Belize’s popular entertainment and giveaway show, Gimme 5, is back for its annual five-night run in celebration of the station’s anniversary. This year’s Gimme 5 will run from December 2nd to 6th, starting at 8 p.m.
One of the network’s longest-running programs, Gimme 5 engages viewers with exciting giveaways and the chance to win big prizes.
Participants submit coupons for a chance to be selected, but there’s one key rule: when the phone rings, don’t say “Hello.” Instead, viewers must answer with the iconic phrase, “Gimme 5!”
Coupons are also available at Channel 5 Studios on Coney Drive in Belize City.
With its blend of fun and tradition, Gimme 5 continues to captivate audiences year after year. Tune in to join the excitement and celebrate this enduring part of Belizean television.
Attorney Oscar Selgado was back in court today to hear Justice Nigel Pilgrim’s verdict on a no case submission by his attorney Adolph Lucas. Selgado and his attorney did not receive the news they hoped for, as Justice Pilgrim wasted no time in handing down his ruling. The no case submission was denied by the High Court. Following the verdict, Selgado took to the witness stand to testify. He was then cross examined by the Director of Public Prosecution. News Five Paul Lopez was present in court. He tells us how it all played out.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
Attorney Oscar Selgado returned to the High Court this morning for a verdict on a no case submission by his attorney, Adolph Lucas. Selgado’s trial for abetment to commit murder has been ongoing since October 2023, before Justice Nigel Pilgrim. The matter, which is nearing conclusion, has seen both the defense and the crown close their arguments. In response to a no case submission filed at the end of the last hearing, this morning Justice Pilgrim ruled that the application to withdraw the charge against Selgado is refused by the court.
Justice Pilgrim considered the primary evidence established in this trial, those being seven recorded phone conversations purportedly between Giovanni Ramirez and Selgado. Ramirez is the individual Selgado allegedly contracted to kill Marlyn Barnes, a woman who filed a complaint against him before the General Legal Council. In his ruling, Justice Pilgrim also considered the testimonies of Commissioner of Police Chester Williams and former Inspector of Police Wilfredo Ferrufino. Both men testified that they are familiar with Selgado and that police received those phone recordings with Selgado from Ramirez. As we have reported, those recordings would later go missing.
Oscar Selgado
Following the ruling, Selgado was given three options, remain silent, make a statement from the dock, or provide a testimony from the witness stand. Selgado opted to speak from the witness stand. The fifty-four-year-old attorney initially refuted claims by the Commissioner of Police that they made contact with each other twenty-three years ago when Selgado was a Belize Defense Force soldier. Selgado further argued that when Williams became the commanding officer at Eastern Division, he had no reason to contact him. As for the phone recordings that were placed on two disks by Ferrufino and handed over to the court before going missing, Selgado says he was never provided any copies of those disks during his disclosure hearing. Selgado maintained his innocence and his argument that he does not know Giovanni Ramirez, nor did he contract Martinez to murder Marlyn Barnes, as is alleged.
During the Crown’s cross examination of Selgado, he referred to the charges as fabricated and further denied receiving the recordings during disclosure. Selgado also told the court that he has been very distressed by these proceedings and barely maintaining his sanity. At the close of her cross examination, Director of Public Prosecution Cheryl-Lyn Vidal suggested to Selgado that his emotional burden is being cause by his guilt in this matter. He contended that he is not guilty. The DPP responded saying, quote, “off all the untruths you have told from the witness stand, that is the biggest”, unquote. Selgado disagreed.
Reporter
“It is a win for you that the judge did not throw out the case
Cheryl-Lyn Vidal
Cheryl-Lyn Vidal, DPP
“We don’t speak in those terms”
Reporter
“Even a small win?”
Cheryl-Lyn Vidal, DPP
“We don’t use those word.”
Reporter
“But it is encouraging that the judge did not throw out the case today?”
Cheryl-Lyn Vidal, DPP
“We did not think that the judge was in danger of being thrown out to use your words?”
Reporter
“What follows now in the case?”
Cheryl-Lyn Vidal, DPP
“Addresses.”
