The Pangasinan Star ONLINE

NATIVIDAD – The police and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) are still facing a blank wall in their investigation of the brutal slaying of the presiding judge of a Regional Trial Court in Pasay City last Friday, Sept. 23.

The NBI joined the investigation of the case upon the request of the family of slain RTC Judge Estrellita Mariano Paas, 61, who was found by her husband in the comfort room of their house, both hands tied behind her back with a wire and bloodied all over from stab wounds in the nape and head.

A Scene of the Crime Operations (SOCO) team of the police that examined the body of the judge believes that Paas was killed five or six hours before.

Senior Insp. Bernardo Aromin, Natividad police chief, said they are not ruling out robbery as the motive for the killing although the P14,000 cash and jewelry of the victim were intact.

Discovered missing from the house were the lady judge’s cellphone, a digital camera and a licensed cal. 22 pistol.

Aromin hinted the suspects might have sneaked in when the husband of the judge left the house to induct student officers of a private high school in the town.

Judge Paas was on vacation from work at the time of the incident. She and her husband, a lawyer, and retired Ombudsman, live in Poblacion west here, in front of the Natividad Central School.

The police are also eyeing the possibility that the motive for the brutal slaying was work-related.

Paas was the second trial court judge murdered in Pangasinan. The first was RTC Judge Oscar Uson assigned in Tayug, Pangasinan, who was ambushed and killed by unidentified gunmen on the Asingan-Sta Maria bridge on his way home about three years ago. Uson’s case has remained unsolved.

Philippine National Police Director General Arturo Lomibao gave investigators till today, Sunday, to solve or at least find some leads in connection with the brutal slaying.

Lomibao, who flew in here last Wednesday to personally look into the progress of the investigation of the case, told newsmen he was hoping that investigators could solve the case or at least gather some leads before the lady judge is interred at the municipal cemetery here today Oct. 2.

Lomibao said he talked to the son of the victim, Ronald, a lawyer, who requested that if possible, prior to the interment of his mother, the police shall have already gathered some leads on the identities of the perpetrators including their motives.

“I promised him that we will try our best to identify the suspects and if they (police) can not file the case yet, they shall have at least determined the motives of the suspects so that we can facilitate the filing of the case,” Lomibao said.

He said that based on his talk with investigators, they are following up some leads.

Asked if he was creating a task force purposely to go after the killers of the lady judge, Lomibao said there was no need for it as the PNP Provincial Director of Pangasinan “is on top of the situation.”

“My advice to Colonel Purisima is to talk with the NBI and the (Paas) family so that there would be only one lead agency in the investigation of the case,” Lomibao said, adding, that whichever agency is chosen by the family to be the lead agency, the other agency will have to extend support.

By SHEILA HORTALEZA-AQUINO

CITY Mayor Benjamin S. Lim is now setting his sights on the fish cage industry in the city and the upgrading of production of fishponds as part of the city government’s vision to ensure the sustainability of the river system while increasing fish production.

The ongoing dredging operations, which can deepen the city’s rivers, should now make viable the operations of fish cages, City Agriculture Officer Emma Molina said, following a study tour by city officials and local fish farm owners in Taiwan last September 21 to 25.

Molina said the city agriculture office will conduct a research on sea cage culture through the use of Philippine technology next year to jumpstart the program.

Fish caging will involve the production of high value marine fish in the main river areas, such as zones 1 and 2, she said.

Molina said the cooperation among the Taiwanese people was a key factor in the success of fisheries and aquaculture industry of that country.

“Taiwan sets its plans and priorities and focuses on research which makes the production and marketing of products successful,” she noted.

In Tainan, one of two counties the group visited, the other being Pintung, each municipality boasts of its own special product much like the ‘One Town, One Product’ project of the Department of Trade and Industry.

“Specialization of products allows the municipality to focus on its production, development and research,” Molina said.

Molina said the National Pintung University of Science and Technology is willing to accommodate scholars from Dagupan while the International Fund for Development Cooperation (IFDC) can be a source of fund.

The mayor is interested in the IFDC’s short-term courses on agriculture, agribusiness, aquaculture, bio-sciences and bio-technology, which can be used for planning the development of Dagupan,” Molina said.

Some of Taiwan’s commodities are grouper, saline tilapia and bangus while shellfish, like hard clam, oyster, abalone, crabs, tuna, shrimps, and prawns are cultured.

Fishermen associations like the Taiwan Aquaculture Development Association and the Long Diann Marine Bio-Technology Company work more like cooperatives, according to Molina.

“These cooperatives have their own specialty with regards to bangus production from breeding, hatchery, fingerlings production, culture processing or marketing of bangus,” she said.

Molina said Mayor Lim wants to develop the city’s 1,000-hectare fishponds through the use of Taiwan’s modern technology since most of the local fishponds do not produce much unlike fishponds.

She said the mayor is considering adopting as a son of Dagupan City Dr. Ching-Ta (Ted) Chuang, a director and professor of the Institute of Marine Resource Management of the National Taiwan Ocean University so that he can extend help to us on research and many others.

Among the other municipal officials who joined the trip were San Fabian Mayor Mojamito Libunao, Jr., Dasol Mayor Angelita Jimenez and Binmaley Councilor Leo Urmaza.

“Dasol is considered the seaweeds center in Pangasinan and in Region 1, much like Taiwan, which also produces seaweeds, so Mayor Jimenez can communicate with the research institutions in Taiwan or send trainees there,” Molina said.

Libunao and Urmaza can work closely with Dagupan since their municipal resources are typically similar with that of Dagupan and the city’s and town’s river systems are interconnected.

THE selection of a Mrs. Dagupan International 2005 will highlight the coming Dagupan City Fiesta in December.

A first-of-its-kind in the city, Mrs. Dagupan International is a fund-raising contest with overseas married Dagupeña ladies as contestants vying for the title through popularity votes measured in cash donations. The project was conceived by City Mayor Benjamin S. Lim, Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez and Councilor Alex De Venecia, this year’s Hermano Mayor.

“This is a beauty contest from within which exudes the compassion and commitment of the contestants to the city and its people,” De Venecia said.

Away from their city of birth, the contestants reach out with all their hearts to the people of Dagupan by participating in the search for the first Mrs. Dagupan International, De Venecia stressed.

Vying for the title of the first Mrs. Dagupan International 2005 are Nancy Zabala Beltran, Elvira Abalos Mitchell, Virginia Tamayo Nonan and Pauline Castro Perez.

Beltran, who resides in New York, hails from Burgos Street, Dagupan City, and was married to the late Roberto Beltran. Blessed with two children, she is currently a registered nurse in the New-York based Nassau Dialysis Center.

Mitchell was born and raised in barangay Pogo Grande and is a graduate of Dagupan City National High School, batch 1961. She was married to the late Marine Mayor Thomas Mitchell with whom she had six children.

Nonan, on the other hand, was a former school principal of the Doña Victoria Zarate Elementary School in Arellano-Bani, and now a registered nurse in Napa Hospital in Vallejo, California. Born and raised in Bonuan Sabangan, Nonan is currently residing in Vallejo, California with her husband, Emerson Nonan.

Engaged in several jobs as a nurse, hairdresser, parlor owner and hotel attendant before, Perez currently resides in San Francisco, California and has settled as a real state consultant. Perez, a resident of Sanggunian Village in Dagupan, was married to the late Dr. Sergio Basconsillo, a dentist.

The four candidates believe that by joining the contest, they can be effective vehicles for every Dagupeño abroad to share their blessings to their less fortunate kabaleyan.

The Mrs. Dagupan International 2005, including her runner-ups, will be crowned at the city plaza on December 26.

Overseas Dagupeño can place their advertisements, such as family portraits in the souvenir magazine via the City Fiesta 2005 official website, http://www.dagupan.gov.ph/fiesta2005. These advertisements will also be subsequently posted on the website.

Overseas Dagupeño can also have the opportunity to take part in the event by casting their votes for the candidate/s of their choice through the website.

De Venecia guaranteed that this year’s city fiesta will be grand and festive with the holding of a Balikbayan Night, Dagupan City National High School homecoming and University of Pangasinan High School homecoming celebrations. (Sunshine D. Robles)

THE city of San Carlos, some 200 kilometers north of Manila, continues to bloom and boom commercially despite the political turmoil in the nation’s capital.

To date, a commercial mall owned by the Dagupan-based City Supermarket Inc. is now fast-rising beside the city hall while a few more investors, including some from Manila, are just waiting for the perfect timing to come in.

Vice Mayor Julier Resuello said there is no doubt that the much improved peace and order situation of the city is what attracts investors to the city, now fast emerging as another melting pot of business in central Pangasinan other than Dagupan.

San Carlos City used to be known for its “wild, wild west” image where killings happened quite frequently thus driving away traders.

Even cattle rustling, which used to be rampant, with a barangay of the city - Balite Sur - notorious for harboring cattle thieves, has been tamed. Mayor Julian Resuello had called known suspects in this illegal activity to a “summit” and told them straight to stop their trade.

City Information Officer Guido Tiong however said good governance, more than just improved peace and order, is what’s doing wonders in investments in the city. Tiong said the progressive actions of the Resuellos, father and son, have built strong confidence among the business people that their projects will succeed because they have a transparent city government to deal with.

The mayor and vice mayor’s tandem, Tiong added, has put all the necessary ingredients to make San Carlos go on a roll, to the envy of other cities.

