Truth at its Most Brilliant
FOR SHOCK, FOR SHOW OR FOR REAL? A crackdown on illegal video game units (the so-called “hataw” or ‘ameneng’) has been launched by the Philippine National Police under Provincial Police Supt. Alan LM Purisima whose command has been stung by mounting public complaints for inaction on parents’ and school officials’ concerns about proliferation of the gambling gadgets for kids and adults. (PStar Photo by Butch F. Uka)BINALONAN – The provincewide campaign against slot machines, video karera and fruit game machines yielded positive result when 31 such machines belonging to 11 different owners were seized here last week.
It was the biggest operation against the banned machines which were reported to have recently proliferated in all nooks and crannies of the province as though replacing illegal jueteng that has grounded to a halt in the middle part of this year.
The campaign was pursuant to a directive of Police Provincial Director Sr. Supt. Alan Purisima addressed to all police chiefs in Pangasinan to finally eradicate all these illegal gambling and betting machines in the province.
Purisima acted following a memorandum of Gov. Victor Agbayani who noted the proliferation of slot machines, video karera and fruit game machines near schools and the widespread complaints of worried parents against the vices that lure their children.
SPO1 Cipriano Culliao, investigator of the Binalonan Police, said all the banned gadgets were seized in establishments near the Don Juan Macaraeg National High School in police operations led by Police Chief Sr. Inspector Napoleon Viray.
Agbayani also directed the Pangasinan police to take aggressive measures against highway robbers who have already victimized many people, especially those withdrawing money from banks.
Culiao said the owners of the seized banned machines are facing criminal complaints for violation of a municipal ordinance of Binalonan before the Provincial Prosecutors Office in Urdaneta City.
The slot machines, video karera and fruit game machines were reported to have been manufactured locally but their mechanical parts may have originated form either Taiwan or China.
AN epidemiologist of the Department of Health said based on current statistics of deaths from the dreaded avian influenza worldwide, the virus seems to be having difficulty transmitting to humans.
This piece of seemingly good news on the global fight against bird flu was among the bright spots reported by Dr. Jesus Fantone, DOH epidemiologist during the recent day-long workshop on the prevention of avian flu organized by the Region 1 Medical Center here as part of the province’s measures to prevent or control the disease, if it should ever break out here.
The Philippines, according to Fantone, remains as among only three bird flu-free countries in Asia today, to include Singapore and Brunei.
He said that some countries, instead of being transparent about the status of the disease in their areas in fact withheld releasing true statistics about local outbreaks from the World Health Organization.
Fantone said in the event the disease reaches our shores and communities, mass culling of poultry should be resorted to just as Hongkong did in 1997 to stop the H5NI epidemic there. Culling means the killing of infected chicken or fowl in an affected area so that the virus would have no chance of spreading or transferring to healthy fowls.
Among the measures suggested to and taken up by the Philippine government, he said, to prevent entry of the virus is a ban on the import of poultry, including foreign birds, and tight border guarding in the southern corridor of the country to prevent entry of humans who may be carrying the bird flu virus from their country of origin.
Local government units, Fantone added, may reinforce these measures by passing laws prohibiting people from going near or disturbing migratory birds that are believed to be carriers of the virus now frequenting various bird sanctuaries and forage areas in the country. The birds flew in to escape winter in their traditional sanctuaries across the globe.
The epidemiologist admitted that aside from its cost being prohibitive, Tamiflu, the anti-viral drug produced by Roche, still has limited supply worldwide despite mass production undertaken by Roche and its deputized or licensed pharmaceutical companies.
SAYAN INDIO
Mario F. Karateka
E, ANTOEY, asabila lamet so Krismas o Piyesta’y Inkianak, onong ed say abangonan tayon relihiyon.
Kumusta’y media noche yo ey? Kompleto tay pamilya? Akapasyar kayod baley ya binmantay ed say piyesta’y Dagupan? Agkayota mantayegteg ed betel no labi tan palbangon?
No “on” odino “olrayt, OK” so ebat yod saratan a tepet, sakey kayod mapalar iran pinalsa’y Ama ta apalabas tan alikna yo so ispirito na Krismas a, no manbilang et medyo makisir so panangan ed lamisaan, et masayaksak metni lamlamang ta walan manbibilaynid tapew na sayan mundo so inkasaysikayo.
Diad imbebeneg iran kolum na Sayan Indio, asaglawik layan topiko – ya ambetebetel, amagamaga so singa pamalabas tayo na Krismas na 2005. Amtak dakel so miayon ed satan ya obserbasyon ko ta sankalikas met.