Reporter
“How much longer will the case go on?”
Cheryl-Lyn Vidal, DPP
“We return on the thirteenth and we will complete our addresses on that day and then the judge will set a date for him to give his verdict on that matter.”
Reporter
“You said of all the untruths you said from the witness stand this was your biggest.”
Cheryl-Lyn Vidal, DPP
Yes, you quoted me correctly, what is your question
Reporter
No I was just trying to get clarity on exactly what you said.
A resident of Orange Walk Town lost his life in a road traffic accident this morning. Reports are that forty-year-old Carlos Vargas lost control of his red Honda Accord while driving on the Blue Creek Road this morning. Vargas sustained multiple injuries to his lower body and head as a result of the collision. His vehicle also received extensive damage to its front portion. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at the Northern Regional Hospital. Vargas was a father and husband. Police are investigating.
Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, has pressed charges against his brother, Arthur Williams, for alleged cyber bullying. This morning, Arthur Williams was escorted to the Belize City Magistrates Court in handcuffs. He appeared unbothered as he raised his shackled arms for the camera. Williams was unrepresented in court where he was read three charges, two counts of using a computer system to disseminate false information with the intent to cause another person to be subjected to public ridicule or embarrassment, and one count of using a computer system to intimidate a person under the Cybercrime Act. Williams pleaded not guilty to all three charges. The charges stem from several slanderous posts on Facebook that were created on January seventh. It is alleged that Arthur Williams is the individual behind those posts about his own brother, Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams. He was offered bail in the sum of ten thousand dollars, plus one surety of the same amount. He met bail and was released from police custody. The matter was adjourned to March twenty-seventh. Williams says he intends to get an attorney to represent him in court at the next hearing.
In January 2020, thirty-six-year-old Anthony Parks was gunned downed in Independence Village, he succumbed to his injuries eleven days later. But when his suspected killer was convicted of murder in April 2022, Shane Bennett escaped from lawful custody and fled to Punta Gorda where he was recaptured shortly thereafter. Tonight, Bennett is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole until after he has completed a minimum of twenty-five years in prison. Bennett has been on remand at the Belize Central Prison for the past three years and that’s the only time that will be deducted from his lengthy prison stay. That’s the judgment of High Court Justice Antoinette Moore earlier today.
At the end of January a child attending Holy Redeemer Primary School began exhibiting signs and symptoms of meningitis. The Ministry of Education took precautionary steps to protect the remainder of the students at the school. The child remains hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit at the K.H.M.H. and today, the Minister of Health and Wellness, Kevin Bernard told reporters that the matter is still under investigation.
Kevin Bernard
Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health & Wellness
“From what I understood from the report I got was that the child was being monitored. The last report I got from the CEO at KHMH, because the child was in the ICU, but was not in the ICU under any equipment or anything, but was just being monitored. I understand that at the time, the child was responsive on all of these things. I haven’t gotten a recent update, to be honest with you, so I don’t want to speak out of turn. In fact, I am here today and that’s one of the reasons why I’m here today because I’ll be meeting as well with the Central Health Region and with the CEO of KHMH so we can get an update on terms of what are the things that are happening with current occurrences.”
The United States government recently donated four thousand, eight hundred doses of Pfizer-BioNTech Bivalent vaccines to the Government of Belize. However, the Center for Disease Control stated on its website that these vaccines are no longer viable to be used as they target a strain of COVID no longer circulating. We asked Minister of Health Wellness Kevin Bernard about this donation.
Kevin Bernard
Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health & Wellness
“I don’t think the United States government would just or the notion is that they’re just dumping things that they don’t want on us. It is a proven fact that this vaccine has been used. What happened is there are several versions of vaccines that have been done. And if you notice, we only got a small quantity of the vaccine, twelve hundred doses of them. And we accept them because at the end of the day, it’s still being used on other parts of the world. It’s not something that was banned. As I mentioned, it’s the adult Pfizer vaccine, something that was produced, had gone to all its necessary requirements. I understand from what we are that this is safe for us to use. Now, we always will rely on the CDC and other FDA regulations. As far as we are concerned from the Ministry of Health and Wellness, when we got, received these vaccines, it was given the green light. We don’t accept a vaccine just because we want to accept vaccines. Trust me, there’s a lot of due diligence that is done before we even take anything from any country.”
