Truth at its Most Brilliant
A son of Board Member Manuel Ancheta however denied the allegation saying his father saw the suspects by chance when he visited the municipal hall a day after the robbery-shooting incident. He claimed his father who is a lawyer was not the counsel of the suspects – Federico Patricio, his sons Ruben and John Ray, and grandson Melvin Soriano.
Efforts by the local media to contact the board member proved futile.
The elder Patricio, in an interview, admitted to having Ancheta as one of his lawyers. The other is former municipal trial court Judge Aniceto Madronio. He said that the two lawyers are his counsels in his other cases, one of which, he said, is an estafa case.
Reports said that the sanggunian panlalawigan member even tried to intimidate the local police when he went to the station. He was quoted as telling the police investigators he would just see them in court.
The Patricios, police report said, tried to stop two employees of delivery firm LBC while on their way on a motorcycle Wednesday last week to a client in barangay Bolo. The driver sped away but the suspects fired at them causing them to lose control of the motorbike.
The town police was quickly alerted of the incident. The responding police team caught the suspects who tried to hide in the area.
Victims of earlier robbery incidents in the municipality and nearby towns who were invited to identify the suspects claimed they were the perpetrators. The accused are also facing cases of illegal possession of firearms and cattle rustling, it was gathered.
Local broadcasters lambasted the board member for acting as lawyer of supposed enemies of the state when he was supposed to defend the government being a government official himself, they pointed out.
His situation is similar to two fellow local legislators who were strongly criticized for serving as counsels for suspected criminals in the past. Former Dagupan City Councilor Aquilino Bolinas, supposedly a human rights lawyer, earned the ire of city policemen in his time at the council when he lawyered for young criminals from the city facing legal suits.
Mangaldan Councilor Danilo Macasieb was also highly criticized last year for his role in the dismissal of drug-related cases in that town.
Both lawyer-officials anchored their actions on the time-honored legal truism that a man is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Vice-Gov. Oscar B. Lambino observed that while local lawyer-legislators are not prohibited from practicing their profession, he believed they should refrain from handling criminal cases that will compromise the interest of the state.
City Treasurer Romelita Alcantara told the city council there was no inefficiency in collection of taxes but they had simply over-projected the income of the city, particularly from stall rentals in the new three-storey Malimgas Public Market.
She said the bulk of the collection shortfall was registered at the public market when occupants of the second floor, reserved for dry goods, surrendered their stalls because of poor sales so the city lost incomes from rentals due them.
“We presumed that all things will go fine in the public market and that all stalls would be occupied. But it was not.” Alcantara said. Stallholders said they surrendered their stalls to prevent their continuous losses because the second floor of the public market, although fully air-conditioned, is hardly drawing in buyers.
Part of the reason may be because the new public market, reputed to be the most modern of its kind in the Philippines today, is surrounded by commercial malls that offer much lower prices for a wide range of products to choose from.
The third floor of the public market, reserved for car parking, has not been earning either.
The city council invited Alcantara to its session to shed light on the state of finances of the city government amid suspicion the city might now be incurring budge deficit as revenue collection targets were not met.
Alcantara denied any budget deficit because the city did not spend more than it could earn. She insisted that the only problem is the shortfall in collection. She added that because the city government no longer allows ambulant vending, it lost from P4 to P5 million in income from cash tickets.
The city also over-projected its income from the enforcement of fishery code when it targeted a revenue of P14.5 million, when, by the end of November, only P3 million has so far been collected.
Huberto Te, area manager of Panelco III in eastern Pangasinan, said the suspects were found by roving linemen of the electric cooperative to have installed jumpers and other “tilting devices” in their electric meters which is punishable by Republic Act No. 7832.
Te said the cheating consumers criminally contributed to a huge systems loss of the cooperative, estimated at P8 million monthly, which amount is being passed on in the billings of individual consumers.
Te still withheld the names of the cheating electric consumers who, he said, agreed as a compromise to pay all their backbillings, including penalties and surcharges.
The cooperative is still mulling over whether nor not to pursue prosecution of the cases since theirs was a crime committed against all other electric consumers who had to painfully absorb the consequences of their illegal acts, it said.
Te said the cheating consumers belong to well known families in civic, professional and business circles, who because of their station in life, would not be likely suspected committing wrongdoing.
