O4 CEBU DAILY NEWS | MONDAY, 18 FEBRUARY 2008 COPY EDITOR Antonio Francisco R.

Java
NEWS

Lamppost contractor Families in front

of Osmeña tomb
unreachable – DPWH asked to leave
by Jolene R. Bulambot Prior to Fabmik’s disappearance,
CORRESPONDENT Fuentes and company officials had
been in constant communication by Nilda L. Gallo 3 was served to the occu-

T
he Department of Public
Works and Highways (DP-
WH) could no longer con-
tact the contractor of decorative
lampposts installed in Mandaue
City, an official said.
Agustinito Hermoso, legal officer of
the DPWH in Central Visayas (DP-
WH-7), said Fabmik Construction
and Equipment Inc. no longer occu-
pies the office space it used to operate
from along Osmeña Boulevard.
Attempts to contact the compa-
ny’s lawyer, Romeo Fuentes, have
failed, said Hermoso.
He said the officials of the compa-
ny that supplied and installed the
dome-headed lampposts along A. C.
Cortes Avenue in Mandaue City ap-
peared to be “incommunicado.”
This has led the DPWH to believe
that the company had taken the 44
lampposts that were found missing
along the road near the old Man-
daue-Mactan Bridge, said Hermoso.
“Fabmik did not communicate,
that is why we consider that as theft,”
he said. “At any rate, Fabmik has no
right to remove them without per-
mission. Maybe the bosses in Fab-
mik do not know about the removal
and their local counterparts were the
ones doing it for selfish motives.”
Hermoso said the timing was
highly suspicious since the closure
of the Cebu office came shortly be-
fore the 44 lampposts were found
missing.
with the DPWH, especially after
graft charges were filed with the
Ombudsman based on allegations
that the lampposts were overpriced.
The Ombudsman ordered DPWH
to hold the remaining payments to
Fabmik while the case was pending.
Hermoso said DPWH would
send a letter to Fabmik’s other of-
fices within the week to ask if the
company’s officials directed their
representatives in Cebu to remove
the lampposts.
Until the company responds, DP-
WH’s official report to the police is
that the lampposts were stolen, but
without naming the company as the
culprit.
The DPWH official said he found
it “unbelievable” that Fabmik would
remove the lampposts considering it
was the subject of a case with the an-
ti-graft office.
Hermoso said the DPWH would
conduct an inventory of all remain-
ing decorative lampposts and street
lights in Mandaue this week to see
how many remain and what their
condition is.
He said that an inventory conduct-
ed last month indicated damage to a
number of lampposts, but that they
were all in place.
Associate Graft Investigation offi-
cer Roderick Blazo yesterday said
that the Ombudsman would also
write Fabmik.
Because the disappearance in-
ONE of the dome-headed lampposts that
have disappeared from A.C. Cortes Avenue
in Mandaue City. CDN FILE PHOTO
volved a project of the national gov-
ernment, Blazo said the Ombuds-
man may even call on the National
Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to
probe the missing lampposts.
He said the Ombudsman has al-
ready talked to several witnesses
who said that Fabmik personnel
were the ones who removed the
lampposts starting late last year.
The Ombudsman, he said, would
consolidate reports from the DPWH
and the Mandaue City government
about the lampposts’ disappearance
as soon as these come in.
REPORTER
T H E C O U RT h a s a p-
proved a petition of the
Archdiocese of Cebu, rep-
resented by Cebu Arch-
bishop Ricardo Cardinal
Vidal, ordering 12 families
occupying a church prop-
erty in barangay Carreta,
Cebu City, to vacate the
area for failing to pay the
monthly rental.
Judge Leonardo Carreon
of the Municipal Trial
Court in Cities Branch 3 al-
so ordered the occupants to
pay the church the rentals
due from 2006 to 2007.
The occupants, who oc-
cupy a portion of the 2,000
sq. m. lot near the entrance
o f t h e O s m e ñ a M a u-
soleum, violated the lease
of contract that they en-
tered into with the Arch-
diocese in April 2006.
The contract states that
the occupants may stay in
the leased premises from
May 1, 2006 to May 1,
2009 unless sooner termi-
nated due to violation of
the contract.
The church filed a peti-
tion for unlawful detainer
in court last September.
The decision dated Jan.
pants last week.
The monthly rentals of
the occupants varies from
P180 to P1,400 depending
on the size of the lot they
are occupying.
The Catholic Church
sent each defendant a let-
ter informing them of
their arrears and demand-
ed that they pay their obli-
gations, which ranged
from P2,400 to P21,000.
But the occupants did not
heed the demand.
They also failed to answer
the complaint of the church
despite summons served to
them on Sept. 25, 2007.
Ordered to vacate were
Joselito and Helen Cubar,
Solomon and Perly Lavis-
ares, Jose and Isabel Vil-
lanueva, Avelardo and
Melanie Montecillo, Do-
lores Uy, Ma. Dolores del
Castillo, Epifania Fajardo,
Edgar Quinones, Belinda
Canacao, Arlie Canacao,
Reynaldo Monisit, Dorothy
Rafols, Erlinda Sapio and
Maria Liezl Supapo.
The court dismissed the
case against one more de-
f e n d a n t , Ve r g e n c i t a
Quiñones, after it was dis-
covered that she had paid
her outstanding obligations.

