DOJ: Walang kasalanan si Diokno!

NAKAPANGHIHINAYANG naman ang pag-re-resign ni General Ernesto “Totoy” Diokno bilang director ng Bureau of Corrections. Matagal ko nang kilala si Direktor Diokno at naniniwala ako sa kanyang tapang, prinsipyo, galing at kakayahan sa pamamalakad. Ang nangyaring gusot sa National Bilibid Prisons (NBP) na kinasasangkutan ni dating Batangas Governor Jose Antonio Leviste na nahuling nasa labas ng kulungan ng walang kaukulang court order o “pass” mula sa Department of Justice (DOJ) ay di dapat na isisi kay Diokno. Matagal na ang ganitong balita tungkol sa mga may kayang preso sa NBP at ito ay inabutan na lamang ni Director Diokno.

Kung mayroon man siyang inabutang ganyang problema sa NBP sa ngayon ay naniniwala ako na kaya niyang tapusin at bigyang lunas ang problema dahil magaling na “trouble-shooter” ito.

Sa aking paniniwala, kung nagkaroon lamang si Diokno ng panahon at pagkakataon ay kaya niyang baguhin at isaayos ang sistema sa lahat ng mga pambansang piitan.  Lalo na at sana ang gusto nating nabago niya ay ang sistemang nagkaugat na at mistulang kultura na sa NBP.

Mabuti naman at sa ginawang imbestigasyon ng DOJ ay lumabas na walang pagkakasala si Director Totoy Diokno!

* * *

Pinupuri natin si Director Edgar Apalla ng PDEA-Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) sa kanilang magkahiwalay na matagumpay na operasyon laban sa iligal na droga.

Nahuli ng PDEA-CAR ang mga suspek na sina Kamar Makalandap alias “Lia” at  Jamaloding Ali Niak Alias “Michael” sa isang entrapment operation sa Km.3 La Trinidad, Benguet.

Ayon sa PDEA, pagbebenta ng sandals at dvd ang ‘front’ ng mga suspek sa kanilang pagbebenta ng shabu.  Ang dalawang suspek umano ay nasa target list dahil ang mga ito ay notorious na tulak ng shabu sa Baguio City at La Trinidad, Benguet.

Ang mga suspek ay nahuli matapos magbenta ng 22.31 grams ng shabu sa isang poseur-buyer. Ang drogang nahuli ay nagkakahalaga ng humigit kumulang P250,000.

Naiulat din na si Makalandap ay nagpakilala umanong Intelligence Officer ng Cordillera Intelligence Association Group (CIAG). Ang supply na shabu ng mga suspek ay nanggagaling daw sa kanilang source sa Maynila.

Iniimbestigahan na rin ng mga otoridad kung sila ay kabilang sa sindikato ng droga na nag-ooperate sa komunidad ng mga Muslim sa Crystal Cave, Baguio City.

Kasong Violation of Section 5 (Sale of Dangerous Drugs), in relation to Section 26b (Conspiracy to Sell Dangerous Drugs), Article II of RA 9165, o mas kilala bilang “The Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002” ang mga kasong isinampa laban sa mga suspek.

Samantala, agad namang rumesponde ang pinagsanib na pwersa ng PDEA-CAR, Benguet Special Enforcement Team at Kibungan Police sa tawag ng may-ari ng coffee shop sa Kibungan, Benguet.  Naalarma kasi ang may-ari sa tatlong kustomer na nag-iwan ng bag na naglalaman daw ng marijuana sa kanyang coffee shop.

Binuksan ng mga otoridad ang bag at nakita ang limang bricks ng marijuana na tumitimbang ng humigit-kumulang 8,850 grams. Patagong hinintay ng mga operatiba na bumalik sa coffee shop ang tatlong kustomer ngunit wala nang lumutang sa mga ito.

Para sa PDEA-CAR at iba pa nating kakampi diyan sa probinsya ng Cordillera, congratulations for a job well done! Mabuti naman kahit masarap at nakakaantok ang klima diyan sa lugar niyo ay hindi niyo nakakatulugan ang inyong trabaho!

* * *

Isa ring buy-bust operation kamakailan ang isinagawa sa pinagsanib pa ring pwersa ng Police Station 2, Santiago City Police Office sa pangunguna ni PS Insp. Benigno Asuncion, kasama ang mga operatiba ng RAIDSOTG Region 2 at PDEA-Reginal Office.