“I believe infrastructure-wise, we have more than adequate of these to date. All roads leading towards San Carlos City are now well paved, although we are putting in some more projects,” said Resuello who may likely succeed his father when the latter completes his last term of office in 2007.

By DANNY O. SAGUN
(PIA-Pangasinan)

SAN FABIAN – Will there be beach areas still left for the public here to enjoy with the unabated conversion of foreshore lands into private resorts and residences?

Councilor Saturnino Distor expressed fear over the possibility as he asked the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to stop the “invasion” of beach lands through indiscriminate issuance of so-called foreshore lease agreements (FLAs) and outright squatting.

DENR however has appeared helpless in resolving the problem as private resorts kept mushrooming from the popular Center beach west of the poblacion up to the border of this province and La Union.

“Outgoing provincial environment and natural resources officer Juan delos Reyes, the concerned local governments, as well as the barangay officials should take the lead in the campaign against squatting in public lands,” Distor said.

It was reported that some barangay officials in areas along the Lingayen Gulf have gone to the extent of conniving with unscrupulous businessmen by offering prime beach areas for a fee.

Bewailing this “unholy alliance,” Delos Reyes said the campaign against squatting needs a sustained, full coordination between his office and local officials.

He advised FLA applicants to refrain from occupying the area unless and until their applications are approved, stressing that a mere application does not authorize them to take hold of the property.

Such a practice was evident here and in other coastal areas like Bonuan Binloc in Dagupan City where prime beach lands were being fenced off by supposed claimants.

A similar problem exists in barangay Maniboc in Lingayen.

Delos Reyes said a survey of the Gulf will finally determine the areas considered alienable and disposable and those that should be left untouched.

But a cursory inspection of the beaches here will easily show that many prime beach areas have already been occupied for private use.

Most affected by this illegal action, are beach goers and fishermen who could hardly make their way to the beach as most entrance and exit have been occupied or fenced now.

ALAMINOS CITY – The world-famous Hundred Islands was officially turned over to the city government last Thursday.

Visibly ecstatic about the historic event, Mayor Hernani Braganza said the people of the city are very happy and proud that after more than six decades, the prime tourist destination finally returned to its original owner.

He thanked President Arroyo and tourism officials for making the transfer possible.

In gratitude, Braganza officially declared one of the islands as President Diosdado P. Macapagal Island in honor of the late father of President Gloria M. Arroyo.

“Hundred Islands is God’s gift to mankind, nature’s gift to Alaminos and the people of Pangasinan. (With Alaminos) getting it (HINP), comes big responsibilities. But we are ready to face the challenges of developing and protecting our city’s pride for our children and children’s children,” Braganza added.

Last March, environment and natural resources Secretary Michael Defensor and Philippine Tourism Authority Robert Ace Barbers signed an accord for the transfer of management, control and supervision, and development of the national park to the city.

Two months later, Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano and the mayor inked a memorandum of understanding for the drawing up of a Hundred Islands master plan by their respective staffs that will ensure orderly development of the national park.

Several activities were staged lately to help promote tourism not only for the city’s good but for the entire province’s as well. A triathlon open and wall climbing competition were staged as well as the first Hundred Islands cycling tour. The city also hosted the Miss Earth 2004 presentation.

On January 18, 1940, then President Manuel L. Quezon issued Proclamation No. 667 declaring the Hundred Islands as the country’s first national park. In 1974, the islands including the Lucap Bay area was transferred to the PTA.

Braganza, upon election as mayor, moved to acquire the park back for the city as its original owner. His close ties with the President, Defensor and the tourism officials who were his colleagues during his stint in the national government made the transfer possible, it was observed. (PIA/DOS with report from PNA)

LINGAYEN – Pangasinan Gov. Victor Agbayani has ordered the police to do something about the rising incidence of highway robberies perpetrated by armed men usually against persons who have just withdrawn money from banks.

Agbayani summoned Police Provincial Director Alan Purisima to his office after noting the successive highway robbery incidents last week, the biggest of which was the holdup of P798,000 payroll money of the Pangasinan Provincial Hospital somewhere in Binmaley town.

The other incidents happened along the highway in Villasis and in Sta. Maria towns.

In the past, highway robberies also took place in Urdaneta and Dagupan cities, Lingayen and Basista towns. The perpetrators in these cases have not been arrested nor identified.

Purisima said the governor ordered him to provide security not only to banks but also their clients, who are held up by armed men often riding in motorcycles without plate numbers.

He said he will order chiefs of police in different towns and cities to meet with bank officials and personnel to validate reports there are tipsters inside banks spying on people withdrawing big amounts of money.

The National Bureau of Investigation has joined the probe in the holdup of the payroll money of the PPH upon the request of the provincial government, along with the police.

A parallel investigation is now being conducted by the provincial government, the PPH being under its jurisdiction, to find out if the cashier from whom the armed men took the money was negligent. (PNA)

MANGALDAN – Politics has begun to show its ugly head here this early.
Mayor Herminio Romero was accused by his team mate, Vice Mayor Berex Abalos, his running-mate in the 2004 elections, of encroaching on his functions.

Abalos complained that Romero signed a check for the payment of curtains installed at the sangguniang bayan.

He said it was he who should sign the check as head of the legislative body. He was said to have signed earlier the voucher for such payment.

He wondered why the mayor signed the check considering the fact that he too himself had complained when he was yet vice-mayor.

“Nag-aalburuto siya noon kay Mayor Tito Sarzaba kung pinakikialama iyong pondo ng sanggunian,” he said.

Municipal Treasurer Rosanna Bauzon said her staff only erred in entering the mayor’s name on the check. She also noted that the legal purpose was achieved even if it was Romero who signed the check.

“Napunta rin sa dapat puntahan,” she said referring to the curtains installed at the sanggunian.

Abalos rejected her explanation however saying it has been six months already that he has not been signing checks for sanggunian expenses.

He also claimed that the supplier of the curtains did not even see or consult him. The curtains were said to cost P80,000, considered a big amount for a simple project, observers said.

Supporters of the mayor however claimed Abalos was only finding a way to distance himself and play a fiscalizer’s role in preparation for the coming local elections, setting his sights on the mayorship this early.

Interestingly, Romero practically did the same to Sarbaza during the latter’s stint as mayor, with him (Romero) as the vice mayor. (DOS)

LINGAYEN – A senior member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan has asked the committees on agriculture, public services and environment and natural resources to conduct joint public hearings to determine the state of the bangus (milkfish) industry in the province.

In filing Provincial Resolution No. 479-2005 before the SP, Board Member John Agerico B. Rosario, majority floor leader, stressed that the provincial government must identify “viable avenues of intervention” to support and promote the bangus industry in a bid to formally establish Pangasinan as the Bangus Capital of the World.

Bangus is being produced not only in Dagupan City but in almost coastal municipalities in the province like Binmaley, Lingayen, San Fabian, Sual, Bolinao, Anda, Dasol, and Alaminos City.

Rosario said that the local bangus industry has become a major contributor to the province’s economy, providing jobs and infrastructure and generating additional jobs.

“The province of Pangasinan is known worldwide for the taste and quality of bangus with official reports indicating local sales of no less than P30.20 million and exports of $249,399 annually,” he said, quoting figures from the Department of Trade and Industry.

It was not immediately known if the figure already included Dagupan City’s own production and sales figures.

He said local bangus producers however are not spared from the effects of the prevailing economic uncertainties aggravated by escalating oil prices, thus the need for the province to intervene.

Rosario said he has referred the matter to Gov. Victor E. Agbayani who supports the idea of providing interventions in areas such as research, marketing and technical assistance.

Among the areas to be explored are establishment of hatcheries to ensure steady supply of fries and fingerlings, development of new bangus products and markets, technical and credit assistance, management training and capability building. (Jennifer Domantay/PIO)

LINGAYEN – The provincial board of Pangasinan has thrown its support behind the proposed US$503-million North Luzon Railways (Northrail) project.

In a resolution sponsored by the board majority floorleader John Agerico Rosario, the body urged the national government to resolve the issues raised against the implementation of the project as soon as possible.

Rosario said it is lamentable that despite the completion of plans and designs, availability of financing, and its patent acceptability to all concerned sectors, the prosecution of the project is being derailed by allegations that there were improprieties in the bidding.

If completed, the improved railway system will be a big boon to the riding public north of Manila and eventually the province of Pangasinan, Rosario said.

He said the country needs an alternative but efficient transport system that would be faster and environmental-friendly.

The resolution said the Northrail will boost trade and commerce to and from the provinces north of Manila, thus accelerating the progress of the nation.

Initial phases of the project cover the stretch from Manila to Malolos City in Bulacan and from Malolos to Clark in Pampanga. Eventually, under the plans, the rail will extend to Pangasinan and La Union in the north.

The project will be financed jointly by US$395.22 million loan from the China Import and Export Bank and the Bases Conversion Development Authority. (PNA)

PHILIPPINE National Police Director General Arturo Lomibao reiterated the government policy that there should be no more jueteng in the country during a whirlwind visit to Pangasinan Wednesday primarily to check on police investigation into the killing of regional trial court Judge Estrelita Paas of Natividad.

In a talk to newsmen here, Lomibao said that as far as the PNP is concerned, jueteng should now be a thing of the past.

