In reaction to our piece last Wednesday about the Loon epidemic, a town resident who requested anonymity, brought to our attention some concerns like the responsibility of Dr. Tito Miranda, the municipal health officer, regarding the fact that many households in the mountain barangays of the town do not have proper comfort rooms but in a report to provincial health office, the town's sanitation was given a perfect bill.

Second, the MHO in Loon has allegedly been informed of the absence of proper disposal of human wastes in the mountain barangays. But due to the lack of mobility, the concerned could not be acted upon because of the alleged refusal of municipal authorities to provide a service vehicle for the local health office.

The Loon resident also alleged that there was no proper action taken even if the MHO was already aware of the high presence of coliform in the water source of Agsoso, Loon.

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It was further alleged by this Loon resident that the last time that the water source in Agsoso was treated by the Loon waterworks system was in the month of November last year yet.

The manager of the Loon waterworks was reportedly told last October to conduct a bacterial treatment on the water source but there was no action taken.

Mayor Yul Lopez was likewise requested to change the manual process of chlorinating the water source but the same process was done last November reportedly to avoid additional expenses.

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Unfortunately, the Loon resident said that everything is water under the bridge now considering that these concerns were only acted upon after the outbreak. The resident also accused members of the local council for allegedly grabbing the credit on the relief operations conducted by the provincial government. Finally, the concerned resident pointed out that the regional health office will soon submit its report to the provincial health office, the rural health office including the local government officials in Loon after a sampling and a video footage were taken in the water source.

At the same time, the resident wanted to keep track on the result of the results of the water sampling on water refilling stations in Loon. One of the DOH staff reportedly advised some town residents not to use the water from the refilling stations.

We find the allegations of our source as tenable and serious. It is hoped that the concerned officials and entities could address these concerns soonest.

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Late last week, we got a call from our former Ang Kinampay publisher, Neneng Corales, who raised her alarm over the recent developments in the criminal case involving the so-called Valencia sex scandal.

According to Corales, most of the young female complainants have executed affidavits of desistance through the intervention of a top municipal official. Worse, during the scheduled hearing at the provincial prosecution office last week, the main complainant in the rape case, was not able to show up because she was reportedly taken by a brother of the respondent.

Corales, a native of Valencia town, also express dismay about the cultural erosion of the alleged victims in openly talking about the sex scandal without any qualms which topic was considered taboo decades ago.

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SP UPDATES. Without necessarily blowing our own horn, we wish to congratulate Vice-Mayor Nuevas Tirol-Montes for steering the 9th Sangguniang Panlungsod into being the best component city council all over Region 7 besting the cities of Kanlaon and Danao.

The 9th SP will represent Central Visayas in the nationwide search conducted by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) which will culminate on March 9.

Meanwhile, the city council approved during its regular session last Wednesday an ordinance re-adopting the Early Retirement Program Incentive Scheme (ERPIS) for regular city hall employees. The ordinance is authored by the city vice-mayor and sponsored by City Councilor Edi Borja as chairman of the committee on personnel and reorganization.

The city lawmakers also approved three separate resolutions authored and sponsored by ABC Pres. Betty Torralba as chairman of the committee on barangay affairs declaring as valid the barangay ordinances of Pob. !, Dampas and Manga which increased the filing fee of cases filed under the domain of the barangay justice system.

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