By DANNY O. SAGUN

TOTAL GUN ban or just a campaign against loose firearms?

VARIOUS reactions have met the latest move by Urduja House to make this big province a safe place to live in. Gov. Amado Espino, a former police officer himself, apparently got exasperated by the rash of violence every now and then so that he came out lately with that executive order imposing a gun ban.

Can he as governor impose such order?
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By DANNY O. SAGUN

WE think the city should move fast to prevent any further erosion or scouring at Tondaligan.

We were surprised to see the extent of the damage by strong waves at the site last Tuesday when we decided to take a look at the ongoing construction of picnic huts or sheds after our Pantongtongan Tayo program at DZMQ. Only about a year ago, Read the rest of this entry »

By DANNY O. SAGUN

FROM now on, ambulances will only be used to transport patients to hospitals. This was the stern directive of Gov. Amado Espino to chiefs of government hospitals in Pangasinan whom he met recently.

Apparently, the governor was irked by the presence of those ubiquitous white-painted siren-laden vans at the Capitol ground that day he called the meeting. We used to also note that every time the provincial health office called for a meeting with the hospital chiefs, the Capitol ground particularly the front of the Kalantiao building where the PHO is housed, would be full of parked ambulances. The vehicle is also used by hospital personnel for transport when they submit reports to the health office.
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By DANNY O. SAGUN

MUNICIPAL halls - municipio or presidencia as locals call such buildings - in Pangasinan have transformed from small two-storey wooden edifices to imposing concrete multi-storey buildings.

This we noticed in our trips around the province as we conducted interviews with local officials being our respondents for an academic research study. Only about six town halls we visited have remained in their original state. Some are either entirely new buildings, while the others underwent full renovation.
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By DANNY O. SAGUN

WHY Pangasinan with all its big population, huge land area and billions in internal revenue allotment (said to be the biggest beating even Cebu and Negros) lags behind other big provinces in terms of development is quite a puzzle to many.

Critics of the Agbayani family which for decades had ruled the province thus have a grand time pointing the accusing finger at the political clan. But were the late Aguedo and his son Victor really to blame for the failure of the province to be at par with Cebu or the provinces surrounding Metro Manila in terms of progress and development? Does it mean that Pangasinan would Read the rest of this entry »

By DANNY O. SAGUN

THE governor, we learned, has called on the local media to unite and help him achieve his vision for a progressive Pangasinan.
Gov. Amado T. Espino issued the call during the Media Night at the Capitol grounds last Thursday where he addressed some 200 or so media personnel. We failed to honor the invitation because of an earlier commitment.

Perhaps, what the governor meant was for the two major clubs in Pangasinan to unite, fuse into one and carry a single name as before when there was only one media organization, the Pangasinan Press and Radio Club.
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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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By DANNY O. SAGUN

THE idea of redistricting the province has come alive anew. From the present six congressional districts, the plan is to create 10 to 12 districts. If that happens, expect a district to be composed only of two to three towns.

Dagupan, which has yet to qualify as a highly urbanized city, needs to combine with just one town like Mangaldan in order to qualify as one congressional district. We now recall the dream of former Mayor Benjie Lim of combining or fusing Dagupan with San Fabian so that the resulting LGU would qualify as a highly-urbanized city and thus entitled to a representation in Congress.
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By DANNY O. SAGUN

EXPECT federalism as one hot issue to dominate discussions in various fora in the coming days. We wonder why this renewed interest for a Charter Change after the failure to get public support of an earlier similar plan to change the system of government from the present presidential to parliamentary form.

This corner maintains the view that what matters most is the kind of persons who will run the government - be it unitary or federal, parliamentary or presidential, or a modification or combination of the various systems. Read the rest of this entry »

By DANNY O. SAGUN

PEDESTRIANS can now hardly walk thru the sidewalks in the downtown area. Ambulant vendors and store owners alike have occupied almost all available spaces forcing pedestrians to use the roadsides. In fact they are forced to walk almost in the middle of the road since the sides are occupied by vehicles which are not parked properly mainly because of the presence of vendors.

We cannot help but again ask City Hall what happened to law enforcement. We are returning to the chaotic road conditions of old –yes, during those times when you had to spend half an hour to an hour negotiating the way from traffic post No. 1 to city hall. Read the rest of this entry »