At the same time however, he complained that he could not understand Archbishop Oscar Cruz of the Lingayen Dagupan archdiocese because, according to him, the prelate says one day that there is no more jueteng and on the next day, he says otherwise, and on the third day is again saying a different thing.

Lomibao again warned all PNP personnel that those violating the policy should be punished adding that if they were police commanders, they should be relieved and if they are local officials, they should be investigated.

At the same time, although the EZ-2 game in lotto is legal, he ordered the police to arrest the collectors and it is up for him to explain that his activity is legal.

The move, he said is intended to erase the suspicion that the police have relaxed their guard on what the people perceive to be jueteng, in the guise of the legal EZ-2 game.

By Venus May H. Sarmiento

MANAGERS and officers of the National Transmission Corporation (TransCo) –North Luzon Office were treated to an overview of the media industry in a Media Handling Seminar-Workshop conducted by the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), in cooperation with the Pangasinan Tri-Media Association (PATRIMA), on September 22-23, at the TransCo Mexico sub-station in Pampanga.

TransCo sought a re-engineering of its media approaches thru the seminar as it moved to pursue improved dissemination of information and consequently enhance its corporate image in the region. The seminar also aimed to equip their communicators as well as other frontline personnel, who are usually bombarded with calls during unannounced power interruptions, with necessary skills in dealing with media practitioners.

North Luzon assistant vice president Fernando Abesamis led the two batches of TransCo people in the media handling seminar comprising of department managers, division managers, corporate communications officers, right-of-way officers and security officers.

PIA-Pangasinan InfoCenter manager Behn Fer Hortaleza, Jr., who spearheaded the seminar, gave an overview of the dynamics of the community press and the government media together with DWRS-Radyo ng Bayan station manager Bernie Errasquin.

For the private media perspective, veteran writer-announcer Rhee Fer Hortaleza and Sky Cable-Pangasinan operations manager Rommel Partosa discussed the overview of the broadcast medium-radio and cable TV. Partosa’s team included Sky Cable’s regional airtime manager Migs Velarde and news director Marlon Marvil.

Transco’s North Luzon Office is divided into six districts, which includes the provinces of Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija and Aurora.

THE Dagupan City Schools Division is set to screen outstanding high school students from among nominees of various schools for the U.S. study exchange program sometime in May 2006.

The program will enable Dagupeño high school students to explore the culture and educational system of Milpitas City in California.

The cultural and student exchange between Milpitas and Dagupan is an initial focus area embodied in the memorandum of understanding between the two cities. City Mayor Benjamin S. Lim signed the MOU with Milpitas Mayor Jose Esteves to extend the sisterhood pact of the two cities last July 21 during his two-week official visit to the U.S.

Lim said the program will help Dagupeño high school students become well-rounded and highly responsible persons

“This will also make the students in the city globally competitive in all areas of knowledge, especially in the field of information and communication technology,” the mayor added.

Aside from the opportunity for cultural exchange, according to the mayor, the program will also allow the students to experience the public or private educational system of Milpitas.

Each participating secondary school will select five student nominees based on criteria set by the City’s Student Exchange Coordinating Committee not later than October 7, Schools Division officer-in-charge Aurora Domingo said.

“After an evaluation, the field narrows down to three who will be later endorsed to the mayor from among whom he will choose the official participants for the US student exchange,” she said.

The criteria require a candidate to be at least 14 years old; has a general weighted average of 85 percent or above (30%); has demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities (20%); has excellent oral and written communication skills in English (20%); has demonstrated good manners and right conduct (20%); and has actively taken part in extra-curricular activities (10%).

Esteves reiterated that visiting students will be hosted by families from various Dagupeño associations in Milpitas even as the students will be given a one-week break to stay with their relatives in the U.S.

In turn, Milpitas students would also soon visit Dagupan. (Sunshine D. Robles)

UNTIL recently, members of the city council here had to laboriously sift through a thick file of documents neatly fastened on a folder everytime they held their sessions.

These papers contained the agenda, minutes, proposed resolutions and ordinances and official communications received by the Sangguniang Panlungsod that had to be furnished the 13 members of the legislative body.

Today, these stacks of documents are gone. On the city councilors’ desks instead are laptop computers, where digital copies of the documents have been stored for the councilors to easily access.

“We now hold paperless sessions and information technology has made all these possible,” said Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez, who vigorously pushed for the electronic session (e-session) project, the first of its kind in Pangasinan and maybe, even in the whole country.

The system

The project required the installation of 13 laptop computers in the session hall, one each for the 12 councilors and the presiding officer.

These laptops are run by a customized user-friendly program that allows the councilors to immediately access everything they need during sessions, such as the agenda, transcripts of minutes of past sessions, committee hearings and committee reports, draft resolutions, draft ordinances, communications, memorandum, informative materials, and other electronic documents.

An archive of past resolutions and ordinances since 1950 has also been digitized and uploaded into the city council’s computers.

“All we have to do now is click the mouse,” Fernandez said.

Through an LCD projector, electronic copies of documents being taken up during sessions may be beamed to an interactive white board set up inside the session hall for the public and the media to see.

The city councilors can also submit proposed resolutions and ordinances, communicate with one another through instant messaging, and access the Internet through their laptops.

Cyber-session

The Internet access actually crystallized the idea of holding cyber-sessions.

And in a pioneering piece of legislation, the city council allowed Fernandez to preside over city council sessions via cyberspace, making him perhaps the only vice mayor in the country today to have such privilege.

But as a condition, Fernandez must be in the Philippines and the city councilors should be properly informed at least three days before a cyber-session.

“We now have the technology and we might as well make use of it to save precious time and resources,” Fernandez said.

From any point in the country where there is an Internet presence, the vice mayor simply calls the city council’s IP (Internet protocol) address through his laptop and connect it to the SP information technology system.

Using Microsoft’s Net Meeting software, which is hooked to a camera in the city council’s central computer server, he is then able to see and hear all discussions in the SP session.

The city councilors, in turn, would see the vice mayor on a projection screen through a webcam attached to his laptop and hear him preside clearly through its “surround” sound system, as though the vice mayor were personally present in the session.

“There will only be a second’s delay in the transmission on both ends. This is why the SP will have to apply for a higher bandwidth to minimize the delay the best way possible,” Fernandez said.

Website

In addition to the cyber-session, the city council will soon launch its own fully interactive website (http://www.citycouncil.dagupan.gov.ph).

Fernandez said that the website will provide Dagupeños, including those outside the city, the opportunity to democratically participate in the governance of the city.

“The website features downloadable ordinances, agenda, forums, news, as well as streaming video of past sessions,” he said.

Through its forums section, the people may post suggestions, report violations of ordinances, or air their concerns on vital local legislations.

Fernandez said that the website will also provide updated news on the city council, especially on the status of pending ordinances that directly affect the people’s day-to-day lives.

As he waits for the launching of the website, the vice mayor in the meantime maintains a blog (http://vmalvinfernandez.blogspot.com), where he regularly posts his daily activities and views on various issues.

Cost saving

Fernandez said that despite spending almost P850,000 for the project, the amount is still insignificant compared to the savings that the city council will generate in the future.

Before the computerization project was set in place, the P uses at least five reams of copy paper every week just for the agenda, transcripts of minutes of the sessions, committee hearings and committee reports, draft resolutions, draft ordinances, communications, memorandum, informative materials, and other documents.

“How about the (cost of the) folders, the drum kits for the photocopiers, the computer ink, the gasoline for the distribution of the agenda?” Fernandez asked.

He said the photocopying machines often break down because of the volume of documents that are reproduced every week. “And having these equipment repaired is expensive,” Fernandez added.

Fernandez also noted that with paperless sessions, the council is in effect helping in the waste reduction program of the city government.

“Although paper is a recyclable material, it is still far better if we use just a little of it,” he said.

“Hopefully, the new system will dramatically reduce the volume of paper and other supplies used in the city council. As it is now, it is already a big help in the electronic storage and filing of documents for each of the city councilor, making it easier for them to review past discussions on local legislations,” Fernandez said.

SAYAN INDIO
Mario F. Karateka


MAPAGALARAY kakaaro tayon abogados tan ingen pati saray galgalangen iran mahistradoy korte odino saray huwes. Ni, mantomba met larayan disipulos na ley tan oksoy ed sosyedad. Say singa mensahed saya et anggapolay antakot daray managpatey – pati mismon ley et itotopay-topay dala, palpaltogen dala.

Nen manbaktar iray peryodista odino saray walad medya, say singa ibabagay arom et lapu konod masyadon abusado laray Medya. Kanian igu-gud dara. Nilooban datan ya trabaho, di alageyan da, kuandaray kritikod Medya. Diad sakey a dapag, tua met iman. No agmo sarag so petang ed kusina, arawika, ekal ka.

Nen walamay tiempon saray meyors odino opisyales na baley so kitongilang lapud bala diad Pangasinan, walaramay totoon mangibabagan inani da labat kono so duknal ya ginagawa dad saray kabaleyan da. Sinmabilay bales, kuay arom

Balet natan ta saray kabalyeros na ley mismo – abogados tan huwes –so napapaonong, medyo namamawmawan iray totoo. Aliwa laya, kuanda, laotla ed say impamatey nen imbeneg a simba ed si biin Huwes Estrellita Paas na Pasay City Ridyonal Trayal Kort.