Pakanengnengan? Lakadtan ed “mall”, no iner say duduplogen na totoon managsaliw et samay Wan Handred Piso (100 Peso) ya puesto no iner say sanlibo da et kamayamay lay nasaliw to. Sakey nin pakanengnengan? Masakbay lan onsesempet kalamor iray dakel ya dawntawn dyipni ta antoey, amta bisperas na Krismas natan (sabado so pangagawak ed sayan kolum) et sansakey labat so onlulugan aliwan singa imbebeneg iran bisperas ya karakel na lumulugan.
Labay yo ni sakey pruweba? Nimay lansones tan ubas ya nen imbebeneg et nasimot antis o bisperas na Pasko, natan akagaton o akasabit ya sansakey so makapangitepel a mangaliw ta kibili-bili met lanti, P150 anggad P180 kada kilo so patawal da. Di maong lan isaliw day pigaran order na pansit tekepay Coke litro naksel niy intiron pamilya, awa, Bret Bert?
THE merriest of seasons just doesn’t seem to be so anymore. Most people equate this sordid situation to the absence of money in their pockets and a depleted or zero balance in their bank accounts. Things have gotten so money-centered and money-driven in the world that happiness – or contentment –can’t be had with just a few pesos on hand; it has to be by the thousands to bring on a smile and buy bagfuls of Christmas goodies from the supermarket.
Outside of dying, the next most tragic thing that can happen at Christmas is to be sick and confined in a hospital while the rest of the world outside sing carols, eat and drink and make merry to celebrate what the Catholic world regards as the birthdate of jesus Christ.
To be caught in such condition and location on Christmas is so dreadful that we know of some who would bear the pain, fight the medical symptoms and postpone going to the hospital till after Christmas. In any case, the moment they finally go into post-Christmas treatment or consultation, the luckier ones get attended to on time yet; the less luckier ones only manage to delay the inevitable – a surgery, an extended medical confinement or the morgue.
Such morbid thoughts at Yuletide, you say?
But that precisely is what runs in the minds of our less fortunate brethren out there who cannot observe, much less, enjoy Christ’s birth with al the varied problems and economic difficulties besetting them and their families. Christmas is for the poor as much as it is for the children, they say. For the children who have their whole future ahead of them, spending an austere Christmas one year wouldn’t matter much – the next year is always a source of hope. For the poor who are at the very end of their economic rope that’s burning from both ends, it would always be one miserable Christmas after another. How long they can bear the deprivation and depression before they totally snap, only God in His Infinite Wisdom knows.
On this most celebrated event of the year in all of Humankind, let us pause and ask ourselves – What have we really done for them, our less fortunate brethren, to ease their burden and wipe away their tears? There lies the true meaning of this special day, one that exalts not riches or fame but the dignity of every man He created on Earth.
AFTER ALL
Behn Fer. Hortaleza Jr.
WE SPOKE too soon and now we may have to eat crow. But we don’t mind – if it’s for the good of the city we all love, Dagupan.
We are referring to the sudden installation of rows of beautiful lights on both sides of the Magsaysay (okay, De Venecia it is) Bridge along Perez Blvd. Just as soon as The Pangasinan Star hit the streets last week, we noticed as we pass by the bridge on our way home in the evening that the lights were ablaze, rivaling those earlier put up at the Quintos bridge obviously in time for the city fiesta celebration.
In this corner last week, you see, we had lamented — okay now, deplored — what we felt was the unfair deal given the Perez bridge which was dimly lit, if at all, while Quintos bridge on A.B. Fernandez Avenue had those rather elegant lamp posts delighting and thrilling motorists and pedestrians passing thru. It now appears that lighting of Perez bridge was part of the overall plan after all.
Our kudos to whoever it was at City Hall who decided that if we can’t have sophisticated fiesta celeb activities this year, at least we should have lights on our bridges for nocturnal attraction. Why, not even the ballyhooed Lantern Parade, which we and Vicar Hotel tenants had eagerly rushed out by the hotel’s balcony for to watch while the city was in full blackout mode didn’t even light up a spark among many Dagupeno parade watchers.
It just seems to many frustrated city dwellers now that about the only area where a whiff of fiesta air can be had are at the malls, hardly at the City Hall and environs and much less even at the Pogo Grande house of the hermano mayor himself, Alex de Venecia. For all the lights bedecking the good councilor-fund-raiser’s newly-rented house (try checking this out passing by Pogo Grande at night), “not a soul stirs” ( to borrow a line from the immortal poem T’was the Night Before Christmas – read neighbor columnist Ging Cardinoza’s piece) there most nights, like Santa had left for the North Pole with all his reindeersin tow.
Young tots doing the caroling rounds and trying the house of HM (Hermano Mayor, not His Majesty) swear they only tire their vocal chords out with nary a Santa peering out from there, at least on most night, to dole out presents..
* * * *
Many people seem to forget – or are deliberately ignoring –the fact that what the Consultative Commission (Con-Com) had come up with and submitted to the President were plain and simple recommendations as borne out from their nationwide consultations with the people. Now, if some of our leaders in and out of politics, think that’s the final thing, it’s their indigestion.