Ang nahuling suspek ay si Efren Agonoy, 27, nakatira sa Mabini, Purok 3, Santiago City.  Samantalang nahuli naman sa ‘pot session’ sina Ronaldo Roxas, Raymund Santos, Redelyn Ramos at Jackilyn Garcia.

Nasamsam mula sa mga suspek ang 12 transparent sachets na pinaghihinalaang naglalaman ng shabu na may timbang na 25 grams at marked money na nagkakahalaga ng P1,200.

Paglabag sa kasong RA 9165 ang kakaharapin ng mga suspek.

Para sa Santiago City Police Office, RAIDSOTG2 at PDEA-R02, keep up the good work!  Mas magiging epektibo talaga ang ating kampanya laban sa salot na droga kung ganyang nagkakaisa ang mga law enforcement agencies ng ating gobyerno!

(Para sa inyong impormasyon, suhestiyon, o reklamo, mag-text lamang po kayo dito sa number ko: 09159509746 o di kaya ay mag-email sa wagkukurap_101@yahoo.com.ph This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

PMA: Mistah vs. Mistah

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Poor Bani, Pangasinan Mayor Marcelo Navarro. His multi-million-peso projects from sources abroad, national and local levels could not take-off because of political schisms exacted by his anti-progress dissenting majority-member municipal council whom he said have sworn loyalty and heed order from Congressman Jesus “Boying” Celeste (1st District, Pangasinan) and Governor Amado T. Espino – a classmate at the Philippine Military Academy. By earning the ire of the people I mentioned, everything stops revolving in this second class town known for its pristine beaches and underground caves.
But Navarro, a former police general, did not take the stunts of those tyrannical majorities in the august body sitting down.
Just like the counter-attacked by the US Marines in the bloody November 2004 “Operation Phantom Fury in Fallujah, Iraq, Navarro initiated a Recall Petition where 25% of the town’s registered voters would sign a petition and submit it to the local Commission on Election against the Vice Mayor and his willing conspirators at the Sangguniang Bayan, which stalls whatever pro-progress programs, for a special election for the Bani people decide if these negligent abusive dads deserve another term.
“I leave to the people of Bani the fate of these officials, “he told us media men in a press conference called by the Patrima media group.
“Why not sue them criminally with non-feasance (failure to perform an act) so your people would know their inaction,” I posed.
“I will not because court case drags for a while, unlike recall,” he told me.
“They (councilors) are not doing anything. Somebody is dictating to them,” he continued.
Because of this dissent his municipality was denied with P20 million in housing project that needs local counterpart fund. He deplored that probable employment and other multiplier effects for his people were prejudiced.
He said they snagged the P6 billion bio-fuel project that should be financed through a Private-Public-Partnership (PPP), P8.5 worth power plant, and others.
***
But one of my colleagues was too insistent. She pursued Navarro, a lanky mestizo skinned soft-spoken person one could mistake as an evangelist, how the rift with the governor start.
He said it started in the campaign period of the 2010 poll when he sought re-election for his mayoralty post (Navarro’s father and his brother used to be a hizzoner of Bani).
He confided to Espino that he would shift to Liberal Party from his Lakas-Kampi where he and the governor were party mates.
He said Espino welcomed his intention and told him “Magtawagan na lang tayo.”
He invited the governor that he joined him too with the LP (the party of then presidential candidate Presidential bet Benigno Aquino III).
But Espino told him to go alone as he (Espino) has a commitment with the then dominant Lakas-Kampi where then President Gloria M. Arroyo was the party chair.
***
After two weeks in the campaign period, to his surprise, ten of his policemen were relieved by the police provincial director.
“I was taken aback because I would be vulnerable although these policemen were assigned at the police station I called the PD (Provincial Director Colonel Percieval Barba) who told me he could not do anything. What I did is to go to (Camp) Crame and told the chief PNP about my predicament.”
The 10 cops were returned. But after a day they were relieved again. Navarro said he called the police regional director in La Union who returned the ten. But after two days they were relieved again.
“Pumunta ako sa itaas ng ikatlong beses. Doon siya (governor) nainis,” he said. He told us this resulted for the final returned of the police in a roller coaster power play between him and his PMA classmate of Class 1971.
***
He said vote buying in his town ran up to P3000 for a family.
