A CITY LANDMARK CLOSES. The old and famous Dagupena restaurant in downtown Dagupan owned and operated by Atty. & Mrs. Alex and Emma Castro has finally closed down and moved to its new location along the national highway in barangay San Miguel, Calasiao today, November 27. Started by Mrs. Castro’s mother back in 1928, the landmark food establishment has been a favorite restaurant of Dagupenos from all walks of life for its tasty and sanitary cuisine, its walls adorned practically by a gallery of Dagupan’s early wartime history. (PStar Photo b y Butch F. Uka)

By DANNY O. SAGUN
Associate Editor, The Pangasinan Star

THE pay parking ordinance passed recently by the Dagupan city council appeared defective after all as the process in enacting such penalty-imposing measure was not strictly followed, it was gathered Wednesday.

The sangguniang panlungsod reportedly lacked the required quorum when it passed the ordinance (No.1853-2005) last November 14. City Legal Officer Geraldine Baniqued indicated so in a radio interview.

It was gathered that only seven members including Vice-Mayor Alvin Fernandez were around when the ordinance was approved. Six were absent to include Councilor Alex de Venecia who was then abroad. The city council has 10 regular councilors and two ex-officio members representing the barangay councils and the youth.

The public, particularly the affected sectors like motorists, were not thoroughly consulted on the matter as concerned committees reportedly did not call or conduct public hearings.

The media particularly was not aware of any such public hearings. Roland Hidalgo DWPR commentator, who heads the Pangasinan Tri-Media Association (Patrima) chided the council in his morning radio program for seemingly hiding the issue from the public by not calling any public hearing.

The ordinance was authored by Councilor “Chito” Samson, Jr., who chairs the peace and order committee. Councilor Jose Netu Tamayo was erroneously reported last week in the Pangasinan Star as the committee chair which news item he subsequently corrected in an email to this newspaper.

The city government however appears bent on pursuing the regulation of traffic at the city’s major thoroughfares that will include charging of parking fees.

Baniqued said studies have been made for this purpose and that consultations and public hearings will be held to gauge the public’s true sentiments.

She said that the city has legal basis for it, citing a precedent in Baguio City which got a favorable action from the courts including the Supreme Court for the city’s controversial pay parking measure.

The road shoulders, she noted, have today been practically appropriated upon by business establishment owners themselves who park their vehicles throughout the day in front of their stores without paying any centavo to the government coffers.

The pay parking measure seeks to correct such situation, she explained.

Based on Ordinance No.1853-2005, the city however will get a measly 20 percent of the gross collection with the bulk or 80% going to the private parking operator, a sharing scheme that observers and critics have tagged as anomalous. The operator, they claimed, may just be a dummy of some sectors who will only divide the money among themselves.

URDANETA CITY – The League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) is opposed to the conversion of first-class municipalities into new cities as this will reduce the Internal Revenue Allotments (IRA) of the present cities.

City Mayor Amadeo Perez, Jr. said LCP already passed a resolution calling on Congress to block a move to convert municipalities into new cities that could greatly disadvantage all existing cities whose IRA would be reduced as a result of such move.

Perez said the league is moving for a status quo on the classification of existing cities since any city upgraded to the next higher rank will also result in the reduction of IRA share of the other cities by at least P3 million.

He said it is good for existing cities to help new cities but considering the present economic crisis besetting the nation, a P3 million deduction from one’s IRA share means so much.

“It is not advisable that the IRA share be reduced as that would greatly affect each existing city’s delivery of basic services to the people,” Perez argued.

“It is true that the cityhood is a prestige but that is meaningless if the new city could not maintain its financial status,” he said.

CALASIAO–A barangay captain was shot and killed along the highway in
barangay Macabito here at 1:50 a.m. yesterday while going home aboard his own
motorcycle with a back-riding companion.

