PRO-IMPEACHMENT congressmen were urged to respect the rule of the majority that prevailed in the voting at the House of Representatives when the impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was decided upon. .

Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez chided the fired up emotions of opposition congressmen when the complaint for impeachment was defeated by a vote of 58 “yes”, 51 “no” and 6 “abstention” in the longest session ever at the House of Representatives.

“The House of Congress must be the venue for the rule of law. As lawmakers they can not afford to project themselves as law-breakers. They should be gracious in accepting these realities,” he said.

Fernandez however saluted Rep. Peter Alan Cayetano (Taguig-Pateros) for best articulating his own view of what is right, according to his perception.

“Judging from what we heard and seen, it was the rule of law that prevailed. It is the standard of law which is by practice referred to jurisprudence made by the Supreme Court that was followed,” Fernandez said.

He said that in this standard, the outcome of the voting could be viewed as wrong in the opinion of some congressmen. Since the majority rules in a democracy however, the votes of a larger number of congressmen must be respected.

Fernandez said anyone who has a clear conscience and good faith in what he believes in, is right in what he feels is right, adding that as a human being, one must realize that freedom cannot be absolute.

BOLINAO – Devotees are flocking to this town, some 280 kilometers north of Manila, to see an alleged apparition of the image of the crucifix said to have appeared in the concrete walls of the century-old St. James Catholic church.

Mayor Alfonso Celeste said over the radio that he saw the image of Jesus formed on the walls of the Catholic church. He said the image is more visible with little illumination at night than during the day.

The image of the crucified Jesus, he said, was formed from vein-like cracks over the walls of the church that was built way back in the Spanish era and believed to be the oldest church standing in the province today.

Long queues of vehicles bringing devotees have been arriving in the town. Tourism in the town has grown overnight.

A television crew from Manila is now in Bolinao documenting the alleged apparition and the swell of devotees to the town, the mayor said.

Bolinao was an old Spanish port lying west of the Lingayen Gulf. It served as a trading center in the Spanish era where Spanish galleons and Chinese sampans were stopping over to trade with the natives.

A NEW fishkill here spawned premature harvesting of milkfish (bangus) from various fishpens, forcing a slight decrease in the price of the commodity from P70 per kilogram to as low as P50 to P60 per kilogram.

Close to 100,000 pieces of bangus of marketable sizes were harvested overnight by fishpen owners of barangay Salapingao here since Tuesday morning after they noticed their milkfish jumping from the surface of the water as if gasping for breath.

Officials monitoring the situation initially blamed the fishkill to the sudden change in water temperature as a result of latest sudden heavy rains over the Dagupan City area that disturbed the water in various rivers.

They advised fishpen owners to use aerators in their pens to save their remaining milkfish as the water in various rivers is now almost stagnant and appeared not flowing anymore.
With aerators, fresh air is injected into the water for the fish to breath, they said. They advised pen owners to continue the process till the water quality improves.

A radio report said eight fishpen owners prematurely harvested their milkfish which they unloaded at the same time at the Dagupan City Fish Market, creating a temporary oversupply of the commodity.

The office of City Agriculture Officer Emma Molina has dispatched teams to the city’s island villages that are teeming with fish pens to find out if other fishpen owners were also affected. The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources was also asked to conduct an environmental investigation in various rivers to ascertain the exact cause of the fishkill.(PNA)

The Pangasinan Association of Government Information Officers (PAGIO) with the guidance of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) move towards official recognition of their group with the signing of their application papers for registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)during last week’s board meeting at the PNP provincial office conference room. Photo shows PIA Infocenter Manager Behn Fer. Hortaleza, Jr. and PAGIO president and PNP-Pangasinan community relations officer, Supt Ricardo Tamayo, signing the registration forms assisted by Vice President Merlita R. Tibalao. The PAGIO officers and directors with PIA staff later posed with PNP provincial Director Alan LM Purisima during their courtesy call on the host head of office. (PIA Photos by Roland Naoe )

SAYAN INDIO
Mario F. Karateka

SIGURO, agmet natetel a tua yay kaaro tayon Senyor Robert Erfe Mejia na Pablik Order en Septi Opis (POSO) no ipasumpal toy ley, say balon ordinansa trapiko parad pinasimbalon “day coding system” na Dagupan, anggaman dakel so reklamo na draybers ya kulang kono so pakabat no kapigan inmepekto so asalitan ordinansa.

