By DANNY O. SAGUNAssociate Editor, The Pangasinan Star

LINGAYEN – The provincial police director was relieved Wednesday not for sleeping on his job but for reportedly stepping on some sensitive toes.
Gov. Victor E. Agbayani, who seemed initially dissatisfied with the performance of Sr. Supt. Alan Purisima particularly in the campaign against illegal video gambling machines and robbery, was apparently also caught unaware. He wrote the Philippine National Police for an explanation on Purisima’s sudden relief.

Radio reports said Purisima’s intensified campaign against hataw and ameneng as directed to him by Agbayani did not sit well with alleged influential gambling operators and machines owners some of whom allegedly were police officers and local officials themselves.

Provincial Administrator Virgilio Solis Thursday confirmed Purisima’s relief saying he received the information from his friends at Camp Crame. He said he immediately relayed the info to the governor.

Purisima’s relief was not a surprise news to some quarters however in view of his alleged below par performance.

It will be recalled that Agbayani issued at least two directives to the police provincial
director to step up the fight against criminality, a move generally viewed as an expression of dissatisfaction by the governor.

Vice-Gov. Oscar Lambino was himself also not impressed by Purisima’s performance in view of the series of robbery incidents in the province last year and early this year.
The local media was also critical of his performance and his non-accessibility for media interviews.

Purisima the past two months had stepped up his campaign against illegal gambling machines, pressuring his men to produce results. This reportedly angered operators but at the same time elicited full support from some local officials like Dagupan City Mayor Benjamin S. Lim who were stunned by Purisima’s relief .

Apparently, the one-strike policy of the PNP hierarchy on illegal activities within an officer’s area of jurisdiction caught up with him as it did to some of his men in the field. Urdaneta City police chief Johnny Bacbac was similarly relieved soon after the PNP anti-illegal gambling task force raided ameneng operations in the city.

It could also be that gambling operators really worked for his immediate transfer, observers said.(DOS)

By Behn Fer. Hortaleza, Jr

AND now the bad news from the Bureau of Internal Revenue: Government is slowly but steadily compiling all data on those tingi[ (retail) load system of telcos for cellphones for a more comprehensive tax measure that would shore up further revenue collection (outside of the 12% RVAT).

The good news: It would take a long time (read: eternity) before they could really reach the level of and tag individual or sari-sari store retailers of cellphone loads and subject these to tax. Madugo, as the street language would put it.

That is why they’re content for the moment to just tag “at source” the two (three?) giant telcos Globe and Smart (and Sun?) and their second or third line of big dealers whose combined sales alone already runs to billions.

This much was gleaned during last Friday’s Advocacy Forum on the Expanded Value Added Tax (Expanded or Reformed, whatever) at the Pines View Hotel in Baguio City. Two very capable speakers, Polangui, Abay’s Rep. Jose Clemente Salceda, Jr, yup, the grandiloquent Joey Sal, chair of the House appropriations committee and National BIR office’s Assistant Commissioner Lucita Rodriguez gave a fine presentation of the EVAT from the collection and expenditure perspectives. Read more

FRANKLY, all the brouhaha about government “husbanding’ its resources particularly state ads that go into newspapers,radio and television (what, nothing for podcasts?) shouldn’t be there at all.

We think you really can’t fault government if it choses where to spend its money or if it endeavors to put some sense into spending such money. In fact, those chiefs and bosses who’ve been using that ad money in their budgets all this time to ingratiate themselves to publishers, station or network bosses and favored reporters, or to even urge the media sometimes to take a swipe at their pet peeves in or out of government, simply had their comeuppance.

Malacanang and GMA and the newly formed Communication Group have just cried,” ‘Nuf of your pork barrels, department heads and GOCC (government owned or controlled corporations), GFI (government financing institutions), guys,” and that’s about that. From here on, Big Sister thru Big Brothers Toting, Cerge and Dodie will call the shots. Read more

By Liway C. Manantan-Yparraguirre

HE is a man of few words, unusual for a police officer. He’d rather that his men, the chiefs of police, speak for the accomplishments of their units (he doesn’t want to take that glory away from them, he says) or defend their actions or inactions in situations or incidents that happen in their respective areas.
Police Senior Supt. Alan L. Purisima, though unceremoniously relieved as provincial director of Pangasinan, took his marching order silently. He bade farewell to the chiefs of police and unit commanders through text.
Gov. Victor E. Agbayani, officers and members of the Pangasinan Police Provincial Office and the media were all caught by surprise. Read more

LINGAYEN – Members of the sangguniang panlalawigan are keen on allowing the operation of Small Town Lottery (STL) in the province to prevent the resurgence of jueteng, the illegal numbers game.

