57 illegal weights confiscated in public markets
The Iloilo City Special Services Unit confiscated 57 illegal weighing scales during their regular on-the-spot inspections in five public markets recently, a City Hall press release said.
These include 11 units from Iloilo Central Market, 24 units from Jaro Big Market, and 22 units from La Paz Public Market and flea markets in Baldoza and La Granja, also in La Paz district.
Most of the weights seized lack official seal while others have either broken or defective seal.
City Ordinance No. 399 penalizes vendors caught using defective weights with fines from P200 to P1,000. They will also pay fees for calibration and official sealing of their weighing devices.
“The presence of official seal is necessary to prove the weighing scale has been inspected and passed the standards of SSU and city treasurer’s office,” SSU chief Zellah Gil said.
Gil has requested Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog for an additional space at the city’s motorpool to serve as holding area of the confiscated weighing scales before these are redeemed by the owners.*
BM Mondejar: Probe New Lucena-Sta. Barbara road project
Iloilo Board Member June Mondejar of the 2nd District has called for an investigation of the New Lucena-Sta. Barbara road rehabilitation project, during a privilege speech on Tuesday, a report of the Philippine News Agency said.
Mondejar said although the project involves a provincial road, with a length of approximately nine kilometers, it received close to P126 million funding from former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as one of her pump-priming projects.
The road rehabilitation work is being undertaken by the International Builders Corp., under the supervision of the Department of Public Works and Highways.
Mondejar said the project is moving at a snail’s pace.
“I was informed that the duration of the project implementation is 360 days. If the project started last April 2009, it should have been completed by April this year,” he said.
He said the project has been delayed for almost three months already. The concreting work stopped right in front of the house of a tinsmith in Brgy. Daga, Sta. Barbara and nearly six months ago, the base preparation stopped in Brgy. Lanag of Sta. Barbara, some 2.5 kilometers away from the point of the road where the concreting work stopped.
“Many people are worried why these two main activities have not been moving. The gap of implementation between these two main activities has surprisingly become far with a distance of close to 2.5 kilometers,” Mondejar said.
He said that originally, the scope of work is a concrete pavement all throughout but there are speculations that it would be asphalted instead.
There are already cracks in some portions of the road and many accidents have already occurred in the area because of ineffective warning signs, Mondejar said.
The call for the investigation of the project was referred to the committee on infrastructure.