Makapasinagem a tuloy. Wadmanla kalamor ed arawin baley na Natividad si Huwes Paas, mamabakasyon, onong ed say riport na polis, diman ni tinigway so bilay to ed loob na abong to.

Peligro, maatap lan maong so panaon. Tan lalon onkakasil so linawa daray maoges-walnan totoo – on, saray kriminal o bayaran ya managpatey – ed kada kason ag nasolb na Pilipin Nasyonal Polis (PNP). Siyempre no samay kriminal et ag narel, librela lamet a mangawat na onsoblay a kontratan pamatey na anggan siopaman.

Kaskasian metlayay Hepe na PNP, si Direktor-Heneral Arturo Lomibao, a kabaleyan tayo (taga Mangaldan) ya puro pilalamay lad saray ompapatey ya medya, abogados tan huwes so gaween to legan na administrasyon to.

Kasian yopay boss yo, PNP, tan solb yolaratay kaskasodtan.

Magmamaliw la laingen a propesyonal a milalamay (professional mourner) lay Hepe Arturo. Maong labat ta tinondaan tolay kakatugyop na samay paboriton ton “task force” no kada walay natigway a bilay ed Medya.

*****

Amasyar lamet sanen karoman (Sabado) si Nana Gloria dimad paborito ton “grotto” o dasalan ed Rosales. “Low-key” odino anggapoy dakel ya preparasyon – anggapo ingen so pakabat ed Medya – ta onong ed Malakanyang pribado man ya biyahe to.

Ditan met lagi manga-alay kasil to ya onarap ed krisis so Presidenta.

Dengel ko balet a siansian impilit na saray kaalyados to diad Pangasinan ya mitoyaw ed si GMA diman anggan pigpigay oras labat so imbayag to antis ya amawil ed obong to dimad Palasyo. Dimad “farm” nen Kongrisman Gener Tulagan ginaway impamaugto. Awey labat no akapangan si Nana Gloria… ta arawid samay paborito ton akanan a salanti say Matutina’s ditad Bonuan.

DON’T look now but there’s gold in that sugarcane.

Other than just being literally sweet, that crop, produced in abundance in Negros, Bulacan, Pampanga and other places (Pangasinan now hardly figures), is the wave of the future, in terms of the current nationwide search for alternative sources of energy.

Yes, we’re talking ethanol, the much-talked about additive to gasoline which comes from sugarcane.

A report from Negros says some alcohol refineries in that place are now buying standing sugarcane at an equivalent of P920 to P930 per 1 kg. A Bukidnon congressman, who grew up in sugar farming, admits with open envy for the present growers that he “never enjoyed that price for the sugar I produced (back then.)”

If this tells anything to us here in the Ilocos, who hardly plant the upright crop, it is that maybe it’s time – since the oil crisis will be with us for a long, long, long period – that we see the much brighter prospects of sugarcane as an alternative crop (to rice, that is). And start putting up those alcohol refineries now where ethanol can be produced to serve as a government -encouraged mix for the gasoline we put in our vehicles.

With world oil reserves being pumped out double time to meet the rising demand, sources may dry up faster than what has been originally anticipated. The wiser way for the Philippines to go therefore is finding alternative sources of energy before the dreaded depletion of oil supply happens and developing countries like us are left in the lurch.

As the slogan of sugar producers now goes, in reference to the energy crunch: “If we can’t dig for oil, we plant them.”

We couldn’t agree more.

AFTER ALL
Behn Fer. Hortaleza, Jr.


HEALTH Sec. Pingcoy Duque had all the reasons to feel indignant. Avian or bird flu is popping up in our neighbor Asian neighbors’ yards, and we still don’t have any supply of the primary antiviral drug known to combat the disease, oseltamivir (brand name: Tamiflu) in our pharmacy counters.

Duque actually termed it “zero stockpile” of the drug in the Philippines. As in zilch, nada, nothing.

That means we’re standing naked while the H5N1 deadly strain of the bird flu is creeping up on us – or, more like it, flying down on us, courtesy of those “carrier” migratory birds that usually move to tropical countries around this time, October to January, to escape the cold season in the other part of the globe.

Only one drug company, according to our health czar, has the sole authority to manufacture the antiviral drug, the Swiss-based Roche. What’s infuriating to Pinoys who have just known it from Doc Pingcoy’s perorations, is that the Roche supplies are “heavily concentrated in the First World even as the disease is ravaging bird and poultry (and, dreadfully, soon humans too) populations in Southeast Asia, particularly Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia.” As unfair as unfair can be. As inhuman as inhuman can be.

To think that the World Health Organization WHO) resident representative here has been urging Asian countries to prepare for a bird flu pandemic and yet his organization does not seem to move a muscle to urge, demand or coerce Roche to also spare the Third World some of its drug production.

“Why are the more vulnerable nations (being) deprived?” DOH Sec. Duque fumed after noting that the country has yet to receive a single capsule to date from Roche despite the DOH’s having placed an order for P10 million worth of oseltamivir as early as last year.

We hate to say this but we guess Big Brother out there has expanded the old term “Guinea pig” now to “Pinoy pig.” He wants to watch first how fast and how many of us keel over from the disease to see its actual potency before sending those antivirals to cure the rest of us who may, despite everything, survive the scourge.

The Pen Speaks
Danny O. Sagun


WE just received info at presstime that Mayor Benjie Lim has directed all offices at City Hall to surrender their office-purchased TV sets and refs in line with the energy conservation program of the government borne out by the continuing rise in prices of oil in the world market.

Good and correct move, Mayor! What’s the use of those appliances anyway but only to serve the personal interests of the office’s personnel?

There are offices in government agencies and business establishments, like banks, that maintain TV sets for their clients and customers. The objective is obvious —- to lessen the boredom on the part of the clients waiting for their turn.

It’s different however if the TV set serves only the office workers who spend their time watching TV program during office hours, instead of concentrating on their work.

We wonder however if Benjie’s move would cover the sangguniang panlungsod, which falls under the supervision of the vice-mayor, who by law, is independent of the executive branch. We’ll just see once we take a peep at the sanggunian session one time these coming days.

*****

Tita Llarenas, sangguniang bayan secretary of Alcala town, urged us to see for ourselves the façade of the town hall when we covered the town’s 130th foundation day celebration two Tuesdays ago. Why she bid us to do so was in connection with our column several years back about the town hall being made an instant marketplace. All kinds of merchandise were then being displayed right at the building’s doorsteps!

We obliged and we saw a different scene. No more RTWs hanging by the building’s sides, potteries displayed at the steps and makeshift stalls adjoining the town hall.

Tita and the budget officer (sorry we forgot her name) during lunch, after the awarding ceremony for the outstanding sons an daughters and the awarding of land titles to some 17 claimants to the controversial Pindangan Estate at the gym, said that our column sort of jarred the officials’ senses. It was an eye-opener, the budget officer told us.

We were delighted to note that the town officials took our criticism in stride and did the right thing.

Mabuhay kayo on your 130th year! More power to the properly sensitive officials of that town. May your tribe increase!

WINDOWS
Gabriel L. Cardinoza


TWO weeks from now, city hall employees will have to queue up before a computer terminal four times a day to time in and to time out.


This is because the city government has acquired five biometrics-based timekeeping devices that will require each employee to have one of his or her fingers scanned for the computer to register the actual time the employee arrived in or left the city hall.

Biometrics (b?´´?-met´riks), according to Webopedia (www.webopedia.com), an online encyclopedia dedicated to computer technology, is an authentication technique that relies on a person’s measurable physical characteristics that can be automatically checked.

These physical characteristics could be the person’s face, fingerprint, hand geometry, retina, iris, signature, vein, and voice.

At the city hall, the biometric system will make use of an employee’s fingerprint. The computer first reads the employee’s fingerprint from a scanner; identifies the employee and registers the exact time he or she arrived in or left the office.

The new timekeeping system will now throw away the blue logbooks, where many employees have been writing for years 8:00 a.m. or 5:00 p.m., when they actually arrived in their respective offices at 9:30 a.m., or have left their workstations before 5:00 p.m.

It will also effectively eliminate the bad practice of some employees timing in or out for their officemates, even if that officemate actually reported in the afternoon or did not report at all.

Noting this habitual tardiness and the blatant falsification of daily time records, it was actually Mayor Benjamin Lim who first announced the use of biometrics in the city hall many months ago.

But it was Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez, while the acting city mayor last week, who ordered the immediate purchase of these devices.

The vice mayor knew too well what biometrics can do in ensuring that employees report to work on time. In the entire city hall complex, the Sangguniang Panlungsod has been using the computerized device from the time the mayor made the announcement and this has produced good results, in terms of the SP employees’ work efficiency.

Since then, when somebody calls the SP office at 8:00 a.m. someone decisive is already there to answer the phone. And when somebody comes to the SP office as early as 8:00 a.m. to transact business, someone is already there to attend to him or her.

From the SP experience, the new system is foolproof, in the sense that the data could not be tampered. But some employees still have a way of dealing with it: some come to the office very early and still in their shorts to time in and just arrive in the office by noon to time out.

But the vice mayor could not be outwitted: He installed closed-circuit cameras that would record the day’s office scene to easily identify employees who just time in and then go home.

This meant certainly meant additional expenses using people’s money. But this was a good buy and a sound investment at that. After all, it is the people in the end who will benefit from the improved quality in the delivery of services at the city hall.