Four members of the provincial board who filed a pro-STL resolution however want the national government through the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) to adopt and implement clear guidelines for the operation of STL to prevent glitches that snagged the introduction of Loterya ng Bayan and the Bingo 2 Ball during the term of President Corazon Aquino and President Joseph Estrada, respectively.

Authored by Board Members Amadeo Espino, Nestor Reyes, John Agerico Rosario and Robert Raymund Estrella, Jr., proposed Resolution No. 1451-2006 hoped that the introduction of STL would discourage illegal gambling operators to revive their operation in Pangasinan. Read more

By Gabriel L. Cardinoza

WITH March, as women’s month, drawing to a close this week, I decided to include in this column facts and figures I found in the Internet about Filipino women. These are little known facts that, to my mind, are very relevant because they sum up how far the women’s struggle for equality around the world has gone.

The first article that caught my attention was a fact sheet of the National Statistical and Coordination Board of Region 1 that says, “Women in the Ilocos-Pangasinan Region continue to actively participate in the public order, safety and justice sector.”

The fact sheet indicated that the task of maintaining public order, safety and justice is no longer the monopoly of men alone. “Women (have been) given equal opportunity to serve and perform the same duties as that of the men. However, their participation still remains to be low compared to their men counterpart,” the article said. Read more

BY DANNY O. SAGUN

WE were hardly surprised by the news Thursday morning that Sr. Supt Alan LM Purisima had been relieved on orders of higher headquarters. But the reason we have in mind may not exactly be what the PNP authorities have in relieving him.

To recall, the provincial government was not exactly enthusiastic about his presence and performance here, at least in the past months. In the first place, he came in as PD even if he was not on the governor’s preferred list of police provincial directors to be assigned here after Supt. Mario Sandiego left the post.

Secondly, Agbayani was incensed at the series of robberies in the highways that ensued during Purisima’s watch late last year. People felt no longer secure in the streets, and in their homes, as criminals seemed to operate with impunity. To compound the mess, hataw and ameneng illegal videogame machines were everywhere, luring so many kids to their games of chance, making them skip classes or behaving differently as a result. Read more

LINGAYEN – A tug boat, a barge and a crane barge have been deployed in the water near Agno town since Thursday to help refloat a polluting barge loaded with 4,500 metric tons of coal that ran aground in the area since Dec. 18 last year.

Pangasinan Provincial Administrator Virgilio Solis said the vessels were mobilized by Asian Shipping Company, owner of LCT Al Eisner, the barge that ditched in the shallow waters of sitio Talisay, barangay Macaboboni in Agno.

Solis said Asian shipping is complying with the directive of the provincial government for it to remove the barge which has been spilling coal while being battered by big waves in the South China Sea. Read more

LINGAYEN — Pangasinan Governor Victor E. Agbayani is seeking a direct and frank answer from PNP Chief Arturo Lomibao why Senior Supt. Alan Purisima was suddenly relieved as Police Provincial Director here.

Provincial Administrator Virgilio Solis explained that the governor was seeking clarification from Lomibao on the wisdom of relieving police provincial directors who have barely warmed their seats.

Purisma assumed as police provincial director of Pangasinan only in June last year.

Solis said Purisima had just laid out his plans and programs to nsure more stable peace in Pangasinan but before he can implement these, it was reported that he has been relieved. Read more

THE Sangguniang Panlungsod of Dagupan has directed the City Legal Office to sue Bugnay Construction and Development Corp. (Bugnay) to compel it to give what is due the city as stipulated in a contract of lease executed between them 20 years ago over that piece of prime land downtown where half-burnt stalls now stand.

In a resolution authored principally by Councilor Michael Fernandez and co-authored by Councilor Jose Netu Tamayo, the city council said that Bugnay should return the Magsaysay Market area leased by the city government 20 years ago with all its improvements.

“The contract between the city and Bugnay is the law between the contracting parties and it is provided there that it is the obligation of Bugnay to insure the market,” Fernandez said. Read more