THERE are no ‘fixers’ at the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Dagupan City, according to its chief transportation regulations officer.

CTRO Patricio ‘Pat’ P. Urmaza categorically denied the alleged presence of “such unscrupulous individuals” at the LTO here.

Urmaza explained that some people may be mistaking “insurance agents not connected to the LTO who look after those needing insurance for their vehicles as fixers”.

“However, I do not allow them to ply their trade inside the office itself but only outside. Moreover, I see to it that, even if they are outside the office, they are also legitimate insurance agencies and not the blacklisted ones, for vehicle owners’ protection,” Urmaza pointed out.

He emphasized that when it comes to matters related to the actual registration of vehicles, all vehicle owners are advised to deal directly with legitimate employees of the LTO, no matter where that LTO office is located.

“This can easily be known by the client of the office because LTO-Dagupan posts an organizational chart which can be conspicuously seen in the office. Deal only with the employees or officers found in the chart,” Urmaza advised.

He explained that he cannot legally drive away such insurance agents to leave the LTO compound because of the element of free enterprise, as long as this is not against the law.

Urmaza said there are roughly from 80,000 to 100,000 vehicles of various types in Pangasinan, with some 40,000 of these under the Dagupan LTO.

LINGAYEN – The campaign against illegal drugs scored anew when 13 suspected pushers and or users were arrested Friday afternoon in simultaneous raids conducted by lawmen in three separate houses in Mangatarem town.

Chief Inspector Harris Fama, head of the Police Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group of the Police Provincial Office, said the raids were conducted based on validated reports that three houses located on Maravilla street in Mangatarem were buying points of local drug users.

The raids wee covered by three separate search warrants issued earlier on the same day by Regional Trial Court Judge Rolando Mislang of Branch 42 in Dagupan City.

The raids confirmed previous intelligence reports that Mangatarem remains on top of the watch list of the police when it comes to illegal drugs, despite the arrest of big-time drug dealers and pushers there some months ago.

Fama spearheaded the raid along with elements of the Mangatarem Police headed by Supt. Ernesto Abuan, Special Operations Group led by Senior Insp. Plariel Balt, Intelligence and Investigation Branch headed by Supt. Noli Taliño and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency headed by Provincial Director, Chief Insp. Christopher Abrahano.

A total of two grams of suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu placed in 10 plastic sachets, including drug paraphernalia and cash proceeds from sales of drugs, were seized by lawmen from the houses of Leopoldo Legal, alias “Pol”, Eddie Valle and Orlando Untalan.

All three were suspected well-known drug pushers and users in the town.

Of the three house owners, only Untalan was arrested. The other two were not in their respective homes when the raids were carried out.

Others arrested in Untalan’s house were Marlon Rosario, Froilan Pasiliao and Rolly Panlilio who, at the time of the raid, were conducting a pot session. All scampered in various directions but were later caught by lawmen following a brief chase. Their companion, identified as Norberto Rosario, alias “Erdie”, managed to escape. He is now the object of a police manhunt.

Nabbed in Legal’s house were his wife Maribel, Peter Jerwin Soriano, Jimmy Bautista, Victor Cruz and Bernadette Flores.

DAGUPAN City Councilor Michael Fernandez has accepted the apologies of three persons he earlier charged with slight physical injuries during a melee at the Music Warehouse last year.

Fernandez said that the three – Manolito Taron, 33, Bernon Taron, 36, and Camilo Felarcia Jr., 25 – had written him to ask for forgiveness for unnecessarily involving him in the scuffle on Dec. 8, 2004 thus injuring the councilor and his friends.

Manolito and Bernon are both from Lingayen town while Felarca is from San Marcelino, Zambales.

In their letter, the three said that Fernandez was only trying to pacify them at that time and expressed their heartfelt apologies to the councilor “in the interest of peace and reconciliation.”

Fernandez has dropped the case he filed before the municipal trial court in cities (M TCC) against the three.

“They have come to me several times. They brought with them their relatives, and two of them are married with children. So, I have accepted their apologies,” Fernandez said.

LINGAYEN — Noted businessman and civic leader Ruben M. Ong of this capital town was buried yesterday following a five-day wake that drew to his wake a legion of friends and relatives from both the public and private sector at the De Guzman Funeral Parlor.