Supporters of a rival and enemies told the people there to vote for a certain governor, a certain congressman, and his mayoralty rival. He continued that voters there told the vote – buyer that they would not vote for his patrons if they were obliged not to vote for Navarro. The vote buyer obliged to the condition of the voters who were mostly pro-Navarro.
He said he has no ill-feeling towards Espino. They were not only bunkmates and company mates (Delta Company according to former General Rey Velasco who told me when he was still the mayor of Sta. Barbara “that I used to summon them because they were my lower class”) but fellow Pangasinenses who speak Ilocano at the PMA.
“We were liked brothers at the Academy. When we were plebes we went to our house in Baguio City every Saturday and would go back to the academy together. He was my boxing sparring partner. He just loved to box with me because I’m tall and he is small.”
“Baka ni knocked-out niyo siya thus that ill-feeling he has with you,” my being a wanna-be boxing anal list, er, analyst made me posed that query to him.
“No, we were just sparring partner. I loved him,” he retorted to me.
***
But it seems his mistah does not love him.
After the conclusion of the poll where he won as a second termer mayor and Espino as second termer governor, he found himself and the governor as god father to a wedding in the town of Binmaley. He went to the governor who was in a huddle with somebody from Bani. He offered his hand to his former bunk mate and sparring mate.
He said Espino pretended he did not see him.
His constituent in Bani thought the governor did not recognize the former general.
“Guv, siya po si Mayor Navarro, mayor po namin sa Bani.”
Navarro said Espino was still nonchalant.
He said he decided to leave to avoid further embarrassment to him and his unwary constituent.
Thus he said when fellow Liberal Party and Philippine president Benigno Aquino III wanted to have his first presidential visit in Pangasinan by inaugurating a housing project in Bani, Navarro resolved not to invite Espino.
“I was afraid that what he did to me in Binmaley, he will repeat again in my hometown. I was afraid to be humiliated in front of my people. I was afraid that our Alma Mater PMA would be humiliated, too”.
The exclusion of Espino in that presidential visit in Bani created another issue in his second visit recently in Rosales town. In the column of Brando Cortez titled “Our province needs a better leader – Navarro” that see print recently in this paper.
Brando quoted Navarro “Sa observation ko ngayon at sa mga naririnig ko, naaawa ako kay Gov dahil para siyang bakal na nagiging marupok dahil sa sariling kalawang. Sana matuto siyang maglabas ng kanyang sama ng loob at magpatawad para gumaan ang kanyang kalooban.”
“Nagkatotoo sa Rosales ang kinatatakutan ko, nang hindi ko siya inimbita noong pumunta si Presidente Noynoy dito sa Bani,” sabi ni Mayor Navarro. “Hindi naman niya kinailangan sabihin sa Rosales na siya ang tunay na governor sa harap ni Presidente at sa buong Pilipinas”.
Media men who were there told me that “I-am -the- real- governor” remark of Espino was a dig also at former Governor Victor Agbayani, an LP, who was seen in tow every time Aquino visited Pangasinan. Espino defeated the former long reigning governor by half-a-million votes.
“Mistah, tama na! Ibaba mo na (the bitterness in your heart),”, Navarro told Espino in front of the camera of a national TV in that press conference.
“I loved him that’s why I don’t have any anger with him,” he stressed.
He said he extends his hand of reconciliation to him.
News hen Minnie Caburnay quipped after Navarro narrated his political odyssey with his mistah.
“L.Q (Lovers’ Quarrel) lang iyan mayor between the two of you!”
(You can read my selected intriguing but thought-provoking columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com).

Legarda Seeks Real Cause of Massive Fishkill in Taal Lake

Senator Loren Legarda has sought for an investigation by the Senate on the reason behind the recent massive fishkill in Taal Lake.

Legarda filed Senate Resolution 498 to direct the Senate Committees on Agriculture and Food, Environment and Natural Resources, and Climate Change to immediately conduct an inquiry on the matter as over 700 metric tons of milkfish and tilapia, worth approximately Php57.226-million, have been killed in the different fish cages surrounding Taal Lake since May 26.

“Both consumers and our fishermen are affected by this occurrence. The fishkill reportedly affected as much as 27% of the fish supply of Metro Manila and will certainly affect majority of the fisherfolk from the lakeside communities of Taal who depend primarily on fishing for their subsistence,” she explained.

 According to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) the fishkill was caused by an overturn wherein moderate to heavy rains made the surface water of Taal Lake cold and dense, which in turn forced the deep hot bottom water containing pollutants to rise, heating the fish cages thereby depriving the fish of dissolved oxygen.