The fact is, the whole package, including the transitory provisions drawn up by the Con-Com one of which calls for a no-election scenario by 2007 and extension of terms of present officials to 2010, will still be deliberated in and by Congress. And you know how interminably long and contentious that would be. The chance of the package being approved en toto is like that of a Mayor BSL giving up on the “original design” of the circumferential diversion road in Lucao and just letting the DPWH extend the construction of the road on through Belen Fernandez’s CSI The City Mall “queendom.”
What keeps many pundits wondering is what our very own Speaker Joe de Venecia’s position on the No-El issue really is when the matter is finally thrown into Congress’lap.
As for El Tabako FVR, he’s minced no word about where he stands, to GMA’s utter discomfort. Can – and will – JDV again come up with a “rainbow compromise?”
THE PEN SPEAKS
Danny O. Sagun
WE ARE amused by that report quoting Mangaldan Councilor Jessie de Guzman as saying he has received P5,000 from one “Engineer Flores” purportedly to facilitate the passage of an ordinance that will allow the use of the public plaza for peryahan starting this month up to March for the town fiesta. Vice-Mayor Bernardo Abalos, who was acting mayor at that time, vehemently denied De Guzman’s claim saying testily that the matter won’t stand unless the money was marked.
We now recall the frank admission of San Fabian Liga ng mga Barangay head Roland Villegas of having been offered not just a few thousand pesos for the speedy passage of a measure authorizing one entity to set up a water district in that town. If we recall right, Villegas’ brother Riby, the vice-mayor, strongly belied the claim of his younger brother. At least there are still public officials in our midst who are ready to spill the beans, if need be, although they would surely be subjected to scorn and ridicule by their colleagues, peers and friends for squealing.
Their motives are suspect too as the public knows who they are, as in the case of De Guzman and Villegas. De Guzman, it is recalled, has figured in some controversial spiteful actions in the town, while Villegas was tagged as a jueteng lord before although nothing substantial on this ever came out. Personal backgrounds notwithstanding, we commend them for their courage in exposing alleged irregularities.
*****
Mangaldan Mayor Hermie Romero, fresh from Singapore, heaped praises on that city-state for its cleanliness and orderliness. Shall we expect the mayor then (and the other fourth district mayors who joined that observation tour sponsored by House Speaker Joe de Venecia) to copy and implement in his turf even just a little of what he had seen in Singapore?
And yet, we hear of this controversial ordinance passed by the sangguniang bayan authorizing him to enter into an agreement with a peryahan operator that will just negate the plans and projects for the improvement and beautification of the public plaza, the window and attraction of any town.
The plaza, during the time of the late Mayor Bening Gubatan, was already teeming with trees and ornamental plants. Peryahan activities were located elsewhere. When former mayor Tito Sarzaba came to power, we were aghast to see the felling of the trees. Those activities usually seen during town fiestas to include shows and gambling sprees were back with a vengeance at the plaza. Many cried foul.
Romero refused to comment on De Guzman’s claim about bribery saying he has yet to get the facts. He also clarified he has yet to act on the ordinance as he wanted to consult the sanggunian first.
The mayor appears to be caught in the middle considering the court complaint field by three lawyers from the town who reminded the town officials about an agreement forged earlier for the proper use of the public plaza. We think the mayor should spare the plaza from further damages as a result of accommodating that peryahan operator. He can do a Benjie Lim or a Ferdie Calimlim of Dagupan and Mapandan, respectively. Look at the plazas of these two mayors’ localities, they are the pride of their city and town.
Smorgasboard
BEWARE! Water meter thieves are out there waiting to snap out your water meters from the water line. We’re one of the latest victims here in Dagupan City.
Our water meter at Y’s Place canteen located at PNR Road (fronting GSIS) was stolen last week. This was first discovered by our neighbor, Balong, after his aunt (whose room is situated beside the water meter) was roused from sleep by the water dripping from her low ceiling. The water line became an instant fountain.
My sister reported the incident to the Mayombo Police Precinct for record purposes. Then I contacted Ms. Remy Sapiera of the Dagupan City water District and asked her what we should do next. She suggested we go personally to the Dagupan City Water District Office and relate the incident to General Manager Ramon Reyna.
We learned from GM Reyna that water meter theft in Dagupan City had become rampant of late. This writer learned that theft of water meters started February this year and became rampant starting September. To date, the Dagupan City Water District had received more than 100 complaints. Reyna said even he was victimized twice at his residence in Tapuac.
Most of the incidents reported were in the central district, A. B. Fernandez Avenue, Mayombo, Perez, M.H. del Pilar Street, Arellano.
