THE JOYS A CHRISTMAS LANTERN BRINGS to people, especially the young ones, is captured in this shot bythe Pangasinan Star camera of children gazing in great admiration and joy at the lantern entries in the Dagupan City Fiesta Lantern Parade last week. (Photo by Butch F. Uka)

SAN JACINTO – A board member from the fourth district is under fire for reportedly acting as counsel for the accused in an aborted hold-up incident here last week.

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.

AN official of the city government admitted that the projected income of the city this year at P350 million was over-estimated, spawning some P10 to P14 million shortfall in collection at the end of the year.

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.

TAYUG – Several affluent and influential families in eastern Pangasinan have been slapped with penalties and surcharges and now face criminal prosecution for stealing electricity from the Pangasinan Electric Cooperative III.

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)

‘Hataw’, ‘ameneng’ gambling games must go
By DANNY O. SAGUN

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)