The BFAR also said that the recent fishkill in the Kakiputan Channel in Bolinao and Anda towns in Pangasinan was also caused by these changes in temperature.

“The sudden drop in temperature and the heavy rains, which led to the overturn may have been caused by the extreme shift of weather brought about by climate change. However, there have been reports to BFAR that the run-off from the Baleter River leading to Taal Lake was discolored and contained animal waste,” the Senator said.

“We have to determine the various and interrelated causes of this disastrous fishkill in order to protect our ecosystem, the livelihood of the communities surrounding these bodies of water, as well as the consumers who may be affected by the same,” Legarda concluded.***

Dagupan SP hikes minimum tricycle fare

 

The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) of Dagupan has approved an ordinance Monday increasing the minimum tricycle fare from P7 to P10 and an additional P2 in excess of two- kilometer distance.

 

Councilor Karlos Reyna  assistant minority floor leader and chair of the SP committee on public utilities, said the new fare was approved after due public hearing after a petition of the Federation of Accredited Tricycle Organizations of Dagupan (FATODAG) was filed to them for the increase in the light of the continuing escalation of oil price, spare parts and other related expenses incurred by tricycle operators.

 

“In full cognizance of the conspicuous economic difficulties confronting tricycle operators and drivers everywhere, there is an imperative necessity to increase the fare rates in the City of Dagupan ,” Reyna’s ordinance amending further Ordinance No. 1863-2006 reads.

 

Reyna said FATODAG earlier sought P20 minimum fare for distance of four kilometers but the SP rejected this.

 

FATODAG members led by their president trooped to the SP last Monday to thank the city council led by Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, presiding chairman, for approving the new tricycle fare.

 

Under Section 2 of the approved amended ordinance, the prescribed tricycle fare matrix shall be posted on a conspicuous area inside the tricycle, specifically on the inside front passenger cab windshield, to wit for regular fare of first two kilometers, the passenger pays P10 and for special hire, one to two passengers per trip is P20 and the third passenger, the regular fare applies. Senior citizen/student, and persons with disability pays P16 per trip.

 

Discounted fare for students and senior citizens fare is P8 per passenger.

For every kilometer thereafter, for regular fare and special hire is P2 per passenger.

 

Discounted fare for students and senior citizens is also P2.

 

For overcharging and/or refusal to convey passenger, and/or non-posting of sticker, the driver shall pay P1,000 for first offense, P1,500 for second offense and immediate cancellation of tricycle franchise for third offense.

The Anatomy of Motels before the BIR

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Days of motel owners who make mumbo-jumbo with their manipulated lower assessed valued income taxes are numbered.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue has found a formula how to assess the number of couples who patronized these lucrative tryst businesses in this tropical country.

Assistant Revenue District Officer Maria Bernadette Mangaoang said that the national tax office has formulated a plan where a BIR personnel lists how many cars entered the motel everyday.

She said usually the lists are recorded on the logbook of the motel security that mans its gate.

“Hindi naman everyday may BIR. Kaya nga e kukunin na lang nila iyong average, “ Mangaoang explained.

Mangaoang said that her office that over sees 15 towns and a city in Eastern Pangasinan did not implement it since most of the motels in Urdaneta City are mostly branches of motels whose main office is either in Manila or in Dagupan City.

She said branches only pay P500 registration fee with the local BIR like RDO-6, while they remitted the bigger Value Added Tax at their main office.

In an earlier interview with this paper before, Mr. Fred Quinto, the president of Hotel and Motel Associations in Pangasinan said that the BIR could use as basis the number of bed sheets and towels used by love birds. He said that the tax man could ask the laundry shops how many bed sheets and towels are consumed by this tryst hide-away business everyday.

But some tax observers who asked anonymity doubts the reliability of this measure as owners of laundry shops and motels could collude with each other by declaring a lower number of dirty, wet, and crumpled bed clothes and towels for the BIR to assess how much income tax to bill.

Mangaoang said that her office could count on the soap consumed by the customer in a particular period.

She argued that this can be checked by the government issued official receipts (O.R) used by the suppliers of soap to the motel owners.

A soap in a motel according to motel connoisseurs and part-time media men Ronel de Vera and Harold Barcelona is used only once as it was too thin for another day’s consumption.

They said that it is a half-inch in dimension and 3 inches in length and 2 inches in width.

