A UNIVERSITY president here suggested a win-win solution to put to a happy ending the raging leakage issue even as he subtly warned that a decision for the examinees to retake the 2006 nursing board tests could give rise to some unfortunate legal complications for government.

Dr. Gonzalo T. Duque, president of the Lyceum-Northwestern University, said while he welcomes the decision of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, he viewed the matter of calling for the retaking of the nursing examinations as virtually treading on a dangerous ground that could end up in a lot of legal hitches.

“It is a fact that the PRC (Professional Regulation Commission) already decided to release the result and some of the passers already took their oath and issued their respective licenses,” he said.

Although an ally of President Arroyo in Pangasinan, Duque expressed the view that the decision asking the passers to retake the test could be possibly trying to pre-empt the case pending before the CA.
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IN THE matter of disaster preparedness, the awful truth is that the best preparation is not to be too prepared – as to be constricted by set rules.

Disaster preparedness is innovation in motion – that’s the long and short of it. It is recognizing that all plans can get awry, all preparations can fall short, all best intentions do not always turn out best.

And if this whole slew of philosophies sounds a bit confusing to the ordinary reader, it is because for many of us, our minds have been conditioned to believe there must be hard and fast rules to follow in order to “feel secure” about meeting calamities and disasters.
Otherwise, if you don’t follow these, you’re in for a terrible fate.
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By BEHN FER. HORTALEZA, JR.

IS the once smug and confident Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. self-destructing? We’ve heard so many and varied complaints about the deteriorating services of PLDT since the past couple of years but we have generally let this pass uncommented thinking it’s all part of the Competition’s propaganda.

You see, for all these years, we’ve remained loyal to the PLDT, partly for sentimental reasons and partly, for a deep-seated belief that the pioneer is always the top one.

We believed wrong.
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By LIWAY C. MANANTAN-YPARRAGUIRRE

THE gargantuan task of coming up with a beautiful fiesta in Dagupan City rests on the fair shoulders of petite city councilor Ma. Librada Fe “Dada” Manaois Reyna.

Had a chat with her last week at her office at her office and this was what she had to say about the job. “Hindi natin papasukin basta-basta ang isang bagay na hindi natin pinaghandaan, Dada said matter-of-factly.

“For the past four years, i’ve been observing and studying how the city fiesta is being run. I’ve been actively participating in the events to prepare me to this eventuality,” she said.

Definitely, the training and exposure of this young lady president of JCI Dagupan Inc. in the Jaycees will be very helpful to her

With her at the helm of the city fiesta, definitely her relatives in both the Manaois and Reyna clan will not let her fail. Same goes with her Jaycees family.
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By YOLANDA Z. SOTELO

THERE was a time when the world was young and I was younger. The sun shone at basically the same time it does now – just before six o’clock in the morning.

Whenever we (my sisters, brothers and I) wake up with the sun, there would be a bag of pandesal on the table and a pot of steaming coffee.

Pandesal then looks the same then as it does now, too. Brownish and grainy on the outside, white and soft on the inside. It sure tastes the same too (my brain’s blurry on that detail). Sweetish?
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By DANNY O. SAGUN

WE’RE getting used to the practice of obtaining our drinking water supply from water refilling stations which for the last few years have mushroomed in almost every corner and street. But how safe is water from these stations – be they mineral, purified or living?
Water from two refilling stations in the city were found to be positive of E. coli bacteria in an inspection at the height of the cholera epidemic in Malasiqui and San Carlos in 2004, according to regional health director Eduardo Janairo during the launching of the Safe Water System project at Lenox Hotel last Wednesday.
One interesting point he raised was this; The longer the process in purifying water the more is the possible contamination. His statement contradicts the claims of some refilling stations that they have the better system over others as their water, they say, passes thru several stages of purification. Janairo said that could not be true unless a regular monthly check up on the system is made.
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By DANNY O SAGUN
PIA Dagupan Infocenter

INSTEAD of spending P25 to P50 for a five-gallon (20 liters) of drinking water, why not just use “hyposol” to treat or disinfect water from even a shallow source. For that five-gallon measure, you’ll be shelling out only the equivalent of 89 centavos.

Health authorities stressed this fact during the launching of the Safe Water System (SWS) project Wednesday at the Lenox Hotel in Dagupan City where representatives of government and non-government groups vowed to work for providing safe drinking water to households in Region 1 particularly those affected by gastroenteritis and cholera like in Malasiqui and Bugallon, this province.

Hyposol is 1.25 percent sodium hypochlorite solution. As a water disinfectant, it improves the quality of water and prevents diseases like diarrhea. It can be used to disinfect water drawn from unsafe sources like creeks, shallow tube wells and rivers.
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CALASIAO – A top official of the Bureau of Customs said on Saturday that the Philippine Customs office will soon be at par with the best Customs offices of the world through its continuing computerization program and acquisition of modern equipment, systems and technology.

Lawyer Gallant D. Soriano, officer-in-charge in the Office of the Deputy Customs Commissioner, said with these innovations, the program “nothing moves in Customs without being captured by the computers” shall have been achieved.
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MANGALDAN – The number one examinee of the 2006 nursing board examinations that was marred by an alleged leakage branded as “unfair” on Thursday the decision of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that he and the rest of the passers will retake the examination.

“This is most unfair to all of us who worked so hard to pass the examinations,” said 20-year old Gringo Sandiego who did his alma mater, University of Pangasinan, proud by topping the examination.
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THE rare Rissos Dolphin (grampus griseus) found by fishermen in San Fabian on Monday morning died at 5:56 a.m. last Tuesday and buried a few hours later at the country’s lone fish cemetery for threatened, endangered and near extinct fishes inside the 24-hectare National Fisheries Technology Development Center here.

Dr. Westly Rosario, interim director of the National Fisheries Technology Research Development Institute and concurrent NIFTDC officer-in-charge, said the dolphin may have died due to infection caused by an unhealed bullet would near its mouth, and the possible trauma it suffered when it was caught by fishermen.

He said the dolphin died a few hours after marine biologists of the Ocean Adventure in Subic called up to offer their advice on how to take care of the wounded dolphin, including how to manage its gunshot wound.
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