KALIBO, Aklan (PNA) — The Department of Energy (DoE) has revealed the possibility of an oil price rollback next week. DoE Director Zenaida Monsada said the current price of crude oil in the market is low, and thus, the reason why there is a possibility of a price rollback in the coming days.

"If the trend in decreasing crude oil price continues, then we could expect a (price) rollback,” she said. However, she said “if it happens, we expect that the price to be decreased is low.”

The DoE team led by Monsada came to Kalibo late last week to conduct a public awareness forum on the proper use of energy. Monsada and her team conducted a surprise inspection among gasoline dealers here before conducting the forum.

"We wanted to ensure that gasoline stations here are selling correct amounts of gasoline to consumers. If we detect that a dealer is adjusting his prices for his own benefit, we could recommend his closure," said Monsada.

The DoE also sought the public’s support for the "LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) Bill" that the agency wants  both the House and the Senate to pass.

The LPG Bill is aimed at further protecting the public where it particularly concerns the sale of LPG to consumers.

P14.5-M to Finance Town's Projects

ILOILO CITY (PNA) — The Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KC-CIDSS) Makamasang Tugon will provide P14.5-million grant for the construction of 19 anti-poverty reduction sub-projects in the town of San Dionisio.

The sub-projects include the construction of  a health station, a day care center, a school building, concreting of barangay foot path, construction of a solar dryer, concreting of barangay road and improvement of a farm-to-market road drainage canal and procurement of pre-and post-harvest facility.

The 19 recipient barangays are Naborot, Pase, Amayong, Agdaliran, Borongan, Hacienda Conchita, Tamangi, Talo-Ato, Batuan, Moto, Cubay, Sua, Tuble, Poblacion, Odiongan, Capinang, Siempriviva, Santol and Dugman.

The proposed projects to be funded under the KALAHI grant were selected in last week’s Municipal Inter-Barangay Forum (MIBF) for Project Development Planning Resource Allocation (PDRA) relative to the implementation of Makamasang Tugon.

City Drainage Rehab to Get P5-M

CEBU CITY – To prevent main roads and streets in the city from getting flooded during short yet heavy rains, the Cebu City Council has approved a R5-million budget for the immediate rehabilitation of drainage systems here.

The councilors were convinced that the drainage system in the city needs to be rehabilitated to prevent the onset of flooding in major roads, which has always been the case during heavy rains.

The resolution, filed by Councilor Rodrigo Abellanosa, proposed the allocation of a R5-million budget to be taken from the city’s calamity funds to immediately finance the desilting and rehabilitation of said drainage system.

City Treasurer Ofelia Oliva said there is no problem if the expenses incurred in rehabilitating  the drainage systems will be charged to the calamity budget because the city still has a balance of P52 million in calamity funds.

The City Council has already declared the entire city under a state of calamity preparedness with the onset of the rainy season and the expected coming in of typhoons. (Mars W. Mosqueda Jr.)