QUICKNOTES: The Pangasinan Star now has a website (http://www.freewebs.com/pangasinanstar). But we still maintain our blog (http://pangasinanstar.blogspot.com), because it is here where we keep our archives… Suddenly, I don’t feel safe in Pangasinan. With the rash of highway robbery and killings in the past weeks, I suddenly realized I am not safe right in my own backyard. And I’d like to quote what the late Vice President Emmanuel Pelaez said when he survived an ambush in the mid-70’s: “What’s happening to our country, General?”

QUICKQUOTE: Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing. -- Abraham Lincoln

(You can reach Gabriel L. Cardinoza at windows@digitelone.com)

This flooding of the highway and bridge in Poblacion, Sta Barbara and neighboring barangays but the cause is eerily similar – storm-induced floodwaters that breached two dikes in the town. Tropical storm Labuyo may not have directly hit Pangasinan but the rains it spawned caused rivers around Sta. Barbara to swell and the dikes at Sinocalan to give way. (PStar Photo by Butch F. Uka)

NATIONAL Bureau of Investigation agents, acting on a tip, swooped down Thursday on an agricultural store supply in Calasiao town and seized 335 bags of ammonium nitrate, several pieces of blasting caps and detonating cords.

Lawyer Diosdado Araos, leader of the NBI raiding team, said all of the items came from the Mapanao Agricultural Supply store in Poblacion, Calasiao owned by Rolando Mapanao who was arrested and detained at the NBI detention cell in Dagupan City.

The raid was conducted a week after the NBI received a tip from a friend of Mapanao who squealed on the latter’s illegal operation of selling the banned ingredients needed for the manufacture of bombs and explosives.

“We verified the information and applied the necessary search warrant after that,” Araos said, adding that nobody suspected the store to be selling ammonium nitrate because the crystalline materials were neatly concealed in bags of fish feeds at 25 kilos per bag.

A report said that this was the second time Mapanao was arrested for selling bags of ammonium nitrate. The first was when the branch of his agricultural store in Mangaldan town was raided by agents of the Regional Intelligence and Investigation Division of the police a few years ago.

A case for violation of Presidential Decree 1866 as amended by Republic Act 8296 or the act punishing illegal possession of firearms, ammunitions and explosives is now being prepared against Mapanao and his cohorts.

Araos admitted that ammonium nitrate is really a sensitive ingredient for the manufacture of bombs, especially with the presence of blasting caps and detonating cords inside Mapanao’s store.

It is different from ammonium sulfate, a commercial salt manufactured from ammoniac liquor produced in the manufacture of gas and used as nitrogenous fertilizer.

Possession and sale of ammonium nitrate is punishable by law unless the person owning or selling this has a license from the Philippine National Police.

The ammonium nitrate seized from Mapanao were however believed not intended for terrorist activities but for illegal fishing activities. Many fishermen from various coastal towns of Pangasinan were frequenting the agricultural supply, it was learned.

Officials said this could explain why blast fishing continues unabated in the municipal waters of the Lingayen Gulf, near Dagupan City, San Fabian and Damortis, Sto. Tomas, La Union.

LINGAYEN – Gov. Victor E. Agbayani said Tuesday that the provincial government is working out a formula with the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) for the province to undertake the repair of dilapidated irrigation facilities and later turn the facilities over to the farmers for their use and supervision.

Agbayani said several groups of farmers have complained to him that they are asked by NIA to pay monthly amortization for the use of irrigation facilities that are however no longer functioning effectively.

Most of the irrigation systems were built by NIA some thirty years ago. It was learned that the service fees being collected by the agency are mainly used to pay salaries of employees and hardly any sum is allotted for the repair and maintenance of the irrigation facilities.

The understanding was for NIA to build the irrigation dams and farmers will pay service fees. Through the years however, many of the facilities have been rendered ineffective due to lack of maintenance work.

“Many of the farmers find it difficult to pay the service fees due to poor harvest,” Agbayani said.

The governor proposed that the province will rehabilitate the dilapidated NIA irrigation facilities on condition that part of the service fees to be paid by the farmers would be retained for maintenance.

NIA personnel who try to collect, the dues at present are either flatly rejected by farmers or worse, chased out of the barangays, according to the agency’s information officer.

The province has been constructing communal irrigation system and small water impounding projects which are now serving over 10,000 hectares of farmland in the province.

CALASIAO – A doctor died a few hours after he and his wife were ambushed by a lone gunman near a road intersection here at past 7 a.m. last Tuesday shortly after coming out from a local hotel.

The victim was identified as Dr. Cerdan Lopez, 49, of Galang street in San Carlos City. He was shot through the windshield of the black brand new Ford Escape he was driving just as the car slowed down while approaching the road intersection.

The gunman approached the front right side of the vehicle and opened fire on Lopez, through the windshield. His wife Amy, 49, also a doctor, who was sitting beside him, was unscathed.

Dr. Vivencio Villaflor, owner of the Villaflor Doctors Hospital in Dagupan City, reported at about 12 noon last Tuesday that Lopez was in critical condition. A few minutes later, another report from the hospital stated that the victim was dead.

Inspector Antonio Malicdan, deputy chief of police of Calasiao, said the gunman might have fired eight shots based on the empty shells of Cal. 45 pistol found near the crime scene and another inside the victim’s vehicle.

Eight of the bullets found their marks in the victim’s abdomen. He was already in serious condition when he was wheeled into the hospital’s operating room.

Malicdan said the Lopez couple had just come out from the Regency Hotel a few meters away when the incident happened. They were believed either going home to San Carlos City or proceeding to Urdaneta City.

The gunman and a companion must have waited for the Lopezes in front of Chowking Restaurant were vehicles usually slow down upon reaching the road intersection.

A bystander who was called by Mrs. Lopez to drive them to the hospital said he saw two youths fleeing from the crime scene aboard a motorcycle, taking the Jose R. de Venecia Sr. road towards barangay Lucao in Dagupan City to the west.

Dr. Lopez used to be a staff of the Pangasinan Provincial Hospital in San Carlos City till he resigned to devote himself full-time to private practice. Motive for the slaying was still unknown at presstime.

ONE more drugstore in Pangasinan was padlocked by the Department of Health last week after it was found selling fake 100 milligram Viagra tablets and for having an expired license to operate as a pharmacy.

Dr. Reynaldo Jacinto, chief of the enforcement and regulation division of the DOH regional office, said personnel of his office inspected the drugstore.

He warned people buying Viagra tablets to be more careful as owners of drugstores may take advantage of them by giving them the fake product instead of the genuine.

This was the second drugstore close by DOH so far. The first was last month in Alaminos City where lawmen, spearheaded by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) seized P600,000 worth of counterfeit medicines and prescription drug called valium.

The owner of the drugstore was the sixth suspect so far arrested and charged since the intensified campaign against counterfeit and fake medicines started.

Jacinto vowed there is no let-up in their operations against counterfeit and or fake medicines in the province which is being tagged as the favorite dumping ground for these banned commodities.

The operations were joined not only by the PDEA but also the National Bureau of Investigation and the police.

The counterfeit and or fake medicines were said to be coming from Region III and Metro Manila. The counterfeit products were labeled to make it appear these came from the United States, Canada, China, Thailand, India and Pakistan.

Only the distributors and retailers of these products have so far been arrested by lawmen. The brains behind the syndicate are yet to be unmasked.

Jacinto earlier said that lawmen now have names of doctors in the provinces of Pangasinan and Ilocos Sur to whom the counterfeit medicines were being sold at exceptionally low prices but DOH-BFAD has refused to reveal their names.

COUNCILOR Michael Fernandez will be exchanging views with the country’s top young legislators when he joins the 3rd National Council Assembly of the National Movement of Young Legislators (NMYL) in Baguio City this weekend.

Fernandez, who was designated acting vice mayor since last week, is NMYL President for Region 1 and concurrently a member of the National Board.

“The NYML has always been mindful of the country’s socio-political situation. And as advocate of new politics, we will be discussing current issues, such as the Charter Change, electoral reforms and federalism during the National Board meeting,” Fernandez said, outlining the coming conference‘s agenda.

He said that as young legislators who play vital roles in local governance, a discussion of these issues will guide them in setting the policy directions of their respective local government units, vis-à-vis the various initiatives of the national government.

Among the leading young leaders with who will be attending the conference are NMYL National President Julian Coseteng of Quezon City together with vice governors, board members, vice mayors and councilors from different parts of the country.

Last week, Fernandez was in Puerto Princesa City after he was selected as member of the Philippine delegation to the 2nd Asian Cities Against Drugs (ASCAD) Conference. Only five city councilors were chosen nationwide.

“The conference’s primary objective was to identify and develop a framework for a comprehensive, coordinated and effective approach to combat the drug scourge in Asian cities,” Fernandez said.

Presentors during the plenary sessions attended by some 200 participants were Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and other Asian countries.

LINGAYEN – The cashier, security guard and the driver of an ambulance of the Pangasinan Provincial Hospital from whom P798,000 in payroll money was taken by three armed men Tuesday afternoon in Binmaley town are facing two parallel investigations as a result of the incident.

Ruel Camba, provincial information officer of Pangasinan, said the provincial government has decided to conduct its own investigation on the incident, separate from the investigation now being conducted by the police.