Ong, 78, succumbed to complications from heart disease. He is survived by his wife, the former Asuncion
Torio and 12 children, now all professionals.

Ong’s family owned and managed the former Viscount Restaurant on Maramba Blvd., a landmark of Lingayen in the 70s to 80s just across the Provincial Capitol grounds, until it went under a new management. The site is where the present Consuelo’s Restaurant stands.

A popular figure in town, Ong cultivated friendship with many associations and was an officer in many of them.

At his wake, among the more prominent figures who paid their last respects were Philippine National Police Chief Arturo Lomibao and PNP spokesman, Gen. Leopoldo Bataoil, himself a Lingayenense, Mayor Ernesto Castaneda and many provincial and municipal officials.

By Behn Fer. Hortaleza, Jr.

IT never ceases to amuse us, this familiar scene of a mayor or governor seated behind his desk patiently, if condescendingly, listening to all sorts of problems, personal and very personal, from a succession of visitors. Very early in the morning, they all come “to see the mayor” even if clearly, some of the woes they bring with them are best presented to someone else in the municipal or city hierarchy – the administrator, the engineer, the health officer, the social worker, and yes, the barangay captain.

To everyone troubled and baffled, the mayor is the “final solution”—what he says (sometimes even how he gestures, that’s for the truly fanatical) eases all the trouble and pain, no matter that he more often than not delegates the problem-solving anyway to subordinates.

This is partly the reason that we have, since we assumed a senior level in the rocking media world, tried as best we could not to step inside mayor’s offices, if we could help it. The scene of so many people seeking the mayor’s attention all at one time triggers this little voice within us to take only the minutest fraction of the former’s time as soon as we are granted an audience with him or her in consideration of the waiting crowd.

It’s almost too “criminal” to keep so many others waiting in line for that much-awaited mayor’s word – or smile – with them while you take your own sweet time shooting the breeze with him.
And into this whole busy milieu comes the ubiquitous and “solicitous” mediamen and mediawomen whose various body languages, while trying as best they could to catch the town executive’s welcoming eye, would have been such a delight to sketch or draw for the late caricature artist Gene Sendaydiego.

We can’t blame some municipal executives really for getting the creeps when a whole army of our media colleagues, men and women, descend into their offices to mix with their already overflowing number of callers – this, on an almost daily basis! And to think that only a few of these really belong to legit media outlets or organizations which would have made time spent with them worth their busy schedule.

Some mayors though, like Lingayen’s Jonas Castaneda, Urdaneta’s Amadito R. Perez, Jr., Alaminos’ Nani Braganza, Bayambang’s Leo Boy de Vera, even neophyte politician Jinky Zaplan of Sta. Barbara, we hear, (with pointers from her hubby, multi-term ex-mayor Lito) and Sto. Tomas’ former mayor Bebot and incumbent mayora Vivien Villar have mastered the art of, uh, “media accommodation” well enough they can live with it. No wonder they’re media darlings, anytime.

Word is that Malasiqui Mayor Ponsing Soriano who once got fed up with the gall of some mediapersons now treads on and treats media presence more sparingly to avoid going thru a repeat of the abuso de confiansa by the local pests, er, Press which he denounced in harsh tones once before.

Indeed, some uninitiated mayors now feel, whenever the media comes around and loiters — yes, loiters — that their generic name is Angelo dela Cruz – wearing the orange shirt on the Internet video with his Iraqi captors.

Still wonder why some of them have been going on hide n’ seek games when they see the familiar media faces coming?

SAYAN INDIO
Mario F. Karateka

PUERA labat no burado lad sayan tapew na mundo si datin Komisyoner Virgilio Garcillano, a sayan posibilidad so papagaan nen Senador Ping Lacson lapud anggapometla lanti so balitad si Garci, anggapoy dudak ya naalmo odino onletaw met lamlamang iyan kontrobersiyal ya too.

Agto nayariay man-amot ya mabayag si Garci ta ditad komunidad na arom iran nasyones, anggapoy seselengen tan poprotektaan da. No nalmoy Interpol so panaayaman na datin opisyal na Komilik, anggapoy duaruwan erelen tan ipawil ed Pilipinas iya, laotla no say bansan kawalaan to et walay extradition treaty to ed Pilipinas. Sikatoya so rason no akin et singa agak manisian walad Estados Unidos si Garci ta diman nayarian dan erelen tan pasempeten laya.

