The Pangasinan Star ONLINE

ALL SET FOR THE BLASTED FINGERS. With the streamer of the health department’s Oplan: Iwas Paputok hanging overhead, the Region 1 Medical Center admission area has laid out beds for the expected New Year celebration casualties of blasted fingers and bloodied bodies tonight. Late reports from health facilities in Pangasinan showed minimal injuries served by the medical teams as many apparently took the “safety first” policy to heart. (PStar Photo by Butch F. Uka)

WHO is to blame for the abandoned bangus processing plant project here in Dagupan City?

If reports are to be believed, the finger is pointed at House Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. as a seemingly surprised President Macapagal-Arroyo washed her hands off the delay — or unsustained funding – of the project.

Arroyo, as is her habit when she goes to the North, dropped by her favorite seafoods restaurant in the city last Monday noon on her way by helicopter to Baguio City along with her family.

Mayor Benjamin S. Lim, despite his political differences with the Chief Executive, joined the President for lunch.

In their conversation, she reportedly asked the mayor about the status of the project, whether it was already finished or nearing completion.

She was surprised when Lim told her the project had not even started, the mayor told newsmen later.

The President told the mayor she had entrusted the project to De Venecia and thought all along that it was going on smoothly. She had no idea it never got off the ground.

Arroyo, during her early days in power, pledged support to the project when she came over for the celebration of the First Bangus Festival. She gave an initial P10 million and directed the Department of Agriculture to allocate additional funds for it. The funds never arrived however apparently due to the bureaucratic maze.

Lim appears to have lost all hope about any funding assistance from the national government for the project due to bureaucratic red tape. He said he stopped following up after several tries and failing to have the funds released.

He has not abandoned the project however. He said he invited foreign investors particularly from China to fund or pursue the project.

The mayor had called for the President to resign at the height of the “Hello Garci” scandal. Her unfulfilled promises to the city including funding for the P300-million processing plant might have been a factor in Lim’s distancing from her and even joining the call of the opposition for her to step down, some observers said.

It was not clear if the President was not fully apprised of the matter by the DA or by De Venecia himself.

THE Dagupan office of the Bureau of Immigration registered a total of P8.4 million in collections for 2005, an increase of P2,151,380 over last year’s P6,322,680 by the same field office.

Alien Control Officer Alberto S. Garcia said the bulk of the 34.03 per cent increase in collections came from Filipino-Americans transacting business with the office for visa extension, annual reporting fee, re-entry and exit charges, and change of status from temporary to permanent residency.

Fil-Ams were followed by Indians, Americans, Europeans, Koreans, Chinese and Middle Eastern nationals in terms of volume of transactions with the Dagupan BI office, Garcia said.Most Filipino-Americans in Pangasinan hail from the town of Binalonan, the maternal hometown of President Arroyo.

In all, he said BI-Dagupan averaged P600,000 monthly in collections, all of which were regularly remitted to the BI central office throughout the year.

Garcia said since the decentralization of operations of the Immigration bureau during the administration of former Commissioner Rufus Rodriguez, the BI provincial office based at the Dagupan City Astrodome here has zoomed up from a zero-income unit to multi-million revenue-earning office in just five years of operation.

Garcia thanked Immigration Commissioner Alipio Fernandez for consistent support to the operations of the Dagupan office contributing to a highly motivated and efficient field workforce. Three main categories make up the collections of the BI-Dagupan: general fund, legal research fee and express lane fee.

For 2005, these three areas posted increases of P1,695,670 (33.75%), P24,710( 28.83) and 431,000 (35.52%) respectively for a total annual increase of P2,151,380 or 34.03 approximating the collections, volume-wise, of Baguio immigration office, the premier office in northern Luzon, considered the main destination and residency of most foreign nationals and Fil-Ams.

Garcia said peak months of collections this year are January followed by February and November. (BFH-PIA Pangasinan Infocenter)

TAYUG – A regional trial court judge as well as the assistant provincial prosecutor based here are under serious threats on their lives from still unidentified persons, following the dismissal for lack of probable cause of the murder—theft charge against the suspects in the high-profile Paas case.

Threatened were RTC Judge Ulysses Raciles Butuyan of Branch 51 as well as Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Noel C. Bince, Sr. who both hold office in the town’s justice hall.

Butuyan requested two police escorts from the Tayug police which Chief of Police Rhode Espero immediately granted.