Say suririk: Isuspendi ni komon na sanggunian so saman ya ley tan abuluyan ya walay nagawan mas malaknab ya impormasyon pian agmet agrabyado iray kabaleyan ya draybers tan opereytors. Lorey ka tay nilibon multa ay, kasian yoray maniirap, agagi!

WHY, in Benjamin’s name, should the government (translated: Department of Public Works and Highways) want to spend more when it can spend less? And why should it prefer to build a longer road when it can construct a shorter one and still achieve its purpose?

To those who are wise to the ways of government transactions, these questions would seem pretty, pretty stupid. They need not be asked at all. Without us spelling out the obvious reason though, we know that somehow, a politician like Mayor Benjamin S. Lim already has the answer.

In the case of the Dawel-Pantal-Lucao circumferential road project, the dream project of House Speaker Jose C. de Venecia, the bone of contention is the additional P80 million or so that will have to be taken from government coffers in order to complete the road project –under an arbitrarily altered road alignment plan. Were the original road alignment to be followed which would exit and link directly to the present de Venecia highway thru the NelArs posh subdivision, a distance of some 650 meters only, the expense for civil works would have been just P28.5 million.

Now that some wise guys at DPWH, for one reason or the other, decided to move earth, do fillings and embankments further down, extending the road to pass at the back of CSI The City Mall then circling the Arco-Bautista road before finally linking up with the De Venecia highway – an additional road length of 1,480 meters (by the city mayor’s office measurement) – the cost is up by P65.12 million.

We won’t go into the “business” angle that may have influenced this infrastructure design maneuver because, for all we know, despite the seeming ill-logic and impractical appearance of the change in plan, DPWH might just have “plausible” reasons for it the way it often does when caught in a bind.

What we’d just like to ask is why, thru all these months of construction of the road, no one but no one had bothered to tell the city, thru BSL, why there was a change in the plans. (And for that matter, was JDV informed at all too?) The way it happened, it looks like someone or some people were putting one over BSL, that’s the inescapable conclusion. For what great motive, that’s for the planners to hide and for the mayor to learn too late – except that he found out about the caper, and came up with a satellite photo evidence besides, rather early in the “game.”

AFTER ALL
Behn Fer. Hortaleza, Jr

OH, yeah, we like it!

And so do many Dagupenos we’ve talked to.

The sight of regular uniformed cops walking by pairs in and around the city, something we’ve not seen for a long time, police chief after each reassigned police chief, gives many Dagupenos this added feeling of safety – and the quiet satisfaction that they’re finally getting their taxes’ worth from their sworn public protectors.

It was such a simple order to make and yet many previous police chiefs (provincial police directors?) somehow forgot to bark it to their men at the Dagupan City’s Finest – go out and really pound the beat, talk to pedestrians, watch out for suspicious characters, get direct and actual confidential info from otherwise hostile sources, observe the hour-by-hour pace of life of ordinary citizens like you were their true guardian angel.

We don’t know how long the welcome change among the men of Sr. Supt Edgar Basbas, the new police chief (he’s actually been in the saddle for a month or so now) insofar as physical police presence in the main thoroughfares will last. Maybe until their conspicuous grey-blue uniforms fade from the constant patrolling under sun and rain, or maybe until their regulation shoes get worn out on the heels. Someone quipped – until Basbas gets thrown out as in the vernacular term ibasibas.

Whatever, we’ve always believed police devotion to duty should always start with the basics. After all, that’s how the cops of old did their job, full sacrifice and great honesty, earning the admiration of a grateful populace.