They said the averaged prices of a three-hour short time check-in this air-conditioned room with comfort room and shower is P260 – a reasonable space to relieve ones prurience.

But another part time media scribe Jun Pantal said that low budget motel charges a short time of three hours as low as P150 for financially constrained couple.

“The only downsize is the bed is rickety and cockroaches and bugs abound. While the bed sheets have holes and sewed from different sacks of flour with names like “Manila Flour,” “Royal Flour, etc”, he told this paper in Pilipino.

He said poor man’s lodges like Caliman in Dagupan City used electric fan only as ventilation, and customers share a common comfort room and shower.

(You can read my selected intriguing but thought-provoking columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com).

Lousy Universities in Dagupan City?

if t

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

In terms of aggressive TV advertisement, it seems the new Phinma-run University of Pangasinan has the upper hand against its counterparts in Dagupan City and Pangasinan by exhorting students to avail of its so called “quality” education.

But the word quality is not only cheap to say but can be outrightly deceptive.

Those who know the “economics” of quality education in the city and the province, would say to your face point blank that it is Colegio de Dagupan that was not blacklisted by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) on its “shame list” it released at national dailies in November 2009. CHED divulged that 147 of nursing schools in the country face closure as their graduates performed below the national passing percentage rate of 46.14 for the past five years. And, susmariosep, some of them are in Dagupan.(You can read the entirety of that article in my column at http://northwatch.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/below-standard-universities/). CHED has threatened also to close the Bachelor of Science in Accountancy of these institutions if they would not shape-up as they have low if not zero passing percentile in the board for Certified Public Accountant .

***

An official of a mall in Dagupan told me that whenever his company gives qualifying test to applicants for employment, graduates of universities in Baguio like the University of Baguio and Saint Louis University passed if not topped the test.

He said their counterparts in Dagupan become pathetic- thanks but no thanks to their diploma mill education.

Mrs. Josephine Bahul, chief of Media Affairs of UB, told me recently that her college had 13 thousand enrollees last semester – a far cry to the 4000 to 7000 student population of every university and a major college in Dagupan. She continued that SLU has 23 thousand enrollees. UB and SLU are the dominant tertiary schools in Northern Luzon.

But it did not stop the school management runs by the Bautista to soar to another level. It did not stop foraying particularly in Pangasinan by telling all and sundry in the humongous province what quality education the mountain-based academe offers.

She told me that the bulk of the clients of UB hailed from Pangasinan – the biggest province even to the combined provinces of the two Ilocos and La Union all based in Region 1.

“We see to it that UB is felt through our aggressive advertisement there”.

***

Going back to the mall official, he disclosed to me that if people in Pangasinan have money they would rather send their children to universities in Baguio that reciprocate the worth of their hard earned monies with much better service and chances for their children to pass the government-sanctioned board examinations .

“Colleges and universities in Dagupan City stink”, he told me in whisper.

(You can read my selected intriguing but thought-provoking columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com).

Robinsons Mall to open in December in Calasiao

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

CALASIAO- The mayor of this burgeoning first-class town said that giant mall Robinsons will open shop this coming December.

Mayor Mark Roy Macanlalay said a representative of Robinsons Land Corporation, the mother unit of the mammoth mall, said that stalls there are almost completed.

“Kumpleto na daw iyong stalls at iyon ang gusto nilang ihanda para sa mga taga-Pangasinan itong pag-sapit ng pasko sa December,” he stressed.

He also said that the representative of Robinsons has some talked with the owner of Dagupena Restaurant on the ongoing construction of the retail store that caused some cracks on the concrete parts of the famous restaurant.

The mayor said that even the nearby newly opened swanky Don Armando’s Restaurant suffered the same predicament.

“Na-experienced din nila iyon. Pero, ganoon talaga part ng pagpapatayo ng building”.

Meanwhile, Macanlalay said that the 40% share of this town from the increased of the Real Property Tax that was passed by the Provincial Board would be used to the operation and maintenance of public schools, construction and repair of school buildings, facilities and equipment, educational research, purchase of books and periodicals, and sports development as determined and approved by the local school board.

“Ang plano natin doon sa pagdagdag ng pag-ta-as ng collection natin, dadagdagan natin ang honorarium ng ating contractual sa school. We are only giving the P1,500. Dinagdagan ko siya, ginawa ko siyang mas malaki.Sabi ko siguro by next year, ganoon din the number of  beneficiaries sa ating scholarship program dito sa municipio na meron tayong scholars, who are receiving P5000”.

