By BEHN FER. HORTALEZA, JR

THE illegal ‘beachfront lot for sale’ racket of a syndicate with alleged links to both Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and some yet unidentified city officials has again come to the fore following a strong exchange between Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez and lawyer-educator-columnist Gonzalo T. Duque last week about the long festering reports of lot parceling and sale at Bonuan Binloc in the Tondaligan Park area.

Fernandez, in a clearly irked mood, decried allegations by Duque in his column in a local newspaper (not The Pangasinan Star) that “billions of pesos” have changed hands in the sale of lots at the Binloc area covered by Proclamation 98, the law that segregated 72 hectares of beachfront lot extending from Bonuan Gueset and on to Boquig and Binloc up to the Cayanga river.

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By DANNY O SAGUN
PIA Pangasinan Infocenter

TIME will come when business transactions in Dagupan City will need no more cash, it was gathered Thursday.
The Metro Dagupan Bankers Association, noting the dangers of carrying huge cash around, is urging business establishments in the city to adopt cash-less transactions by accepting credit or debit cards.
Purchases can also be done thru the Internet.
MDBA president Norman Velasco of the RCBC Dagupan branch told the Patrima Kapihan at the Philippine Information Agency office that cash-less transactions have long been going on in developed countries.

“Sa U.S. magugulat sila pag dala-dala mo ang malaking cash,” he noted as he pointed out that carrying so much cash only invites robbers. Read more

IS DAGUPAN City Mayor Benjamin S. Lim really bent on facing House Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. in next year’s elections?
This question cropped up as the mayor was reported to be frequenting towns in the fourth district one of which was a recent meeting with barangay officials in San Fabian.
A radio report said that Lim met with the barangay captains of the town soon after meeting with their counterparts from the city to talk about the coming barangay night in the coming city fiesta. Read more

By BEHN FER. HORTALEZA, JR.

THERE are today two advocacies every Pinoy whose heart and mind are in the right place should take up with great consistency for the community’s health

First, the government move to import cheaper-priced medicines from India or other source countries as espoused by the PITC and against the profit-driven opposition of some giant multinational pharmaceutical companies; and,
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By DANNY O. SAGUN

POLICEMEN usually deny they ever drink spirits (wine or beer) during their tour of duty either at the police station or outside. It is public knowledge though that there are policemen who drink wine or beer particularly during their night duty. We know this being a storeowner ourself.

The case of one SP04 Junio of the Bonuan community precinct is one example of how our police officers are good at denying to death they ever taste beer or wine at their stations as they are usually good in denying they are maintaining kulasisis to the growling protest of their wives.

A superior officer, Insp. Danny Prado, the city police community relations officer, last Tuesday told the Pantongtongan Tayo radio program of the Philippine Information Agency over Radyo ng Bayan-DZMQ that accusations against Junio having an alleged drinking spree with some female friends at the Bonusan sub-station were negative.

“Di totoo,” Prado said in defense of his fellow police officer

. Read more

By YOLANDA Z. SOTELO

SEEMS like The Pork has been hogging the limelight lately.

First, there’s the irate Muslim congresswoman who looked pretty (at least in the photo published in a national paper) but who turned ugly (her behavior, I mean) because she was unknowingly fed pork (the meat) during a function at the Congress.

She explained that she got angry because not shunning The Pork was a matter of faith, and that she violated that sacred religious law of not eating pork.

I won’t comment on that, as a matter of

faith.
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By LIWAY C. MANANTAN YPARRAGUIRRE

Region’s Best for 2006. Warmest congratulations to the following: Pangasinan Police Provincial Office (PPPO) led by Police Senior Supt. Alan L.M. Purisima; Dagupan City Police Station headed P/Supt. Edgar O. Basbas; and 107 Provincial Mobile Group (based in Tayug) led Supt. Tommy B. Cabigas, group director.
They were adjudged as Best Provincial Police Office, Best City Police Station and Best PMG, respectively, besting their counterparts in Police Regional Office 1.
Regional Director Leopoldo N. Bataoil said the Pangasinan Police command is the region’s contender for the national award.
*****

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GOVERNOR Victor E. Agbayani has asked President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to intervene so that the employees of the Sual Coal-Fired Power Plant operated by Mirant Corporation will keep their jobs or given just remuneration in case their services are severed soon.

There are more than 300 employees at the plant facing uncertain fate because of the impending sale, some 260 of them from Pangasinan, he said. Read more

LINGAYEN —The Small Town Lottery (STL) has no place in Pangasinan as Governor Victor E. Agbayani has adopted a wait-and-see-and-learn attitude towards it, in reference to areas or provinces where STL may have already been allowed to operate.

“We have a consistent stand. We would like to support the gains of the crusade of Archbishop (Oscar) Cruz so that if possible the province would not want to have another avenue for gambling,” the Pangasinan governor said. Read more

ALAMINOS CITY – A lawyer and his wife were killed when the vehicle they were riding on was ambushed by armed men in broad daylight Sunday along an interior road in barangay Inerangan here while the city was deep in concentration before television sets watching the Pacquiao – Morales duel in the ring.

PO3 Jimmy Alcaparas, desk officer of the Alaminos City police, identified the fatalities in the ambush at 10:10 a.m. as Froilan Siobal, 57, a practicing criminal lawyer, and his wife Erlinda, 59.

Alcaparas said residents in the area almost did not notice the ambush as they were too busy viewing the Manny Pacquiao-Erik Morales boxing rubber-match on television in their homes. Read more