By Philippine News Agency-Dagupan

SAN FERNANDO CITY – No private hospital in Region 1 is joining the ‘hospital holiday’ declared last Friday by some private hospitals in Metro Manila.

Department of Health Assistant Regional Director Gloria Balboa said from their own monitoring, no private hospital in Pangasinan, La Union, Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte is joining the ‘hospital holiday’.

Private hospitals in Manila have declared their own holiday on Friday in protest over a newly approved law declaring as illegal the act of detaining or holding off of patient who cannot pay their hospital bills till they or their relatives can settle the same.
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UNTIL and unless the Philippine National Police is able to summon the resolve to put a period, not a coma, on the celebrated murder of San Carlos City Mayor Julian Resuello, expect more conspiracy theories, however, ludicrous and unsubstantiated, to fill the air and exacerbate the tension in that central Pangasinan city.

Last week’s publication by a scandal sheet of the alleged involvement of ranking political clans to the mayor’s killing, notable only in its yawning absence of corroborative evidence and freely dripping with nothing but pure malice, should awaken the PNP leadership especially Police Regional Director Leopoldo Bataoil and provincial Director Isagani Nerez to the urgency of already “declassifying” whatever hard information they have and let the chips fall where these may in the Resuello case. Name names and drop names, like now. At least, coming from the PNP, that would be official Read the rest of this entry »

Nen MARIO F. KARATEKA

KARAKEL na saray ombarangay ya ontatawag ed saray istasyoy radio pian ipasabi so kaswapangan kono na saray kaor-dineytors na saray kandidatos nen imbeneg ya eleksiyon. Sarayan kaor-dineytors kono kuanda et imbulsa da, binawasan, pininglisan, kinabkab day nepeg komon onsabid saray botantes ed barangay.

Samay limanlasus, kuandaray mankokompleyn a totoo, et nagmaliw a duanlasus labat kaibay sakey kilon belas tan maling. Dimad biek, tarheta tan sanlasus labat kono so akasabi. Walay akalay wol klak, walay anggapo.
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By BEHN FER. HORTALEZA, JR.

IT WOULD have been convenient to sit on an easy chair after the voting and and simply let all the intrigues, recriminations and doubts of the recent elections last May 14 pass like so much temporary aberrations — but something tells us something’s very wrong. And it’s got something, nay, everything to do with this guy Benjamin Abalos, the man who has a knack for keeping a straight face and a little, fleeting smile while spewing terminological inexactitudes to answer just about any criticism coming his Commission’s way.

If he doesn’t know it yet, Abalos is skating on thin, very thin, ice now. Read the rest of this entry »

By YOLLY Z. SOTELO

WHILE the entire country was busy with elections, a project to protect the Lingayen Gulf’s resources was quietly launched in San Fabian town

It aims to help fishermen from Rabon village in that town so they need not stay out in the sea for long hours to catch fish.

The National Fisheries Research and Development Institute of the Department of Agriculture had designed a fish trap to be used in the sea to help the marginal fishermen earn more.
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By DANNY O. SAGUN

PLENARY sessions and committee hearings at the sangguniang panlungsod will come alive again with the return of veteran legislator and lawyer Alfie Bince in the chamber.

No matter the negative naughty impression of him by some sectors for his legislative antics, this corner believes he is an asset of the provincial board if only to show that the board is doing its job.

We have seen him perform his job during all those years when we
were actively covering that beat religiously (well, we believe we beat most SP members in point of attendance) and to our mind, Alfie was one of the few who could turn an otherwise boring Read the rest of this entry »

By LIWAY M. YPARRAGUIRRE

UNDERSECRETARY for Local Governance Antonio “Bebot” Villar Jr. has been appointed the new anti-smuggling czar of the country.

Villar’s appointment as Presidential Assistant for Anti-Smuggling (under the Office of the President) was signed by President Gloria Arroyo on May 21, 2007.

On the same date, Arroyo signed Executive Order (EO) Number 624 “Creating the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) to apprehend, seize, investigate and prosecute acts involving smuggling, importation and other similar violations, and providing measures to curtail smuggling and expedite seizure proceedings.”
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By DANNY O. SAGUN

THE “phantom journalists” strike anew, this time riding on the murder of San Carlos City Mayor Julian “Jolly” Resuello.

Their latest caper has put former Vice-Mayor Ansberto “Harry’ Cagampan on the spot after they supposedly quoted him implicating outgoing Gov. Victor E. Agbayani, former San Carlos Mayor Douglas Soriano and losing congressional candidate Gallant Soriano as the masterminds in the killing of the mayor last April 28, during the coronation night for the city fiesta queen at the city auditorium.

The news was generally taken for simple amusement as election black propaganda however by most San Carlenians and Pangasinenses as they noted the anonymity used by the publishers in making their charges. Read the rest of this entry »

By DANNY O. SAGUN
PIA-Dagupan Infocenter

A PERSON seeking financial assistance from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) need not hide his financial status, the district head of PCSO Urdaneta City said Tuesday.

Ernieli Dancel noted that some persons asking for financial assistance from PCSO for their medical bills tried to hide their true economic status by claiming to be indigents.

“Just tell the truth,” she told the Pantongtongan Tayo radio program of the Philippine Information Agency over Radyo ng Bayan-DZMQ, clarifying that PCSO does not only grant assistance to the poorer sectors of society. Read the rest of this entry »

By PHILIPPINE INFORMATION AGENCY

THE Pangasinan training center of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority has been producing graduates who are in demand here and abroad, the TESDA provincial head said Tuesday.
A construction firm which has tied up with TESDA has been hiring successful trainees in welding for placements here and abroad, according to Ponciano Catipon, Jr., TESDA provincial director.
“Kumbaga parang hotcake ‘yong mga trainees namin sa welding at pinagaagawan,” (It’s like our trainees in welding are hot cakes much sought after) he told the Pantongtongan Tayo radio program of the Philippine Information Agency over Radyo ng Bayan-DZMQ. Read the rest of this entry »