Seeing the present uniformed ones engaged in friendly banters with people on the sidewalk, talking to a storeowner at a roadside in Malued one early morning, taking down notes as an ordinary barber blabs on in front of him at corner Perez-Herrero, watchful on any sign of something amiss among passersby along Arellano-Bani, even (and this, a friend had seen personally) helping an elderly woman in ragged clothes with his apo cross the street at the busy downtown area just rekindles tremendous affection and fondness for the often derided pulis.

Your friendly neighborhood cop is back. Let’s hope things stay that way.

* * * *

Thru this space, we’d like to take the cudgels up for city jeepney drivers who had meekly sought us out last week — one of them as we rode on his Bonuan-bound jeepney and he somehow recognized us, glancing up to his front mirror as he talked and drove — bewailing their being caught unawares by the effectivity of the new day coding system for public utility vehicles.

It turns out from our talks with POSO bossman Robert E.Mejia and sangguniang panlungsod info officer Ging Cardinoza that the ordinance indeed had already taken effect (“since last September 8,” Mejia said) after its publication in a local newspaper.

Now, it’s the familiar finger-pointing on how come some drivers and operators appeared not to know exactly when the ordinance was published - a vital knowledge that would have guided them about its actual start of implementation in order to avoid apprehensions and the gargantuan fine of P1,000 per violation. The drivers blame POSO for its heartlessness, the POSO blames the association presidents and representatives for failing to advise or notify their complaining members, the members blame their heads of association for not duly informing them and the heads of jeepney associations toss the blame back to the driver-members for not attending the meetings where such matters were disseminated.

In all these, one thing’s quite apparent: Not everyone read the ordinance published in a local newspaper. And so, not everyone knew that the counter for all violations had started. Thus,the griping and howling and cursing at the gates.

The sangguniang panlungsod may just want to correct the lapse in judgment and quiet down the noise by (okay gentlemen and ladies, just a studied suggestion here) suspending the ordinance implementation till such time that the requirement for due and adequate publication has been satisfied. What’s P25,000 or so for the additional publication of the ordinance in at least five more newspapers to gain the needed maximum public information?

That’s peanuts, some other expenses for “public welfare” of that body considering.

AFTER ALL
Behn Fer. Hortaleza, Jr

OH, yeah, we like it!

And so do many Dagupenos we’ve talked to.

The sight of regular uniformed cops walking by pairs in and around the city, something we’ve not seen for a long time, police chief after each reassigned police chief, gives many Dagupenos this added feeling of safety – and the quiet satisfaction that they’re finally getting their taxes’ worth from their sworn public protectors.

It was such a simple order to make and yet many previous police chiefs (provincial police directors?) somehow forgot to bark it to their men at the Dagupan City’s Finest – go out and really pound the beat, talk to pedestrians, watch out for suspicious characters, get direct and actual confidential info from otherwise hostile sources, observe the hour-by-hour pace of life of ordinary citizens like you were their true guardian angel.

We don’t know how long the welcome change among the men of Sr. Supt Edgar Basbas, the new police chief (he’s actually been in the saddle for a month or so now) insofar as physical police presence in the main thoroughfares will last. Maybe until their conspicuous grey-blue uniforms fade from the constant patrolling under sun and rain, or maybe until their regulation shoes get worn out on the heels. Someone quipped – until Basbas gets thrown out as in the vernacular term ibasibas.

Whatever, we’ve always believed police devotion to duty should always start with the basics. After all, that’s how the cops of old did their job, full sacrifice and great honesty, earning the admiration of a grateful populace.

Seeing the present uniformed ones engaged in friendly banters with people on the sidewalk, talking to a storeowner at a roadside in Malued one early morning, taking down notes as an ordinary barber blabs on in front of him at corner Perez-Herrero, watchful on any sign of something amiss among passersby along Arellano-Bani, even (and this, a friend had seen personally) helping an elderly woman in ragged clothes with his apo cross the street at the busy downtown area just rekindles tremendous affection and fondness for the often derided pulis.

Your friendly neighborhood cop is back. Let’s hope things stay that way.