by Bernadette A. Parco
To pray, to heal, to believe
E D I TO R I A L A S S I S TA N T
(This story first ran in yesterday’s Faith
section, but technical oversights resulted in
some missing text. Cebu Daily News is run-
ning the story again in full. — Editors)
It is the manifestation of healing, crip-
pled people walking again, tears of joy.
Two people – the sick person and the
one who cares for that person – is freed,”
he told Cebu Daily News.
There is nothing like seeing “the
hopeless smile again,” he said.
Believers come to pray for different
healed,” he said.
The next one needed a heart operation.
The third suffered from psoriasis, a skin
disease that affected her whole body.
TESTIMONY
At the Guadalupe church, people wore
“hearts” of different colors as a code.
Yellow for those with ailments of the
This was the second healing Mass
Gumapaw attended after the one led by
Canadian-based priest Fernando Suarez.
“I came back because I want to be
healed,” she said.
HEALING BY PROXY
Some people bring photos of their
loved ones who are sick.

T
he Guadalupe parish church in
Cebu City was dark and silent as
people bowed their heads and
raised their arms in prayer.
A priest held up the Blessed Sacrament.
It was Friday evening and a healing
Mass was underway.
The Archdiocesan Shrine of the Vir-
gin of Guadalupe was filled with men,
women and children wearing paper cut-
outs of hearts in different colors. They
waited for their turn to have Fr. Joseph
“Joey” Faller pray over them.
Fr. Faller, a 43-year-old Catholic
diocesan priest from Lucena City, Que-
zon province, visits the Guadalupe
church every quarter on the invitation of
the Amor Dei Charismatic Community.
“Every healing Mass is unforgettable.
kinds of cures. Some seek to heal emo-
tional wounds, relationships, the spirit, a
struggle with alcoholism and other kinds
of attachments.
Fr. Faller said he received the gift of
healing 14 years ago after an accident
damaged a nerve in his right arm. He
couldn’t move three of his fingers.
But one day, he held up his hand and
“it resembled that of the Santo Nino.” He
was referring to the raised thumb, second
and third fingers, which the Holy Child
holds up and which some theologians
view as a symbol of the Holy Trinity.
Faller said he took this as a “perma-
nent sign of the presence of God.”
His first case was a resident of Lipa,
Batangas, who suffered bone cancer.
“I prayed over her and she was
eyes, ears, nose and throat; violet for
those with stiffened shoulders; white for
those asking to be blessed with a child
and orange for those suffering from dis-
orders of the internal organs.
Red for cancer patients, blue for those
with arthritis, black for those with emo-
tional bondages and green for general
illness.
Cora Gumapaw, who had a stroke in
2004, was one of the first people Fr. Fall-
er prayed over. The priest helped her out
of a wheelchair and aided her in walking
a few meters.
“I did not understand what I felt,” she
later said. “It was my first time to walk
that far. I could walk before with the
help of my cane and with someone as-
sisting me.”
“It is a matter of faith,” said Fr. Faller.
Some called up on the telephone and
the priest would speak his prayers over the
phone. This happened with a caller from
New Jersey, USA, who had leukemia.
“After three months, he visited me to tell
me that he was healed,” said the priest.
However, praying for healing should
go beyond asking for relief from a phys-
ical ailment and should focus on inner
change.
“Authentic, genuine healing is conver-
sion,” he said. “The greatest healing is
the healing of the heart.”
“There must be transformation of hu-
man life,” said Fr. Faller. “The fruit of
healing is evangelization. You become
the bearer of the Good News once you
become converted.”