POOR fisherfolk of Bonuan can find great cause for rejoicing in the decision of City Hall thru Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. to cancel all tax declarations issued to individuals covering foreshorelands in the city.

This is a move long overdue since the previous city administrations to include not just the immediate past rule of Mayor Benjamin S. Lim but also that of Fernandez himself in his earlier term of office before he was plucked from the city to assume national posts one after the other under President Arroyo.
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By BEHN FER. HORTALEZA, JR.

WE are watching the conduct, nay, the vote of our dear six congressmen of Pangasinan in the ‘Cheaper Medicines Bill.

As lady commentator Ruth Abao of DZRH-Manila aptly voiced the masses’ line of thought on the issue, we know the honorable congressmen have been making a pile on most infrastructure projects, purchases, trade negotiations and such other “government projects” where their approval or imprimatur is vital or necessary and the people — out of helplessness mainly – are willing not to make them accountable for these “sins.”

But “ito man lang isang isang ito na magpapagaang sa anumang dalahin ukol sa kanilang kalusugan, e sana pagkaisahan na ng ating mga mambabatas na ipasa para sa nakararaming mga mahihirap,” Abao appealed on air.
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Nen MARIO F. KARATEKA

PANSUSUAYANAN da itay no kapigan so impangiletneg ed Pangasinan bilang sakey a luyag.

Abayag layan isyu ta antomet lanti ey, anggad kapigan kasin singa bugkalot so inadaro tayon probinsiya no ag napatua-an o napaneknekan so inkianak to bilang sakey a yunit politikal?

Piga-pigaralan administrasyon so nan-egnay betang ed luyag, agdan ballot iya inikday kaonongan ya imano tan singa ipasoot dalan say tatawagen a “Pangasinan Day” et say inkianak nen datin Ispiker Eugenio Perez.

Aliwa. Aliwan maptek so istoryay luyag no ontan. Read the rest of this entry »

By DANNY O. SAGUN

DAGUPAN, the city of bangus, may just as well be named ‘Fernandez City’ — if only for the fact that several city officials carry that family name.

We are counting at least six who make up the elite circle - the chief executive (Alipio) and his vice-mayor (Belen), two members of the council (cousins Michael and Alfie, the mayor’s eldest), Liga ng mga Barangay president-prospect Lino Fernandez of barangay Tapuac, and Alfie’s medal-winning swimmer-son Carlos, who was elected unopposed as $angguniang Kabataan federation president.
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OFFICER-IN-CHARGE Alan Dale Zarate of the City Assessor’s Office has shown a list of 106 TDCs issued by that office in the past, the latest of these in 2004 over portions of public lands along Bonuan beach, especially in Bonuan Binloc.

A perusal of the list showed the claimants have partitioned more than 51 hectares of the foreshore and public lands among themselves using A supposed survey map prepared by a duly licensed Geodetic Engineer duly approved by the Land Managemetn Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
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By BEHN FER. HORTALEZA, JR

A PROVINCIAL board member of Pangasinan has urged the sangguniang panlalawigan to study and pass legislation to check the big income loss of the province as a result of possible anomalies in the collection of quarry fees from trucking companies and contractors.

Board Member Liberato Villegas (4th district) said the unchecked collusion between trucking groups and government checkers, mostly assigned by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, has deprived the province of millions of pesos in quarry fees possibly since after the term of former Governor Oscar M. Orbos.
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STO. TOMAS – With only a few more kinks to be ironed out, the stage is all set for the upcoming bid of this south-central municipality in Pangasinan to land in the world record book sometime next year.

Officials are hoping that their planned five-kilometer Corn Barbecue slated on February 10, 2008 as an exciting climax to the town’s Corn Festival beginning February 1, will be entered in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Mayor Vivien Villar said the corn festival will be timed for the 100th anniversary of Sto. Tomas that will be spiced up with the homecoming of overseas residents across the globe.
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LUCK still smiles on the city government of Dagupan: the Department of Environment and Natural Resources gave due course to its appeal seeking the exemption of a 30-hectare land it owns in San Jacinto from the coverage of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

Raul Laluan, OIC Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer of the Department of Agrarian Reform provincial office based in Urdaneta City, wrote a letter dated December 3, 2007 to Mayor Alipio Fernandez informing the executive of the agency’s position.
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A 17-year old Filipino-Japanese boy who is in his fourth year at the Dagupan City National High School, was recently adjudged as one of the Most Outstanding Boy Scouts of the Philippines.

Asuka Toyoshima, who was born in Nagoya, Japan but grew up in Dagupan City, received his award from the BSP National Council headed by Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay in a ceremony at the Makati City Hall last October.
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A FULL-PLEDGED physician has been named assistant vice president-regional manager for Region 1 of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth) effective last September.

Dr. Leo V. Cardona, Jr., a native of Borongan Samar, was reassigned to the Ilocos region Philhealth office based in Dagupan City following the promotion of former AVP Ilocos manager Ernesto Beltran.

Beltran is now Philhealth senior vice president based in the central office.
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