THE price of bangus (milkfish) nosedived to as low as P30 to P40 per kilo from a high of P90 per kilo as rivers in Dagupan and parts of Binmaley were hit by a new fishkill Wednesday.

It was one of the biggest fishkill yet that occurred in Dagupan City this year, spawning fears that there may not be enough milkfish available for local consumption for the rest of the year, especially on Christmas.

Evangeline dela Cruz, barangay chairman of Calmay in Dagupan, blamed the fishkill to the sudden change in water temperature from hot to cold that disturbed the milkfish and sent them gasping for breath in the surface of the water.

She said this was the result of the slight rain that occurred in the city Tuesday night which abruptly changed the water temperature and disturbed the equilibrium of the fish being raised in captivity in pens.

Milkfish that are being raised in fishponds however still appeared safe although fish-farmers are closely monitoring because the water flowing into fishponds is coming from rivers where fishkills had just occurred.

Affected by the water phenomenon are milkfish being kept in pens belonging to different owners in barangays Pugaro, Salapingao, Lomboy, part of Calmay and Dupo near Binmaley.

The city agriculture office has not yet given any estimate on the losses from the new fishkill as fish in bulk are still arriving by motorboats in the fish market after 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Up to 300,000 pieces of bangus were estimated to have already been harvested at the same time, all of these ferried to the fish market by motorboats, for sale to traders buying the commodity wholesale.

Dela Cruz said fishpen owners had to prematurely harvest their milkfish even if they anticipated losses after seeing the fishes jumping out of the water, an indication there was not enough oxygen in the water anymore.

She believes that there could not have been any fishkill had there been prolonged rains.

HOUSE Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III led officials in the inauguration of the dialysis center named De Venecia-Tulagan Dialysis Center at the Region 1 Medical Center in Dagupan City Sunday, opening a new public health service dimension in the Ilocos.

The building was funded from P2.5 million shared by both de Venecia and Rep. Generoso Tulagan of the third district of Pangasinan, while the brand new dialysis machine costing P20 million was donated by a group of benefactors who preferred to remain anonymous.

Also at the center’s opening were Rep. Amado Espino, Jr. of the second district of Pangasinan who has a hospital ward named in his honor, specifically for patients from his district; Pangasinan Gov. Victor Agbayani and Dagupan City Mayor Benjamin S. Lim.

Dr. Jesus Canto, chief of R1MC, said the new dialysis center if the first of its kind among government hospitals in Region 1, designed for poor patients who cannot afford to pay the staggering cost of dialysis being charged in private hospitals.

The R1MC, at more than 300-bed capacity, had already been classified by the Department of Health DOH as a tertiary hospital.

He said that patients availing of the service of the center will only spend P2,500 per session for the dialyzing solution compared to P12,000 per session in private hospitals. The amount already included the dialysis solution and professional fee.

Dialysis is not a treatment but it can prolong life of a patient who has acute and chronic renal failure, Canto clarified, adding that a more permanent solution is kidney transplant when there is a donor, but which he added will not last long too.

He said persons with kidney malfunctioning, or those who suffered chemical poisoning as well as congestive heart problem are also advised to have dialysis.

“We are not trying to compete with private hospitals because we are catering only to the masses in response to the 10-pint agenda up to 2010 of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,” Canto stressed.

NATIVIDAD – Murdered Pasay City Regional Trial Court Judge Estrellita Mariano Paas was laid to rest last Sunday morning at the municipal cemetery here with the police failing to come up with any concrete lead on her killers as requested by her kins from PNP chief Arturo Lomibao.

There is still no headway in the investigation of the case being undertaken jointly by the National Bureau of Investigation and the police even after the burial of the lady judge of Pasay City’s Branch 44, 10 days after she was brutally killed inside their home.

Police Chief Sr. Inspector Bernardo Aromin told newsmen they are still in the dark as to who the killers are although they are following up certain leads that may result in the identification of the killers.