Under investigation for possible negligence are cashier Ruben Manangan, security guard Gilbert dela Cruz and their driver whose name was not immediately known.

Camba said the provincial government has jurisdiction on the three personnel because they are with the Provincial Health Office assigned with the PPH being operated by the province.

He said the money taken by the holdup men were the equivalent of two checks picked up by Manangan from the office of the provincial treasurer, which he encashed with the Land Bank of the Philippines branch in Lingayen.

Officials were puzzled because the checks could have been encashed by him at the Land Bank branch in San Carlos City, which is only about 2.5 kilometers away from barangay Bolingit in San Carlos City where the PPH is located.

Lingayen is some 15 kilometers away from Bolingit in San Carlos. But on the morning of that day, Manangan attended a meeting at the provincial capitol, Camba said

In the past, it was always at the Land Bank branch in San Carlos City where Manangan would encashed checks to cover their 15-day payroll at the PPH.

The Binmaley police also certified that the incident was reported to them more than one hour after the commission of the crime as Manangan and his companions did not go straight to the police station.

Instead, they drove to the PPH to report the matter to their superior before going back to Binmaley to have the incident recorded in the police blotter. The suspects were riding tandem on motorcycle without a plate number and made a clean gateway. (PNA)

VILLASIS – Highway robbers struck again last Tuesday in two separate incidents in open defiance of an intensified government crackdown on criminal syndicates operating in the province.

The latest incident happened in Poblacion Zone II of this town where three motorcycle-riding suspects carted away the victim’s clutch bag containing cash of some P212,000, a check worth P25,000, RCBC passbook, and his cellphone.

The victim, Reynan Aguilar, 24, married, of barangay Don Montano in Umingan, told police that before the incident he had encashed two checks worth P212,000 from RCBC bank Carmen branch. While driving northward in a BMW car with plate No. TWD 176 registered under the name of Herminio Rabang, the suspects on a Honda TMX 155, abruptly overtook and blocked his way.

Two robbers fled southward.

On the same day, a softdrinks sales agent claimed to have been held up in Sta. Maria town by unidentified motorcycle-riding men as he and two helpers stopped to answer the call of nature.

Taken from the victim was his sales for the day amounting to some P36,000.
About two weeks earlier, an elderly couple from barangay Cabuloan in Urdaneta City were robbed of some P500,000 they had just withdrawn from a Metrobank branch in that city. Several daring daytime holdups were also staged in Dagupan for the last three months.

The police are looking into the possibility that the hold-up incidents are done by a single criminal group because of the similar pattern used in staging these crimes.

Most victims were bank clients who had just withdrawn their money.

Sr. Supt. Alan Purisima ordered police chiefs to assign policemen in strategic areas like the business district and schools.

In Dagupan City, two policemen in tandem are placed to constantly patrol a specific area. (DOS/PIA)

VIGAN CITY – Brian Viloria, the Filipino-American boxer who stunned the world by scoring a sensational first-round knock out against World Boxing Council junior flyweight champion Eric Ortiz in Staples Center, Los Angeles City, U.S.A. on September 18, will be given a hero’s welcome here when he comes home in a few days.

A provincial board resolution approved Friday congratulated Viloria, now living in Hawaii although a son of Ilocos Sur, for snatching the world boxing crown and for being an inspiration to legions of boxing, fans all over the Philippines and the world.

Vice Gov. Victor Savellano, presiding officer of the provincial board, said Viloria is a pure-bred Ilocano, his father being from barangay San Jose, Narvacan, Ilocos Sur, and his mother from Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur.

Viloria is expected in Ilocos Sur in a few days to visit his ailing grandfather who is now confined in one of the hospitals in the province, an opportunity for him to also see his other relatives who he had not seen for a long time.

The Vilorias now live in Hawaii where Brian was born. But when he was six months old, he was brought by his Hawaii-based parents to Narvacan. It was only when he was already six years old that he was brought back to Hawaii where he lives until now.

Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis Chavit Singson earlier joined President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in congratulating not only Viloria but also Rey ‘Boom Boom’ Bautista and Filipino boxing superhero Manny Paquiao for their respective victories in the boxing promotion dubbed as ‘Double-Trouble’ at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

In a privilege speech, Provincial Board Member Suriel Zaragoza, a son of the Narvacan mayor, said Viloria is the first Filipino world boxing champion from the northern part of the country since time immemorial. Most top-rated pugilists are from the Visayas and Mindanao.

SAN CARLOS CITY – The most wanted man in this city who has been involved in cattle rustling, carnaping, holdup and other crimes, along with his two cohorts, accidentally fell into a dragnet set up by police last Tuesday night while the latter were enforcing the ‘no plate, no travel’ policy.

Arrested was Rey Quitaleg of Balite Sur in San Carlos City, tagged by the police as the leader of a group of dreaded criminal elements operating in San Carlos City and other parts of central Pangasinan.

When brought to the city prosecutor’s office for inquest, along with two other suspects, Daniel Evangelito, 24, and Ramon Bacani, 34, Quitaleg introduced himself by another name, prompting prosecutors to suspect something amiss about him.

Evangelito was driving the motorcycle while Bacani and Quitaleg were the back riders. Bacani had a bolo placed in scabbard, a knife, two pliers and a disposable lighter placed in a bag.

Had Quitaleg not tried to conceal his identity, they could have already been released as one of them had a document to support ownership of the motorcycle they were riding on.
Sensing something doubtful about him, the prosecutors immediately called Supt. and Police Chief Geronimo Reside who sent in his warrant officer and who promptly identified Quitaleg as having standing warrants of arrest for carnapping and cattle rustling.

Reside said the Quitaleg group usually moves as a foursome and wondered what may have happened to their other companion.

The group could be the remnants of the dreaded Quitaleg gang of Urbiztondo town that was involved in the kidnapping of a rich matron from Carmen, Rosales, Pangasinan a few years ago.

Some of the members of this group, including their leader, were however later killed in a shoot-out somewhere in Tarlac with agents of the Presidential Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER) team.

Reside said the group of Rey Quitaleg was positively identified as the one responsible for the holdup of a family in San Carlos City in the early morning of June 22 this year where they carted away cash and jewelry estimated at some P500,000.

A case of robbery in band has just been filed against the suspects.

By Sheila Hortaleza-Aquino

THE Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon has dismissed for lack of merit the cases of violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act 3019), illegal use of public funds (technical malversation) and grave misconduct filed against City Mayor Benjamin S. Lim, City Treasurer Romelita Alcantara and Engineer Miguel dela Torre of the City Engineer’s Office.

Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon Victor Fernandez approved the decision based on the recommendation of Director Emilio Gonzales III and Graft Investigation and Prosecution Officer I Maritess Fabila-Vizconde.

The complainant, lawyer Victor Llamas, who represented the so-called Citizens Coalition for Reforms, Social Justice and Good Government, alleged the three respondents conspired and connived with each other for the purchase of 420 sets of streetlight and their accessories from Grandtex Marketing Corporation without public bidding and corresponding ordinance by the sangguniang panlungsod.

Llamas, a former regional trial court judge, said the procurement of the streetlight in the amount of P8,064,400 was overpriced and that these were installed in February 2003.

“A careful evaluation of the records of the case reveals the respondents cannot be held liable for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act since there is no evidence to show that complainant or the City of Dagupan suffered undue injury under the circumstances,” the ombudsman declared.

Records reveal that Ordinance 1775-2003 passed by the sanggunian covered the purchase of the streetlights and their accessories.

The ordinance which was approved on June 6, 2003 appropriated a total of P10 million for the construction and installation of streetlights and fixtures around the Dagupan City Proper.

Although the construction and installation of the streetlights and their accessories started on March 2003 or prior to the approval of the ordinance, the defects in the implementation of the project were cured by the eventual passage and approval of the ordinance, according to the ombudsman.

The decision added that the purchase from Grandtex Marketing Corporation was made without public bidding because these were procured directly from an exclusive distributor.

Fernandez said General Services Officer-in-Charge Gil Maramba testified that the streetlight exclusively distributed by Grandtex has no suitable substitute of the same quality available in the local market.

“It is worthy to note that the respondents paid Grandtex only on June 19, 2003 which was after the passage and approval of the ordinance appropriating the P10 million amount,” the decision stated.

Fernandez said the charge of illegal use of public funds similarly lacked merit, because one element—the use of public funds or property on something other than the purpose for which such are intended—as provided under Article 220 of the Revised Penal Code, was lacking in order that the accused may be held liable.

“The administrative charge of grave misconduct against the respondents must be dismissed because the procurement of the streetlights and their accessories is legal and supported by proper documents and the administrative case against Mayor Benjamin S. Lim must also be dismissed for being moot and academic considering that he was reelected as City Mayor of Dagupan City last May 2004 x x x” the ombudsman declared.

CITY Mayor Benjamin S. Lim led city officials, key personnel of Dagupan and other coastal towns, and private fish farm owners on a visit to Taipei in Taiwan last Wednesday until Sunday, to study the successful fisheries and aquaculture program of that neighboring Asian country.

The study tour was organized in coordination with the Institute of Marine Resource Management of the National Taiwan Ocean University represented by director and professor Dr. Ching-Ta (Ted) Chuang.

Chuang has been to Dagupan City during the 2nd National Bangus Industry Congress where he lectured on minimizing the cost of bangus production based on Taiwan’s experience.