This was after Butuyan received threatening text messages soon after dismissing the cases filed against the two accused in the brutal slaying of Pasig City Judge Estrellita Paas at their residence in Natividad town.

Butuyan suspects that the threat against him may have something to do with the Paas case but did not elaborate.

In the case of Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Bince, he believed that the attempt on the life of his son Noel F. Bince, Jr. 22, the evening Dec. 22 in front of their residence in Barangay B, Tayug was actually meant for him.

The younger Bince was hit on the foot by a bullet from a Cal. 45 pistol as he was opening the gate of their compound to park their car. He was fired upon by two men on a motorcycle.

Witnesses said the driver of the motorcycle was overheard talking in Ilocano chastising his companion for shooting the wrong man before they zoomed eastward.

The younger Bince was rushed to the Eastern Pangasinan District Hospital before he was transferred to a hospital in Manila.

Observers believed the threats on Butuyan and Bince may have come from the same group. Both officials handled the cases against the suspects in the Paas slay.

IF there is anything that the Dagupan City government fully regrets not having implemented this year, it is the establishment of the city’s P150 million bangus processing plant.

This was disclosed by Mayor Benjamin Lim who said the first ever bangus processing plant in the city would have been the major flagship project of his administration for 2005 had it materialized.

He said the project was conceived as a partnership between the city government and the national government, intended to put more added value to the bangus, create jobs for the unemployed and earn the much-needed foreign exchange.

Saying the processing plant will make the bangus produced in Dagupan and Pangasinan distinct from the rest of bangus produced in other parts of the country, Lim believes the project will be a big boon to local fish farmer-producers as well as traders.

Aware of the importance of the project, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo gave P10 million of the P50 million she promised for the project when she addressed the Bangus Congress organized by the city in 2003.

Arroyo however emphasized that the P40 million would not come in cash but in the form of machinery to be provided by China as part of a soft loan granted by the Chinese government to the Philippine government.

Arroyo inquired about the processing plant from Lim when she and family were having lunch at Tondaligan Park here last Monday on their way to Baguio to spend their holidays.

Lim told the President that the project has not yet started because the P10 million released by her last year was not enough to start even the site development for the project.

The mayor said since this did not materialize through the partnership between the city and national governments, he tapped some investors to do the project themselves on a one-hectare lot in barangay Bonuan Binloc.

The city will lease the land to the private investors who, in order to complete the project, would import the needed machinery from Europe, Lim declared.

Lim said it was the Department of Agriculture in fact, during the time of Secretary Leonardo Montemayor, that made the project study on the bangus processing plant and recommended the amount of P150 million as project cost.

CHILDREN AT WORK. Children in riverine barangays of the city, join the “Gilon, Gilon” fish harvest contest in one fishpond, aiming not so much to win as to scoop enough viand for the family table in the holidays. (PStar Photo by Butch F. Uka)

MANAOAG --The youngest member of the municipal council who topped the race for councilor in the last election and promoted later to vice mayor will keep his post.

The Second Division of the Commission on Elections assured Vice Mayor Kim Mikael Amador he stays as alderman when it reversed and set aside an earlier decision of the Regional Trial Court in Urdaneta City disqualifying him from continuing to serve as member of the sangguniang bayan.

The 10-page resolution signed by Presiding Commissioner Myhol K. Sadain and Commissioner Florentino Tuazon Jr. last Dec. 8 reversed the decision promulgated January 12, 2005 of Regional Trial Court Judge Joven Costales disqualifying the 26-year old Amador and ordering him to vacate his office.

With lawyer Villamor Tolete, Amador appealed the RTC decision before the Comelec, which eventually resolved the case in his favor.

Amador is the son of Alcide and Dahlia Amador, directors of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Philippine Tourism Authority, respectively.

As topnotcher in the council race in the last election, he was elevated to the position of vice mayor when Vice Mayor Pedrito Garcia died middle part of last year.

The case against the young Amador was filed by Wilfredo Sibayan, losing candidate for councilor, who sought the disqualification of the respondent despite having garnered the most number of votes in the council race.

Sibayan alleged that at the time of the filing of certificate of candidacy of Amador on January 5, 2004, he was not yet a registered voter of the town because his name was stricken out from the list of voters for not having voted in two consecutive elections.

However, earlier on Dec. 30, 2003, Amador filed a petition for inclusion of his name in the list of voters with the Municipal Trial Court which was approved by the court only on January 12, 2004.