The fatality was identified as Jaime Bautista, 49, a widower, barangay captain of Balingueo in adjacent

Sta. Barbara town who sustained two gunshot wounds, one in the left part of his neck with the bullet exiting in his right face, and right thigh.

Bautista’s companion Daniel Bacani, who was sitting behind the victim, saved himself by jumping from the motorcycle upon hearing the gunshots but was still injured in his left eyebrow and suffered bruises in different parts of his body.

Chief Inspector Policarpio Cayabyab, chief of police of Calasiao, said Bautista was fired upon by one of two men riding in another motorcycle who zoomed alongside their motorcycle before shooting Bautista at close range.

Bautista’s motorcycle zigzagged and plunged into a ricefield on the left side of the road.
The gunman used a Caliber .45 pistol based on an empty shell found by responding policemen at the crime scene.

Investigation showed Bautista and Bacani were proceeding to barangay Macabito proper where the latter was to be dropped, enroute to barangay Balingueo, when the incident happened. Both had come from the Pangasinan Cockpit Arena in Calasiao town where they attended a three-cock derby. Bacani had asked to ride with Bautista going home

The police theorized the gunmen may have trailed Bautista from the cockpit.

Cayabyab said Bautista’s cadaver was brought to the Carmona Funeral Home in barangay San Miguel where autopsy was conducted. (PNA)

A FORMER resident of Bonuan and school principal of the Doña Victoria Elementary School in Arellano-Bani in Dagupan City was declared the first Mrs. Dagupan International following the final canvassing of votes of the first-ever overseas search of its kind last November 19 at the Hilton Hotel in Newark, San Francisco Bay Area.

Mrs. Virginia Nonan, a registered nurse in Napa Hospital in Vallejo, California, gathered the highest number of votes during the event.

Mrs. Pauline Perez of San Francisco bagged second place while Mrs. Elvira Mitchell of San Diego and Mrs. Nancy Beltran of New York garnered third and fourth places, respectively.

Perez is a former resident of Caranglaan while Mitchell hails from Pogo Grande and Beltran from Burgos Street, all in Dagupan.

The board of canvassers was composed of Francis Baraan, Dr. Halili, Mercedes Balmonte, Vicky Brooks, Aida Pasaoa and Marcing Samson even as supporters and relatives of the four nominees witnessed the canvassing.

Councilor Alex de Venecia, hermano mayor of the 2005 Dagupan City Fiesta, was present during the final canvassing enroute to visiting key cities in the United States for a 10-day non-stop solicitation campaign.

The councilor also extended the invitation of City Mayor Benjamin S. Lim and Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez to Mayor Jose Esteves of Milpitas, California to be one of the crowning guests of the Mrs. Dagupan International on December 26 at the Dagupan City Plaza.

Newly-elected Pangasinan Brotherhood Association President Engineer Ads Diaz and newly-crowned Mrs. Dagupeño Charitable Foundation Queen of San Francisco Estrellita de Venecia were likewise invited to be part of the coronation entourage.

TAYUG – A hot verbal tussle ensued during the preliminary investigation into the September killing of Pasig City Judge Estrellita Paas between the late judge’s lawyer-kin representing the complainants and the judge of the Regional Trial Court Branch 51 here who was hearing the case.

Judge Paas was brutally killed inside their home in Poblacion, Natividad while her husband, Reinerio Paas, a retired Ombudsman, was away. Her bizarre murder was regarded as one of the high profile crimes in the province.

Lawyer Arnold Paas, son of the murdered judge, representing his family, accused RTC Judge Ulysses Raciles Butuyan of bias and prejudice when the latter refused to issue warrants of arrests for the suspects Elmer Cabiles and Donald Vargas.

Both suspects were arrested separately by the police and agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group days after the brutal slaying of the lady judge.

The Natividad police said complaints for robbery with homicide have been filed against both suspects but up to now, no warrants of arrest have been issued against them. The police learned that the Paas family is seeking to upgrade the case to murder.

