Urdaneta, bagsakan ng imported na sibuyas?

Ni Sec. Antonio "Bebot' Villar, Jr.

 Sec.., Dangerous Drugs Board

UNA sa lahat, nakikiisa tayo sa pag-sariwa sa ala-ala ng ating mga yumaong mahal sa buhay. Tandaan natin na ang All Saints’ Day ay paggunita sa kanilang naging buhay at hindi sa kanilang pagpanaw. Hindi tayo dapat maging malungkot dahil hindi na natin sila kapiling, sa halip dapat tayong matuwa at minsan sila’y ating nakasama at naging bahagi ng ating buhay.

Sabi nga ng matatanda, una-una lang ’yan. Ito’y nangangahulugan na sa pagdating ng takdang panahon, lahat tayo ay magkakasama muli sa buhay na walang hanggan. Subalit habang nandidito tayo sa mundo, sikapin nating mamuhay nang wasto at tumahak sa tuwid na daan.

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May reklamo tayong natanggap na may nagaganap umanong bagsakan ng konte-container na imported na sibuyas sa Urdaneta City? At ito ay sa mismong likod ng simbahan ng Urdaneta City na katabi ng cattle market!

Kawawa naman ang mga local producers lalo na sa Nueva Ecija dahil tiyak na malulugi sila kunghindi nila kayang sabayan ang presyo nito dahil sa balitang kalat na kalat na ito sa merkado.

Sa totoo lang, itong imported na sibuyas ang isa sa madalas naming bantayan at hulihin noong panahon ng PASG dahil alam ko ang epekto nito sa ating mga local producers.

Ang pagbabantay kasi ng PASG noon ang isang pinasasalamatan ng ating mga local producerskung kaya’t  sila rin ang unang nalungkot nang ito ay inabolished.

Tinatawagan natin ng pansin ang Bureau of Customs tungkol dito. May lisensya na ba ang importer nito para magpakalat ng kanilang imported na sibuyas sa merkado? Lumalaki na rin ba ang tara rito??  

Ganun din ang Mayor ng Urdaneta City, baka hindi pa nakakarating sa pandinig ninyo ang pagdami ng imported na sibuyas sa inyong lugar. Pakitulungan na po ang Bureau of Customs na matigil ang iligal na pagbabagsak ng imported na sibuyas sa lugar ninyo para na rin sa kapakanan ng ating mga kababayang magsi-sibuyas.

Hingan na rin natin ng tulong si Col. Fidel Drapis! Paki-bantayan na rin ang mga sibuyas na ito kung may permit na talaga para kumalat. Lantaran na raw kasi ang bagsakan at kawawa naman ang mga local producers!

Hindi ito ang paraan ng pagtahak sa tuwid na landas ni P-Noy, sa halip ito ay diretsong pagkitil sa ating mga kababayang namumuhunan para sa ating sariling pangkabuhayan.

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Apat na tanod naman mula sa Barangay Pasil, Cebu City ang nahaharap sa pagkakasibak sa tungkulin at posibleng pagkakakulong matapos mag-positibo sa shabu! 

Nahuli ang apat na itlog sa isang surprise drug test na isinagawa ng City Office for Substance Abuse Prevention (COSAP). Ang nasabing drug testing ay hiniling mismo ni Pasil Bgy. Chairwoman Jocelyn Almacen.

Hindi pa kinilala ang apat na tanod dahil muling isinumite sa PNP Crime Laboratory ang kanilang urine samples para sa kumpirmasyon. Ayon kay Chairwoman Almacen, hindi siya nagulat at mayroon mga nag-positibo sa droga sa kanyang mga tauhan dahil aminado siya na talamak ang iligal na droga sa kanyang nasasakupan.

Hanga tayo sa kapitana dahil sa halip na itago niya ang problema sa kanilang lugar, siya pa ang gumawa ng paraan upang ito’y mailantad. Sadyang hindi natin kasi maso-solusyunan ang isang problema kung hindi natin aaminin na mayroon tayong problema!

Ganito na po kalala ang problema ng droga sa ating lipunan! Kaya’t natutuwa ako sa tapang ni Kapitana Almacen. Sana ay pamarisan siya ng kanyang kapwa barangay chairmen upang maging makatotohanan ang kanilang sinumpaang pagtulong sa bayan at patuloy na magtiwala ang ating mga kababayan!

Keep up the good work, Chairwoman Almacen!

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Kung ating babalikan ang mga balita at kasong droga, mapapansin na karaniwang nasasangkot ay galing sa mahihirap na pamilya. Bakit kaya?

Sa mahirap na pamilya kasi makikita ang maraming kakulangan sa buhay na maaaring ma-solusyonan ng pera kahit galing sa masamang paraan! 

Lantaran na ang paggamit sa mga kababayan nating walang trabaho upang magtulak ng bawal na droga kapalit ng malaking halaga. Mas malaking halaga naman ang kapalit kung maging drug courier sa ibang bansa.

Tumataas na rin ang bilang ng mga kababaihang sangkot sa pagtutulak ng droga sa halip na mag-alaga ng mga anak at tumulong sa pamilya!

Hindi natin masisisi ang “kumakapit sa patalim” nating kababayan ngunit uulitin natin na hindi maaaring maging katumbas ng buhay ang pera lalo na kung ito ay galing sa bawal na droga!

Ginagamit ng sindikato ang pagiging inosente, kakulangan sa kaalaman o kawalan ng edukasyon at kahirapan ng tao upang lokohin at ilubog sa mas malalim na problema ang kanilang biktima.

Hindi sagabal ang pagiging mahirap para mabuhay ng marangal at tahimik. Maraming puwedeng pagkakitaan na makatutulong sa pamilya. Bakit ba ang nagtitinda ng sigarilyo at basahan sa kalsada, nakikipag-patintero sa mga sasakyan at kay kamatayan?

