By DANNY O. SAGUN
PIA Dagupan Infocenter

IS IT really urgent for the provincial government to name a legal officer?

Provincial Board Member Alfonso Bince thinks so as he urged Gov. Amado Espino to appoint as soon as possible a provincial legal officer which position has been vacant since the Espino administration took over some eight months ago.

Bince wondered if there really were no takers for the post or if it was being reserved for somebody.

Reports circulated that former Dagupan City legal officer Geraldine Baniqued was being eyed for the position, which she had held during the time of former Gov. Victor E. Agbayani, now second district congressman.

Baniqued ran for representative in the fourth congressional district but lost. She cannot be named to an appointive position within a year from the last election.

Bince said that even without the legal officer however, he believes the sangguniang panlaawigan could carry out its legislative tasks well because of the presence of lawyers in the chamber and that the head of the laws and ordinances committee is himself a lawyer - Romeo Dadacay.

He pointed out however that the absence of a legal officer affects municipalities that need legal assistance or advice, he pointed out, adding that these towns cannot seek help from private lawyers.

He also cited some pending cases in the courts which could be lost with no one attending to them in official capacity.

Offering an unsolicited advice, he urged the governor to advertise the need for a provincial attorney which he said could draw many applicants but quickly added “…unless the position is (being) reserved for one at an appointed time,” he said, in oblique reference to the reports about Baniqued waiting in the wings.

Pangasinan, Bince said, is the only province he knows with no legal officer.

Former provincial administrator Virgilio Solis held the position in concurrent capacity after the resignation of Baniqued sometime during Agbayani’s third term. Solis is also a lawyer.