Here’s what you need to know this firs Monday morning of 2016. The top Cebu news headlines for January 4, 2016.
Mandaue City announces plans to ease traffic
The Mandaue City Government is looking into ways to lessen the monstrous traffic prevailing in the city, according to Florentino Nimor Jr., the new executive director of the Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (TEAM).
TEAM has come up with a list short-term solutions that are seen to ease the traffic within 6 months, including:
- Installation of more traffic lights and surveillance cameras
- Widening roads and opening bypass roads in less populated areas
- training TEAM personnel on traffic law enforcement and how to sketch accident scenes and not wait for the traffic investigator
- hiring more traffic enforcers
- hiring of a towing company to handle vehicles that break down
- tapping schools and malls to help solve the traffic problem
- automating database of traffic accidents to help TEAM analyze data
- crowdsourcing on social media to get people involved in traffic planning and enforcement
Simultaneous road repairs by the Department of Public Works and Highways and the increase in the number of vehicles on Cebu’s roads worsened traffic in Mandaue City, a transit area to Consolacion town and the cities of Cebu and Lapu-Lapu.
READ
- Sun.Star Cebu: Target: Less traffic
- Sun.Star Cebu: Sketching classes, fielding scouts and a tow truck
No more permits for ‘wild’ Sinulog parties
The Sinulog Foundation, Inc. will no longer allow street parties along the parade route and public roads, in a bid to prevent what happened last year when drunken revelers slept on the streets and boisterous behavior was reported among partygoers.
The ban on road parties will take effect from January 15, Friday, to 17, the Sunday of the Sinulog grand parade.
Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI) executive director Ricky Ballesteros said they may allow street parties in areas that are far from the parade route like in IT Park or Ayala Center.
“The following day photos of drunken youths sleeping on the streets appear all over social media. It’s not a welcome sight because Sinulog originated as a religious event. We are also hosting the International Eucharistic Congress a week after.”
SFI executive director Ricky Ballesteros, as quoted by Cebu Daily News.
READ
- Cebu Daily News: No more permits for wild parties on Sinulog route
7 Cebu universities named centers of excellence, development
The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has named 7 universities in Cebu as Centers of Excellence (COEs) and Centers of Development (CODs) in different educational disciplines from 2016 to 2018.
CHED declared the Cebu Normal University (CNU), University of San Carlos (USC), Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U), and University of the Philippines-Cebu (UP Cebu) as Centers of Excellence in 10 different fields.
CHED also declared the University of the Visayas (UV), University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R), University of Cebu (UC), and USC as Centers of Development in 11 different fields.
Getting a Center of Excellence stamp means that the university “has demonstrated excellent performance in a respective field in the areas of teaching instruction, research and publication, extension and linkages, and has reached institutional qualifications,” Cebu Daily News said in its reprt.
This identifies the university as a world-class educational center and can be advertised by the government to international institutions for student exchanges and international lectures, said CHEd Central Visayas director Freddie Bernal.
USC was declared a COE for Business Administration, Entrepreneurship, Office Administration, Chemical Engineering, Physics and Anthropology. CNU is the only COE in Central Visayas for Nursing. UP Cebu was declared a COE for Information Technology and Environmental Sciences. CIT-U got a COE declaration for Information Technology.
READ
Cebu Daily News: 7 universities named centers of excellence, development
V-hire terminal moved to make way for Devotees City
The v-hire terminal at the Compañia Maritima has been moved to the back of the nearby Senior Citizens’ Park to make way for the building of the Devotee City, which houses devotees who will travel to Cebu for the Sinulog but do not have a place to stay.
V-hire drivers transferred to a temporary terminal at the Compañia Maritima in July last year after the Cebu City Government closed the One Citilink Terminal on N. Bacalso Ave. for allegedly operating without a permit and failing to pay P12,802,782 in taxes to City Hall as of May 15, 2015.
Although Citilink got a temporary restraining order against the closure in September, the drivers chose to continue using the area provided by City Hall as a temporary terminal.
READ:
- Sun.Star Cebu: V-hire terminal transferred anew
- The Freeman: Temporary V-hire terminal transferred for Devotee City
- Cebu Daily News: V-hire terminal moved to pave for Devotee City
Other Cebu Headlines:
Sun.Star Cebu: Around 60 families displaced by Lahug fire get home lots from Cebu City Government
Sun.Star Cebu: Lahug fire victims refuse to leave lots contested with the University of the Philippines
The Freeman: Despite cybersex cases, Cordova named among ‘most child-friendly’ municipalities in Cebu, along with Oslob
The Freeman: Suroy-Suroy Sugbo for January 20 to 22 in southern Cebu now fully-booked
Cebu Daily News: Burglars break into policeman’s house in Talisay City, take away his gun, wedding ring
The Freeman: High-profile killings that hogged the headlines in 2015
Cebu business news headlines
Cebu City Hall announces start of mayor’s business permit renewal today at the SM City Cebu trade hall; deadline set on January 20
CEDF-IT promotes investments in shared-service facilities in Cebu
“Manufacturing companies need not look elsewhere for they can set up these high-value operations in Cebu. We already have good existing models for shared-service operations as exhibited by the success of some multinational companies here.”
Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology Executive Director Jun Saa
Cebu Bankers’ Club President Maximo Rey Eleccion sees strong growth in industry in 2016
“The banking sector is an important intermediary in financing economic growth. If banks are healthy, then the economy could likely be healthy because banks would have a capacity to finance economic growth.”
Cebu Bankers’ Club President Maximo Rey Eleccion
Cebu, Mandaue business leaders raise need to address road, port congestion; push innovative product designs
“The challenge now is that we are victims of our own success.”
Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Teresa Chan