* * * *

Thru this space, we’d like to take the cudgels up for city jeepney drivers who had meekly sought us out last week — one of them as we rode on his Bonuan-bound jeepney and he somehow recognized us, glancing up to his front mirror as he talked and drove — bewailing their being caught unawares by the effectivity of the new day coding system for public utility vehicles.

It turns out from our talks with POSO bossman Robert E.Mejia and sangguniang panlungsod info officer Ging Cardinoza that the ordinance indeed had already taken effect (“since last September 8,” Mejia said) after its publication in a local newspaper.

Now, it’s the familiar finger-pointing on how come some drivers and operators appeared not to know exactly when the ordinance was published - a vital knowledge that would have guided them about its actual start of implementation in order to avoid apprehensions and the gargantuan fine of P1,000 per violation. The drivers blame POSO for its heartlessness, the POSO blames the association presidents and representatives for failing to advise or notify their complaining members, the members blame their heads of association for not duly informing them and the heads of jeepney associations toss the blame back to the driver-members for not attending the meetings where such matters were disseminated.

In all these, one thing’s quite apparent: Not everyone read the ordinance published in a local newspaper. And so, not everyone knew that the counter for all violations had started. Thus,the griping and howling and cursing at the gates.

The sangguniang panlungsod may just want to correct the lapse in judgment and quiet down the noise by (okay gentlemen and ladies, just a studied suggestion here) suspending the ordinance implementation till such time that the requirement for due and adequate publication has been satisfied. What’s P25,000 or so for the additional publication of the ordinance in at least five more newspapers to gain the needed maximum public information?

That’s peanuts, some other expenses for “public welfare” of that body considering.

The Pen Speaks
Danny O. Sagun

WE could feel the anguish and frustration of a widow who, two months after the murder of her husband, has yet to se the wheels of justice grind.

Mrs. Eden Aquino, her only child Sheila, and sister-in-law Verna, surprisingly showed up at our office last Monday afternoon apparently to seek the help of the media in bringing to justice the killer/s and the mastermind.

Eden and Sheila were in black, the traditional color for mourning, possibly a lifetime grief, unless the assassin who is reportedly freely roaming around under the protective wings of an influential government official, is finally caught and made to answer for his crime.

We met the slain vice-mayor, Adolfo [Podong to his friends] Aquino, 10 years ago as a private person then, while we were manning the press center at VMU in San Carlos City of the 1995 Palarong Pambansa. He was assisting the DECS region IV director in the latter’s quest to get a fair media coverage as attention was then being lavished, unfairly, he believed, on the NCR delegation. Friendly, amiable, and supportive — traits we instantly noted in him as he approached us to request for a media group to attend a press con with the director, his wife’s boss at the regional office.

We did not see him after that national sports meet until eight years later in 2003 when he was already a vice-mayor. Mapandan was preparing for the presidential visit in time for the town festival. Podong hadn’t changed at all; he was practically still the same fellow we had seen the first time.

Sheila, who was forced to take a leave from her work in Australia, got her father’s looks. We instantly noticed her papa’s smile on her face.
Up to now, there seems to be no end to the family’s anguish. They fear the case may just turn up to be another unsolved political killing just like the other incidents in the past. Remember just-elected Mayor Angelito Nava of Aguilar who was gunned down while taking his regular morning jog a few meters from his house? Mayor Jose Peralta of Balungao too who was pumped full of lead by a killer while hearing mass at the town Catholic church. And who would forget what happened to the crusading vice mayor Bato of Bani, the tough hombre and ex-mayor Connie Rodrigo of San Nicolas and Tayug’s Mayor Guerra Zaragoza. Did we miss some others? Were those cases ever solved?

Eden was not giving up despite the odds, the threats she receives on her phone, and the fact that she is practically working alone. She has not abandoned her belief that politics had something to do with Podong’s murder. Ironically, she intimated to us, she could not just freely announce to the world possible suspects while others, even children, she said, innocently recite who they are.

We could only wish she gets the justice she deserves, the very justice promised her and the public by PNP Chief Arturo Lomibao, a provincemate, no less, who quickly went to Mapandan morning after the vice-mayor’s killing to condole and vow thorough investigation of the case.

