IT may be the biggest province hereabouts, in fact holding nearly half of the Ilocos region’s total population, but Pangasinan, as far as the social welfare authorities are concerned, is the poorest province in the region.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development touts its own survey figures in 2006 which showed that Pangasinan is the poorest in Region 1 and one of the 20 poorest in the country.

In the DSWD reckoning, giant Pangasinan—which is also one of the biggest rice producers in the entire country — trails La Union, Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte in household income. Read the rest of this entry »

IN A way, Governor Amado Tutaan Espino’s damning the torpedoes to proceed with his pet shotguns-for-barangay-captains project is producing something beneficial. It has triggered a healthy debate on the merits and demerits of guns as defense or offense objects throughout a broad spectrum of society.

Whatever percolated in GATE’s military-molded mind to go ahead despite some obvious stumbling blocks to the plan, only he probably knows. As one observer quipped, noting the governor’s quick moves to dispose of the guns bought, it was “like a military ops.” Read the rest of this entry »

By BEHN FER. HORTALEZA, JR

THE current Vice Mayor Julio Parayno-Councilor Higinio ‘Boy’ Agsalud imbroglio over in Urdaneta City has become one big spectacle – in large part, fanned by media itself. Parayno accuses the slightly-built lawyer Agsalud of making political capital of his (Parayno”s) alleged fund indiscretions.

In turn, Agsalud says his vice mayor is only trying to evade the basic issue which is that, under his term, Parayno has presided over the “bankruptcy” of the sangguniang panglunsod by hiring too many casuals whose salaries have eaten up practically the council’s whole annual budget by this month of September. Boy, a former vice mayor himself, says the sangguniang panglunsod has no more maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE)left to operate the town council Read the rest of this entry »

Nen MARIO F. KARATEKA 

NAKEKEWKEW lay utek daray managpoonan tan saray angkabaleg so deposito dad banko lapud say nagagawa natan ed sistema pinansiyal tan abong ya pabayesan  na higanten Estados Unidos.

 

Loreykatay saray internasyonal iran managpoonan o “investment houses”a kuan et biglan mangideklaran nalulugi lara tan sansakey iran onkokolaney tan nalelespak!

 

Say sankabiskegan a ekonomiyad tapew na mundo et singa asabiay baleg a beblay na laman tan patey-pateyan la. Inamin mismo nen Presidente Bush na Amerika ya  delikado so kipapasen natan na tatawagen dan Wall Street, say sentro na kwarta tan negosyoan dimad dalin da tan kekerewen tod Kongreso ya mangibolos iray kwartan panalba ed saray mansasakit iran snetro na poonan tan pabayesan. 

    * * * Read the rest of this entry »

 By DANNY O. SAGUN

WHY hold that health summit in Pampanga when they could well have held it anywhere within the province and save money besides?

This is the foremost question in the minds of many including this corner when healthmen including local officials led by Gov. Amado Espino trooped to Oxford Hotel in Clark to attend that summit last week. The reason given? The sponsor was responsible for choosing the venue, and for the participants “to be able to concentrate.”

We now recall those times when the sangguniang panlalawigan scheduled budget hearings in Baguio City or even in faraway Tagaytay so that the members of the board and their resource persons including heads of the various departments would “be able to concentrate” on their tasks. Read the rest of this entry »

By TERESITA ANG SEE

TIMES are hard, and we are continuously cautioned to be extra careful and vigilant.

 

In one recent case, it is fortunate that the maid who poisons the family she  works for in order to steal their belongings was caught. We hope other victims of this maid will come out and file charges against her. This way, if she gets bail in one case, she will not be released yet as she will have other cases pending against her.

 

We are often too lax when it comes to checking out our hired help. I have encountered many families who do not know the surnames of the maids or drivers working with them. They do not know their provincial addresses or who Read the rest of this entry »

ALAMINOS CITY — Mayor Hernani Baganza has denied it was politics that made him reject the provincial government’s move to arm barangay chairmen.

Braganza told a recent forum in this city attended by his barangay officials that the city might accept the firearms if they were to be given to the city police whose members, he pointed out, are duly authorized to carry guns.

He appealed to the governor, a retired colonel of the Philippine National Police, to just give the shotguns to the local police which still lacks firearms to this day.

Read the rest of this entry »

ALAMINOS CITY – The incident referred to by City Mayor Hernani Braganza in his press conference Thursday morning in Lucap Wharf here concerned the gunslaying of Gabriel Bautista, 39, a male nurse  of the Western Pangasinan District Hospital who was    killed by four barangay officials of adjacent Bani town on September 2, 2007.

The mayor presented a teary-eyed Clara Bautista, 76, mother of the slain nurse and native of Lucap, who said Gabriel was her only son and sole breadwinner of the family.

With his death, he left for her to support his brother and two sisters, Kevin jay, 14, Marielle, 11 and Leslie Marie, seven. Read the rest of this entry »

MABINI –The Department of Social Welfare and Development is now validating possible recipients of the government’s ‘Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino (PPP) in four towns of Pangasinan chosen based on the number of their families belonging to the poverty threshold.

Venus Rebuldela, Social Welfare Officer II and PPP focal person, said being validated are members of the poorest of the poor from Mabini, Bolinao, Urbiztondo and Aguilar to find out if they qualify to become recipients of the PPP.

PPP is a poverty reduction strategy of the government that provides grants to extremely poor households to improve their health, nutrition and education particularly of children aged from zero to 14. Read the rest of this entry »

CALASIAO – The fire that razed to the ground the whole municipal building of Calasiao including the Shrine of the Senor Divino Tesoro at dawn of September 15 started at the second floor of the edifice.

This was reported by Fire Chief  Inspector Emilio Langkay , the town’s fire marshal – himself under fire for the poor response time of his department to the emergency –to the municipal council headed by Vice Mayor Ferdinand Galang on Monday.

Langkay said his fire investigators indicated the fire originated between the offices of the municipal mayor and the sangguniang bayan. Read the rest of this entry »