During the preliminary investigation at 9 a.m. last Monday at Butuyan’s sala, both suspects were not around as Cabiles was detained for another crime of murder at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Urdaneta City while Vargas is out on bail for illegal possession of firearms before the municipal trial court in Balungao.

Butuyan said he cannot issue the warrant of arrest against the suspects because the Court has yet to satisfy itself whether there is probable cause for the issuance of such. He cited the fact that in any case, there is always a presumption of innocence.

He stressed that he is not going to issue any warrant of arrest unless he first interviews the suspects and satisfies himself whether they are telling the truth or not.

Butuyan asked the counsel if he is going to present his witnesses but the latter answered he was not because he felt that the judge has already prejudged the case.

Paas said he will move that Butuyan inhibit himself from hearing the case, saying he felt the judge was “biased and prejudiced”.

“ I am not going to present my witness, Aida Cabiles (wife of Elmer). I will present her only if the case is re-raffled and transferred to another sala,” he told the judge.

When Butuyan asked Paas if he had tried looking for the suspects, Paas was irked and warned: “This will reach the attention of the Court Administrator of the Supreme Court”.

Butuyan retorted: “That is your privilege Atty. Paas. Right then and there, I will approve your motion that I will inhibit myself from hearing the case.” (PNA)

A LEGAL battle looms between the city government here and the Department of Public Works and Highways over a newly passed city ordinance declaring portions of most national roads here as pay parking areas.

The city’s pay parking ordinance for 2005 has yet to be signed into law by Mayor Benjamin Lim but the DPWH, through District Engineer Rodolfo Dion, already expressed a move to contest its legality in any court of justice.

This further sours the relationship between the city government and the DPWH weeks after the former threatened to sue the latter for allegedly not following its request to build a shorter alignment of the Dawel-Pantal-Lucao road that could have meant millions of pesos of savings from that project.

City Legal Officer Geraldine Baniqued defended the action of the city council in passing the pay parking ordinance, saying the same was empowered to regulate traffic in those stretches.

Dion countered however that designation of pay parking on national roads can not be done unilaterally by the city without first securing a memorandum of agreement with the DPWH.

Dion objected to the designation for pay parking of such roads as A.B. Fernandez Avenue, Burgos street, Perez Boulevard, Mayombo road, M.H. del Pilar street, portions of Arellano street and other national roads.

Under the ordinance, owners of light vehicles such as cars, jeeps, jeepneys, min-trucks, sports utility vehicles and pick-ups will be charged P20 for every two hours and P5 more for every additional hour.

Medium vehicles, like delivery vans and trucks below 10-wheelers, will be charged P30 per hour an dP10 for every hour thereafter.

Out of the fees to be collected, 20 percent will go to the city and 80 percent to the parking contractor who will employ parking attendants. Nothing will go to the DPWH.

Baniqued said the ordinance is a product of months of careful study and deliberation by members of the city council and there is no way they could have committed a blunder.

Dion, however, said national roads are under the jurisdiction of the DPWH and the latter is the one spending for the maintenance of the same although these may be located within a city or town.

He said that he can not remember having been invited to attend any city council public hearing on the measure, saying that if he were invited, he could have told the city officials that they first obtain a MOA from the DPWH before converting national roads for pay parking. (PNA)

PANGASINENSES will have a chance on December 2 to express their views on the proposed revision of the Constitution.

At least nine members of the Consultative Commission created by President Arroyo including lawyer Raul Lambino who will lead the team in Pangasinan, will meet with a cross-section of society from the province at the Regency Hotel for a day’s consultation and workshop.

A press conference was scheduled 8 a.m. at the hotel before the start of the consultation at 9 a.m.

An overview of Executive Order 453 which created the 50-man consultative commission (Con-com) to do nationwide consultations will be presented to the participants that will include local political, business and other leaders from Pangasinan.

The activity will include a workshop among the participants at 10 a.m. and presentation of the workshop output after lunch break, an open forum and an optional press briefing after the consultation.

