By DANNY O. SAGUN
PIA Dagupan Infocenter

SOME 4,000 coconut trees in Labrador are being treated of brontispa infection, the Philippine Coconut Authority said.

The other affected areas are Urdaneta City and Sual.The beetle, which is not common in the country, was first detected in April 2005 in Roxas Boulevard which is near the airport. Apparently, the pests were introduced here thru importation of ornamental palms. Read more

MAYBE it is just an aberration, a concern not quite reaching alarming proportions as yet.

This tiny beetle called brontispa, believed to have been imported accidentally thru ornamental or exotic plants, can easily be countered, the scientific experts say, by unleashing another kind of beetle called earwig to eat the brontispa larvae. A natural survival-of-the-fittest scenario in the simple-complex world of agriculture.

That the pest first found along Roxas Boulevard in Metro Manila in 2005 has now surfaced in Ilocos and Pangasinan of late attests to the “mobility” of the organism, thanks to modern travel and the general indiscretion of plant sellers and flora aficionados around us. Reports are that the brontispa is now ravaging coconut trees, its unique feeding favorite, in Labrador, Sual and some parts of eastern Pangasinan. Read more

By BEHN FER HORTALEZA, JR.

‘SHOW your evidence,” our good friend and media colleague Remarque Ravanzo, city elections officer of Dagupan asked the many complainants to alleged vote-buying in the Oct. 29 barangay elections.

It seems everyone had a tale to tell about how money and goods flowed freely during the period especially night before the polls, and yet none had the good sense to document or gather living witnesses to the election law violations – or so, Remarque’s remark obliquely implied.

It’s the national elections all over again, this time though on a smaller scale, but the modus operandi remains the same. Bags or cartoons of goodies being distributed around houses, campaign leaflets with paper bills for a “sandwich spread” being thrust in the hands of a possible supporter and voters wined and dined and whatever else to make them remember the “benevolent” Read more

By DANNY O. SAGUN

THAT first order by Gov. Amado T. Espino to have the Pangasinan language the primary tongue in transactions within the provincial Capitol is apparently not being taken seriously.

These days, Tagalog or a mix of English and Filipino are mainly used by the people there, even by officials themselves, who should lead their staff in using widely their native tongue. Read more

Nen Mario F. Karateka

SAYAN simba, ilaloan ya nabantayan lay bansa no panon akmonen na baling sakey ed duaran lideres na bansa tayo so prayd (pride) dan dili tan manolop lamet — odino mansian laray dalan.

Amta yola no siopay tutukuyen ko – si Presidente Arroyo tan si Ispiker De Venecia.

Diad panlukas na sesyon na Kamara de Representantes lamet ed sayay Lunes, ilaloan ya walan nagawa so panalin pangekal ed inkabtang na Ispiker si Dyo de Benesya, Anggad susulaten yan kolum, walan kompyansado met si Mama Joe de V ya angapotan a nagawan pangekal ed sikato ta inkuanton walalay malet ya paknaan dan dua di Presidente GMA ya sikatoni so mansiansiad poder tan ulo na Kamara. Read more

By Ike Señeres

I WAS still surprised when I was disenfranchised from voting in the recent election, despite having voted in my usual precinct all these years. As I was told, the COMELEC did a “shaving” procedure (that’s the term that they used), moving some voters to other precincts. I could not see the logic of it, because all my relatives who live in the same neighborhood as mine stayed in the same precinct, including my wife. Whoever did the “shaving” did not seem to realize that logically, spouses should vote in the same precinct. Read more

(Delivered before a LIVE interaction with the local Press recently during the opening of a Media Sportsfest at the CSI The City Mall premises)

IT’S been 118 days since the new administration has been at work at the Capitol. Any ordinary observer should be able to spot changes — from the Capitol grounds to the bustling work that has kept the provincial government a veritable beehive.

The Pangasinan Press has been properly apprised of what we have been doing last Oct. 15 when I delivered my “First 100 Days Report.”

To recap, we have streamlined government operations; put to order operational systems to maximize efficiency and results; kept the finances afloat by trimming down on excess personnel and slowly reducing our debt burden left by the previous administration and seeking additional revenues such as the collection of overdue tax obligations from the two large Pangasinan power plants in Sual and in San Manuel. Read more

By BEHN FER. HORTALEZA, JR.T

TAYUG – Regional Trial Court Judge Ulysses R. Butuyan of Branch 52 here has been introducing a series of unorthodox or non-traditional rules in dispensing justice especially directed to benefit poor clients who cannot afford onerous charges related to their cases.

Butuyan, by his own admission, has departed from the traditional way of fixing bail bonds to benefit the accused charged in his sala who are too poor to afford to post the same.

He took the initiative of imposing what he called “solidary bail bonds” since a year ago in his courtroom in cases where there are two or more accused and when the offense committed is lesser than the crime of murder. Read more

By DANNY O,. SAGUN

THE plot to assassinate House Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. and his son, Joey, are not imagined as claimed but for real, the speaker’s lawyer said Thursday.

Atty. Raul Lambino said he personally heard the story from the source, retired General delos Santos, who narrated the plot to the De Venecias themselves. The speaker’ swife, Georgina, was also around when the retired general bared the plot to the targets, according to him.

Lambino told a radio interview that Delos Santos first told him about the plot, allegedly hatched by two former ranking police officials who are now in the Cabinet of President Arroyo - transportation and communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza and Land Transportation Office chief Reynaldo Berroya. Read more

THE city elections office challenged anyone who has evidence to show that there were vote-buying cases in the just concluded Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections here to come out in the open and show the evidence.

City Elections Officer Remarquee Ravanzo said his office received numerous reports of alleged vote-buying, giving him and his staff sleepless nights on Sunday as they had to verify whether these allegations were true.

He said no evidence was found except for a follower of an incumbent candidate for kagawad in barangay Tambac who was reportedly caught buying votes on the day of the election. He did not identify the person. Read more