The police investigators did not meet the deadline set by Lomibao to solve the case at least before the burial of the lady judge, at the request of her grieving family.

Lomibao flew into Natividad to personally look into the progress of the investigation of the case and personally talked with the late judge’s family.

The NBI has joined the investigation of the case at the request of the Paas family and appears to be now the lead agency conducting the probe.

Robbery was tagged as initial motive for the brutal slaying as a cal. 22 rifle, cellphone and digital camera were reported missing and believed carted away by the killers.

What puzzles police however is that the P14,000 cash and jewelry of the judge were intact.

Judge Paas was found by her husband Reinerio bathing in a pool of her own blood inside their comfort room, both hands tied at the back with a wire and bloody from stab wounds in the nape and head.

INDIGENT Dagupeños and Pangasinenses will have the chance to avail of free general medical consultation and surgical operations during the Medical Missions Foundation Surgical Mission from October 24 to 27 at the Region I Medical Center (RIMC).

This is the second time that the medical foundation, whose members have trained in the United States, will conduct a medical mission in Dagupan City in coordination with R1MC and the City Health Office (CHO).

The mission group will conduct tumor surgery on breast, head/neck, and skin; general surgery on gallbladder and hernias; gynecologic surgery on uterine and ovarian tumors; cataracts; strabismus; cleft lips; cleft palates; and thyroid surgery.

Indigents will have to undergo screening at R1MC, according to Dr. Leonard Carbonell, city health officer. The CHO will handle the post-surgery follow-up of the patients after their operations. Screening of patients will be from October 11 to 22 at the RIMC Surgery Outpatient Department.

The foundation will be bringing in its own facilities, supplies and medicines which will come from the US to be approved by the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD).

Dr. Roberto Valenzuela, R1MC Surgery Department head, said the medical mission team will include a plastic surgeon, OB-GYN with laparoscopic expertise, general practitioner, anesthesiologist, anesthetist, several nurses and lay people.

“The team will provide everything for the patients. From blood examination, chest X-ray, ECG, antibiotics to take home medicines,” Valenzuela said even as he stressed that the team will prioritize indigent patients.

Local medical practitioners from the Pangasinan Tri-Media Association, Inc. and surgeons of the RIMC will take part in the medical mission. As a show of gratitude to the medical mission team, the city government of Dagupan led by Mayor Benjamin S. Lim, will provide a thank you dinner for the group. (Sunshine D. Robles/CIO)

IT is not enough to just rear or raise the child; it is also as important that parents prepare a better future for him.

City Mayor Benjamin S. Lim and Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez along with other city officials expressed full support to the anti-child abuse program of ABS-CBN Foundation’s Bantay Bata 163 during Thursday’s multi-sectoral convention on the detection of child abuse held at the conference room of Region I Medical Center.

“Ang tamang pangangalaga at pagpapalaki sa ating mga anak ay responsibilidad ng magulang, gobyerno at komunidad. Responsibilidad ng gobyerno na ipaabot sa mga magulang ang tamang pangangalaga at pagpapalaki sa mga anak. Hindi sapat na pangalagaan lang ang mga anak kundi dapat din silang ihanda sa magandang kinabukasan”, Lim said.

Councilor Dada Reyna, chairman on the committee on social welfare and development, who initiated the project, said the activity “aims to create a safe and nurturing environment for children that will give them a chance to excel and become responsible members of the community.”

Participants included barangay health workers, social workers, sangguniang barangay officials, Division schools head and personnel, heads of various public and private schools and representatives from various hospitals and other institutions. (CIO/Leziel Cayabyab)

LINGAYEN – The Regional Development Council (RDC) has been asked to support the call of the provincial government of Pangasinan for additional funding for the flood-damaged Domalandan bridge here so that it can be finally completed at least by next year.

Gov. Victor Agbayani, who is also RDC chairman of the Ilocos region, said at the rate funds for Domalandan bridge arrive at P80 million yearly, it may yet take time before the bridge is completed.