The group will proceed later in the afternoon to San Fernando City in La Union for a similar activity the next day.

Similar consultations have been scheduled in other parts of Luzon starting November 29. The commission first went to Visayas and Mindanao last October for such dialogues.

Dagupan City Vice-Mayor Alvin Fernandez was also named member of the Con-com representing the vice-mayors’ league. He will be joining the visiting commissioners.

Fernandez, in an interaction last week with agencies preparing for the December 2 event, said he was amenable to the proposed shift of government system from the present unitary-presidential to parliamentary-federal.

He noted however that several issues have to be addressed first concerning the proposed type of government. (DOS/PIA)

LINGAYEN – This capital town, Alaminos City and Sto Tomas led the awardees during the Annual Pangasinan Anti-Drug Abuse Council (PADAC0 awards held last Monday at the Pangasinan Police Provincial Office Grandstand here.

The municipal / city anti-drug abuse council of the three local government units were cited for their sustained campaign to rid their communities of the drug menace. The highlight of the ceremony was the awarding of well-deserving towns and cities in Pangasinan.

The award for Best Municipal Anti-Drug Abuse Council (MADAC) went to Lingayen town, the Best City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (CADAC) to the city of Alaminos and the Best Municipal Anti-Drug Abuse Council (Class C) to Sto. Tomas.

Other awardees for Best in Supply Reduction among towns & cities were Dagupan City, Mangaldan (Category A), Tayug (Category B) and San Quintin (Category C). For best in Demand Reduction Town & City, the winners were Urdaneta City, Bayambang (Class A), Pozorrubio (Class B) and Sual (Class C).

Leading the ceremony were the affair’s guest speakers, Vice-Governor Oscar Lambino, and Provincial Police Director Alan La Madrid Purisima.

The Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group (PAIDSOTG) was also given a special award. (PIA-Pangasinan News Service / EMB)

THE Region 1 Medical Center here will hold a first ever seminar-workshop on bird flu on Dec. 5 that seeks to design a provincewide alert system against the dreaded disease that is now threatening to go pandemic. Dr. Jesus Canto, R1MC chief, said the participants are expected to draw up an action plan that will tasks responsibilities to each concerned government agencies and sectors for them to contribute their share in preventing bird flu.

Although saying that the Philippine remains among only three Asian countries that are still bird flu-free, Canto stressed it is necessary that everybody must contribute his or her share so that bird flu will have no chance to set in. The two other countries still spared from bird flu are Singapore and Brunei.

Canto has invited Dr. Luningning Bella, chief epidemiologist of the Department of Health and Dr. Ramiro Olvida, chief of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine as main speaker during the day-long seminar-workshop.

He said the two officials will brief participants on the current national bird flu protection program which can be adopted locally and help ensure the continuous bird flu-free status for the Philippines.

Other speakers are from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Agriculture whose personnel are members of the bird flu protection task force now monitoring bird sanctuaries in Pagudpod, Ilocos Norte and Bani, Pangasinan.

Corollary to this, DA Regional Director Nestor Domenden said the bird flu task force had likewise installed footbaths just outside the doors and gateways of Poro Point seaport in La Union, Salomague Port in Ilocos Norte and Laoag International Airport where foreign visitors would step in when they enter the country.

Invited to the seminar-workshop are hospital and public health personnel, officials of the Department of Education and local government units, particularly members of the bird flu prevention task force in province and cities, including members of the media.

Canto said the seminar-workshop will also analyze if the province of Pangasinan is still safe from bird flu amid reports that migratory birds, such as herons and egrets, are seen more often in flocks in various shallow fishponds in the coastal areas of the province these days.

Egrets, according to the magazine “Awake”, can travel on flocks from one continent to another.

However, Canto considers as God’s blessings on why the Philippines is still bird-flu free despite the country’s proximity with China, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia that have already registered several cases of bird flu. (PNA)