Reporter
“It’s not that it’s expired or something’s wrong with it. It’s just that it’s not recommended because it does nothing against the potential strains that are out right now.”
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education
“We have to look at the type of strains you have. And luckily for Belize, we have not had any major issue in terms of an influx of covid cases. It’s being managed. But as I said, we will continue to realize what we can and how we can and if down the road we are not going to use the vaccine and we’re not going to use the vaccine. These are donations that are given to us. Yes, we accepted these donations but the Ministry of Health and Wellness, as I said, would not have accepted these if it is not fully recommended. As you are saying, CDC mentioned, there are certain things that you may hear on the media or on social media that sometimes not necessarily all that, we have to be very conscious of a lot of fake news. And as I mentioned, we accepted those vaccines because it was genuine and vaccines that can still be utilized within the country.”
The Sitting of the Senate for Thursday will proceed as scheduled, that is the final decision by the President of the Senate, following a legal opinion issued by the Attorney General earlier today. As we reported last week, the opposition has raised serious concerns regarding the function of the Leader of Government Business in the upper house, since it is of the firm belief that that individual, based on their knowledge of the Standing Orders, must be minister of government. Those concerns were raised in the wake of former Foreign Minister Eamon Courtenay resigning from Cabinet. In his legal opinion, AG Anthony Sylvestre referred to the Constitution of Belize where he says, “there is no provision in the Constitution that mandates that there must be at least one minister in the senate for it to be properly constituted, or that the Leader of Government Business in the Senate must be a minister. Indeed, the only reference to a mandatory requirement in the Constitution relating to a minister is that he or she must be a member of the National Assembly”. In reference to the Standing Orders, the Attorney General wrote, “to the contrary, there are multiple provisions in the Standing Orders which make clear that the offices of a minister and Leader of Government Business are distinct and separate”.
Last week, instructors at the Belize City IT-VET called the media to say that their salaries were not being paid by the Ministry of Education since September. The instructors said that it was the institution itself that was meeting their salaries each month. Some of them had issues with that fact, as well as the contracts they have with the ministry. But since then, the Ministry’s C.E.O. has told News Five that the matter has been resolved and today, the Minister of Education, Francis Fonseca, assured the instructors that their salary issues are a thing of the past.
Francis Fonseca
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education
“In the case of the ITVET here in Belize City, again, that’s a long-standing challenge. But we were able to resolve that issue on Friday last week Friday, Finally, we’re up to date with the payments. I talked about this in the National Assembly on Friday. It is not that the teachers were not being paid; they were getting monies through the IT-VET in Belize City. But they had not – we had not gotten the money from the Ministry of Finance as yet to pay them. So the IT-VET in Belize City through the support of the ministry was giving them money that now has to be reimbursed. But they were getting paid, and now what we have done is put them on the smart stream system, so that this problem does not reoccur. And again we’ve been looking at the contract situation. The whole challenge with this with IT-VET is the contracts which are annual contracts – one-year contracts. So we’re looking at that to try to expand and extend those contracts. But the main thing is that it has been resolved.”
Another IT-VET issue that surfaced last week was that thirty students attending the Orange Walk ITVET were reportedly sent home for owing several months of school fees. But the Minister of Education has said that no student should be kept from the classroom because of outstanding fees. Today, he reiterated that position and said that a payment plan can be put in place to solve the issue.
Francis Fonseca
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education
“In the case of the Orange Walk ITVET, discussions and with the manager of the Orange Walk IT-Vet and the briefing that I got, he said that the students were not sent home. They were asked to bring their parents to school to discuss a payment plan for the remaining outstanding fees that they owed. That was done and my understanding is that issue has been resolved. All the students have been back in school since last week, sometime Wednesday, Thursday and they have worked out a payment plan with the parents for the remaining outstanding fees. We made it very clear to them that students should not be out of the classroom because they have not paid their fees. And there has to be something worked out.”
