ARMY soldiers and policemen foiled an attempt by about 30 heavily armed New People’s Army (NPA) rebels who reportedly planned to attack the municipal hall and police station in Natividad town Monday night.

Sr. Supt. Alan Pursima, police provincial director, said the attackers were NPA rebels from the adjacent province of Nueva Ecija who consider eastern Pangasinan as part of their operational jurisdiction.

Before the NPAs were able to reach the town proper however, they were repulsed by elements of the 71st Infantry Battalion and the police led by Sr. Inspector Bernardo Aromin, chief of police of Natividad in sitio Simmimbaan, barangay BatchelorEast.
The encounter lasted into the night and dawn, till the rebels allegedly belonging to the Nueva Ecija Party Committee of the CPP-NPA disbanded, fleeing to different directions in their retreat.

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ARE we lowlanders supposed to find relief in the pronouncements from the National Power Corporation and San Roque dam authorities that despite the dam water level having already reached the 280-meter mark (which we’ve been told all along is the “critical level” for spilling action) last week, they are not releasing any water as yet?

Is that “assurance” something Pangasinenses in the path of the mighty Agno river should welcome – or dread? Are we supposed to feel indebted for not being inundated by their excess waters — thank you so much , sir, much obliged?.

Now, Antonio Calaycay, flood forecasting point man of the Napocor based at the dam is saying they need all the water they impound at the giant reservoir to turn the turbines and generate some 400 megawatts of electricity to supply the Luzon grid. The bigger the volume, the better. It is, we reckon, another way of saying they might even allow filling it beyond 280 meters and just below 290 meters, the level now being bandied about as the real critical level when, perhaps, water is already just at the rim and would be spilling over even without any human or machine intervention?

Yes, in a sense, we may be overly morbid saying all these, but certainly where a dam’s huge volume of water is concerned, we need to feel disturbed, especially where those in charge, to include Confident Calaycay, seem to totally, fully, completely believe in their giant infrastructure’s holding capacity.

Just imagining all that volume of water being poured down by the upstream Ambuklao and Binga dams up in Benguet province during severe rainfall, all being captured by the far bigger San Roque dam in its bosom, gives one the impression that another week or so of torrential rains like the past two wet weeks could already build up to the scenario we dread about a filled-to-overflowing dam.

We wonder now whether those guys up there are consciously or unconsciously toying with the lives and properties of thousands of unwary people downstream of the Agno in their quest for more, and more, and more power generation capacity in their dam.

By BEHN FER. HORTALEZA, JR

IT TOOK, I guess, a full shocking minute, with me staring at the text message from our NMPC “partner” Vicky Isiderio, last Friday, August 25, noontime before the news really sank: my one and true boss in the information job, Greg S. Cendana was dead. A victim of heart attack.

“Minister Cendana”, as those of us at the old NMPC and most Pangasinan media friends call him, was once a powerful man who never allowed power to get into his head. He remained humble and was always ready to help anyone who came to him, be he friend or foe, young or old, rich or poor. His one true “fault” is kindness, for it left him open to all sorts of scheming characters throughout his public life, men and women who would praise him to high heavens and show fawning affection for him, then quickly stab him when his back is turned.

I know. I worked with him a full ten years, maybe more, counting my first days at NMPC when he was yet that office’s director, and shared his thoughts on many occasions in both open and confidential situations even long after he left government service. With PNA bureau chief Ding Micua, former DZMQ station manager Alex Duque, Dagupan immigration bureau chief Bert Garcia and old NMPC colleague Philip Siapno, “Sir Greg” or “Manong Oyo” would ask us over for lunch or merienda at Siapno’s or elsewhere he fancies in the city to relive old times every now and then.
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By DANNY O. SAGUN

CONSUMERS may be interested to know this: prescription period for any product that is a subject of complaint due to defects is three years. Yes, three long years.

