AFTER ALL
BEHN FER. HORTALEZA, JR.

GLORIA Macapagal-Arroyo, at 59, does not look it. Behn Fer. Hortaleza, Jr., at 55, looks it.

Compared to our knockout personal and business worries, PGMA’s daily national concerns, not to mention the ubiquitous critics knocking incessantly at her palatial doors, are the stuff of Mt. Everest, so forbidding and so gargantuan we sometimes think it would have made us look ten years older than we actually are if we were in her shoes and bearing them. It is a tribute to the lady’s fortitude that she hasn’t physically wilted from the siege, at least from all outward appearances, especially in her facial aura.

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The Pen Speaks
Danny O. Sagun

“DITO puro ngawngaw lang.”

Thus blurted Dagupan City Mayor Benjie Lim in his message before bangus stakeholders last Tuesday over what he believed was the poor support from the national government for his pet fish processing plant project.

He lamented the lack of seriousness in pursuing the project to its full implementation. After the usual media publicity, nothing happened, he said, narrating how he was given a runaround by concerned agencies while trying to follow up the P50 million-pledge coming no less from President Arroyo four years ago when she keynoted the first Bangus Congress.

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Smorgasboard
Liway C. Manantan-Yparraguirre
 
A DIFFERENT kind of tribute was given to six women, special and peculiar in their own ways, by Lady’s Choice last Thursday evening. The event was held at the poolside of Leisure Coast Resort in Bonuan Binloc.

“We are all pencils in God’s hand, but the difference is in the print we leave behind, whether it will be light or heavy and makes a difference in other’s lives,.” Mrs. Celia Lambino, wife of the vice governor and one of the honorees said.
           
Elevated to the Ladies of Choice league, joining megastar Sharon Cuneta were Madam Celia, Sonia Garvida-Yao, Imelda “Meng” Austria, Dagupan City Legal Officer Geraldine Baniqued, Michelle Lioanag of Ragtime Restaurant and Bar and Kamela Crisologo-Seen, owner of Plato Wraps
    
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WINDOWS
Gabriel L. Cardinoza
 
I had a chance to talk to Tondaligan Park Administrator Dino Zabala when he dropped by my office one day last week. Actually, he was there to see a city councilor to ask for financial assistance for his program this summer to ensure zero drowning in the treacherous waters off the historic Bonuan Beach.
 
He told me he has posted five trained lifeguards, each capable of administering life-saving first aid for drowning victims, as beachgoers begin to crowd the beaches of Tondaligan. These lifeguards will be perched on makeshift watch towers, armed with megaphones and whistles to warn swimmers who may be accidentally wandering to restricted zones.
 
And yes, Dino has also marked the waters’ swimming area with colorful buoys, for every beachgoer to see where they should be swimming.
 
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