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January 27-February 2, 2022 10 Manila mayoral aspirant hits P1.7-b city zoo renovation

ATTY ALEX LOPEZ AT HONEY LACUNA

MANILA - The mayoralty race in Manila is heating up two months before the local election campaign starts.

This as businessman-lawyer and Manila mayoral candidate Alex Lopez said the renovation for P1.7 billion and the conversion of Manila Zoo into a vaccination site was “a mistake.”

Lopez, son of the late Mayor Geminiano Mel Lopez,, is the candidate of the Marcos-Duterte team under the Partido Federal Pilipinas . He is up against Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan, a doctor of the Asenso Manileno party of Mayor Francisco Isko Moreno Domagoso; and independent former Manila congressman Amado Bagatsing of Kabalikat ng Bayan Tungo sa Kaunlaran (KABAKA).

Lopez said he believes the zoo’s renovation, which cost P1.7 billion, is “untimely.”

““Kung kulang ang pagkain sa hapag kainan, kulang ang trabaho, palagay ko ho hindi po napapanahon na itayo ang Manila Zoo, i-renovate for P1.7 billion, budget po ng tatlong probinsya yan. Eh sino ba ang pupunta sa zoo ngayon? (The P1.7 billion is already a budget for three provinces. And who would go to the zoo right now anyway?),” Lopez said.

“Sa tingin ko mali na naman yan… Magkiki-create lang ‘yan ng coronavirus [COVID] pero ginawa naman nila ng vaccination center. Alam n’yo naman na ang zoo ay maraming mikrobio dyan (In my opinion, it is a mistake… it will only create more COVID but they made it a vaccination site anyway. You know that a zoo has many microbes) and you don’t have to be a genius, just go to Google and you’ll see several animal-borne diseases coming from the zoo. That is the fi rst time in the world, only in Manila ginawang vaccination center ang zoo (a zoo was turned into a vaccination center),” he further explained.

Lopez said that the city’s priority now should be the acquisition of medicines instead of infrastructure development.

“Pero nasa ngayon po na kung saan nakikita ko na ang kailangan po ng taong-bayan ay gamot po, basic medicines. Mahaba pila ng paracetamol, gamot sa ubo, sipon, sa lagnat, wala vitamins ang barangay halls, ‘yung gamot sa diabetes, gamot po sa lagnat. (I see now that citizens need basic medicines. Lines are long for paracetamol, medicines for colds, cough, fever, and diabetes, and there are no available vitamins in barangay halls),” he said.

Vice Mayor Lacuna-Pangan countered Lopez statement, saying that the Manila Zoo vaccination site is safe and that its opening was backed by research.

Isko...

(From page 1) Kung sa COVID-19,” said Domagoso in an interview.

If the funds are used for national security operations, however, the local chief executive said prudence must be employed before discussing the matter, according to Domagoso as reported by ABS-CBN. “Kung (if) threat to national security, we have to be very careful, for your sake,” he added.

He said security matters are dealt by appropriate agencies, which conduct study on the conduct of use of intelligence funds.

President Rodrigo Duterte has around P4.5 billion intelligence funds in his last year in offi ce.

Duterte has refused to tell Congress how intelligence funds in the 2021 national budget would be spent, according to a copy of his veto message that ABSCBN News obtained in 2020.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin had questioned why programmed allocations for intelligence and confi dential funds, as well as the government’s anti-insurgency program, were higher than funding for COVID-19 vaccines under last year’s national budget.

4 suspects in December 2021 BDO hacking charged

MANILA – Prosecutors have fi led criminal charges against four suspects arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) over the hacking of hundreds of accounts of BDO Unibank Inc. (BDO) clients in December last year.

Justice Undersecretary and spokesperson Emmeline Aglipay-Villar said the four -- Jherom Anthony Taupa, Nigerian national Ifesinachi Fountain Anaekwe, Ronelyn Panaligan alias ‘Luka Hanabi’, and Clay Revillosa alias ‘X-men’ -- have been charged with violations of Republic Act 8484 or the Access Devices Regulation Act of 1998 and RA 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

A similar complaint against a second Nigerian national, Chukwuemeka Peter Nwadi, was recommended for further investigation, she added.

The cases were fi led by the NBI – Cybercrime Division (NBI-CCD) in connection with several entrapment operations conducted on January 20 and 22 against the individuals who were allegedly behind the fraudulent transactions that targeted BDO account holders.

US DONATION. Department of Health and Bureau of Customs staff check 168,000 doses of Janssen Covid-19 vaccines upon arrival at the airport. Its the fi rst shipment this year of the vaccine donated by the United States through the COVAX Facility.

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