Citing “Dura lex sed lex” (The law is harsh but it is the law), Judge Costales said the respondent may have all the intentions in the whole world to serve his constituents but he cannot continue because of the infirmities subsisting at the time he filed his certificate of candidacy.

In its resolution, the Comelec said that although Amador was not a registered voter at the time of his filing of certificate of candidacy, he became a registered voter on the day of the election.

Citing a ruling of the Supreme Court, the poll body said Amador is eligible to hold office in as much as he possessed all the required qualifications at the time of his proclamation and at the time he assumed office.

It said the defect, if any, is not so patently antagonistic or noxious to the Constitution and laws as to nullify the overwhelming voice of the people in favor of Amador.

“In fact, the Supreme Court emphasized that the Local Government Code requires an elective official to be a registered voter. It does not require him to vote actually. Hence, registration--not actual voting—is the core of this disqualification.

Citing the Supreme Court decision, the Comelec said that undeniably, respondent-appellant was a registered voter at the time of elections and continues to be so until the present.

A LITERARY contest to mark the Centennial Celebration of Filipino Migration to Hawaii seeks to draw contestants on the competition theme: 100 years: The Filipino Legacy in Hawaii.

The contest is divided into three categories: poetry, essay, and one-act play. It is open to all Filipino writers, students and professionals. At stake are prizes of P15,000, P10,000, and P7,500 for the first, second and third placers.

Entries may be submitted from December 25 to February 28 next year. All entries should be original.

For poetry writing, every entry should be a collection of five to 10 poems. For the essay writing category, the entries should have 2,000 to 3,000 words. The one-act play writing category should be 30 to 45 minutes long in actual play.

The contest is one of several activities lined up for 2006 as part of the 100-year friendship between the Philippines and Hawaii.

The project is sponsored by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. Interested parties may contact Atty. Golda Myra Roma or Mr. Frencel Louie Tingga at telephone number 5618321 locals 600-604, or visit www.cfo.gov.ph or www.neca.gov.ph. (DOS/PIA)

SOME 4,000 athletes, coaches and school officials from various parts of the country will flock to Dagupan City and Pangasinan from Feb. 5 to 11 to take part in the 2006 National Private Schools Athletic Association (PRISAA) Meet.

This is the biggest sporting event ever in Pangasinan since its hosting the Palarong Pambansa in 1995.

To be hosted by PRISAA Region 1 headed by Dr. Gonzalo T. Duque, also PRISAA national president and vice chairman of the national board of trustees, the meet has for its theme “Friendship and Solidarity Towards National Transformation.”

Duque, president of the Dagupan-based Lyceum-Northwestern University , led the launching of the meet last December 23 through a program and news conference at LNU.

The meet will open on Feb. 6 at the Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center in Lingayen, which was designated by organizers as among several venues of the meet, along with the Dagupan City People’s Astrodome and other sites.

The athletes will see action in 12 sporting events, such as athletics, badminton, chess, baseball, basketball, softball, lawn tennis, sepak takraw, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo and volleyball.

“This is the first time that we challenged ourselves to hold the national games in Dagupan since the PRISAA was founded in 1935,” Duque said.

The last national meet was held in Zamboanga City.

Duque said the hosting of the national PRISAA meet got the needed support from Gov. Victor Agbayani, House Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. and the other Pangasinan congressmen.

Also pledging their support were Mayors Benjamin Lim of Dagupan City, Amadeo Perez, Jr. of Urdaneta City, Julian Resuello of San Carlos City, Hernani Braganza of Alaminos City, Simplicio Rosario of Binmaley and Ernesto Castañeda of Lingayen. (PNA)

A TOP illegal drugs operator not only in Pangasinan but the whole of Ilocos region, including Tarlac, fell Tuesday in a dragnet set by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in adjacent La Union province.

Arrested in an operation conducted by the PDEA provincial office in La Union headed by Senior Inspector Rey Lizardo was Raymundo Vienes, tagged as number one drug personality in Pangasinan and number 10 in the whole region.

He was caught in a buy-bust operation conducted by lawmen with the aid of their asset at 3 p.m. Tuesday in barangay Sta. Rita West, Aringay, La Union.

PDEA Regional Director Chief Inspector Christopher Abrahano said a report from Senior Inspector Lizardo said at least three grams of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu was seized from the suspect.

The suspect’s car, used in his numerous drug-dealing activities,was also seized, Abrahano said. His contacts in Panasinan as well as in La Union are now under surveillance by the PDEA.

