. There is something wrong in his brain, possibly as a result of sniffing).

Renan Jay was previously detained in Abuyog Penal Farm in Leyte after allegedly stabbing his employer in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.

He was released in June 2023 after serving his jail sentence, but his behavior is said to have changed, which his family believes was caused by the use of illegal drugs.(AYB, TPT)

July 26, 2023 6:47 PM

The world lender has urged India to reverse the ban.

July 26, 2023 6:47 PM

Beijing is a major ally and arms supplier of Myanmar’s generals.

The move comes after Indonesia police smashed a human trafficking ring involving law enforcement officials who sent people to Cambodia to sell their kidneys.

IF YOU still missed the SIM registration deadline, you have a final grace period to comply with the law.

Globe, TM, and Globe At Home Prepaid WiFi users who missed the July 25 deadline for SIM registration will already feel the impact of non-compliance, with their outgoing services and incoming calls deactivated.

But, as stipulated in the implementing rules and regulations of the SIM Registration Act, they still have five days- from July 26 to 30– to catch up and save their SIM from permanent deactivation. Their incoming SMS is still left active so they could receive a One-Time Pin for SIM registration.

"Globe recognizes the essential role of uninterrupted mobile and broadband services in our customers' daily lives. So, as provided for in the law, SIM users get this last chance to register their SIMs after missing the initial and extended registration deadlines. Our team is committed to assisting our customers who need help. We strongly urge everyone to seize this opportunity to avoid any inconvenience," said Ernest Cu, Globe Group President and CEO.

To reactivate your SIMs and restore full mobile services, customers have to connect to a WiFi network and complete their SIM registration via Globe's dedicated platform at https://new.globe.com.ph/simreg or through the GlobeOne app. Globe Stores and EasyHubs are also open to assist walk-in customers who need assistance. Reactivation of full mobile services will happen within 24 hours following.

Failure to reactivate during this five-day grace period will lead to permanent SIM deactivation. As a consequence, all services, including incoming and outgoing text messages, calls, and mobile data connectivity will no longer be available. This may also impact access to active mobile applications, including banking, transport, and other apps crucial for daily needs.

Starting July 31, 2023, all remaining load balances and promo registrations on unregistered SIMs will also be forfeited. Those with deactivated SIMs who need mobile services will have to purchase new SIMs, which will then also have to be registered to activate.

The SIM registration grace period is the final opportunity for customers to register their SIMs and secure their mobile services. Globe, TM, and Globe At Home Prepaid WiFi customers are encouraged to act swiftly to avoid the consequences of permanent deactivation.

Customers are reminded that SIM registration is an integral part of the broader initiative to strengthen customer security and prevent fraud. Completing this step is necessary not only to retain their mobile services but to ensure their digital safety.

To learn more about Globe, visit https://www.globe.com.ph/. (SPONSORED CONTENT)

July 26, 2023 6:25 PM

Malaysia and Asean have previously rejected any engagement with the junta.

Malaysia – a vocal critic of the junta – and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have previously rejected any possibility of dialogue because of human rights issues.

Egay was last spotted 70 kilometers west northwest of Calayan in Cagayan with maximum sustained winds of 175 kph near the center and gusts of up to 240 kph. It was moving northwest at 10 kph. 

Manila [Philippines], July 26 (ANI): A strong Typoon 'Doksuri' caused widespread floods and landslides on Wednesday, killing at least one person in Philippines, CNN reported citing the authorities. Two people were injured as well. According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, Typhoon Doksuri, also known as Egay in the Philippines, has caused flooding in five different provinces and more than a

The opposition wants to trigger a debate about the violence in Manipur state, in which at least 130 people have been killed and 60,000 displaced since May.

Opposition parties say the prime minister should address parliament about the violence in Manipur state.

Lawmakers on Wednesday called on the House of Representatives to launch an investigation into the recent discovery of human remains inside a septic tank at the New Bilibid Prison.

July 26, 2023 5:05 PM

The opposition wants to force the PM to address in detail concerns about the violence.

A 38-YEAR-OLD man was arrested for allegedly stealing construction materials intended for the building of a house.

The incident took place in Sitio Puntod, Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City around 11 p.m. on Sunday, July 23, 2023.

The suspect was identified as Handsome Tapang Ebon, 38, a resident of Sitio Lawis of the said barangay.

Jenny Managaytay, 30, and Jerry Mancao, both residents of Sitio Puntod, reported the incident to the police.

Police Major Jonathan Bethoven Taneo, chief of Mambaling Police Station 11, said Ebon took 20 2x2 pieces of wood worth P2,000, 10 steel bars worth P3,000 and five sheets of plywood worth P3,000.

Taneo said that Managaytay and Mancao noticed that Ebon kept coming back to get the construction materials, prompting them to seek police help.(BBT, TPT)

RECENT news that came out revealed that Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO) Chief Colonel Rommel Ochave was one of the 18 high-ranking police officers who submitted a courtesy resignation to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

According to Police Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Ace Pelare, the spokesperson of Police Regional Office (PRO 7) Director Brigadier General Anthony Aberin, they have not yet received an order from Camp Crame and the Department of Interior and Local Government to replace Ochave, but he added that their office is ready to comply if there is one.

"We know of that news items circulating naa ang atoang (that our) provincial director sa Cebu Police Provincial Office Police Colonel Ochave naapil didto sa gipang-lista (is included in the list) accordingly, but as an office we are still waiting for the official instruction. As of now we cannot comment on his status because we are still waiting for the official order from the Philippine National Police (PNP)," Pelare said.

Pelare, however, explained that if there is a change in leadership, it will not affect their work since they have already prepared for it.

"Kining mga panghitabo sa (These events in the) PNP this is part of the process that we are undertaking and the PNP is a professional organization and will be compliant whatever the instruction of the higher headquarters," Pelare said. (AYB, TPT)

China's top diplomat is a familiar face, known for taking a hard line on those that cross Beijing.