By BLESS MALLARIStar Western Pangasinan Correspondent

“HUWAG na natin pulitikahin. Our municipality is qualified!”

Thus did Alaminos City mayor Hernani Braganza appeal to oppositors to temper their negative reactions to his city’s being tagged by President Arroyo as site of the soon to rise 1.9 km commercial airport in Pangasinan.

Some reports questioned the qualification of the city for the airport project, pointing out that it should be built in the central area of the province like in Sta. Barbara, Lingayen, Rosales and Read more

AND SO, hoping to do and sound good by, of and for Pangasinenses, her half-kabaleyans, President Arroyo went ahead and announced that an international airport will be constructed in Alaminos City, in western Pangasinan possibly within two years. Every pair of Pangasinense hands and feet at the Batasan clapped and stomped at the news that punctuated her State of the Nation Address last Monday, July 23.

Little did GMA know, some of the boys back home (and perhaps, some others in the audience too) were surprised and sulking over the bacon being tossed to Mayor Nani Braganza’s city instead of to their towns or other choice sites. With the announcement made by the Chief Executive no less before a nationwide Read more

By BEHN FER. HORTALEZA, JR.

TOO bad, the full details could not be had before deadline but from western Pangasinan, we hear of two children literally dying in their sleep but not from natural causes. The kids were bitten reportedly by a snake as they slept, a real macabre story that easily merits front-page treatment, if only it satisfied the editorial requirement on the elements of news.

As our young lady correspondent’s sketchy tale went, the unsuspecting mother went over to the kids in the morning and tried to rouse one of them from sleep only to find the child ashen-faced and frothing in the mouth. Deep bite marks in the body were the giveaway signs of a snake having done the killing. Read more

Nen MARIO F. KARATEKA

Alado, alado!

SINGA amo nasisinit lan tampol si Gobernador “Spines” ed lokal ya media kanian dimad impatawag ton priskon to ed Narciso Ramos Gymnasium ed Lingayen, kinmerew na ‘taym pers” o “taym awt” ed grupoy managpalapag.

Kalna-kalna, agagiko. Mahina ang kalaban,kuay Tatagalog. Diad lenguahe nen Mama Bert Garcia na Imigresyon tan si Mama Al Salomon na Batangcawa ed Urbiztondo no singa napaliberan iran bigla na totoo tan ag ira makairi-ir: “Alado, alado kidtan, agagi!” Read more

By DANNY O. SAGUN

IT’S a pity that construction had to be stopped at the controversial Metrostate project across city hall mainly because of technicalities. The contractor had no building permit and yet he started it notwithstanding the risk.

City Engineer Virgiinia Rosario, who had been virtually powerless for six years, appears to be saying to all that she is the boss in that office again, not any other pretender. She exerted her authority when she had the construction site padlocked some three weeks ago. She could not do that before June 30, could she?

What really happened along the way? Read more

By DANNY O. SAGUN

LINGAYEN – The past administration went beyond the ceiling of 45 percent for personal services as provided by the local government code, it was gathered.

Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr. bared during last Monday’s flag ceremony that budget for personal services went up to 53 percent during the time of his predecessor which he said was a clear violation of the law.

Article 2 Section 325 of the code provides that total appropriations for personal services in a fiscal year shall not exceed 45 percent for first to third class provinces and 55 percent for fourth to sixth class provinces. Pangasinan is a first class province. Read more

By YOLLY Z. SOTELO

THE siren blared. The students ducked, covered and held on to their chairs. They did so for some minutes until the siren stopped. Then by twos they filed out of their rooms into the open space. Very calmly. Nobody ran, nor they walked faster than usual.

It was an earthquake drill last Friday at my Alma Mater — the Calasiao Comprehensive National High School. I was invited as one of the evaluators of the drill by teacher Janet Albaño, a relative and friend. Read more

“WE celebrate every single change we see everyday, even if barely visible to other people”, Myrna (not her real name) said during the sharing session of parents at the Stimulation and Therapeutic Activity Center (STAC) today in Poblacion Oeste.

Myrna is one of 330 parents with children with disabilities (CWD) enrolled at the STAC facility supervised by the City Social Welfare Office. Her son is suffering from mild autism which, she said, is a “treatable condition if only we know where to find the right people who can help.” Read more

PROVINCIAL Board Member Jeremy Rosario, a physician, lauded President Arroyo’s announcement and agreed in principle about the need for an airport in Pangasinan—except that he wanted it built in Lingayen, the Capital town, instead of in Alaminos City.

Rosario, representing the fourth district of Pangasinan, said the proposal to construct an international airport was a big surprise to him as a neophyte member of the provincial board.

While welcoming the project, he suggested that if there is an international airport to be constructed, it should be built in the center of Pangasinan, as he pointed out that there is already an existing feeder airport in Lingayen. Read more

ALAMINOS CITY – Expressing gratitude to President Arroyo for approving the city’s request for a commercial airport, Mayor Hernani Braganza said the airport would make Pangasinan accessible to tourists and investors.

In her state of the nation address, Arroyo said Speaker “Joe de Venecia and Nani Braganza are asking for an airport in Alaminos. Will do.”

“This has been a long dream of Alaminos and Pangasinan that will soon become a reality. It will make the province accessible to businessmen and tourists, and hopefully, it can accommodate cargo planes for Pangasinan to export its agricultural resources,” Braganza said in a press conference. Read more