One is an owner of a resort, another a restaurant and another a big piggery owner, all of which consume huge amount of electricity. They are however paying suspiciously reduced electric costs.
Aside from installing jumpers, some of these consumers had electric meters without a base and calibration seals, the pointers of which are misaligned.
Others have tilted kilowatt-hour in their meters, while still others were found to have cut-off neutral wire, with self-grounding and flying connections, and having incorrect polarity in their meters and with self grounding.
SANDBAGGING. Storm surges in beach areas along the Ilocos coastthe past week has forced many beachside structures and shanties to put up rows of sandbags for protection against massive wave onslaughts. The coastal phenomenon, according to many elders, is quite natural this time of the year till January, although they concede the bigger waves now are quite unlike those in past years. Tondaligan park administrator Dino Zabala watches as park beachside cottage owners put up defenses. (PStar Photo by Butch Uka)FINALLY, the provincial director of the Philippine National Police broke his silence and allowed media to interview him more than two weeks after Gov. Victor E. Agbayani issued a memorandum directing him to intensify the campaign against crime and illegal gambling activities.
Sr. Supt. Alan Purisima told a live phone interview over Bombo Radyo Dagupan Thursday morning that he had already directed his men in the field to act on the concerns raised by the governor in his memorandum.
He said that before the end of the month, his police chiefs and other fieldmen would have already accomplished their tasks. “Konting follow-up na lang,” he said referring to the campaign against illegal gambling activities using video machines like hataw and ameneng.
He said he would audit all police stations on their accomplishments, warning them to do their job. “Malalagot sila sa akin,” he said in reaction to persistent reports that hataw and ameneng machines are still operating in several towns.
Purisima now appears ready to be reached. He even gave his cell number, 09189265157, and urged the public to report to him directly any illegal activity and criminal incidents.
The provincial police chief apparently realized the importance of being more open and transparent to the public and to the media as well, as advised earlier by Provincial Administrator Virgilio Solis.
On the dropping of his name by some unscrupulous person and a report that a brother of his was tagged as behind the operation of video machines, Purisima said that his brothers are located in Ilocos, Mindanao and the United States, “Wala akong kapatid na nai-involve sa iligal, ” he clarified.
He said he had ordered his men to confiscate all such machines no matter who the owner is. A report said that some machines are color-coded or with stickers purportedly to indicate the owner or operator.
Former Dagupan police chief Supt. Noli Taliño was named overall supervisor of the campaign against illegal vide machines, he said. (DOS)
Dr. Alfredo S. Calugay, who was reassigned here only about eight months ago, was the subject of a complaint filed by some 20 teachers and employees with Department of Education Region 1 Director Vilma Labrador.
At least six charges were lodged against him to include demand for money from teacher-applicants, oppression, dishonesty, and pursuit or private business in school.
The complainants alleged that Calugay asked money from four qualified teacher-applicants for three permanent and one substitute vacant items. His reasons for solicitation were reportedly to donate a refrigerator to the division office, to pay five division personnel who will process the papers, to defray his travel expenses to Manila, and for school projects. There was neither a refrigerator given to the division office nor money given to the division personnel, they claimed in their complaint.
The principal also allowed vendors to sell inside the campus for a fee of P150 daily for electric consumption and rental but the money collected had no clear accounting, they claimed.
Calugay on several instances, humiliated teachers in front of the students, they said. While he comes late and is, most of the time, absent, he however indicated in his daily time record that he was coming on time and present, they also alleged. He also reportedly uses a casual clerk to drive for him during office hours.
For his private business, the complaining teachers said they had witnesses to prove that a refrigerator in his office was stocked with frozen foods for sale to teachers utilizing the janitress to sell and collect payments during payday.
They also claimed that he had a garage built for his personal car and an aircondition unit installed in his office. But he directed two teachers to see to it that only one electric fan in installed of the usual two per classroom which has an average of 60 students.
Calugay, they said, refused to accept responsibility in special school activities like the Science Camp and Leaders Congress hosted recently by the school. He reportedly asked the head teachers to sign a waiver that will not hold him liable in case of accidents among the student and faculty participants.
Short of seeking his transfer, they asked Labrador “to do what is deemed necessary” against him.
His predecessor, Marlene Bautista, was also forced to get out of the school early this year with several complaints raised against her for alleged anomalies.
Calugay faced similar complaints in his earlier stations in Balungao and Pozorrubio high schools, it was learned.
