EDITORIAL

FOR as long as Nature has its way and produces undercurrents (locally called ‘sabang’) in waters near the shorelines, no beach is ever absolutely safe; not in Pangasinan, not in the Philippines, not anywhere in the world. This is a basic premise (because it is a reality) that anyone deploring the successive drowning incidents at Dagupan’s Bonuan Blue Beach the past two months would do well to consider before declaring the beach at Tondaligan Park as unsafe or treacherous.

The basic question remains: Are swimmers at Bonuan beach observing safety regulations foremost of which is not to swim too far out in the waters especially when big waves are crashing like mad as was the case in the Pangasinan-La Union shoreline last month? Add to that the cautionary word about not taking a dip while drunk or tipsy or about always having a companion in the water when swimming.

It would be most unfair for Dagupan’s beach to be summarily labeled unsafe in the wake of the recent incidents without considering the factor of negligence or carelessness that may have attended the tragedies. Where swimmers take unnecessary risks, there rises the degree of possible tragedies.

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AFTER ALL
Behn Fer. Hortaleza, Jr.

OUR regular online reader, Marlowe Camello, e-mailing us from Homeland, California, perked our interest this week with his thoughts on how, if ever, the Philippines can have a more efficient and trustworthy kind of justice system. Marlowe, (we get the feeling that’s the ‘Americanized’ version of his name) took off in his commentary from Senator Manny Villar’s resolution where the legislator from Las Pinas said the rule of law is the backbone of a democratic, peaceful and orderly society”.

To get to Marlowe’s point, the man wants institutionalized in our judicial system the Grand Jury and Trial Jury setup that they have in the US. “There can never be a rule of law and trustworthy judiciary to speak about where justice is the monopoly of those who are supposed to be the answerable masterminds of injustice,” he premised.

He adds: In a true democracy, the real backbone and guardians of justice are the common people composed mostly of private citizens. (At least the upright ones, we might add.)

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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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Smorgasbord
By Liway C. Manantan-Yparraguirre

ON January 12, former Pangasinan SK president Marie Antonette Villar, the unica hija of Presidential Assistant Antonio “Bebot” A. Villar Jr. and Sto. Tomas Mayor Vivien O. Villar will exchange wedding vows with Ludwig “Luwi” Pescador, son of Sto. Tomas Vice Mayor and Mrs. Wilfredo Pescador.

The wedding will be held in Manila, but I think a banquet is also being prepared in Sto. Tomas town by the Villars for their kailian (townmates)

Best wishes to the couple!

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Windows
By Gabriel L. Cardinoza

ENG’R. Betty Olivar, a faculty member of the University of Pangasinan, was returning to Dagupan City that night of Dec. 30 after visiting her relatives in her hometown in Isabela. She was just minutes away from the city and it was almost midnight. She was looking forward to finally get home and get a good rest after that long Victory Liner trip.

Then the unthinkable happened. While the bus was cruising that unlighted portion of the national highway in Sta. Barbara with full mango trees on both of its sides, she thought she heard a dull thud. Then she felt pain in her left eye. She’d been hit. Somebody had just stoned her bus and it went straight to her.

At the hospital minutes later, doctors found her eye crushed. She lost it.

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