The Pangasinan Star ONLINE

AFTER ALL
Behn Fer. Hortaleza


LIKE leaves falling to the ground.

Two of our Pangasinan media colleagues died over the weekend-- oddly, they depart from this earth by twos lately – the voluble and energetic Napoleon Donato and the veteran and colorful Maximo T. Mendiguarin. Again, quite strangely, they died within hours of each other in the same hospital, the Nazareth General Hospital on Perez Blvd. this city.

Nap, actually a distant cousin of ours, fell victim to an apparent cardiac arrest yesterday and Cuya Max breathed his last as we go to press today, Sunday, after a long bout with prostate cancer, or so, according to some media friends. Their deaths, untimely and sudden as these were, somehow supports some observation that out here in Pangasinan, mediamen die of natural causes more than from any other causes to include “lead poisoning” or premeditated gunslaying like many of their counterparts in other provinces.

Their deaths surely diminishes humanity; Nap, because of his apparent zest for life, seemingly always on the go, mixing both his media work and business concerns with such flair nobody would have thought, lest of all us, that he (though quite like us) was in private pain from bouts with hypertension otherwise known as a “silent killer” , and Cuya Max, because of the permanent imprint he has left on vernacular broadcasting since he left his first job as a taxi driver to try his voice – and the unique style he brought to it – at radio newscasting and commentary.

Mediamen are mortals, that much is true. The younger set of newsmen and writers in the media scene today would do well to remember that always. Not to scare them about death or dying or anything but to have them ponder at least on the intangibles of the trade: a mark of true capability and skill, a dash of daring and gut feel and a name synonymous with the ideals of journalism for their children and their children’s children to take pride in long after they have gone from this world.

Nap and Cuya Max exemplified these traits in their own right and in their own ways. That their personal exploits will be remembered fondly by the media sector they served at one time is perhaps the greatest gift they may never get to feel or enjoy -- but which their relatives would probably be talking about in family chats to bring on a moist eye or two in them in the future.

Let’s all say a prayer for these two gallant men of Media.

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FOR those using the automated teller machines (ATM) of banks, this news downloaded from the internet during our browsing should be fair notice to the usually careless and trusting. We may not have heard of this organized criminal activity locally yet but in Brazil and some parts of Europe, organized crime has gotten around to virtually stealing the identification of ATM users – card number and PIN – using an equipment discreetly installed inside ATM booths.

From this gadget or equipment, the criminals, sitting in parked vehicles nearby, are able to receive wireless transmissions recording the sensitive information of an ATM user. Called by investigators as “skimmers”, the equipment is usually disguised to look like normal, harmless ATM gadget and mounted to the front of the ATM card slot. At the same time, or usually, a wireless camera is disguised to look like a leaflet holder and is mounted from a vantage point where it can view ATM PIN entries.

The criminals later go to work and practically empty your account in a very short time using the bank ATM.

Like we said, there has been no local report yet of such modus operandi… but it always pays to be extra curious about any out-of-the-usual gadget you see in your favorite ATM booth. These days, you can lose your money in a variety of ways, believe you us!