CEBU CITY, Philippines (PNA) - The Cebu City Tourism Commission (CCTC) has identified Plaza Hamabar, a favorite dating place for lovers on Mabini St. as among the city’s “pockets of beauty.”

The Cebu City Council also passed a resolution recently for the rehabilitation of said Plaza. In the same session, the council also urged the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) to create a group to be called Bantay Turista for tourists. Such group will be trained by the Department of Tourism.

A resolution authored by Councilor Margarita Osmeña, chairperson of the committee on tourism, is asking P1.5 million to be set aside for improvement of the area. Such amounts will be taken from the capital outlay item of the P1.3-billion Supplemental Budget No. 5.

”The redevelopment and maintenance of Plaza Hamabar is necessary, considering that it is also one of the most historical plazas in the city,” the resolution read.

The council wants the Department of Engineering and Public Works to inspect Plaza Hamabar and to prepare the program of works and estimates for its rehabilitation. Plaza Hamabar is a multi-purpose park near the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral where the statue of Rajah Humabon, also known as Rajah Hamabar, is erected.

Humabon was Cebu’s chieftain when Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan landed on Cebu’s shores to bring Christianity to the island.

Since the early 200s, police have cautioned lovers to act decently when dating at Plaza Hamabar, one of the more popular dating parks in the city.

NO SAFE FIRECRACKERS –D.O.H.

ILOILO CITY, Iloilo, Philippines -- The Department of Health (DoH-6) is urging that children and teenagers be protected from firecracker-related injuries and deaths.

 “We must remember that there are no safe firecrackers,” said Dr. Marilyn Convocar, DoH-6 assistant regional director.

Convocar noted that in the past few years, children and teenagers comprise approximately 70% of all injuries and deaths during New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. In Western Visayas alone, 72% of victims in 2009 were 20-years-old and younger.

In the 10-year-old and younger age bracket, there was a 29% incidence rate. In the 20-year-old and younger age bracket, there was a 44% incidence rate.

Data shows that even commercially- produced firecrackers designed for children such as watusi are dangerous. Convocar noted a high incidence rate of ingestion, especially in small children who swallowed it. (Tara Yap)

P3-M PYRO SEIZED

CEBU CITY, Cebu, Philippines - At least P3 million pesos worth of pyrotechnics were seized by the Cebu City Police Office under the supervision of the City Treasurer's Office (CTO), from an uptown mall here.

Chief Insp. Romeo Santander, head of the City Intelligence Branch which carried out the raid, said the items were confiscated from three stalls located at the basement, and first and last floors of the mall.

Pyrotechnics seized in each stall amounted to about P1 million, he said. Santander said the owner of the stalls has already been warned not to sell pyrotechnics in the mall as the only area designated for the selling of pyrotechnics and firecrackers is at the South Road Properties.

The raiding party also learned that the owner had applied for a permit to sell his items in Barangay Guadalupe and not at the mall.

The owner of the seized items tried to argue his way out with the CTO personnel to no avail. The items will be destroyed later, Santander said. (Mars W. Mosqueda, Jr.)