Tax Cheats in Dagupan City?

by Mortz C. Ortigoza

After 15 years, this lowly columnist who is used to see the lowly edifices of Dagupan City for decades, has visited Cebu City once again recently.
Susmariosep, I was overwhelmed by the progress “Ceboom” has been reaping. Skyscrapers that are mostly high ends, and three to five stars hotels are everywhere.
I thought I was either in Seoul in South Korea or Guangdong in Mainland China– what with those chinky-eyed tourists who walked in the streets and hotel lobby by batches...

SM’s entry an emotional issue in Dagupan

by Mortz C. Ortigoza

The acrimonious debate recently on the venues where Dagupan  City Mayor Benjie S. Lim would deliver his State of the City Address was a treat to the people in and outside of the city.

All dressed-up to the occasion, members of the Sanggunian Panlungsod stubbornly waited at the narrow August   Chamber for the mayor to come, while a dressed- up Lim snubbed them and proceeded at the spacious City Astrodome to deliver his reports of his programs and misgivings on the politicized SP to the more than 3,000 yelling and applauding leaders and supporters who waited for him there.

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Bangus Festival

The Bangus Festival is one of the most prominent festivals in Philippines. Bangus Festival, Philippines starts with the ceremonial lighting of 1,000 barbecue grills. These grills are used to cook ...

Enrile, De Venecias, Lim

by Mortz Ortigoza

Recently, fellow columnist Brando Cortez told me to come pronto at Lenox Hotel for a meeting with Rep. Jack Enrile (1st District, Province of Cagayan).

Enrile, who was “barnstorming” the country, discussed to us food security and the prohibitive interest rates of credit cards.

He was game in answering questions posed by passionate selected media colleagues that I only asked a single question, and a clarification.

...

Showboating of wealth at PMA's alumni rites

by Mortz C. Ortigoza

My wife and kid attended recently the two-day alumni homecoming of the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City - complement of a high ranking police relative.

They were billeted at the expensive plush two-bedroom suite in the Camp John Hay Manor Hotel.

“Grabe, it’s all expenses paid for the PMAyers.  Even the gas of their vehicles was shouldered by their organizations,” she exclaimed to me through phone.

She told me that “palakihan pa sila ng sasakyan (they brought big cars)” that were gas guzzling multi-million of pesos worth Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) to show boat” their wealth to their classmates.

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All systems go for Bangus Festival

DAGUPAN CITY – It’s all systems go for the holding of the Bangus Festival here as the massive promotional campaign was formally launched Friday. Bangus Festival Chairmen Beep Beep Tan and Alex Siapno said that the summer event will officially open on April 8 through the fluvial parade called Bangus ed Karosa.
There will also be the traditional events such as the Gilon Gilon ed Dalan (street dancing competition) scheduled on April 8, Bangus Rodeo and 101 Ways to Cook Bangus (April 29), and Kalutan ed Dalan (April 30).
Other lined-up events are the Pisasalamat ed Ilog, Photo Contest, Auto and Electronic Show, Café ed Park, Bangus Art Exhibit, Dagupan Grafitti Art Walk, Sculpture Painting Contest, Halo-Halo Festival and Pigar-Pigar Festival; Bikini and Bodybuilding Contest, Talent Show, Singing and Dance Contests, Battle of the Bands, Wall Climbing; Unveiling of new city seal, Easter Egg Hunt, Fluvial Parade and Mangrove Planting...

How Philippine public officials rob the coffer (Part II)

by Mortz C. Ortigoza

Here’s what I told Senator Migz Zubiri in a press conference I attended recently:

“I talked with a mayor-contractor who told me that the infamous pork- barrel should be directly given by the President (Benigno AquinoIII) to the mayors. Kasi sabi niya iyong pork, kukurakutin lang ni congressman iyong 25%, ika-cut pa ni DBM (Department of Budget & Management) ang 2% (kung mabilisan iyong bigayan ay 5% ang ika-cut nila), kukunin pa ni DPWH iyong 5%. Pero pag i-direct kay mayor, iyong kurakot sa kanya lang .”

There was chuckle from the crowd since guests who attended that meeting were mayors and DPWH officials.

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PREPARATIONS FOR BANGUS FESTIVAL UNDERWAY

DAGUPAN CITY – Preliminary preparations are now being undertaken by the interim Bangus Festival 2011 executive committee headed by Maximo “Beep-Beep” Tan, Alex Siapno and the City Tourism Office as Mayor Benjamin S. Lim has yet to appoint a chairman in the coming days.


