THE city government of dagupan had been asked to advise tourist-oriented establishments, tour operators and even tourist guides within its jurisdiction to seek accreditation with the Department of Tourism (DOT).

Appearing before the city council led by Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, Rowena Calica of DOT said that accreditation is on voluntary basis but cited advantages if a tourist-oriented establishment is accredited by the agency. Read the rest of this entry »

THE city government of Dagupan is seeking more time to operate the city’s open dumpsite in Bonuan while it is still looking for a suitable area to build its permanent sanitary landfill in.

City Waste Management chief Reginaldo Ubando admitted the city received a 10-day ultimatum from the Environment Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources within which to adopt a safe closure plan, preparatory to eventual closure of the open dumpsite. Read the rest of this entry »

BAD news is good news. Correct?

Wrong.

Over the past few weeks, local newshounds and newshawks have noticed a dearth of fresh scandals unearthed on the past Lim administration by City Hall functionaries. Either that – a real, palpable absence of new brickbats to divulge or hurl on the defeated city administration – or the usual mouthpieces, notably city legal beagle and ex-judge George Mejia has finally imbibed the dictum “Discretion is the better part of valor.”

If so, good for him, and good for City Hall too. Read the rest of this entry »

BY BEHN FER. HORTALEZA, JR.

HARD-NOSED mediamen, those who do look for news, not doleouts, are agreed that local sanggunian bayan weekly session agenda or calendars of business are now generally better read and more professionally organized and presented than say, a decade ago. I can still recall some colleagues laughing their hearts out at the flaws in grammar and sentence constructions of many a local municipal council session agenda some ten, fifteen years ago. In a number of towns, one can hardly make heads or tails of their agenda, copies of which are furnished mediamen in those days.

The apparent professionalism in the outputs of sanggunian scribes or secretaries now is perhaps a result of the constant trainings and seminars that sanggunian secretaries have undergone and continue to undergo. Many of them in fact, have Read the rest of this entry »

By DANNY O. SAGUN

PEDESTRIANS can now hardly walk thru the sidewalks in the downtown area. Ambulant vendors and store owners alike have occupied almost all available spaces forcing pedestrians to use the roadsides. In fact they are forced to walk almost in the middle of the road since the sides are occupied by vehicles which are not parked properly mainly because of the presence of vendors.

We cannot help but again ask City Hall what happened to law enforcement. We are returning to the chaotic road conditions of old –yes, during those times when you had to spend half an hour to an hour negotiating the way from traffic post No. 1 to city hall. Read the rest of this entry »

By BEHN FER.,HORTALEZA, JR.

POLICE investigators are pursuing some leads on the motive and possible identity of the mastermind behind the shooting of local broadcaster Allan Sison late Friday evening outside his residence along the De Venecia highway.

Sison, a controversial figure in Pangasinan media circles who has had violent scrapes with other people and only recently with a fellow mediaman, has been pronounced by doctors as having good chances of surviving despite suffering two gunshot wounds believed fired from a .45 caliber pistol at close range. Read the rest of this entry »

Nen MARIO F. KARATEKA

MILAAK na talo tan binting ed si kaaron abogado Gonz Duque, presidente na Laysiyum Norswistern Yunibersitit, ed say kerew tan piogagep ton nawalaan na matudyo tan maanos ya pansukisok komon ed no kapigan a tua so impakatibokel na Pangasinan bilang sakey a luyag ed Pilipinas.

Abayag metlayan kerew tod saray manooley ed probinsiya a komon manggawara na riserts ed sayan kipaakaran tapian aliwan singa bugkalot so luyag tan saray Pangasinensen kapara tayo no asuntod kapigan so petsay “inkianak” na baley tayon nianakan.
Read the rest of this entry »

By IKE SENERES

WE have been through this before. We have seen the mobs of EDSA III, we recognized them as the faces of poverty, and then we vowed to combat poverty no matter what. We are shocked by scenes that awaken our nation. Will we wake up one day to see the nightmare gone?

Now we are shocked by stories of people committing suicide because of poverty. Just like EDSA III, we are now vowing to do something about it, but will we ever get around to it? As I see it, “ningas cogon” is a terrible tandem to a short national memory. Read the rest of this entry »

By DANNY O. SAGUNPIA Dagupan Infocenter

OF THE potential irrigable areas of 181,000 hectares in Pangasinan, only some 63,000 hectares of farmlands are actually benefitting from irrigation now, according to the provincial irrigation officer.

Engineer Helsy Bermudez said that 14,000 hectares are covered by the national irrigation system (NIS) while 49,000 fall under the small or communal irrigation system (CIS).

The total existing service areas for both NIS and CIS is 103,000 hectares but the systems in some 40,000 hectares of ricelands are no longer functioning, thus the need for rehabilitation, he disclosed. Read the rest of this entry »

MALASIQUI – Despite stormy weather, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo motored here on Thursday to officiate in the mass oath-taking of all newly elected barangay officials in the third district of Pangasinan.

The mass oath-taking coincided with the birthday of Rep. Rachel Arenas, congresswoman of the third district of Pangasinan, held at the family’s spacious farm in barangay Nancapian. Read the rest of this entry »