THE Board of Regents of the Lyceum Northwestern University here awarded a doctorate degree in humanities, honoris causa, to Manila socialite Rosemary ‘Baby’ Arenas, who has recently reestablished her residence in the place of her roots in Pangasinan.

The honorary degree was awarded her by Dr. Gonzalo T. Duque, LNU president and members of the Board of Regents of the university because of her various charitable works and deep-seated efforts in promoting culture and works of the arts in Metro Manila.

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TAYUG – One farmer was killed and two others wounded in a shootout that happened in barangay Panganiban here on Palm Sunday over scanty irrigation water for the farms this summer.

The lone fatality was identified as Ronnie Ato who was hit when his brother-in-law, Modesto Tolete and Arturo Olara, a barangay councilman, exchanged gunfires after an argument over their rights for irrigation water.

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By JEREMIAH M. OPINIANO
www.ofwjournalism.net

IRISAN, Baguio City – THE afternoon sun cuts through the chill here and casts light on metal cages where thousands of honeybees dash through and fro.

“Welcome to Cypress Apiary,” Florida Labon said at her backyard that houses the 20 metal enclosures of honeybees.

Overlooking the slopes of one side of Baguio City, these colonies provide the daily source of income for Labon and her young daughter.

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SAYAN INDIO
Mario F. Karateka

MAIRAP yay nilooban nen Meyor Bendyi Limya talosan (no tuan walay talusan) ya sikato kono so mansuporta ed si Abogado Gonz Duque bilang onsoblay ed yorongan ton mayor no si BSL ed walan ombatik a KONGRESISTA a kalabanen toy Ispiker Dyo.

Mairap tan, Meyor Bendyi, ta nitan ya kongkong lan kongkong si Gonz ed satan a talusan yo; singa bin panonot lan panonot ed pormisan kasal na boypren to. Panon toy Bise Mayor Alvin Fernandez ed satan ey? Singa nadngel taka nen imbebeneg iran taon ya pasublayen moy Alvin ta kuanmon agkala ombatik ed sampot a terminom bilang alkalde.

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EDITORIAL

CHEAP labor in the Philippines and other developing countries is fueling all those outsourcing ventures and call centers, everyone knows that by now. So many young Pinoy adults, even the fresh-out-of-college, and even some undergrads, are pursuing the dream for a seat at some call center or the other since two years back like it were the Golden Fleece itself. 

Few, if any, of these aspirants mind if, as economists and other labor analysts often say, they are actually getting a relatively (by international hiring rate standards) lower pay than their call center counterparts in the United States, UK or even Hong Kong. Dollar is a dollar is a dollar, no matter how the total pay compares lowly with that paid in the same currency to others. What they’d do– twist their native tongue this way and that just to get the perfect American slang or the English tight upper lip inflection and nasal twang right over the phone — to land a job as CC hiree. 

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AFTER ALL
Behn Fer. Hortaleza

FINALLY,they remembered there’s another guy to be directly affected by all the cha-cha steps, not just the Lady in the Palace. Muntik nang makalimutan.Nice to hear Speaker Joe de Venecia, no less, making assurances in the direction of VP Noli de Castro who, for sometime since this whole debate on Initiative and its twin Cha-Cha started, had seemed to be destined for the sidelines, there to be marked as The Nowhere Man. 

While in Pangasinan and meeting with his usual horde of local mediamen in his Bonuan Binloc residence by the beach, JDV, heavenly light shining on his persona and voice like that of an enlightened gospel minister, intoned that Noli’s position, contrary to current intrigues, will be upgraded under the new set up.

How so?

“I confirm he (de Castro) will have a seat in the interim parliament and at the same time, he’ll have a cabinet ministry to handle,” de Venecia stressed. Not content with dangling that carrot, he added the plum — the honor of presiding at the opening of the interim parliament (if ever) will be Kabayan’s to take.

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WINDOWS
Gabriel L. Cardinoza
 
If there is something new that I noticed in Urdaneta City when I passed by the city on my way to Villasis last Black Saturday, it’s its wide four-way intersection.   Even on ordinary days in the past, this major intersection was a terrible bottleneck, taking a good 30 to 45 minutes of motorists’ precious travel time just to get out of downtown Urdaneta.
 
But last Saturday, despite the volume of vehicles going to the north, traffic did not stop. It continued to move, although at a slower speed, removing the signs of impatience and disgust from the motorists’ faces.  And this was all because the intersection is wider now.
 
Honestly, we do not know for sure if the widened intersection (and the sections of the national highway linked to it) is already the realization of what Rep. Mark Cojuangco has been mouthing all along that he wants wider roads in his district. Mayor Amadito Perez had also said in the past that a flyover will be built in the area.

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