The Festival of the North is one of the major events of the festival to include the main event Kalutan ed Dagupan which may take place in its original venue, the whole downtown stretch of A. B. Fernandez Avenue as requested by business entrepreneurs along the area...

How Philippine public officials rob the coffer (Part 1)

by Mortz C. Ortigoza
Does Senator Migz Zubiri know that his staff allegedly pocketed eight percent of the almost P600 thousand of the  countryside development  fund infamously known as pork barrel he gave recently to each of the selected mayors in Pangasinan?
When he was in this province he announced to all and sundry that if any of his staff asks for a share in the money intended for the infrastructure project, concerned individuals should inform him pronto...

NEW DAGUPAN SEAL TO BE UNVEILED DURING BANGUS FEST

DAGUPAN CITY – The new seal of the city will be presented to the public and winners will be known in one of the events of the Bangus Festival on April this year.

This was disclosed by City Secretary Jorge Estrada, chairman of the ad hoc committee tasked by City Mayor Benjamin S. Lim to study, initiate, and supervise the redesigning and registration of the official corporate seal of the city...

Why towns want to be a city?

Members of the 122-strong League of Cities of the Philippines were furious recently after the Supreme Court upheld for the third time the bid of 16 towns to be a city

 

by Mortz C. Ortigoza

Woe to the cities all over the country. With the latest decision of a flipped flopping Supreme Court on its third reversals of its decisions, the petition of 16 towns for cityhood is almost certain.

The downside here is that the present 122-strong members’ League of Cities of the Philippines would see a reduction of their share of their Internal Revenue Allotments from the national government.

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LIM BRINGS “KALUTAN” BACK TO PEOPLE

DAGUPAN CITY – Mayor Benjamin S. Lim is bringing back the ‘Kalutan ed Dagupan’ back to its original venue along A. B. Fernandez Avenue.
For the last two years since 2009, ‘Kalutan ed Dagupan,’ which was renamed as ‘Bangusan Street Party’ by the past administration has been held at the De Venecia Expressway in Lucao adjacent to the mall owned by the family of Vice-mayor Belen Fernandez...

Pangasinan has 773 new nurses

DAGUPAN CITY– A total of 773 nursing examinees out of 3,521, or 21.95 percent, from Pangasinan passed the December 2010 Nurses Licensure Examination.

In Baguio City, 1,423 examinees out of 4,472, or 31.82 percent, successfully hurdled the test. In La Union, 267 out of 1,140, or 23.42 percent, passed. In Vigan, 468 out of 1,595, or 29.34 percent, passed while in Cabanatuan, 354 out of 1,566, or 22.61 percent, passed.

Out of the total 84,287 examinees, 29,711, or 35.25 percent, passed the exams administered in 18 testing centers nationwide.

Director-In-Charge Evangeline Vergara advised the successful examinees to personally sign in the Roster of Registered Professionals and bring the following requirements: duly accomplished Oath Form or Panunumpa ng Propesyonal, 2011 Community Tax Certificate (Cedula), two (2) pieces passport-size pictures (colored with white background and name tag), one (1) piece 1”x1” picture (colored with white background and name tag), one (1) piece documentary stamp, original and photocopy of NSO Birth Certificate (original copy for presentation purposes only), and initial registration fee of P600 and annual registration fee of P450 for 2011-2014.

Board passers from Dagupan will register on February 25 at PMS Bldg, PNA Office, AB Fernandez Avenue, Dagupan City. Those from Laoag City will do it on March 12 at the University of Northern Philippines. Those from Baguio City can start registering on February 25 at the PRC Baguio Regional Office. For San Fernando City, it will be on March 5 at the Lorma Colleges Gym.

The Professional Identification Card and Certificate of Regulation will be issued by the PRC central office within three to four months.

Village officials urge to exercise power with accountability

DAGUPAN CITY – “You can earn respect if you exercise your authority with responsibility and accountability without fear or favor.”
This was stressed by Mayor Benjamin S. Lim on the opening day of the Barangay Newly-Elected Officials (BNEO) Orientation Program sponsored by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) at the Pinkie’s Restaurant last Monday.
Lim encouraged all barangays officials to involve their constituents in finding the best solutions for their problems through consultation because the process of communication is very important.
“Never think that as head of your barangay, you already have the best solution because the best solutions sometimes come from the simplest member of your community,” he emphasized.
He added that “no city can be great without the barangay doing their part and no barangay can be great if the folks do not understand what things are all about.”
A term-based, integrated capacity development intervention for newly-elected barangay officials, BNEO is geared to enhance their competencies to attain the needed synergy to transform the barangay as champions of excellence in basic service delivery and bring the government closer to the people.
With the BNEO program, new barangay officials are expected to strengthen barangay partnerships and alliances with the civil society organizations and with other local governments and the national government agencies for efficient and effective barangay governance development.
The objectives of the program are anchored on the tenets of the Biyaheng Pinoy to facilitate the smooth transition of power and authority from the old to the incoming barangay officials; build partnerships and alliances with various stakeholders for local development; and enhance the skills of barangay officials and functionaries to enable them to perform their emerging roles as policy maker, program planner and provider of basic services to their constituency.
The BNEO program consists of four components: ensuring smooth transition, laying the foundation, citizenship building and component, and sharpening the saw. It will be implemented in partnership with the Liga ng mga Barangay, various local resource institutions, national government agencies and local government units, with the DILG serving as BNEO Program Manager