Daria Mingaracal, who heads the DTI Pangasinan office, made this clear during our telephone interview with her over the Pantongtongan Tayo radio program of the Philippine Information Agency over Radyo ng Bayan-DZMQ in reply to a question by our co-anchor Helen Bernardo regarding the no-return-no-exchange policy of some business establishments. Daria says there is no such thing under the Consumer Act because consumers have the basic right to complain regarding defective products.

There may be three remedies in the settlement of complaints –replacement, repair or refund. The complaint may not necessarily reach the DTI office, she says.
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Nen Mario f. Karateka

BALBALEG so eebatan daraniay bapor o “tanker” ya mangibibiyahe na saratay kemikal o krudo ed dayat no nagawan nakneb odino aderalan iraya ed taew. Natan, diad panamegley na telebisyon, nanenengneng tayo so kabaleg na danyos ya iter na satay tatawagen ya “oil spill” ed day-dayat tayo.

Satay kalamidad ed Guimaras ya no iner akolapotan la na grasa so dayat, saray kakiewan ed sakbit tan ingen say buer ed “beach” et mangipapanengneng na baleg ya panagpaolian kriminal (criminal negligence) ta lanti ompapaway ed onaan iran panagsukisok ed agawan insidente ya alablabas amo so karga ton krudo imay bapor tan ingen makapoy kapoy iray kredensiyal daray kapitanes tan tripulantes na barko ya mangibiyahe na onman a “cargo.”
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By Liway C. Manantan-Yparraguirre

POZORRUBIO – It was an evening they will never forget.

Midnight of August 1, 2006, five policemen conducting mobile patrol laid down their M16 Armalite rifles and short firearms. They replaced these with a flashlight, a basin containing lukewarm water, a clean t-shirt. One of them washed his hands with warm water and alcohol.

The life-and death situation that faced them: Assisting a pregnant woman who was in full labor and about to give birth. Right there and then at the woman’s house, the policemen gave her first aid… and delivered her baby.

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LINGAYEN – The dreaded dengue disease continues to rampage in Pangasinan this rainy season with nine persons already listed dead, from a total 384 suspected cases reported so far.

Records of the Provincial Health Office here showed there were fatalities recorded in July from the towns of Basista, Sison and Alaminos.

Six more deaths were registered from Aug. 1 to 16 in Lingayen, Calasiao, Bayambang, San Nicolas, Sison and Dagupan City.

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By BEHN FER. HORTALEZA, JR.FORMER

Information Minister Gregorio S. Cendana died Friday morning before noon in Manila following a massive heart attack.

Cendana, a native of San Nicolas, Pangasinan, was brought to the Philippine Heart Center after complaining of chest pains and general weakness but did not survive the cardiac seizure that followed. He was 76.

Known for his savvy handling of public relations that carried him well and through his stewardship of the defunct National Media Production Center, the then Ministry of Information and the Office of Media Affairs, apart from being in-charge of the Malacanang Press Office during the Marcos administration, Cendana was well-loved by both veteran and new journalists in the country.

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By DANNY O. SAGUN
Pangasinan Infocenter
THE favorite and popular Pangasinan bagoong is now available in sachets just like other daily needs like shampoo and coffee, it was gathered Tuesday.

Daria Mingaracal, head of the Department of Trade and Industry provincial office said that bagoong in three forms – bagoong or salted fish, alamang, and padas – packed in tingi(retail)-sized sachets is already being sold at the SM Megamall in Manila. The novel product development strategy even drew the attention of President Macapagal-Arroyo when she recently visited the product exhibitsfor sale in the mall.
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URDANETA CITY now leads all cities in the Ilocos region not only in net income but also in total income, total assets and total equity based on the financial report released by the Commission on Audit for 2005.

The COA financial report showed Urdaneta had a net income of P132,107,000 from a total income of P382,699,000 million, less its expenses of P250,582,000, which is the third highest number among eight cities in the region.

Urdaneta, which won its cityhood only in 1997, had the highest total assets among all region’s cities totaling P810,722,000, total equity of P693,166,000 with total liabilities of P117,546,000, among the lowest in the regio

n so far.
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