Lapud ta saya et ibabagan pinmaway ed bansa panamegley na eroplano ya sinmipot dimad Subic sanen Hulyo 14 ni, ibabagan walay impinonong na pigaran ahensiya laotlay Byuru op Imigresyon pian papawayen ya pian agla makatestigo ed Senado ed gagaween ton imbestigasyon ed samay “Hello, Garci..” wayrtaping. Ke walay amta tod agawa odino anggapo, siyempre si kabaleyan tayon Komisyoner Al Pirnandis natan so walad inka-irirap ta singa ompapaway akapanpaolian so opisina tod saya.

Sanen imbeneg a simba labat, iababaga toni nen datin meyor tayon Al dimad Dagupena ya wadianid bansa si Garcia ta anggaponi kono so rikord na Imigresyon ya walay toon man-ngaran na Virgilio Garcillano ya pinmaway ed saray “major airports tan seaports” na Pilipinas. Singa apalusutan da sirin si Mama Al.

Imbagakni ed sayan kolum tayo nen pigay simba labat so apalabas ya asingsingger a nadawit met si Komisyoner Al kuanko ta sensitibo so puwesto tod Imigresyon no bilbilang makapuslit si Garci; agak aturingan.

Kanian pigaralan taga-Pangasinan o manugang na Pangasinan so natan alanlanor lad sayay drama na “Hello, Garci manlapu nen ginmapo iya: Si Garci mismo (a taga-Balungao), si Heneral Hermogenes A. Ebdane, Jr.,(manugang na Tayug) Heneral Arturo Lomibao (Mangaldan), si Ispiker Dyo de V (Dagupan) ed panpipilit to met ya paeren so krisis ed administrasyon nen GMA, si Arsobispo Oscar Cruz tan anggan si Tabako (Asingan) ed pitutulungan tod si Presidenta Gloria) tan si GMA mismo (apo na Binalonan) say prinsipal ya karakter ed nagagawan krisis politika.

Saray taga-Ibale, mabetbet ya bitbitlaen da iyay “Pangasinan connection” kono ed bengatlan nagagawan isyu ditad gobyerno nasyonal, manlapu la nen panaon nen Presidente Fidel V. Ramos. Kabaliksan to labat siguro ya saray anak na Pangasinan so talagan mangigi-giya ed batik na administrasyon diad sayan nasyon, awa?

Prawd kayo ta—odino andi?

IN the Garci escape caper, it’s either Immigration Commissioner Al Fernandez was in on the so-called “conspiracy” or – and we’d rather believe this – he was clueless about what some of his lieutenants were doing apparently at the bidding of unseen hands. It is reported that his associate commissioner, Teddy Delarmente, allegedly a classmate of former PNP chief and now DPWH Secretary Hermogenes A. Ebdane, Jr. went over his head and facilitated Garci’s escape.

A more compelling thought however bugs us, as well as some local immigration officers: Was it actually a grand “set up” they applied to get rid of Al whose position at the BI was earlier rumored being coveted by certain influential Malacanang allies but that they couldn’t find enough goods to anchor their sinister plans on the immigration boss just yet?

Now, if as a Dagupeno at the coffeeshop also suggested, Al must have had some foreknowledge of the whole escape plan which was to be hatched right in his backyard, but that he didn’t reckon with the Department of Foreign Affairs going public with its discovery of Garci’s trail in Singapore, and thus was caught in the backlash, it would look like Al’s been fed to the lions, or to the dogs, or to the crocodiles deliberately.

Like many good men who fall into misfortunes, Al’s bad luck was that the Garcillano episode had to happen during his watch at the Bureau of Immigration. It could have been some other man in there — but now there’s no escaping the blame because it’s he who’s sitting on the hot seat.

Every Dagupeno and Pangasinense who knows the integrity of Al Fernandez can only hope he can weather this adversity thrown in his lap and that somehow the real culprit behind the Garci flight will be unmasked sooner or later. Dagupenos detest the idea that the multi-term former mayor of Dagupan had somehow been involved in abetting the escape of Garci, and with it, the raw truth about the wiretapped conversation.