No Pangasinense is drug courier – PDEA

By Danny O Sagun

DAGUPAN CITY– Nobody from Pangasinan is now facing drug trafficking case in other countries, according to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

But there was one victim from the province of an international drug syndicate in early 2008 who is now cooperating with the agency in the anti-drug courier campaign, said agent Charlton Carame during the KBP Forum at the Philippine Information Agency Thursday.

The victim, a woman, was befriended by a Nigerian who was member of the West African drug syndicate who promised her financial benefits as well as marriage. “Nakalaya sya, pero andoon pa rin ang trauma. Noong 2009 nagpunta sya sa atin para tumulong sa kampanya natin,” he said. She was a victim of fly-by-night job recruiters.

Supt. Geraldo Roxas, who heads the Pangasinan police community relations unit, also told the forum that the provincial anti-drug task force does not have in its list any Pangasinense who is a suspected international drug courier.

On the local front, Carame said PDEA agents have coordinated with the police chiefs of this city and Urdaneta City to map out plans to contain the drug problem. The two urban areas are said to be the major drop-off points for pushing shabu in the province. “May mga plano na kami dyan sa sinasabing problematic areas,” he said.

He said he was not discounting the possibility of a shabu laboratory operating in the province but so far earlier reports about their existence turned out to be negative. He said a laboratory may be kitchen type or the processing is done in a ship. “Doon na niluluto pero ang drying sa ibang lugar.”

Under Executive Order No. 279, PDEA and other concerned agencies like the Department of Foreign Affairs are grouped in task force to combat the growing drug mule problem.

Statistics show that in 1993, there were only two drug courier cases. By January this year, the number rose to 689 with 431 females, or 63 percent, and 258, males, or 37 percent. In China, 79 are facing death penalty, six without reprieve and the rest, with two-year reprieve. (PIA Pangasinan/danny)




Dagupan’s Patogkawen River has high fecal coliform level
DAGUPAN CITY – Water samples taken from Patogkawen River exceeded the maximum limit of 5,000 Most Probable Number (MPN) of total and fecal coliform per 100 ml, and did not pass the standard for Class C type of water, fishery water for the propagation and growth of fish and other aquatic resources.
This was the result of the fish health diagnostic microbiology laboratory report conducted by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources – National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center (BFAR-NIFTDC) along the river last February 8.
The test was upon the request of the city government in line with Mayor Benjamin S. Lim’s commitment to protect the water quality of surface and ground water within the city’s jurisdiction.
Lim recently created the Sinocalan/Dagupan River Water Quality (WQ) Task Force in compliance with the mandate of Republic Act 9275, otherwise known as the Clean Water Act of 2004, which provides that the State shall pursue a policy of economic growth in a manner consistent with the protection, preservation and revival of the quality of the country’s fresh, brackish and marine waters.
Being the recipient and catch basin of the upstream rivers, Lim intends to reduce pollution of the Sinocalan/Dagupan River system and tributaries as strategy to protect the health of communities, sustain the use of the river as a aquaculture industry, protect the river based ecosystem and comply with the provisions of the Clean Water Act.
It has been observed by the technicians of BFAR-NIFTDC that the water along Patogcawen River smells like a rotten egg with either black sediment or greyish black and not too smelly sediment.
The report came after a team tasked by Lim conducted a river inspection and found out that a number of informal settlers are in the river banks and close to the Nepo Mall wall. Mangrove trees have been cut intentionally by the residents. The team also discovered a sewerage canal flowing through the river.
A blue print issued by the Department of Public Works and Highways showed that the drainage wastewater disposal system of Region 1 Medical Center was connected to the Arellano Street drainage system passing through Arellano Creek going to Patogkawen River.
Lim requested a dialogue with the administrative officers of R1MC and ordered City Agriculturist Oficer Emma Molina to look into the possibility that other hospitals near any river system are doing the same.