We wonder: Are police task force investigations on killings of political figures meant to be like the line in the classical Mona Lisa song – “they just lie there, and they die there?”

WINDOWS
Gabriel L. Cardinoza

In October 2003, Dagupeños were horrified and outraged at the sight of the uncollected garbage that had literally flooded the City of Dagupan.

No, the city’s garbage collectors did not go on strike then. That day, ironically, was the first day of the city government’s belated implementation of Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, which was passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on December 20, 2000 and December 12, 2000, respectively, and approved by President Arroyo on January 26, 2001.

R.A. 9003 mandates, among others, waste segregation in every household, the recycling and composting of wastes in the barangay level and the collection of residuals– wastes that cannot be recycled or composted—by the municipal or city government.

There is no doubt that the city government only had the people’s welfare in mind when it implemented RA 9003. It was in keeping with its plan of transforming Dagupan into a healthy and an environment-friendly city; a city that would ensure the protection of public health and environment.

But whether it was successful or not in preparing Dagupeños for the implementation of the new law was the subject of the heated discussions that ensued in the days that followed.

As far as the Waste Management Division (WMD) of the city government is concerned, it has done its part in preparing the people for the new garbage disposal system by conducting a series of waste segregation trainings among government employees, barangay officials, students, teachers, barangay health workers and other village-based sectors since early this year.

WMD chief Reginaldo Ubando said that in these seminars, it was made very clear to all the participants that with the implementation of the new law, the city government would only collect the residuals, which, by his estimate, was only about eight percent or 12.8 tons of the 160 tons daily total produced by the city. (Recyclables comprise 48 percent, while compostables, 44 percent.)

But as it turned out, there were no residuals to collect. To date, strewn all over the city are the same mixed household garbage and commercial wastes that Ubando’s office used to gather every morning and dump at the city’s 50-year-old open and unsanitary dumpsite, which is located inside the sprawling Tondaligan Ferdinand National Park just a stone’s throw away from the waters of historic Lingayen Gulf.

There, scavengers sift through the dumps in search for recyclables, re-usables and even edibles, at the same time that flies, dogs, cats and rats feast on whatever food is left for them to forage.

On the part of barangay officials, there is still nothing to recycle or to re-use and to compost because the households did not segregate. In implementing RA 9003, the city government had to shut down the city’s dumpsite then not only because the new law already prohibits its existence but also to force barangay officials to convince their residents to segregate. But not long after, it had no choice but to reopen it.

Obviously, the preparation of Dagupeños and other stakeholders for the implementation of RA 9003 should have gone beyond waste segregation training sessions and seminars.

The city government should have at least conducted a “walk through” for its implementation to immediately spot the problems that may arise when the real program is set in place. Or, it should have piloted it in one of the city’s 31 barangay.

The city government should have also formulated first a solid waste management plan, as required by RA 9003, to serve as a road map in its implementation of the new law.

It is no wonder then that at the height of the heated discussions on the problem, irate residents repeatedly questioned the waste segregation policy, saying they are too busy eking out a living to have time for it. “How much more with composting?” another one said, adding that he lives in a rented room and that he does not have even a square foot of land for his own grave when he dies.

And to make matters worse, even if recyclables had been generated, the residents would have also nowhere to take them as the city government has yet to set up material recovery facilities, which according to RA 9003, shall serve as redemption centers for recyclables in the barangay.

Finally, the city government should have known that “there is a seething gap on how to effectively change the people’s throwing-away and non-segregating behavioral pattern and the burning, dumping, and back-end practices for disposal,” as pointed out by the Solid Waste Management Association of the Philippines.

“[And] the challenge,” the group added, “is to change these to patterns of resource conservation, segregation, re-use, recycling, and composting. This shift is basically attitudinal and culture-based and such task may be realized by a confluence of efforts.”

And, yes, it takes some time, too.

The city government, in its eagerness to see results, may have also simply forgotten that even Rome was not built in one day.