The Cebu City government has been awarded by the Bureau of Local Government Finance as the Best Performing Local Government Unit among the 136 LGUs in Region 7.

The other day, Mayor Tomas Osmena received a letter from Renee Empaces, officer-in-charge of the regional office of the BLGF, informing him that the city won the award.

“Our heartfelt congratulations to you, for another remarkable performance you have shown in the matter of Local Fiscal and Financial Management, that made Cebu City Government considered to be the “Best Performing LGU” among the 136 LGUs in the region,” Empaces said in his letter. The Freeman

PRESIDENT Arroyo has designated Argao, Cebu Mayor Edsel Galeos as a consultant for the National Government’s water projects, impressed as she was by the southern town’s irrigation scheme.

Arroyo, who visited Argao last May 19, saw the system that, for only P300,000, has benefited about 80 families without using any electricity.

“The President was very impressed with this because as you know this is part of the government’s program, especially that we are confronted with the global food crisis and we are trying to enhance food production,” Presidential Management Staff Chief Cerge Remonde said. SunStar

Festival dancers from Cebu City continued to dominate their counterparts from all over the country when the Lumad Basakanon on Cebu City won the grand prize yesterday in the Aliwan Festival 2008 held at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila.

This is the third straight year that the multi-awarded Lumad Basakanon troupe from barangay Basak San Nicolos won the Aliwan grand prize, having also emerged champion in 2006 and 2007.

Adding glory to Cebu was the third place finish of the Sinulog contingent from Carmen town. The Freeman

We are pleased that our<a href=”http://www.itsngenius.net”>Cebu based humor toon</a> is now listed in http://comics.alltop.com

Alltop ( short for All the top Stories) is a website listing the world’s top blogs and web resources in each category, and is started by Guy Kawasaki , well known writer, and venture capitalist.

He was well known evangelist and apple Fellow at Apple Computers, before starting Garage ventures, and becoming a famous writer/speaker.

Cebu City emerged as this year’s grand champion in the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association Meet (CVIRAA) after garnering 811 points to top the 15-delegation line up which saw action during the weeklong sports event at the Carlos Garcia Sports Complex, this city.

The Cebuano players continue to dominate the lead in almost all events placing Cebu province as second with 476 points.

Bohol landed third trailing close to Cebu province with 377 points. Continue…

Cebuano top runners Mendel Lopez and Leszl Gitaruelas made it to the top 10 against the almost 32, 000 runners in the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon yesterday.

Lopez, 23, a Geodetic Engineering student from the University of Southern Philippines Foundation, landed fourth in the combined field of men and women in the 10K category. He crossed the finish line at 34 minutes and 17 seconds, 10 seconds behind the third placer from Hong Kong (34:07). The second finisher, who clocked at 33:47, is also from Hong Kong, while the top finisher from China finished the race at 33:42, said Lopez. GMANews

FOREIGN investment experts have again noticed Cebu City’s potential for business and ranked it as eighth of the Top 10 Asian Cities of the Future, in a list by the Finance Direct Investment (fDi) magazine of the Financial Times Group.

Only two other Philippine cities, Quezon City and Davao City, made it to the top 10, ranking seventh and 10th place, respectively.

Cebu City also ranked fourth in the list of 10 most cost-effective cities, seventh in the best quality of life category and second in development and promotion, next only to Singapore. More…

THE world-class entrepreneurial skills of new generation Cebuano businessmen continue to gain recognition.

This, as Entrepreneur Philippines magazine, in its November 2007 issue, awarded world-renowned furniture designer Kenneth Cobonpue and Basic Graphics Inc. (BGI) chief executive officer Edmun Liu.

Cobonpue and Liu have been included in this year’s 10 Most Outstanding Entrepreneurs, an annual listing by Entrepreneur magazine. More…

The Freeman

Cebuana Sally Mae Siso lived up to expectations as she swept all titles available in the four-leg 2007 Malaysian junior tennis circuit after ruling both the singles and doubles event in the Langkawi International Age-Groups Tennis Championships yesterday.

Sally Mae had her day after watching her brother Niño also came up with two titles in the boys’ 14-under class.

“Daug gyud ta, pero paningot jud og kumbate si Niño,” (“Yes, we won but Niño had to work hard for it.”), said Sally Siso, the siblings’ mother and coach.

Three Cebuano artists were among the winners of the 2nd China-ASEAN Youth Art and Creativity contest held in Nanning City, China last Oct. 25.

Lucilo Sagayno, a professor in the Fine Arts Department of the University of San Carlos, won Excellence Award for his scroll paintings entitled “Childhood Memoirs”. He will receive a cash prize of RMB10, 000. Inq.net

The Philippines’ innovation of its penology system through the so-called “Dancing Inmates” program has caught international attention with eight million viewers in the YouTube website and counting.

Director Pedro Noval of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Region 7, said that four countries South Korea, Chile, Ecuador and Cambodia have expressed interest of the unique program after viewing a video of 1,500 inmates from Cebu gracefully dancing to the tune “Thrilla” during an international penology forum, focusing on strategy and performance held in South Korea recently.

Noval was the Philippine representative to the convention. More…

The Freeman: Em-em gains final in Malaysia

Cebu’s top female junior tennis player, Sally Mae “Em-em” Siso became the first Pinoy to get a final berth in the Selangor International Junior Tennis Championships at Pikinis Sports Complex in Selangor, Malaysia.

Siso showed no mercy in beating Tijia Min 6-0, 6-0 yesterday. She will meet Theviya Selvarjoo for the title in the girls’ 14-under division.

The Filipinos’ dominance of the tournament continues as two other girls advanced to the semifinal round in their respective divisions while two boys made it to the quarterfinals.