He continued that he mulls to increase the number of his 200 scholars in college.

He said he presently appropriates P2 million for the 200 scholars who availed annually a P5 thousand a year subsidy.

“Wala silang failing grade, or Incomplete subject,” he declared as a condition for this town’s scholarship.

He said each scholar could take any courses anywhere as long as he/she maintains a passing grade.

He said disclosed too that the proceeds he got from the P2 million beauty popularity contest “Miss Calasiao” and the P500 thousand donations from the Senor Tesoro Association would be used to buttress the P10 million beautification of this town’s plaza.

He said the eye-catching clean plaza complements the new P60 million municipal halls dubbed as one of the best municipal hall in Pangasinan.

“This would be one of the best plazas in the province,” Macanlalay quipped in Tagalog.

Cremation center for drug pushers- Sec. Villar

Dangerous Drugs Board chief Antonio "Bebot" Villar  (right)  in a tête-à-tête with the author after he spoke at the Kabataan Kontra Druga (Youth against illegal Drugs)recently in Dagupan City.

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY- The head of the Dangerous Drugs Board declared that if there is a rehabilitation center for illegal drug user, there should also be a cremation center for pusher.

Secretary Antonio “Bebot” Villar told reporters  after the Barkada Kontra Droga program here that he was in favor of the restoration of the death penalty that was abolished by Congress and signed into law by former President Gloria M. Arroyo in June 24, 2006.

Villar, former head of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group during the Arroyo Administration, was concerned about the vulnerability of the huge coastlines of the country to the entry of illegal drug shipments.

“The coastline alone is the second longest coastline in the world. Pwede  ka mag-daong diyan. Last time may six  drums na may (illegal drug substance) nasa Dasol, naubusan ng gasoline. I don’t know kung saan dadalhin iyon. O, kaya talaga ang coastline natin dapat pabantayan. Kulang ang mga kapulisan natin. PDEA have 500 men, AIDSOT (Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operation)   marami,” he stressed.

He said the government should move now by providing proper equipment like helicopters and boats in a joint concerted effort soldiered by Philippine Navy and Coastguard, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency AIDSOT, and the National Bureau of Investigation to  guard the coastlines against the entry of illegal drugs.

He likewise deplored the pussyfooting of some of his enforcers.

“Sabi ni Bobby Opina (Director of PDEA in Region 1) kay Johnny Gutierrez director general (Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines), meron siyang oplan. Ewan ko kung anong Oplan. Iyung Oplan mo Leche Plan. That was five months ago pa. Hanggang ngayon wala.  I’m concerned kasi  lalawigan ko ito. Priority ko talaga ito.”

When Villar reigned as mayor of Sto. Tomas  in Pangasinan, it was not only known as an illegal drug-free town but was avoided like plague by drug malefactors.

Meanwhile, Villar warned mayors in Pangasinan that they would be facing charges at the Ombudsman for abetting the proliferation of Jai alai suspected as front for illegal numbered game jueteng.

He said the Writ of Preliminary Injunction filled by Meridian Vista Gaming Corporation at the Court of Appeals should be applied in Cagayan Valley and not nationwide.

He said Pangasinenses do not know how to play Jai-alai.

“Bakit may Jai Alai sa atin? That’s a front. But that is accepted already by the mayors (who) gave   their permit. I don’t know baka sila ang ma-Ombudsman, di ba?” he said.

Would Capitol still be sued on the amended RPT?