AFTER ALL
By Behn Fer. Hortaleza, Jr.

WE have long been hearing of public complaints that some of the bigger drugstores in the city, especially those secretly owned or partly-owned by prominent physicians or big companies are the first to circumvent the Generics Law on drugs by actually refusing to have such generic (and therefore cheaper) drugs in their inventory. We thought it was all an unfounded whine among the poor who usually try to look for generic drug equivalent of their doctor’s prescription only to be told by such drugstores that they have none – only branded medicines are in their stock.

What is left for the poor buyer to do but to go home empty-handed to his sick kin and make do with herbal palliatives because he didn’t have enough money to buy the branded ones? It’s so cruel a scenario often played out in the counter of some of the bigger drugstores whose fat owners seem to have put profit above everything else in their “public service” How many drugstores carry the products of Unilab, the manufacturer of cheaper Rite-Med common medicine, you can count with the fingers of one hand. That, if you ask us, readily tells on the concerned pharmacies’ social conscience.

An antibiotic like cefuroxime capsule of 500 mg.,for instance which in its generic form fetches for some P50 plus would be sold at P80 in its branded version which the apparently “trained” pharmacy help would tell you is what’s only available at the moment.

A repeat visit to the same drugstore some other days for the same prescription would yield the same answer, uttered mantra-like: that they’ve run out of the generic form and only the branded is available. Will you take it, sir, or leave it?

* * * *

That is why we can only laugh sick when we hear of government health officials saying they are launching campaigns against “fake” or “counterfeit” drugs in the market with pharmaceutical company bigwigs like Mercury Drug and in Dagupan City, St. Joseph , for their allies — like every other “smaller” drugstore was already guilty of substandard product by inference. Pardon us but isn’t this already past the border of fair action and already sounding like private marketing?

There was in fact this health official who unabashedly plugged for the big drugstores by vouching for their reliability, going to the extent of warning the public that if a drug is “priced much lower than others of its kind,” it’s got to be fake or counterfeit.

So, what happens now to generic drugs – that are naturally sold cheaper than “others of their kind”, if these are available at all? Discarded, with extreme prejudice, huh, Doc?

We’ll go with his warning though that drugs with foreign markings in their cover or label should be immediately viewed with concern by a buyer since these are obviously not registered with the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD).

The line about “feeling assured of safety and reliability” when a drug is priced high however is disquieting, to say the least, because immediately it preconditions the public’s mind that if they’re sick and want to get well, their only, repeat, only means of cure are those high-priced stuff peddled by name drugstore chains. Other than that, they might just as well keel over and meet their Maker. That’s just like a judge pronouncing a death verdict on a hapless accused.

The proper function of government officials and employees is to see to it that the best, affordable remedy is left open to the indigents and the needy –and not to act as marketing agents of interests whose line of business inevitably falls under their jurisdiction or supervision. Ever heard of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, or the Government Employees Code of Ethics?

Ironically, before we forget, our poor barangaymates tell us it is in the “smaller” drugstores (those found away from hospital zones and doctor’s clinics) where they often find and are able to buy generic drug equivalent of their prescriptions. And, by the grace of God, they get well!

AFTER ALL
By Behn Fer. Hortaleza

WE have long been hearing of public complaints that some of the bigger drugstores in the city, especially those secretly owned or partly-owned by prominent physicians or big companies are the first to circumvent the Generics Law on drugs by actually refusing to have such generic (and therefore cheaper) drugs in their inventory. We thought it was all an unfounded whine among the poor who usually try to look for generic drug equivalent of their doctor’s prescription only to be told by such drugstores that they have none – only branded medicines are in their stock.

What is left for the poor buyer to do but to go home empty-handed to his sick kin and make do with herbal palliatives because he didn’t have enough money to buy the branded ones? It’s so cruel a scenario often played out in the counter of some of the bigger drugstores whose fat owners seem to have put profit above everything else in their “public service” How many drugstores carry the products of Unilab, the manufacturer of cheaper Rite-Med common medicine, you can count with the fingers of one hand. That, if you ask us, readily tells on the concerned pharmacies’ social conscience.

An antibiotic like cefuroxime capsule of 500 mg.,for instance which in its generic form fetches for some P50 plus would be sold at P80 in its branded version which the apparently “trained” pharmacy help would tell you is what’s only available at the moment.