The suspect, whose cohorts are yet to be identified, was sourcing out shabu from the domestic pipeline through his contacts in Manila, Region III and Region IV.

A report received by Abrahano said that Vienes was selling to still unidentified persons up to 50 grams of shabu at one time, proof that he is really a big fish in the illegal drug trade.

Vienes came under police surveillance after known drug personalities who were already previously arrested and whose operations had already been busted linked him to the illegal trade. (PNA)

LINGAYEN--Seven Chinese nationals aboard a fishing vessel that landed in Agno town last Dec. 20 are now facing cases of illegal entry and violation of Philippine immigration laws before the office of the Provincial Prosecutor in Alaminos City.

The case was filed by the police who arrested the seven soon after some of them were found buying food and some provisions at the Agno public market while their fishing boat, Fu Yuan Yu 868, was docked at the Balincaging river in the poblacion area.

Vendors at the public market became very suspicious because not one of the Chinese nationals could communicate to them in the dialect or even the Filipino language so they contacted the police.

Now temporarily detained at the detention cell of the Police Provincial Office here, the sevenclaimed they were enroute to Taiwan from China when they were forced by bad weather to land in the Philippines.

Police Provincial Director Sr. Supt. Alan Purisima ordered the filing of complaints against theseven suspected illegal entrants soon after the investigation on them was completed.

The investigation showed that of the seven, only six have seafarer’s passport. They are Huang Xin Jun, Zheng Feng, Zheng Zhong, Gao Xiang Guang, Yang Geng, Xin Jian.

No passport was presented by their companion, Wei Jia Fuan.

However, authorities raised doubts whether the seven are really fishermen because their 50-footvessel had no single fishing apparatus.

The vessel was boarded and inspected by the police and representatives of the local police,Bureau of Customs, Maritime Police and the Philippine Coast Guard.

Supt. Noli Taliño, intelligence officer of the Pangasinan police, told newsmen that the Chinese embassy in Manila was already informed of the arrest of the Chinese nationals.

JUDGE COOL is personified by Judge Ulysses Raciles Butuyan of the Tayug regional trial court who is now bracing for unpleasant repercussions of his dismissal of the charges against the two accused in the celebrated Paas case in Natividad town. Fresh indications that some unscrupulous elements have been checking out his routine and whereabouts for obviously sinister purposes has not failed to dampen the spirit of the irrepressible gentleman of the bench (PStar Photo by Butch F. Uka) .

CALLING the “One Above” as his real bodyguard, Tayug regional trial court Judge Ulysses R. Butuyan alternately took on a comic-serious mien while meeting with Pangasinan mediamen at a city restaurant Wednesday to discuss the latest disturbing incident involving him shortly after his controversial pre-arraignment dismissal of the case against the suspects in thehigh-profile Paas slaying.

Butuyan said that while a police detail is now guarding the premises of the trial court since after he was advised by authorities of real threats against him by some elements, it is only God who watches over him as he moves around. He admitted however he has been taking some personal security measures on his own.

Butuyan said the case against the two accused can still be refiled in court as he denied that the “double jeopardy” clause applies to the case. Double jeopardy, in jurisprudence, bars the filing of the same case against the same suspect or suspects twice.

He pointed out that he issued the resolution dismissing the charges against the suspects – Elmer Cabiles and Jornald Vargas – before the two could even be arraigned on murder and theft complaints, thus they can still be charged for the same offense because they were never arraigned for the crime.

Expressing total belief for the majesty of the law, Butuyan said that if the case were to be refilled with a different accused being presented, and the case is raffled to his sala, he could still acquit the same purely based on evidence.

Citing the latest alleged threat on him, the judge told newsmen about an incident last week when he was in Manila and a woman church parishioner in Asingan reported to the parish priest about two men on motorbike asking about him (Butuyan) at a local store he usually frequents for snacks. He said the two were apparently strangers as they had even asked the woman about the roads leading out of Asingan.

Butuyan agreed with mediamen that the Paas case was “convoluted” and only an impartial and thorough investigation by authorities could unravel the truth. He stopped short of saying the two initial suspects were “fall guys” or at least, did not act by themselves alone.

City revenue code updated in a jiffy; traders to bear more taxes

DAGUPAN City Councilor Michael Fernandez is standing pat on his declaration that the city has incurred a budget deficit and not just a “shortfall in tax collection,” a euphemism used by the city treasurer’s office and the city administrator’s office for weeks towards the end of the year to obscure the financial situation of the city.

