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 »

NO Ilocano or Pangasinense child may ever be driven to take his life simply because of poverty the way the new tragic icon of extreme poverty, 12-year-old Mariannet Amper of Davao City, did last All Soul’s Day.

This, not because we are a rich region or province or that we are a more spiritual lot of people having an abiding faith in God’s blessings and His deliverance but because we happen to be simple folks used to living on our own backyard or neighborhood resources for our provision. And too, thankfully enough (?) we still have local leaders who would, out of political instincts, not want to turn a poor man’s (voter’s) request for assistance down. After all, there’s still that perennial source of unofficial funds, jueteng, around, correct? Read the rest of this entry »

MAYBE it is just an aberration, a concern not quite reaching alarming proportions as yet.

This tiny beetle called brontispa, believed to have been imported accidentally thru ornamental or exotic plants, can easily be countered, the scientific experts say, by unleashing another kind of beetle called earwig to eat the brontispa larvae. A natural survival-of-the-fittest scenario in the simple-complex world of agriculture.

That the pest first found along Roxas Boulevard in Metro Manila in 2005 has now surfaced in Ilocos and Pangasinan of late attests to the “mobility” of the organism, thanks to modern travel and the general indiscretion of plant sellers and flora aficionados around us. Reports are that the brontispa is now ravaging coconut trees, its unique feeding favorite, in Labrador, Sual and some parts of eastern Pangasinan. Read the rest of this entry »

BETWEEN an iron-fisted barangay leader and a kind-hearted, diplomatic village head, who do you choose?

This, more or less, is the common dilemma of many a voter in the barangay tomorrow when the nation goes to the polls to elect those who would rule communities.

Barangay leadership today is more than just being Solomonic in decision-making for the village’s larger welfare or patching up petty husband-wife quarrels or supervising the painting of a fresh coat on neighborhood fences and decorative stones along the road to beautify the village. Read the rest of this entry »

WE were on a boom, until the blast came.

This could probably best sum up the situation the country now finds itself in with that powerful Glorietta 2 bombing in Makati.

For who is the businessman or who is the investor who would in all recklessness, continue putting his stakes in the nation’s economy while grappling with the thought his fortunes could all go up in smoke one day, somehow? Read the rest of this entry »

ONLY the stupidly naïve or naively stupid will believe that the sending of the Pulido impeachment complaint to the justice committee of the House and its expected death thereafter has ended the Arroyo-De Venecia stalemate. And that peace will reign between the two allies henceforth, all recriminations and doubts totally erased like some bad dream.

The truth is, most Filipinos who are following the unfolding of events since Joey de Venecia III first blew the whistle on the NBN-ZTE deal know it is just a matter of time before the execution of the incumbent House Speaker by the Brutuses of the House. “In November or December”, an unnamed ranking House official was ominously quoted as predicting in a national daily on the countdown on the fate of the man they call JDV.
Read the rest of this entry »

SO, let’s be sporty in this corner, for once.

Today, Pacquiao fights Barrera. And never mind their first names; in this boxing-crazed world, ringfighters’ family names are all there is to be memorized, immortalized.

The two boxers slug it out as this issue goes to press and, barring a cheating peek at the internet flash reports (what you see on your RP tevee of course is not actually “live” but “slightly delayed” telecast, as the promoter would call it – sorry for the clueless bettor who bets at the last minute here thinking the boxers are still slugging it out on real time when they’ve long gone down the ring) we’d not know who won. Read the rest of this entry »

WHY are some people agitating for the abolition of the Sangguniang Kabataan?

To us in this paper, we believe it is the right thing to do.

Aside from the drain on the coffers for the salaries of such “young and idealist” members of the local legislative councils and their counterparts in the barangays themselves, times have changed – so much and so wrongly – for the Hope of the Fatherland these days. Read the rest of this entry »

OUT-OF-TOWN sessions for legislative bodies are fine. There, away from the perfumed, sometimes stale, airconditioned offices or sessions halls, one gets to hear the real voice of the hoi poloi, the local leaders, straight and frank.

We commend the sanguniang panlalawigan for this move to have their sessions moving from one district to another, with mayors and perhaps barangay leaders able to not just see their provincial leaders in person but also interact with them. We can’t exactly recall now but sometime during the administration of former Gov. Rafael Colet, there was one such similar undertaking – for sanggunian legislators holding court in the field.
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THE lucky breaks are going the Espino administration’s way, it seems – and the P160.8 million windfall it received in payment of Mirant (now team Energy’s) accumulated real property taxes due the province should give it the much-needed shot in the arm for more socio-economic development projects for Pangasinan.

Now it is just possible that the expenditure priority for the Sual power plant tax payment bonanza will just have to be redirected or reassigned – from mainly the former Camp Victory sports program of the Agbayani administration to some other priorities of the new governor and sanggunian. No, we don’t believe Espino would be scrapping the Camp Victory sports program altogether, but just the same it would probably suffer Read the rest of this entry »