PB to finalize review of anti-child sex tour ordinance

THE Cebu Provincial Board (PB) will review for third and final reading the Anti-Child Sex Tourism ordinance in its session today.

If passed, hotels and resorts in the province’s component towns and cities will be required to notify the police of the presence of suspicious-looking guests who bring in minors in their establishments.

Failure to do so could land the owner of the establishment at least a year of jail time and a fine of P5,000 aside from other penalties prescribed by law.

Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, who heads the PB’s Committee on Women, Family and Minors, also wants to declare every first week of October as anti-child sex tourism week.

Her son, Board Member Miguel Magpale, is also lobbying the passage of the Anti-Truancy Ordinance that will impose penalties on malls, movie theaters, Internet cafes and gaming shops who accommodate students during class hours.

The ordinance will also hold the “loitering” students liable through guidance counselling sessions.

The student’s parents and the commercial businesses found violating the ordinance will be fined P2,000 to P5,000.

Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III is seeking the PB’s approval to purchase a number of items relating to his programs on agriculture and disaster preparedness.

Board Member Grecilda “Gigi” Sanchez, as head of the Budget Committee, has sponsored resolutions for the purpose.

One is for is acquiring 50 collapsible tents from Centrade Hardware Corp. for a contract price of P2.3 million.

Two other resolutions sponsored by Sanchez are for the purchase of 25,000 bags of chicken and 6,000 bags of fertilizer for the province’s organic farming programs in its component towns and cities.

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