“At the moment, the city has more payables than collectibles,” Fernandez said to underscore the inability of the city government to remedy the problem without going into some updating of taxes to plug the deficit at least by next year.

He revealed that to make up for the “shortfall” in collections this year that was running at some P20 million at last count, big businessmen in the city may have to pay more taxes in 2006 thru an updated local revenue code that was passed by the city council last December 13.

Even this stop-gap measure however appears to have its own defect, mainly because it did not call for a public hearing but was the result of Fernandez, as chairman on finance and majority floorleader of the sangguniang panlungsod, deciding on which portions of the old revenue code needed updating.

At the same time, Fernandez admitted to mediamen that he deleted the ordinance imposing parking fees in the new local revenue code saying this is basically “anti-business.”

A city official who requested anonymity said it is still not clear whether updating is the same as revising the ordinance, in which latter case, there could be a need for a public hearing especially where such involves penalties.

Fernandez estimated some P20 million in additional revenues could be generated once the “updated” ordinance is implemented in the new year.

A source said it was actually the executive department that had proposed the adoption of a new revenue code as the city has been left behind in rates and fees being charged for the same services as those found in other cities and municipalities.

SAYAN INDIO
Mario F. Karateka

SINGA anggapo -- kasla awan kuandaray Ilokano -- so apalabas a piyesta’y Dagupan, kuandaray totoo, tagadia man o dayo. Mas bongga nin arawdawi kuno so kapiyestaan ed arom iran baley.

Andi, agtayo tetetelen so hermano mayor a si Konsehal Alex de venecia ta kalamor ginawa to met so anggaay nayarian to, akasabi ingen anggad biek-taew pian ikampanya so ipawil daray Dagupenyon wadman diad siudad dan nianakan sanen Disyembre. Atakewan ni so kalamor a konsehal dimad Tarlak nen pasempet ladia ya akalugan ed pampasaheron bus, milyones so dengel kon kantidad ya imbatik o inaswit dad awit ton bag. Kuantomet ingen ya andi, agmet abalang o akapila ed bag ya inaswit so akolekta toran donasyon manlalapud Dagupenyos ed Estados Unidos ya naknakar to.

Say malas labat nen Alex de V et singa pinaolianan dan sikatoy bokbokor ya manmaneho na aktibidades ed piyesta, aliwan singa nen saman ya wadtan a akaantabay naynay iray arom ya opisyales tan hepes de departamentos.

Walay sakey Dagupenyon akatongtong ko et naplag konoy abagey tod impakanengneng tod Alex de V a nilabi-labi kono kalamor ya wadman ed plaza’y siyudad tayo ya begbegtew, manbokbokor, pangaskasian so awawey to, legan ya alagden toray akagetar ya mamaliket ed labi diman a pasen.

No akin met et nibanan nagsibakasyon met iray arom ya opisyales, kaibalay Bisi Mayor Albin Pirnandis. Si Meyor Bendyi et tuan angilukas na piyesta tan wadman met ed Lantern Parade balet arom niran bekta, singa agmomet naromog. Awey iray arom ya maseseg ya kakaibad Medya no nalmo da ta hinanting day BSL sanen bisperas na Pasko – odino si Butch Velasco na CIO la so angibonog na nepeg ya ibobonog, awey, agmi amtala.

Nipawil tayod si Mama Alex de V. Singa “one-man army” so agawad pablisiti na piyesta ingen kono ta ni anggapoy nagastos pian i-plug so aktibidades ed radyo.Walay sakey, duara amo labat a radyo ya pinilin pangianunsiyo-an, balet tua.kuantayo anggapoy nadngel mi.Asompal metla kalamor. Apalabas lay piyesta.

Say mairap nid saya, bangta onman ya daiset tan ginimperan so aktibidades et ompaway nin dakel so utang ya babayaran naani. Tapik yoy moling yo, agagi, no ontan, tan bansag tayon oningal na “harang!”

WHAT would you give to see the future?

To many people, side by side with New Year’s resolutions (that are never observed anyway) their most ardent yearning is to be able to know what the future has in store forthem. And if horoscopes don’’t give them that foresight clearly enough, and satisfactorily enough, there’s the good, old fortune teller or palmist to consult for a good peer into what lies ahead for them and their loved ones in the new year.

