By YOLLY Z. SOTELO
THAT was a heart-wrenching accident that occurred last January 3, just at the start of a New Year, in Bauang town, La Union. For those who do not read the newspapers, do not watch news programs or do not listen to radio newscasts, a jeepney collided head on with a container truck in the wee hours of that day.
The result: 12 out of 24 passengers of the jeepney, including the driver, died. They were going home to their village in Trinidad, Benguet after a night beach party in Bauang.
The fatalities were all teen-agers, the youngest aged 14 and the oldest, 19. The oldest among the group is 21 (he lived), hardly mature I guess, to control his peers. Or maybe he also was having a good time and did not care about controlling the teenagers with him.
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NEWS about doctors at the San Carlos General Hospital (Pangasinan Provincial Hospital) returning to their old practice of conniving with pharmacy owners and drug agents has again surfaced very early this year.
The doctors reportedly prescribe only medicines available at favored drugstores and to the dismay of many buyers they could not find such drugs from other stores, not even in the big ones like Mercury Drug and St Joseph Drugstore. Some doctors maintain drugstores themselves using dummies, reports say.
A former businessman who claimed to have made transactions with the doctors and the concerned pharmacy owners was quoted as revealing the anomaly in a radio report. Doctors allegedly get their ‘cut’ as well as free medicine supply in exchange for favoring certain drugs in their prescriptions. Bad habits die hard indeed.
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THREE towns and one city in Pangasinan have been tagged by the Provincial Election Office this early as possible “hot spots” in the coming elections.
Provincial Elections Supervisor Reddy Balarbar expressed the possibility of recommending one of those towns—San Nicolas—to be placed under Commission on Elections control.
San Nicolas in the sixth district of Pangasinan was tagged as sensitive area due to its history of political violence.
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THIRTY-SEVEN persons, children and adults, were rushed to the Region I Medical Center due to firecracker explosion in last week’s New year’s day celebration in Pangasinan, surpassing the injuries recorded last year.
Dr. Jesus Canto, R1MC chief, said the number did not include eight others who were previously treated by the hospital since Dec. 23, also for firecracker explosions.
Hospital records showed that there were only 33 injuries that were registered last year, 26 of these recorded on New Year’s eve last year and a few hours after that.
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LINGAYEN – Two more persons drowned in separate areas of the Lingayen Gulf recently swelling the number of swimmers who lost their lives in local beaches since December last year.
The latest drowning incidents occurred at the Jimenez beach in barangay Patar, Bolinao on Wednesday. The victim was identified in the police report as Cheffrey Partho, 26, of Imus, Cavite.
The other drowning victim was Tealby Pascual, 14, of barangay Matalava, Lingayen, who was carried by strong currents while swimming along the Lingayen Beach last December 30.
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By SUNSHINE D. ROBLES
PROJECT PROMISE is set to distribute various gadgets tomorrow, January 8 to eight pilot barangays of Dagupan that will help them increase their capacities in disaster preparedness.
“The provision of various devices will empower our barangays and equip them for any eventuality caused by hydro-meteorological hazards,” PROMISE-Dagupan focal person and city agriculturist Emma Molina said.
Kevin Donahue, a representative from the United States Agency for International Development and Lorna Victoria, vice president of the Center for Disaster Preparedness (CDP) will turn over the gadgets to the barangays.
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THE Dagupan office of the Bureau of Immigration posted an all-time high fees collection for its “express lane” immigration services in 2006, besting its previous year’s total collection by 57.31%
Percentage-wise, the total collection of the Dagupan BI office for this year even beat the total percentage increase of the Cebu office, Alien Control Oficer Alberto S. Garcia and head of the seven-person Dagupan BI staff, said.
Compared to the 2005 grand total collection of P1,644.500 by his office, last year’s (2006) grand total stood at P2,587,000 – or an increase of P942,500 — for a whooping 57.31% swell.
Garcia attributed the markedly improved performance of Dagupan Immigration to the high number of tourist visa extensions served by his office, mostly for visiting Koreans and Filipino-Americans.
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A GERMAN national, now a long-time resident of Dagupan, is lending his hand in promoting the Philippines in his own country, hoping to entice German and European investors and tourists.
The good thing is Professor Manfred Ollik of Kassel City in Germany is doing this for free, just for his love of the Philippines, which he now calls his second home.
Ollik is a Knight Commander of Rizal in Germany, who now lives in Bonuan Gueset Centro in Dagupan. He said he has an endearing love for the Philippines and will do everything he can to improve its image in Germany and Europe.
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THE city government opted for the build-operate-transfer scheme in the development of the Magsaysay area into an eco-tourism site because of fund shortage, Dagupan Mayor Benjamin S. Lim said Friday.
Lim also said that he does not want to obtain another loan from the banks as was done in the construction of the new Malimgas market. The city obtained some P320 million for the project.
Citing what he described as a sad experience in the operation of a market facility like that of the Malimgas market by the city
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