The RDC discussed the Domalandan bridge and other infrastructure projects being built by the DPWH in Region 1 during its third quarterly meeting today at the Presidential Hotel here.

Agbayani said based on the report of DPWH Regional Director Fidel Ginez, only P197 million more is needed before the project is finally completed, at the latest by 2007.

Agbayani, however, urged Ginez to appeal to his agency to complete the financial requirement for the bridge next year in order to finally complete the work, otherwise prices of materials might go up again and take its toll on the project itself.

Agbayani cited a situation in which the contractor, Ciriaco Construction, was idle all the time because it stops work and pulls out its equipment as soon as the funds allocated for each year is exhausted.

A report of Ginez said at least P548 million has been spent by the DPWH for the project which is roughly from 59 to 60 percent complete to date.

The new bridge, being constructed alongside the old structure that was destroyed by the big flood of August 1999, consists of 18 spans, at least 13 spans of which are already up.

The governor said this year the contractor again almost quit the project because the allocation came too late, at a time when prices of materials, such as cement and steel, have skyrocketed.

The Domalandan bridge links the town proper of Lingayen and the whole of central and eastern Pangasinan to western pangasinan. (PNA)

By SHEILA H. AQUINO

ANOTHER revenue source for the city uncovered.

Seventy percent of the real property improvements in Dagupan City remain unregistered with the city government based on the preliminary inventory of real property structures that started this year 2005, according to taxmapping chief Pio R. Coquia.

Coquia bared that the inventory of improvements on real properties began only this year as compared to business taxmapping which had started in 2003.

“It is the first time that we are conducting taxmapping of real property improvements and all revenue sources in the city like machineries and equipment,” Coquia said.

Coquia said the city government cannot impose taxes on owners of these improvements as yet because of the absence of their tax declaration.

The 70 percent figure was derived by dividing the total of the undeclared improvements with the total of both declared/undeclared structures, Coquia explained.

He said owners of the undeclared improvements will be informed through a deficiency sheet and assessment notice based on the inventory. The owners must apply for declaration of their property and pay the arrears of their delinquency, according to Coquia.

He added that names of those who do not heed the assessment notice will be published in newspapers. The city can also resort to initiating levy on lien.

Coquia said inventory in the island barangays of Pugaro, Salapingao, Lomboy, Calmay and Carael is ongoing.

LINGAYEN – The third most wanted man in the province of Ilocos Sur was killed Friday morning in a shootout with lawmen who went to arrest him in his hideout in barangay Cili, in Binalonan.

Dead after he shot it out with the lawmen was Reynante Javier, alias “Atong”, who was tagged for robbery-holdups of passengers of air-conditioned buses and a suspected gun-for-hire and cattle rustler.

He had standing warrants of arrest for murder and for violation of Republic Act No. 8294 before Branch 21 of the Regional Trial Court in Vigan City, and before the sala of Municipal Trial Court Judge Iluminada Ines of the Municipal Trial Court in Bantay, Ilocos Sur, respectively.

A case for murder against Javier was also filed for the double-slaying of SPO1 Russel Pescador, a member of the Ilocos Sur police, and his wife Rosemarie, last August. He was also the principal suspect in the slaying of the barangay captain of Baleleng in Bantay, Ilocos Sur.

To escape arrest in Ilocos Sur, Javier fled to Binalonan.

Pangasinan PNP Special Operations Group (SOG), Ilocos Sur PNP and Binalonan police went to serve the warrants of arrest on him but Javier pulled out a cal. 41 magnum revolver and fired at them. This prompted lawmen to retaliate, a police report said.

Wounded, Javier tried to escape but was caught by operatives in a nearby creek. He was immediately brought to the municipal health center where he was declared dead on arrival.

Before the fatal encounter, Javier was the subject of a month-long surveillance with the help of residents in the area who noticed his presence. (PNA)