The Pen Speaks
Danny O. Sagun

WE’VE heard Sr. Supt. Alan Purisima being interviewed on radio at least two times already since this paper (and this corner too) published stories about criticisms on his silence on issues affecting his office particularly about that memo from Gov. Victor Agbayani. The memo directed him to intensify campaigns against crimes and illegal gambling. We went to extent of comparing him with his predecessors in facing the media.

Now he is being over radio we are glad he has acceded to requests for interview. If he did not, nobody in media would have known that the crime volume in the province had decreased from 2,308 in 2004 to 2,125 last year. It was a revelation to us that it was in fact (at least that’s according to Supt. Purisima), only theft and robbery cases that increased, from 98 to 124. Until he spoke to media, only the PNP Command perhaps would have known what was being done to fight crime in the province. Now we and the public can reach him via his cell number which he had the graciousness to announce in one local radio interview. Never too late to recoup, PD!

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We saw how magnificent the provincial Capitol now looks outside as we passed by the building last Friday on our way to Urduja House and to the Pangasinan National High School for a coordination meeting with the scheduled GMA visit last Saturday in that school. We did not go inside so we could not tell whether the renovation/restoration job on that prewar building has indeed returned it to its original or, well, almost original state.
We hope that restoration works be also done to the nearby buildings, Kalantiao and Malong, to return those edifices to their old glory.

Our attention was also caught by the slow-paced beautification/construction work along the Maramba Boulevard (renamed Aguedo F. Agbayani Boulevard). We heard that not a few millions were set aside to fund that project, which would make that kilometer-stretch a tourist destination.

We saw only one equipment there and it was idle. Soil and boulders dumped in the portions which used to be swampy have yet to be flattened. We thought all along that construction work would be fast because funds were already available. So dismaying to see the area still looking desolate and seemingly neglected.

That roadstretch, a show window leading to the vast Capitol compound, should have been attended to long ago. It’s only now that it is being given attention and yet the work is turtle-paced. Why?

We can only wonder if the sitting governor, scion of the late Gov. AFA, turned his attention to that road only now after it was named after his father. Enough said, as our editorial consultant BFH, would say.