“Through this trip, we hope to learn new fishing technologies and programs that we could replicate in our respective localities to boost our aquaculture industry,” Lim said in a letter to Chuang.

Chuang noted that the fisheries and aquaculture sector has made a significant contribution to Taiwan’s economy.

“Our goal is to pursue further cooperation with the related industries and organizations both at home and abroad,” Chuang said.

According to City Agriculture Officer Emma Molina, Taiwan’s fishing technologies are more advanced than in the mainland.

The first leg of the proposed itinerary of the Dagupan team was in Kaohsiung where the group visited milkfish and tilapia farms and recreational fishing harbors even as they met with fishermen associations. The group proceeded the next day to the Pin Tung Fisheries Research Instutute, Grouper Farms and the Pintung Government.

The group will also visit the Fisheries Research Institute to learn more about tilapia, eel and aquaculture gene bank.

A tour of Taipei capped the visit of the group.

The rest of the delegates in the study tour are San Fabian Mayor Majamito Libunao, Jr.; Dasol Mayor Angelita Jimenez; Binmaley Councilor Leo Urmaza; Sangguniang Panlungsod members Alex de Venecia, Nicanor Aquino and Teofilo Guadiz III; Georgina Guadiz, wife of Councilor Guadiz; City Agriculture Officer Emma Molina; City Agriculture Office Technologist Felita Ugaban; Executive Assistant Emmanuel Bamba; fish farm owners Jessie Doria, Danilo de Sola, Barangay Captain Marcelino Fernandez, Antonio Caneng and Chi Wang Lim; and Alexander Romulo Siapno, an entrepreneur. (Sheila H. Aquino)

MANGALDAN – An over-speeding 10-wheeler truck driven by a drunken driver sideswiped and killed two persons before ramming an electric and telephone posts along the national highway in barangay Bantayan here last Tuesday afternoon.

The truck with plate number AVZ-847 and driven by a certain Rivera was proceeding to Dagupan City from Baguio City when the accident happened.

Police identified the fatalities as Mark Ulanday, 13, and Jovito Caccam of Burgos, La Union. They were declared dead on arrival at the Region 1 Medical Center in Dagupan City, some seven kilometers away from the accident scene.

Injured were the driver of the truck, identified only by his family name Rivera who was found under the influence of liquor; his helper identified as Rolly William, 22, of Irisan, Baguio City; and one Arjay Yulo, 19.

A case of reckless imprudence resulting to double homicide and one physical injury has been filed by the police against the truck driver who is now detained at the town’s police jail.

Aside from this, the Central Pangasinan Electric Company and Digital Communications of the Philippines (Digitel) are also readying damage suits against the truck driver. (PNA)

MRS. ELLA CRUZ (not her real name) of Barangay Olympia, Makati City, has been a longtime cable subscriber. Recently, however, she has been feeling shortchanged. Not once has she missed paying her bills, she says, but cable services seemed better years ago when the signal was crystal clear. These days, Ella laments that her cable TV reception seems to have deteriorated.

Aling Ella may not know it, but legitimate subscribers like her are the real victims of the growing cable piracy problem in the country. If left unchecked, cable theft will divest more consumers like Aling Ella of quality cable service.

“Cable companies may have been bleeding financially, but it is the subscribers who are at the losing end in the cable piracy crisis,” said Elpidio Paras, vice-chairman and one-time president of the Philippine Cable Television Association (PCTA).

Paras said illegal cable connections cause a 30-to-40-percent degradation in cable signals. This means ghost images, static lines, blurred pictures, hissing noises, sudden flickers on screen and surges of static noise that can damage the TV set. Thus, legitimate subscribers are not just robed of cable signals; they are incurring other potential losses as well.

“The worst thing is, many subscribers out there don’t know they’ve been had,” Paras pointed out. “They are virtually paying for other people’s illegal cable connection and they only complain when the signal has become so bad.”

Paras added cable theft in Metro Manila have become so rampant that the number of illegal connections have surpassed the total number of subscribers of all the cable companies combined.

“Legitimate subscribers are paying for these illegal connections and they get nothing in return,” Paras said.

That is why cable companies are urging their subscribers to report incidents of cable theft as well as bogus linemen offering free cable in their neighborhood.

Paras said it’s very easy to spot an illegal cable connection.

“One tell-tale sign is the presence of multi-channel splitters in the electric splitters. We keep our cable connections seamless, so all you can see is one cable wire connecting the subscriber to the main cable line. We don’t do octopus connections.”

Subscribers, Paras added, should call their cable company’s hotline whenever they see a splitter. “Subscribers should take part in the battle against illegal connections because ultimately, they are the ones being robbed, not the cable companies,” he said.

LINGAYEN – Gov. Victor E. Agbayani has forged a multi-sectoral partnership for the establishment of an Institute of Environmental Governance (IEG) in the province to boost efforts for environmental protection and conservation.

Agbayani explained that under the Local Government Code or Republic Act, local government units are given a broader role in enforcing and implementing environment-related laws and projects.

“With increased power comes additional responsibilities,” he said, as he called for a mechanism to provide training and capability building for local executives and local policy makers in order for them to effectively perform their given mandate.

Among the devolved functions are those on pollution control, solid waste management, law enforcement, management of communal forest, control over small scale mining, fisheries management, and environment protection.

The governor has tapped the assistance of several concerned agencies, notably the Pangasinan State University (PSU), DENR and Tanggol Kalikasan in setting up the IEG at the PSU campus in Lingayen town.

Aside from the governor other signatories to the memorandum of agreement were Dr. Rodolfo Asanion, PSU president, Engr. Roberto Verzola, president of Tanggol Kalikasan; Dr. Andre Uycheoco of the Sagip Lingayen Gulf Project; Dean Rolando Cerezo of the PSU College of Fisheries, and Provincial Agriculturist Jose Almendares.

The training design comprises basic environmental science, relevant environmental policies, applicable management models, basic enforcement skills, and integrated area planning. Almendares said the institute will cater to two levels: one level for barangay officials and another for municipal and provincial officials.

The first batch of trainees was composed of 24 participants from Anda, Bani, Bolinao, Alaminos City, and from the PNP Provincial Mobile Group. (Jennifer Domantay/PIO)

By DANNY O. SAGUN
PIA-Pangasinan Infocenter

SEVENTEEN claimants to the controversy-laden Pindangan Estate in Alcala town finally got their land titles Tuesday in time for the town’s 130th founding anniversary celebration.

The Pindangan Estate, an agricultural land of some 491 hectares touching four barangays in the town, has been ruled a government property some 82 years of conflict between the original owners and later the government and occupants/claimants.

The property was foreclosed by the defunct Agricultural Bank of the Philippines when the original owner, Don Francisco Gonzales, failed to settle his loan obtained in November 1922 with the then government bank. His daughter Cristina, married to Swiss national, Ernest Schenkel, tried in March 1923 to redeem the property thru repurchase on installment basis.

Pending consideration of her application, she applied for a provisionary permit to occupy and cultivate the land which was granted. On October 8, 1923 she filed a lease application but was not granted because of the fact that she had become a Swiss citizen. On November 28, 1923, the land became a government property when the period of her right for redemption expired. She then formed a corporation, Cristina Gonzales, Inc. and filed another lease application with the Director of Lands.

Meanwhile some 93 families occupied the land for themselves even before government took hold of it. The claimants represented by lawyer Cipriano Primicias, protested against the lease application of the corporation, but the agriculture Secretary on December 23. 1926 dismissed their appeal.

The Director of Lands on August 5, 1932, meanwhile, cancelled the corporation’s deed of repurchase. The agriculture secretary however reversed the director’s order and granted Cristina her second repurchase application for which she paid P5,084,62 as first installment. The move only courted more court litigations between and among the claimants that spanned several decades. A group of 178 claimants emerged as well as another group of 302. The land controversy eventually reached the Supreme Court.

On May 15, 1980, the high court resolved to terminate with finality all judicial litigations and authorized the Director of Lands and the Secretary to determine adjudication and distribution of the estate to legitimate claimants and occupants. A modular survey was conducted four years later. On January 18, 1993, the DENR Secretary Angel Alcala issued Administrative Order No. 3 to judiciously implement the 1980 SC decision.

In May 1996, a field team set guidelines to determine the value or cost of the subdivided residential lots and to subject them to bidding. Also in May 1996, Transfer Certificate of Title No. 151 in the name of Cristina Gonzales was transferred to the government with the director of lands as estate administrator. The controversy did not end though as a local court issued a status quo order. The agrarian reform committee of the House of Representatives also held its own inquiry. An inter-agency task force, which was recommended by the House agrarian committee, met with the opposing groups, the 178 claimants and the 302 group to settle their disputes amicably. Several meetings followed between the DENR, the municipal government, and the affected parties for the final resolution of the controversy.

The sangguniang bayan also passed a resolution asking the DENR to finally distribute the property to legitimate claimants as ordered by the high court. Initially, 20 residential lots were approved fro distribution. A group tried desperately to delay the proceedings as if filed a petition for mandamus before the Villasis regional trial court but Judge Manuel Pastor Jr. dismissed it paving the way for the publication and posting of notices for the sale of government lands.