A repeat visit to the same drugstore some other days for the same prescription would yield the same answer, uttered mantra-like: that they’ve run out of the generic form and only the branded is available. Will you take it, sir, or leave it?

* * * *

That is why we can only laugh sick when we hear of government health officials saying they are launching campaigns against “fake” or “counterfeit” drugs in the market with pharmaceutical company bigwigs like Mercury Drug and in Dagupan City, St. Joseph , for their allies — like every other “smaller” drugstore was already guilty of substandard product by inference. Pardon us but isn’t this already past the border of fair action and already sounding like private marketing?

There was in fact this health official who unabashedly plugged for the big drugstores by vouching for their reliability, going to the extent of warning the public that if a drug is “priced much lower than others of its kind,” it’s got to be fake or counterfeit.

So, what happens now to generic drugs – that are naturally sold cheaper than “others of their kind”, if these are available at all? Discarded, with extreme prejudice, huh, Doc?

We’ll go with his warning though that drugs with foreign markings in their cover or label should be immediately viewed with concern by a buyer since these are obviously not registered with the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD).

The line about “feeling assured of safety and reliability” when a drug is priced high however is disquieting, to say the least, because immediately it preconditions the public’s mind that if they’re sick and want to get well, their only, repeat, only means of cure are those high-priced stuff peddled by name drugstore chains. Other than that, they might just as well keel over and meet their Maker. That’s just like a judge pronouncing a death verdict on a hapless accused.

The proper function of government officials and employees is to see to it that the best, affordable remedy is left open to the indigents and the needy –and not to act as marketing agents of interests whose line of business inevitably falls under their jurisdiction or supervision. Ever heard of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, or the Government Employees Code of Ethics?

Ironically, before we forget, our poor barangaymates tell us it is in the “smaller” drugstores (those found away from hospital zones and doctor’s clinics) where they often find and are able to buy generic drug equivalent of their prescriptions. And, by the grace of God, they get well!

THE PEN SPEAKS
By Danny O. Sagun

CAN the sangguniang panlungsod stand up to giant Globe Telecom vis-à-vis the latter’s antenna being erected somewhere in Caranglaan without the former’s favorable endorsement or approval?

We saw how former city alderman Aquiling Bolinas made his passionate plea before the sanggunian in last Monday’s regular session saying he was directly affected by the presence of that tower being erected at a building just across his house. He said only about 12 persons signed a document that purportedly showed the neighbors’ acceptance of that telecom project when, he stressed, there were hundreds if not thousands of residents needed to be consulted for it. Why, of all available areas like the fields located far from the residential areas, that building in front of his house was selected, he wondered.

He also bared that the barangay was not fully consulted about it with the absence of any public hearing as admitted by the barangay captain.

A representative of the city engineering office told the council that Globe had already complied with requirements except the imprimatur from the sanggunian. Without that authority, the city engineer would not issue the so-called occupancy permit, a prerequisite by the Dagupan Electric Corp. But why the city engineer issued the corresponding building permit even without the sanggunian approval was in itself a big question.

As Aquiling was making his appeal, we noted that some councilors were not in their seats and only about two or three took time listening to his impassioned speech. We observed later that the others locked themselves in a small cubicle beside the table for the presiding officer. One by one they came out of that room. We wondered why Vice-Mayor Alvin or any of the aldermen did not question the quorum.

Will the legislators, some of whom like Chito Samson once rubbed elbows with Aquiling who sat in that very sanggunian some years back, now listen to him?

As a refresher, most of the telecom towers we see around if not all were just suddenly built, to everyone’s surprise before the proponents took time to secure approval from City Hall. And those fearsome structures (what if they fall during big typhoons or earthquakes?) remained there notwithstanding protests from various sectors. Residents of Arellano Bani roundly rejected the Globe tower in their midst. Ditto with the Smart tower on Burgos street. Did they succeed?

Other towers mushroomed in almost every part of the city following the same pattern in construction – the cart ahead of the horse, patayo muna bago permit. Protests soared left and right but in the end, the government just blinked.

We think Aquiling may just see his petition thrown into oblivion. He warned however he is going to court if the sangguniang panlungsod fails him. A TRO or an injunction writ may be his final weapon.

Abangan.