HAS the current national crisis really become so malignant it has turned provincemates into enemies?

Congressman and ousted House Speaker Jose C. de Venecia and Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) head Usec. Antonio A. Villar, Jr. , Pangasinenses both, appear to be the latest pair of protagonists ‘infected’ by the unraveling national bitter drama sparked by the National Broadband Network-STE deal.

In a press conference with local mediamen Saturday on his way to inaugurate several municipal projects in the fourth district, De Venecia issued another one of his calibrated response at what he said were Malacanang’s “desperate” moves to divert the issue from the NBN-ZTE bribery scandal to his alleged link to some oil smugglers. Read the rest of this entry »

IT is probably correct to say, as it has often been said in these people-powered times in the country, that Manila is not the Philippines and vice versa.

This, in light of the brewing ferment in the nation’s capital where oppositionists are again marching to force the sitting President to resign in the wake of charges of massive and unbridled corruption while the provinces are largely unaffected and on wait-and-see mode.

What is behind this marked and contrasting attitudes of burning involvement in Manila and quiet indifference in the countryside?
Maybe, resignation to the fate or fatalism on the part of the rural masses? Perhaps contentment among people in the provinces?
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BEHN FER. HORTALEZA, JR,.

SO FAR, it’s just a plan, alright?

But surely, creating a novel Chinatown in Dagupan sounds romantic enough, considering that the Chinese entrepreneurs of the city have been here for as long as those now in their late fifties can remember.

The Chinese-owned stores in Dagupan have come as huge and imposing as the CSI and Magic mall chains and as modest and sturdy as the Botica China and Kwong Tay and Sanitary bakeries downtown. Their managements have been passed on from one generation to the next and while the heirs have imbibed the native Dagupenos’ culture and street ways, they basically adhere to the cool efficiency of the mostly Mandarin community. Read the rest of this entry »

By DANNY O. SAGUN

OUR attention shifted to a group of several men in black T-shirts with the word ‘MARSHALL’ boldly printed at the back who showed up suddenly at the People’s Astrodome in barangay Tapuac at the start of a medical mission last month. Those people became visible anew just last week for another medical mission.

‘Where did these people come from?’ was everyone’s query. There were no such Marshalls during the time of former hizzoner Benjie Lim. A regular security guard was stationed at the Astrodome during those days. Where indeed did they come from? Are they regular employees of City Hall? Are they contractuals or casuals? Read the rest of this entry »

Nen Mario F, Karateka

NATAN siguro, mas babaleg so tsansa daray taga komapat a distrito ya makapitoyaw ed inad-aro dan Kongrisman Dyo de Benesya. Mas naynay dala nanengneng so momokatan nen Mama Dyo ta walaan laya na mas malublubay ya iskedyul parad ibisita to ed bar-barangay, binaley-baley da.

A singa ginawa to ed sayay imbeneg a samba.

Sanen Sabado wadman ya ininagora to so “Fishery Academy” dimad kompawn na BFAR ed Bonuan, sakey a proyekton baleg so iter ton benepisyo ed sayan probinsiya tayon nabibilay ed panagdalus tan panagsigay. Nen Simba’y kabkabuasan , Read the rest of this entry »