On August 1, 2005, initial bidding for the 20 lots was conducted at the community environment and natural resources office in Dagupan City. Only 17 were bid out because the three supposed bidders had no money for publication in the newspapers. The DENR meanwhile continues to process applications for the other claimants, it was gathered. DENR Regional Executive Director Victor Ancheta and Mayor Manuel Collado led the awarding ceremony Tuesday at the municipal gym coinciding with Alcala Day, the 130th founding anniversary of the town.

SAYAN INDIO
Mario F. Karateka

AGAYLAY sulit ya nalilikna na Estados Unidos natan. Mantotombokan tan makmaksil iran bagyo – “hurricane” so tawag dadman – so ombabasig ed saray partey New Orleans, Mississippi, tan ingen, ed sayay imbeneg a simba labat, pati Texas, saray estados to ya asingger ed “Gulf coast” a tatawagen.

Say sankabalegan, sankakasilan tan sankayamanan a bansa ed mundo singa labatla gakgalaw ed limay natural iran puwersa. Onlan migiyera ed arom a bansa usar toy sankamodernoan iran armas tan bomba balet no basigan manayay panaon so mismon dalin to et singa ogaw ya kapay-kapay tan man-ngesnges ed sakit. Ansakit a tuloy ed imahen na Estados Unidos so nagagawan pakakanengneng na intiron mundo ed dapag na kakapuyan to.

Kuandaray pigaran Pinoy lanti ya wadian manaayam ed baley ya inianakan, no nipaakar ed kalamidad, sanay lay Pinoy. Delap, pool, yegyeg, ibetag na bulkan, bagyo, anggan bombaan, asali lay Pinoy. Nalalampasan ton amin iya. Pati diad eras tan irap ingen, siansian ag naekal so imis tan gayaga ed lupa to.

Saray manaaral ed onian ugaliy Pinoy, ibabagaran singa laba-labay to kono so nasasakitan, samay tatawagen dan masokismo (masochism, ed Ingles) ta lalon mamapakasil iya na karakter to. Kuay arom balet, say sipor ya pananisia tod Dios a Manamalsa (faith) a tan say aralem ya sukat na ilalo to (hope) ya makabangon ed irap so mamapakasil ed tipikal a Pilipino. Ontan met say sipor a ugali ton maelek o magalaw makakatulong ed pakakalingwan tod problema tora – ya no nalilikna bilang iya na sakey ya Yuropano (European) odino Norte Amerikano (North American) et ngalngali tola kaambagel.

Nengneng molay litrato odino saray ipapaway dad telebisyon no ontan ya dela-delap ed pigaran paspasen: Maslak ed saray totoo ya onaarap ed kamera, manimis, manelek tan pakawey-kawey ni ingen – anggan say danom et anggad awak dala, odino say agos na delap ed bakgrawn da et makmaksil. Ikomparam ed saramay abantayan mon kalupaan tan ayos daray Amerikano nen binasigan ira nen Hyurikin Katrina, nagnagba so lupa da tan ameneng-meneng ira tan mangoyangoy so arom.

Duman talaga so Pinoy.

Agmetla pankelawan ingen ta wadtan ya mabata-batar so istoryay Bataan tan Korehidor nen imbeneg a giyera mundial ya istoryay anos, tepel tan sibeg na saray sundalon Pilipino ya akilaban ed saray Hapones anggad kasampotan na biskeg da.
Mabuhay so Pilipinas!

H5NI.

That is the particular strain of the avian (bird) influenza that the world’s medical and research community is looking and watching out for today.

While many of us in the Philippines are preoccupied with finding out the Political and Moral Truths, or hiding it, in the Garci case, the deadly bird flu has crept up on our neighboring Asian country, Indonesia, which has reported four confirmed deaths from the disease so far, with 17 others now in hospitals under close observation for symptoms of the pathogenic H5NI.

With God’s blessing, the Philippines remains free from the disease until now even while a less virulent strain of the avian flu was found some months back in a poultry farm in Bulacan, prompting the culling of the feathered ones to stop whatever possibility of a spread.

The World Health Organization’s chief last week said that bird flu was moving towards becoming transmissible to and by humans and that the world has “no time to waste to prevent a pandemic.” As many of us might not yet know, the last great influenza pandemic was in 1918-1919, causing an estimated 40 million to 50 million deaths.

No time to waste, and yet our politician-leaders are squandering precious funds and efforts over just about anything, instead of fully preparing for the worse and mounting as many defenses as it could for our sake.

In Europe and North America, they are stocking up on anti-virals and speeding up research on vaccine development and preparations for social and economic disruptions. This because the scientific community agrees there will only be a window of “a few weeks to contain an outbreak before a pandemic virus spreads with lethal speed.”

Now, how have we been doing in our own preparation in these 7,107 islands?

A matter of national security such as this one now staring countries all over the world in the face – and here, our national security chief himself has become, so to speak, a jailbird, courtesy of the Senate. Not to worry though, he hasn’t got the H5NI avian flu strain, that’s for sure.

AFTER ALL
Behn Fer. Hortaleza, Jr.


SINCE we started in this trade, back when we were still in college and just earning our spurs from the likes of veteran writers and editors Armando R. Ravanzo, Bayardo E. Estrada, Dominador P. Navarro, Magno Vent Cornel, all now in the Great Beyond and Dante M.Velasco, Gerardo E. Garcia, and elder brod Rhee Fer. Hortaleza, all still active and practicing the calling, we guess we’ve done our own fair share of ministry work for journalism.

Campus journalism seminars, classroom lectures, press club skills workshops, media orientation gatherings and similar activities in various places have seen us teaching the new ones whom we’ve often visualized stepping into our shoes when the time comes. As fate would have it, our two daughters seem to have inherited the writing inclination (possibly, the genes), without much prodding from us. As was their luck, when they applied for their jobs, their former employers had simply felt they were a chip off the old block and pronto, put them a-writing. If there’s ever a forced learning, theirs must have been it, although we must admit, they already had the basics to begin with.

Last week, after a self-imposed semi-retirement from the journalism lecture circuit, we again found ourself engaging in the talk before a rather new audience – the corporate communications officers and various key personnel of the National Transmission Corporation (Transco) on quite a fresh subject: Media Handling.

As it turned out though, other than just discussing the hows and whys of interacting with Media, we (brod Rhee, Radyo ng Bayan’s Bernie Errasquin, and Skycable’s Rommel Partosa, Migs Velarde and Marlon Marville) ended up answering a slew of questions from the Transco guys who were mostly uninitiated on the ways of the press, about Media’s role in improving the moral standards of society. While the audience was low on practical skills of journalism, it certainly was high on perception of the morals and attitudes that should govern the craft.

We believe we all acquitted ourselves well in the “engagement” though.

It was such a welcome change from the humdrum lectures we do on “5 Ws and 1 H” in the journalism lecture circuit. When people probe into your philosophies, and you offer to share these with them, there’s some catharsis that follows.

As the veteran journalist, now executive director of the Center for Culture and Mass Media Foundation, Inc. Alito Malinao told his audience of young masscom students yesterday in the journalism seminar at the Lyceum-Northwestern University: Sharing joy increases happiness, sharing grief lessens the pain.

The Pen Speaks
By Danny O. Sagun


COASTAL town mayors including Dagupan’s Benjie Lim left Wednesday for Taiwan purportedly on a study tour of the island’s rich aquaculture industry. Now, why do they have to go to that place considering that our country is not bereft of experts who, we learned, actually just transferred the technology to the Taiwan technicians? Only that the Taiwanese improved on it while most of our fisherfolk here contented themselves with the traditional or primitive system

The study tour may become just another junket as were the previous lakbay aral here and abroad by local executives and legislators. Remember the trips to Boracay and Bohol by some councilors from Binmaley? We heard no positive results after those junkets.

***

Before he left, Lim told mediamen expenses for his constant trips abroad came from his own pocket, adding that he was not just loitering or merrymaking but moving things for the city’s good.

The mayor was indeed noted often absent in his office and people just get informed he might already be in the U.S. or China. Several time, Vice-Mayor Alvin Fernandez was left to man City Hall.

What’s BSL doing in China, the birthplace of his father? Well, he might be seeing his relatives there. Or he might be taking care of a business. Rumor has it that he is partnering with a close political mentor of his on a certain business venture. Lim’s stint as general manager of the Philippine Duty-Free Ship during the Ramos years has established his connection far and wide. But he might be working really for the city’s interest, who can tell? BSL is a human dynamo. He was quoted as saying he was inviting investors for the long delayed fish processing plant in Bonuan the funding of which from the national government has yet to come although the President herself made the pledge during a visit in her early years in office.

Lim could not just wait endlessly for funds for the project from the national government particularly now that he had severed his ties with GMA when he joined calls for her resignation last July. So he must be looking for possible help outside, particularly from his father’s countrymen, that’s a fair guess. Is Benjie’s absence at City Hall already affecting his governance or performance?

After initiating bold changes in say, the traffic system to include the lights, park improvement at the city plaza, and renovations at City Hall including reassignments of offices threat, the city’s scene seems to have practically remained the same.

Some people say the city administration got “burned” with such big projects as acquiring the deteriorating Mac Adore building and construction of a new market-cum-mall involving huge funding. The new Malimgas market continues to suffer in terms of patronage and the Mac Adore building remains an unsightly abandoned edifice. What happened to the proposed transfer of government offices there after the construction of the Malimgas market?

Perhaps, Lim should limit his overseas trips and staying more at home to prevent the early deterioration of his grand projects. Sayang met kasi.