Senior Board Member Von Mark Mendoza, a last termer dad and groomed to run either for congress or the mayoralty of Lingayen, explained to me his plan and of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan on the amendments of the rates of the acrimonious Real Proper known as Provincial Ordinance No. 12-2011 that was hurriedly passed last May 16, 2011.
He said if a tax payer used to pay P1000 in the past he is supposed to pay P2000 (P1000 old-rate plus P1000 additional 100% increased) this year. But the Board will mitigate this by billing only the taxpayer 50% (P1000) for 2011, 75% (P1, 500), and 100% (P2000) for 2013.
Because Von Mark kept calling me sir, and telling all the media men in that press conference in Jollibee-Lucao, Dagupan City that he should be under my tutelage in political science when I was a professor at Lyceum, I forego to do a flushing knockout of Manny Pacquiao against his justifications because of his down-to-earth demeanor. Hereunder are my supposed refutations to BM Mendoza:
1)      His  P2000 example  does not represent the reality of the Realty Tax that soared at an average of 300% all over the province;
2)      The old rate of P1000 became P4000 (P1000 plus 300% or P3000 equals P4000);
3)      This means First Year would be P2000, Second Year, P3000, and Third Year, P4000;
4)      He and the Board amendment’s plan is still a kick on the groin of the hoi-polloi who used to pay in the hypothetical P1000;
5)     With economic crises here and abroad gnawing the budgets of the already hard-ups Pangasinenses, I do not know if would-be court litigants farmers’ party Abono, Integrated Bar of the Philippines- Pangasinan Chapter,  brokers’ organizations, and others would forego their plan to sue Capitol.
(Oh, Abono Party boss Sendong So reacted on my computation after he reads this column at our website. He text me that if 300% is the averaged increased from BM Mendoza’s P1000 then it should be P3000. He said the 50% in the first year is P1, 500, second year is P2, 250, and third year is P3000. He also said that if RPT runs to 700% in some areas, the 50% is p3, 500 for first year, P5, 250 for the second year, and P7000 for the third year.)
On the answer of Von Mark that the Capitol did not blink because of the public uproar led by former Congressman Mark Cojuangco, Abono Party-list chair Rosendo So, this paper, and the scathing TV ads that continue to snap-out the chances of the governor, and the members of the provincial Board, well that was his opinion.
“The governor is a principled man. He went head on with the unpopular like those fish pens where he collided with their owners…” he told us.
The mere fact the governor asked the SP to amend was understood that he succumbed to pressures from different sectors.
Fish pen owners are few. Tax payers of the RPT are everywhere. The former can be tolerated; the latter can not because they can change the electoral landscapes.
***
A staff member of Vice Governor Ferdie Calimlim said I should not have included her patron in my April 10, 2011 column “Don’t Re-Elect SP Members.”
Somebody said I should not include Board Member Bosyong Humilde and Calimlim because they were not at the SP when the infamous Ordinance 146-2010 was voted on by the provincial dads.
I should not have included these two honorable men had I construed their silence and absence not as an implied act of agreeing to the part and parcel of the law. There was deafening silence from them from the time the ordinance was ‘railroaded” in the only two deliberations (where the SP leadership only settled for resource speakers from the Bureau of Internal Revenue and associations of brokers, and not the bigger organizations from the farmers) up to the time Governor Amado T. Espino signed the dotted lines on December 10, 2010.
(You can read my selected intriguing but thought-provoking columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com).

College Education Assistance in Pangasinan

.  The provincial government through the Provincial Scholarship Fund Board (PSFB) (left photo) facilitates the scholarship examination to some 569 incoming first year college students (right photo) from various towns and cities of the province last May 11 simultaneously held at Don Juan Macaraeg National High School in Binalonan and Pangasinan National High School in Lingayen.  Each deserving student will receive a cheque worth P7,000 every semester.  Exam results will be announced on May 30.  (PIO Photo by Bob Sison)

