The peace and quite of the week that was in this city was shattered by a brutal accusation from a crusading individual that all Bohol congressmen were crooks. Lawyer Victor de la Serna went to town through the city's radio stations hosting public affairs program and accused the three solons—Edgar Chatto, Roberto Cajes and Eladio Jala of dipping their fingers in the public tills. “I have the evidence to prove that they are crooks” thundered de la Serna during the Cuentas Claras radio program over Station DYTR. He repeated the same accusation in another radio program over Station DYRD. Full story

Hold-uppers struck again last Friday, robbing a group from the First Consolidated Bank (FCB) Foundation and carting away with more than P300,000 in cash. Hours later, a cooperative worker was held up and divested of more than P4,000 in what has been viewed as an open challenge to Mayor Dan Lim's leadership. The twin hold-ups came on the heels of the more celebrated P500,000 heist pulled off days earlier on a cashier from the Unitop Marketing that resulted in the death of security guard. Full story

ERRING officials threatened by suspension may be rejoicing as the election period starts Sunday, January 14, but for Bohol election supervisor Veronico Petalcorin, that's too early to celebrate. Suggesting that there might still be a loophole and a gray area, lawyer Petalcorin hinted that the ban may not apply to suspensions as a penalty for official's unlawful actions. Aside from the ban on the suspension of elective officials, as provided, in section 261 of the Omnibus Election Code (OEC) also talks about the prohibitions that takes effect on the start of the election period. Full story

SP OKs P.34 billion '07 city gov't budget

THE 9th Sangguniang Pan-lungsod of the City of Tagbilaran has approved during its regular session last Wednesday the city government's 2007 budget amounting to more than P349 million. Of the total budget, 51% is allocated to City Government Services and Operations while 30% is appropriated for Strategic Initiatives, Programs and Projects. The remaining tiny chunks are divided between City Council Governance Operations (7%), Aid to Component Barangay and National Offices (3%) Debt Servicing (5%) and Calamity Reserves (4%). Full story