This fetish for things magical or esoteric actually makes them more (or less) confident in facing the new year. It primes them up, as it were, for the more unpleasant surprises and reinvigorates them for the pleasant tidings that will come. It is a very typical human need: to be forewarned and therefore, be forearmed.

And yet, the downside in such a preoccupation for knowing the future thru cards, by crystal balls or via human medium is that where the prediction is dreadful, it can prove immobilizing. Terror has a way of keeping one’s actions tempered or grievously limited.

Thus, one who may have been forewarned about traveling on certain parts of the year would in all probability, skip trips that would have brought him great opportunities or profits. We know of some people who swear by a stack of tarot cards and a host of feng shui advice that they did avoid bad luck in the year by religiously following the “vibes”from these physical and mental “aids” like their lives and careers fully depended on them.

But in the same breath, we know of as many number of “unbelievers” who scoff at the superstitions and claim that the opposite happened – that by not hewing to the “signs” and “admonitions”, they precisely were able to avoid pitfalls and even expanded their avenues of good fortune. To each his own cure, to each his own poison.

For us, the simple abiding advice for everyone caring to read this piece is: Full faith in the Lord is all one needs to go thru this difficult life. His Divine Power can never be approximated, much less, assumed by the doomsayers who make a living predicting all sorts of tragedies and misfortunes at the start of a year, and basking in the resultant publicity generated by their earth-shaking statements.

Behn Fer. Hortaleza, Jr.

AS IN past years, Pogo Grande and Pogo-Lasip were where firecracker explosion freaks of all ages and stature flocked to again yesterday, December 31. Our barangay, the popular source of high-powered pyrotechnics thru the decades, rivaled only by Bacayao Sur, has maintained its pre-eminence as the place to find your kind of blast in, from pint-sized triangles to huge rockets, Super Lolos and Judas Belts. Eve of the New Year always finds that road intersection after the elementary school looking like a flea market for the firecrackers. Buyers arrive on tricycles, bicycles, tri-bikes vans, jeepneys, utility vehicles all seeking the ultimate in gunpowder boom.

Indeed, whatever the police and fire departments say and warn about, there is no stopping that trade just before the New Year. Entire households make it their cottage industry, making like some neighborhood bomb-makers preparing for the onslaught of the enemy just as soon as October begins winding up till a week before year’s end.

On January 1, day after the revelries to welcome New Year, at 12 high noon, the road to Pogo and Lasip becomes No Man’s Land (that is, traffic is held at bay in the area fronting the elementary school) as the residents, in full reverence for tradition, string up and string out the unsold or leftover firecrackers from the previous night’s merrymaking. At the strike of 12 noon, the deadly, snaking belt is light to start a non-stop round of explosions that reverberate almost throughout the city. Nothing thrills the Pogo-Lasip bomb-makers more than this yearly display of gunpowder mayhem; something tells us they get their orgasm that way.

After making oodles of money from the frenzied pre-new year buying and selling of the ‘crackers on Pogo road, most of them get their final “kicks” in lighting their own capital “investments” and seeing and hearing it explode in a deafening crackle and roar, sending out the troubles and problems of the old year with their own sonic booms.
Happy New Year, Folks!

* * * * *

“CAN it be that it was all so simple then/ Or has time rewritten every line?

So goes a line in a song that just popped up in our mind while thinking of how very simple our relative, Councilor Michael F appears to have made his changing of fees and charges for various services and undertakings as contained in the city’s old revenue code. Why, the majority floorleader and chairman, committee on finance of the city council, even managed to have the “updated” revenue code passed in session last December 13 with nary a hitch.

No doubt, alderman Michael and his colleagues in the sanggunian were guided by the noblest of intentions to find a quick solution to a looming financial disaster for the Dagupan coffers, mainly brought about by a huge shortfall in revenues at the close of the year to the whooping tune of some P20 million.

But whatever happened to good, old public hearings or consultations where taxation is concerned? We scrapped the controversial pay parking measure passed by the same sanggunian for lack of due public consultations – only to fall guilty of the same oversight in yet another area of revenue-generation?

Horse before the cart, gentlemen. It’s still the best -- and only way –to impose taxes and fees in the civilized world. That is, unless they’ve already revised the Local Government Code too while no one was looking.

Happy New year, folks!

