CONFUSION hounds the administration party Lakas-CMD, at least in the formal oath-taking of new converts to the party, it was gathered Thursday.

New members of the party did not exactly know before whom they would take their oath – before Gov. Victor E. Agbayani or Vice-Gov. Oscar B. Lambino, who are both chairmen of the provincial chapter of the party.
Read the rest of this entry »

By DANNY O. SAGUN
pia Dagupan Infocenter
THE Department of Education continues to hold sports activities despite the fact that “culture and sports” as part of the name of the department was dropped some years back, it was clarified Tuesday.

Dr. Alberto Macob, OIC-assistant superintendent of Pangasinan Division Isaid that the department holds various sports meets, starting first in the schools, then by district, by division, by region, and lastly in the Palarong Pambansa.

All sports activities in the country are supposed to be administered by a separate body like the Philippine Sports Commission so that the education department can concentrate on academic activities. Read the rest of this entry »

TAYUG—After over a year in limbo, the criminal cases filed against the accused in the killing of Pasay City Judge Estrellita Paas in September 2005 have been re-filed with the Regional Trial Court.

The cases for murder and theft are now in the hands of RTC Judge Emma Parajas of Branch 52 in Tayug in whose sala the complaints have been assigned. The cases were dismissed by RTC Judge Ulysses Raciles Butuyan of Branch 51, also in Tayug, a year ago.
Read the rest of this entry »

ALAMINOS CITY – Some 7,000 children from various parts of the country, who were born with hare and cleft lip palate, can now smile again and unashamedly face other children.

Thanks to a group of dedicated Filipino and American surgeons and their staff who made this possible in their yearly medical missions in the Philippines for 17 years now.

Mayor Hernani Braganza said that for 17 long years that the mission has been in the Philippines, the Philippine-American Group of Educators and Surgeons (PAGES) has made 7,000 children happy as they can now flash toothy smiles and act as normal kids.
Read the rest of this entry »

STA. MARIA, Ilocos Sur – Four towns in the Ilocos region are being eyed by the government as pilot areas for the planting of sweet sorghum and cassava which are raw materials for the production of ethanol, an alternative source of inexpensive fuel for the country.

Presidential Assistant Enrie Mendoza disclosed here that the pilot areas are Batac in Ilocos Norte, Sta. Maria in Ilocos Sur, Sto. Tomas in La Union, and Rosales in Pangasinan, found to be all suitable areas for the planting of the two crops.

Mendoza said the planting of sweet sorghum and cassava is being initiated by the national government as the two crops are rich in ethanol, a substance needed in bio-fuel production.

The planting program is in line with the Biofuel Act signed into law by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Read the rest of this entry »

LINGAYEN – The provincial government of Pangasinan through the provincial health office will spearhead the celebration of “Heart Month” this February, according to Dr. Jackson D. Soriano, OIC-provincial health officer.

Soriano said the thrust of the celebration as encouraged by Gov. Victor Agbayani is to stress the importance of proper diet, regular physical exercise, and healthy lifestyle to maintain a healthy heart.

“The leading causes of human death have shifted from infectious diseases to degenerative diseases with hearth diseases leading the list,” Soriano said.
Read the rest of this entry »

URDANETA CITY – The prolific illegal drug trade in this emerging metropolitan center in Pangasinan, suffered a big setback when 10 persons were arrested by joint elements of the police in simultaneous anti-drug operations in the city on Tuesday.

Targets of the coordinated operations participated in by police operatives from the regional and provincial offices were six houses of Muslim families tagged as suspected drug dens located inside the Doña Trining Subdivision here.

The police confirmed previous reports that most of the illegal drugs being passed to drug dependents in eastern Pangasinan are being sourced out from that place.

Read the rest of this entry »

THE campaign line is almost always the same: For the incumbent, the battlecry is for continuity and the need “to finish what (one) has started; for the challenger, it is to change and make better what the present dispensation has offfered. Human dynamics at work – one builds, one destroys; one sees ideals, the other bewails obsolescence.

Promise — that is all an election ever meant and stood for, thru the ages.

All too often, it is left by the wayside after the winning and the inauguration and like the Mona Lisa, it lies there and it dies there.
Read the rest of this entry »

By LIWAY M. YPARRAGUIRRE

THE Philippine American Medical Associaton of Georgia (USA) or PAMAG is in town to do a medical mission at the Dagupan City Astrodome starting this Monday until Thursday.

The PAMAG team, led by its president Dr. Marilyn Beltran and Drs. Grace Duque-Dizon and Grace Bautista, PAMAG directors for medical mission, met the local media last Saturday afternoon at the Region I Medical Center library (RIMC).

Special guest was Health Secretary Franciso Duque III. Hosts were RIMC director Dr. Jesus Canto and Lyceum Northwestern University president Atty. Gonzalo Duque (whom the PAMAG officials commended for his efficiency and perseverance in working closely with them for this medical mission, going even to the US to iron all things out before the team flew to the Philippines)

Read the rest of this entry »

By BEHN FER. HORTALEZA, JR.

SO unfortunate that unless two Dagupan City councilors who are my barangaymates – Alex de Venecia and Vlad Mata – and another one, Joey Tamayo, a distant relative, effectively counter the snowballing move in time, they could find themselves being junked in the May polls by, now hear this, the city’s tricycle operators and drivers sector.

My favorite loquacious trike driver claims the three have been tagged “enemies” by the trikemen largely because of their actions or inactions on matters affecting their livelihood. It seems, from my friend-driver’s account, the operators and drivers recently held a powwow and agreed to conduct a creeping campaign among their kind “to make them (the 3 aldermen) feel the wrath of those whose lives they have made miserable.”
Read the rest of this entry »