BOC, DOF pasado kontra smuggling

BINIGYAN kamakailan ng domestic manufacturers ng ating bansa ng pasadong marka ang bagong liderato ng Bureau of Customs (BOC) at Department of Finance (DOF) sa kampanya ng dalawang ahensya laban sa smuggling.
Paliwanag ng aking partner na si Jesus L. Arranza, chairman ng Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI), na satisfied ang kanilang grupo sa performance ng bagong pamunuan ng BOC at DOF kahit pa hindi lahat ng kanilang kahilingan at napag-usapan ay naipatupad.
Ito ang resulta ng common assessment na inilabas ng mga miyembro ng FPI sa isinagawang general membership meeting kung saan kanilang pinag-aralan at tinimbang ang performance ng BOC base sa rekomendasyon na isinumite ng mga domestic manufacturers sa BOC at DOF noong 1st Anti-Smuggling Summit ng nakaraang Nobyembre, 2010.
Particular na pinuri ni partner Jess si Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez sa pagbibigay n’ya ng regular na  “twice a month meeting” sa FPI upang magbigay ng updates at pakinggan ang kanilang mga hinaing.
Pumayag din si Alvarez sa kasunduan katuwang ang FPI na umaayon sa pagtalaga ng industry technical experts na ngayon ay tumutulong na sa mga tauhan ng BOC sa pagsawata sa technical smuggling.
Kaya nga naalarma din ang mga grupo na bumubuo sa ating lokal na industriya nang lumabas ang balita na may nagsampa ng kasong graft laban kina Secretary Purisima, Undersecretary Guillermo Parayno at Commissioner Alvarez hinggil daw sa hindi nila napahintong importasyon ng ukay-ukay.
Kagaya ng aking sinabi ay gayon din ang pananaw ng aking partner na Jess, ang kasong isinampa ay mukhang kagagawan ng mga smugglers para matigil ang ginagawang kampanya ng BOC at FPI laban sa technical smuggling.
Napag-alaman pa natin na ang mga complainant sa naturang kaso ay nagpakilala raw na mga personnel ng BOC ngunit nang ito’y i-verify sa roster of personnel  ng ahensya, walang lumabas na ganung pangalan.
Katulad ng sinabi ko ay bogus ang kasong isinampa laban sa tatlong opisyal. Kaya tama lamang ang sinabi ni partner Jess na “If they are really sincere, they should come out in the open.  The FPI, during the time of Commissioner Napoleon Morales, even held press conferences to air our complaint of rampant smuggling. They should do the same!”
Kaya kung may dapat daw kasuhan sa pagdami ng ukay-ukay ay dapat si Morales ’yun.
Tama ang sinabi ng aking partner dahil sandamakmak na ukay-ukay ang nahuli ng PASG dati. May mga broker, importer at tauhan ng BOC kaming kinasuhan laban sa pag-aangkat ng ukay-ukay ngunit hanggang ngayon ay hindi pa ito dinidinig. Kagaya din sa kaso na isinampa namin kay Commissioner Morales, hanggang ngayon ay natutulog pa rin!
Nagtataka nga si partner Jess kung bakit ang mga kasong nabanggit ay isinampa sa bagong liderato ng DOF at BOC ganung alam naman natin na mahinang kaso na kung ikukumpara sa epektibong pamamaraang ginagamit ngayon ng bagong pamunuan ng BOC sa pakikipagtulungan ng FPI.
Sa bagong memorandum of agreement (MOA) na nilagdaan ng BOC at FPI, mas naging malalim at epektibo ang koordinasyon sa pagitan ng mga pribadong sektor at gobyerno bilang nangunguna sa pagpapababa ng smuggling activities kabilang na ang pag-aangkat ng ukay-ukay.
* * *
Ang inyong lingkod ay sumasang-ayon at sumusuporta sa ipinag-utos ni P-Noy na nagbabawal sa pagbibigay ng “clemency” o “pardon” sa mga convicted drug offenders at rapist.
Tama lamang ito upang hindi na pamarisan ng lipunan ang mga nagtutulak ng droga at rapists.  Isang malakas na senyales ito na dapat  tumatak sa isip ng ating mga kababayan.
Ang mga nagtutulak ng droga ay hindi dapat at hindi nababagay na bigyan ng “clemency” ng Presidente dahil marami silang kabataan, pamilya at buhay na  sinisira.
Kailangang gumaya tayo sa ibang bansa na maghigpit sa batas at sa pagpapatupad nito upang makita ng ating mga kababayan na talagang seryoso tayo sa kampanya laban sa salot na droga.
Kapag magpapakita kasi tayo ng awa at lambot sa pagpapatupad ng ating batas ay hindi titigil ang mga tulak ng droga sa ating bansa.
Dapat ngayon pa lamang ay magpakita na tayo ng kamay na bakal sa mga pusher na iyan!  Dapat ipakita natin sa kanila na wala silang puwang sa ating komunidad! Dapat magkaisa tayong lahat upang isuplong at ipahuli ang lahat ng tulak ng droga sa ating bansa!
Ito ay ilan lamang sa mga paraan upang maabot natin ang ating mithiing drug-free Philippines para sa ating pamilya at sa mga susunod pang henerasyon.
Kung ako lang ang masusunod, sana ay maibalik na rin ang “death penalty” upang nang sa ganun ay magkaroon na rin ng takot ang mga batikang tulak ng droga, rapist at mamamatay-tao!
Kahit milyun-milyong kilo ng droga ang mahuli araw-araw, balewala sa mga nahuhuling tulak kasi nga hanggang habambuhay na pagkakakulong lamang ang sintensya!
Kung sa mga nag-aabuso ng bawal na gamot ay may rehabilitation center tayo, dapat magkaroon na rin ng “crematorium” para sa mga pusakal na tulak ng droga!