THE PEN SPEAKS
Danny O. Sagun

“VAT ba sila matatakot?” That title of a komiks-type pamphlet struck my attention when a copy was handed to me during a Consumernet meeting at the Department of Trade and Industry provincial office recently. Indeed, is the expanded value-added tax (EVAT) as scary as depicted in the front cover and page 2 of that eight-page reading material?

Under Republic Act 9337, the VAT as a tax measure was reformed to now include certain products and services like petroleum products and electricity which were exempted before. EVAT was especially passed to augment government’s revenues. Collections from EVAT are to be earmarked for public services like education, agriculture, environment protection and health insurance.

We may be surprised to know that for every P1 collection by the government, 90 centavos go to debt servicing and only 10 centavos go to public services and infrastructure. This is the main reason government badly needs money to fund its programs and projects. It cannot always rely on loans from foreign and domestic sources as has been the practice of previous administrations for the past decades.

Will fares in public utility vehicles increase? A little, because of the 10 percent VAT on petroleum products. It is a fact however that oil prices in the world market are unstable and tend to go up suddenly To soften the impact of VAT on oil products, taxes on excise and tariff were reduced so that the projected increase in oil products would range from two to eight percent only, not 10 percent.

How about goods and products sold in the market? There is no VAT on fresh foods, rice, and house rent of less P10,000 a month as well as low-cost housing, tuition fees and books. No VAT is imposed on small enterprises which have less than P1.5 million income in a year like sari-sari stores, carinderia and market stalls.

Will VAT really help the country. Yes. Along with VAT are financial reforms and austerity measures, and the campaign against tax cheats. VAT is a consumption tax, meaning, those who consume more will just have to pay more.

“Medyo mabigat, pero talagang kailangan pala ang VAT. Dahil mas laong nakakatakot kung wala tayong gagawin,” said the primer-cum-comics.

Who wants to pay more in taxes anyway?

But as we were taught in school, taxes are the lifeblood of a nation. We are not as rich as Brunei so we cannot do anything but share the burden with government and give to Caesar what is due Caesar. We do hope however that the taxes from our hard earned money go to where they are intended, not to the pockets of a thieving few.

SMORGASBOARD
Liway C. Manantan-Yparraguirre

THE inquiry on the P728 million fertilizer fund scam that is rocking the Department of Agriculture, just like the Garci controversy, is an investigation that is leading to nowhere.

Former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc Joc” Bolante, the person who is supposed to shed light on the matter is nowhere to be found, wittingly eluding summons o appear in the Senate.

One particular group seems to be feeling the brunt of that scam it never was a party to, nor benefited from it in terms of income.

Engineer Rosendo So, president of the Association of Fertilizer and Pesticide Distributors, Dealers and Outlets of Pangasinan (AFPDDOP) bared during their Christmas party that some of their members are being ‘harrassed’ by BIR agents.

“Naha-harass ang ilang kasamahan natin dahil sa fertilizer scam na hindi naman dumaan o pinakinabangan ng actual dealers. Ang problema, dahil sa nababasa sa diyaryo araw-araw ang tungkol sa scam, parang malaki ang kita ng mga fertilizer dealers,” he said matter of factly.

Part of the campaign of BIR to increase tax collection is to go around and check on businesses if they are paying the right taxes. But apparently, BIR agents became more aggressive when the fertilizer fund scam was uncovered.

Engr. So said some complained to him that the BIR men who visit them look not on their stocks or sales but on their buildings and would say, for example, “P5 million ito” or “P7 million ito, you should pay this much.”

“We pay our taxes, pero ang problema ino-over estimate ang sales ng isang outlet,” he lamented.

He added that in the past, the DA directly transacted with legitimate dealers and there was government subsidy. To help the farmers purchasing fertilizer, there was the ‘buy-one-take-one’ or ‘buy-two-take-one’ program of the government.

With the Masaganang Ani program of the present administration, what happened, said Engr. So, was that not only did they use or supposedly distributed liquid fertilizer, the people concerned allegedly did not transact directly with legitimate fertilizer dealers.

He appealed to their guests, Congressmen Mark O. Cojuanco and Conrad M. Estrella III of the fifth and sixth district, respectively, to help them bring their concerns to the House.

The two assured their friend they will serve as their voices in addressing this concern.

So also appealed to his members to report to him immediately any more ‘harassments’. “We have to be united and with one voice. Ang produkto natin ay para sa mga magsasaka, kailangan protektahan din natin sila,” he said.