According to him, other water districts in the country are experiencing the same problem. He said this is no longer a simple case of theft by magbabakal (junkshops) but a handiwork of a syndicate Reyna said they’ve checked out junk shops in the city but found nothing. Also, consumers cannot just install stolen water meters or those sold to them cheaply by anybody (not even those bought at hardware stores).
Reyna said as per Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) regulation, they are not allowed to buy water meters direct from identified manufacturers or suppliers only.
He said they are offering reward for information on the possible identities of suspects or to those who can report an ongoing theft. The hotline is (075) 515-8220. Security guards of DCWD detailed in the evening can take down reports. The consumers’ reports will help DCWD greatly in its conduct of investigation.
In relation with this problem, personnel of the Dagupan City Water District distributed letters to barangay officials and consumers asking everybody’s cooperation to minimize if not stop theft of water meters. He requested the barangays’ security force to intensify their roving operations especially at night.
He also advised everybody to be watchful as based on their records, number of complaints on busted water meters is usually high after the New Year’s Day celebration. “Pinagtitripan ng ibang tao yon ating mga metro, nilalagyan nila ng paputok just to test how powerful or how strong their firecrackers are,” he remarked.
There is the yearly provincewide Christmas party hosted by Board Member Dionisio ‘Saffe’ Villar, chairman of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Committee on Health.
I understand this became a tradition since BM Saffe assumed as chairman of the committee. This year’s party was held at the board member’s own barangay – Salvacion – in Sto. Tomas with his wife Barangay Captain Victa Villar as the gracious hostess. Gov. Victor E. Agbayani graced the party.
Leading the bunch of health care providers was Dr. Jackson Soriano, Pangasinan Provincial Hospital chief and Provincial Health Officer. Mind you, Dr. Soriano is a graceful dancer, gamely dancing with everybody to the beat of the walang kamatayan Pinoy Big Brother theme “Pinoy Ako.”
Personnel from the Provincial Health Office ruled the dance contest, runners-up were the group from the Lingayen and Tayug district hospitals, respectively. One lucky fellow was Romeo Rosario who won a refrigerator in the raffle draw.
The second Christmas party they attended at the Urduja House compound on December 16, birthday of Gov. Agbayani which was also the Christmas party of provincial employees. Prizes were also raffled off that day.
Of course, they had their respective Christmas parties at their hospitals.
After those parties and food, they would be back at their posts, hoping and praying there will be lesser number of blasted fingers and injured kabaleyans this New Year.
WINDOWS
Gabriel L. Cardinoza
I did not know that the most parodied poem in the English language was Clement Clark Moore’s “The Night Before Christmas” until last night when I was browsing the Internet. I counted 15, but I suspect there may be more that Google did not find.
The poem had a gambler’s version, an OB-GYNE’s (obstetrician-gynecologist’s) version, a race car driver’s version, and other “wittier (and, in some cases, just plain strange) homages,” as one website had described them.
But what caught my fancy were the politically-correct version of the poem and the one supposedly written by a lawyer. In celebration of the holiday season, I’m sharing with you parts of the poems.
The Night Before Christmas
By Clement Clarke Moore
’T WAS the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ’kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The Night Before Christmas
(Politically Correct Version)
‘Twas the night before Christmas and Santa’s a wreck…How to live in a world that’s politically correct?His workers no longer would answer to “Elves.” “Vertically Challenged” they were calling themselves.And Labour conditions at the North PoleWere alleged by the union to stifle the soul.
Four reindeer had vanished, without much propriety,Released to the wilds by the Humane Society. And equal employment had made it quite clearThat Santa had better not use just reindeer. So Dancer and Donner, Comet and Cupid,Were replaced with four pigs, and you know that looked stupid!
The Night Before Christmas
(Legal Version)
Author Unknown
Whereas, on or about the night prior to Christmas, there did occur at a certain improved piece of real property (hereinafter “the House”) a general lack of stirring by all creatures therein, including, but not limited to a mouse.
A variety of foot apparel, e.g. stocking, socks, etc., had been affixed by and around the chimney in said House in the hope and/or belief that St. Nick a/k/a/ St. Nicholas a/k/a/ Santa Claus (hereinafter “Claus”) would arrive at sometime thereafter.
The minor residents, i.e. the children, of the aforementioned House, were located in their individual beds and were engaged in nocturnal hallucinations, i.e. dreams, wherein vision of confectionery treats, including, but not limited to, candies, nuts and/or sugar plums, did dance, cavort and otherwise appear in said dreams.
Whereupon the party of the first part (sometimes hereinafter referred to as “I”), being the joint-owner in fee simple of the House with the parts of the second part (hereinafter “Mamma”), and said Mamma had retired for a sustained period of sleep. (At such time, the parties were clad in various forms of headgear, e.g. kerchief and cap.)
Merry Christmas!
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