This was disclosed by Tondaligan Park Administrator Dino Zabala who said the high waves that reached over eight feet, are also threatening to destroy some 100 for-rent picnic sheds, doubling as videoke bars along the shoreline, also within the park area here.
The wind surge was reportedly felt in adjacent provinces of La Union and Ilocos Sur and as far west as Bolinao, Pangasinan.
Zabala said the body of a 22-year old student from barangay Doyong, Calasiao who drowned Saturday has not yet been found by rescue teams. An unconfirmed report said a body drifted in the shoreline of the island barangay of Pugaro in Dagupan City at presstime.
Another victim of drowning was Jeffrey Cariño of Baguio City who drowned Sunday when he and companions dropped by the Tondaligan to swim after attending a wedding of their relative in Malasiqui town and on their way back home.
Zabala said Cariño was pulled under by strong undercurrent while swimming. He said the victim was rescued after two minutes and given artificial respiration but was nevertheless declared dead on arrival at the Region 1 Medical Center.
Cariño rented a floating life saver but due to the big waves, he lost his grip on the device and was lost in the water momentarily. When he was finally rescued, there was difficulty reviving him.
Zabala explained that the wind surge that spawned high waves and threatens to wash away some 100 makeshift picnic sheds are just a normal occurrence during the months of December and January in the Lingayen Gulf.
The same high waves destroyed five houses made of light materials in sitio Bagong Barrio in barangay Bonuan Gueset, near Tondaligan Park last Saturday night. Their occupants were evacuated to the village’s multi-purpose gymnasium.
He said some of these picnic sheds were vacated by their owners after these were swamped by the waves, damaging their videoke sound systems, television sets, chinawares, utensils and other properties.
Some of these are now putting sand bags as high as five feet to block the big waves from hitting their establishments, Zabala said.
This disclosure confirmed a previous statement made by Palawan City Mayor and anti-jueteng czar Edward Hagedorn that jueteng already staged a comeback in some parts of the country, particularly Southern Tagalog.
In fact, Cruz, chairman and founder of the Kilos ng Bayan Laban sa Jueteng, said it is not only jueteng that has returned but also other illegal numbers games, such as the EZ2, ‘lotteng’, letreng’, the video-karera and the fruit games.
“They are back in the same way jueteng was gone for a while, went into hiding for sometime but is now making a comeback slowly but surely.
He said unless the illegal numbers game is stopped, very happy days will be here again for their financiers and supporters.
As may be expected, PNP chief Director General Arturo Lomibao has ordered all police regional directors to check the reported resurgence of jueteng.
Among the areas mentioned by Lomibao to be placed under watch is the Pangasinan-Ilocos area.
Pangasinan Police Provincial Director Alan Purisima revealed there is no jueteng anymore in his area of jurisdiction and vowed to do anything to stop its resurgence.
He said aside from this, the police in Pangasinan are also running after other forms of gambling, like slot machines, video karera and fruit games, also called “ameneng”.
The yearlong activities include information advocacy thru the use of print and broadcast media, quarterly information caravans, establishment of consumer welfare desks (CWDs) in the local government units and business establishments and installing Timbangan ng Bayan (public weighing scales) in all public markets.
The council, headed by Gov. Victor E. Agbayani with the Department of Trade and Industry as co-chair, tapped the Philippine Information Agency Pangasinan office and government stations DZMQ Radyo ng Bayan-Dagupan and DWRS Radyo ng Bayan-Tayug to disseminate information on consumer welfare. The private radio station in Alaminos City, DZWM, was also requested to air such government programs to benefit the western towns.
The council, composed of some 35 government agencies and non-government organizations, thru core groups is set to meet with the heads of the local media associations in the province – Pangasinan Tri-Media Association (Patrima), Pangasinan Press and Radio Club (PPRC), Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP), and the Pangasinan Association of Government Information Officers (PAGIO)—to enlist their help in the info drive.
The council will also write letters to the LGUs to remind them of the compulsory establishment of Timbangan ng Bayan in the public markets.
By October next year, part of the Consumer Welfare Month celebration will be the awarding of the best partners in consumerism, from the LGUs and the private sector. DTI Officer-in-Charge Daria Mingaracal said the Department of Energy and the Intellectual Property Rights Office will be invited to grace the next meeting to enlighten members on matters involving such offices.
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