*****

Congressman Cojuangco said he did not fund, through his Countrywide Development Fund, fertilizer purchases in his district not because he didn’t believe in the (agriculture) industry but because he would like to concentrate on agricultural infrastructure. These are the farm-to-market roads and he makes sure the roads are wide.

He said market for fertilizers and production of agricultural products would be enhanced if you make it easier for farmers to transport their produce to the market.

I agree with him that the effect is long lasting. Barangay folks have better roads which also serves as their solar dryer. And what is a solar dryer? Simply, it’s the concrete road na pinagbibiladan ng palay at mais.

One good news for my kababayans in Laoac, the congressman chose the municipality as the pilot area for his irrigation project. He will also launch here by next year a dairy industry.

The irrigation project of Cong. Cojuangco is like manna from heaven for the farmers. His program is to revive the abandoned deep-well pumps of the NIA (National Irrigation Authority) which were built in the late ‘70’s.

One was built in our barangay, Cabilaoan, and oh, how abundant the water that flowed!

*****

December 30, 2003, Rizal Day. Place: Baguio City. The first family spent their Christmas here. Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo made a statement – she won’t run anymore for president by 2004. And she lied.

Are we to believe therefore statements she made last Rizal Day?

Let’s hope for the best, and brace for the worst this 2006. The implementation of the expanded VAT makes me quiver, what with domino effect of the increase of prices of some services and commodities.

Anyway, happy birthday to my father, Mr. Melchor G. Manantan, who’s celebrating his birthday on Janaury 6. Also to former San Carlos City vice mayor Harry Cagampan and Chief Insp. Harris Fama.

WINDOWS
Gabriel L. Cardinoza

THAT Rachel Arenas, unica hija of socialite and philanthropist Rosemarie “Baby” Arenas, is joining the congressional race in the province’s third district in 2007 is now certain as the sun rising in the East.

At least this was what Rachel and her mom wanted Pangasinenses to know when they called a news conference at the Pangasinan Regency Hotel in Calasiao town last Wednesday. The mother and daughter team were on their way that night to the Dagupan City High School alumni homecoming at the Dagupan City plaza were Rachel was guest of honor.

In her opening statement, Rachel flaunted her credential as a fresh Harvard graduate and her refusal to work in the United Nations despite many offers just to come home to Malasiqui to fulfill a promise “to serve the people.”

She was straightforward in her answers to our questions. Asked what she thought was her advantage over other congressional contenders in the district, she said: “I think I am very much more capable, much more intelligent than other people in the Congress.”

From what we have gathered, the other prospective candidates in the congressional seat, which will be vacated by Rep. Gener Tulagan, includes Bayambang Mayor Leo de Vera, police general Reynaldo Velasco, and Tulagan’s only son, Jun. Gener is the first congressman in the district to complete the three consecutive three-year-term limit.

But what made the news conference exciting was Rachel’s mother’s tirades against Tulagan. Although she did not name him, she always asked, “Did your Congressman address that?” referring to an array of concerns ranging from micro-financing to health services to electrification of her mango farm in Barangay Nancapian in Malasiqui town (where she is now building her house) that she said continues to put the people in a more difficult situation.

Seeing her talk in rapid fire fashion reminded me of a press conference in Dagupan City about 10 years ago when she castigated then sixth district Rep. Ranjit Shahani for wanting to get an endorsement for governor from then President Fidel Ramos. “We should not allow political dynasties. This was what we promised to the people during the campaign,” Arenas barked then.

What ensued was a bitter word war between Ranjit’s mother, then Sen. Letecia Ramos-Shahani and Baby A. As expected, in the end, Ranjit did not get FVR’s anointment (then first district Rep. Oscar Orbos got it and was eventually elected governor) and Ranjit had no choice but to run for reelection.

And this may soon be history repeating itself because a day after the mother and daughter news conference, Gener told Arenas in an interview: “Stop politicking because it’s still too early.”

Gener was emphatic in saying that he would not have been elected three consecutive terms if he has not been doing his work in the district. “Patawarin na lang natin sila kasi di nila alam ang sinasabi nila. Parang nananaginip sila (Let’s just forgive them because they know not what they are saying. They seem to be dreaming),” Gener said.

We expect an answer from the Arenases soon. But as it is now, a word war has begun between the two camps. That police general Reynaldo Velasco has his own tirades against Gener is a different story. Leo, for his part, has been very silent, maybe not wanting to antagonize anyone at the moment. At least, not yet.

To everyone, Happy New Year!