Dahil gusto nilang mabuhay ng patas at tahimik kahit naghihirap! Aanhin mo naman ang maraming pera kung nakakulong ka naman ng habang-buhay o ’di kaya ay may hatol na kamatayan sa ibang bansa?

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Sayang at wala ng parusang kamatayan sa ating bansa kung kaya’t patuloy tayong ginagawang transit point ng iligal na droga ng mga international syndicates. 

Gustong-gusto nila dito sa atin dahil kahit paulit-ulit silang mahuli at bilyong halaga ng droga ang mahuli sa kanila ay bale-wala lamang kasi nga habang-buhay na pagkakulong lamang ang pinakamabigat na parusa!

Minsan nga, kung sinusuwerte pa ang mga damuho, humihina pa ang kaso na nagiging dahilan para ma-dismiss at mapalaya sila! At ang nakakagulat, ibabalita na lamang na ang suspek ay nawawala o nakalabas na ng bansa!

Bukod pa rito, alam nila na ang ating alagad ng batas ay nababayaran kapalit ng kaunting pabor lalo na sa iligal na droga na madaling pagkakitaan. 

Sana lang dumating ang panahon kung kailan ang ating otoridad ay gagawa ng kanilang tungkulin ng buong katapatan nang sa ganoon ay mabawasan na ang nasasayang na buhay at panahon.

(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)

OFWs perks up economy in Malasiqui

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

MALASIQUI- Overseas Filipino Workers serve as the sparkplug that drives the economy of this first class town.

According to data from the office of Mayor Armando Domantay the Poblacion or town center is recently experiencing high commercial growth spurred mainly by high consumer spending generated by increase in family incomes attributable to earning of OFWs.

The data continued that the estimate of OFW population from the town compared to the percentage of adult labor force is as much as 22 percent – one of the highest rates in the Philippines.

“The OFW phenomenon is so significant that almost all households have at least one member working outside of the country,”  stressed by a municipal official.

 Under the business friendly Domantay Administration, investors sprouted like mushrooms here.

These business establishments resulted in innumerable commercial establishments that give different services like rural and thrift banks, retail and wholesale establishments, manufacturing industries, hotels and restaurants, gasoline stations, construction supplies, social services, electric company, cable television facility, water system, water refilling and purifying stations, salons, drug stores, internet café, construction firms – as well as educational institutions –have risen in the area.

R1MC eclipses private hospitals in terms of equipment

Extreme Right is Rep. Gina de Venecia (4th District, Pangasinan), the main benefactor of the hospital, posing for posterity with former President Fidel V. Ramos and husband former Speaker Joe de Venecia

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY –Dr. Roland Mejia would not say that Region 1 Medical Center is at par with top private hospitals in this city, but said some of the medical equipment of his hospital could not be found  in private hospitals.

Dr. Mejia cited for one the Apheresis method in the state-of-the-art laboratory.

“The method  is used during the dengue season. During blood transfusion the Apheresis machine is used. It is only in Region 1 that has that kind of machine, and the platelet separator. Tayo lang meron noon.”

He said the only equipment that the government hospital lacked is the 64 slice CT scan.

“But next year, we will be given the 16 slice CT scan which has provision of 64 augments for 64 slices,” he stressed.

Mejia said that there are mostly 400 indigent patients that patronize the hospitals everyday.

He proudly stated that R1MCs Out –Patient- Department and the Emergency Room are fully air-conditioned.

Just like all modern hospitals in Manila, he said the medical laboratory will be equipped by automatic ticketing machine that is run by a computer.

Also set for expansion are the operating room and a four-level parking area. Mejia said the operating room will be transformed from five beds to 16 beds in five-year period.

R1MC is geared to be transformed to a 600-bed hospital from its present 300-bed. The bill filed by Rep. Gina de Venecia (4th District, Pangasinan), the main benefactor of the hospital, has already been approved by the two Houses of Congress.

With the bill becoming a law, R1MC would be the biggest government runs hospital outside Metro Manila.

Mejia hopes that the appropriation of the hospital’s bed expansion would be included in the 2012 national budget.

Batang Muslim ginagamit ng drug pusher sa Dagupan

Ni Sec. Antonio "Bebo" Villar, Jr.

Chairman, Dangerous Drugs Board

MUKHANG nataranta yata ang hepe ng Dagupan City, Pangasinan nang tawagan siya ni Police Chief Supt. Arturo Cacdac Jr., head ng Philippine National Police Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group (PNP-AIDSOTF), noong nakaraang Martes upang alamin ang tunay na sitwasyon ng iligal na droga sa nasabing lugar.

May nakarating kasing ulat kay General Cacdac at pati sa inyong lingkod, tungkol sa talamak na bentahan ng droga sa Sitio Silungan, Bgy. Bonuan Binloc, Dagupan City.

Isang malaking hamon din ito sa akin bagamat policy-making body lang ang Dangerous Drugs Board na aking pinapamunuan. Ito’y sa kadahilanang sariling probinsya ko ang Pangasinan!

Alam ko ring pagtutuunan din ito ng pansin ni General Cacdac sapagkat naging provincial director din siya sa Pangasinan at sigurado akong napamahal din sa kanya ang Pangasinan.

Sa ipinadalang report ni Supt. Romeo Caramat Jr., hepe ng Dagupan, sa inyong lingkod, at malamang may kopya rin nito si Gen. Cacdac, sinabi nyang nasa “manageable level” at hindi “rampant” gaya nang napapabalita, ang problema sa droga sa Dagupan.

Sana nga totoo ito. Pero ito’y nangangailangan nang masusing validation mula sa Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) at ang AIDSOTG na pawang mga implementing government entities tungkol sa mga batas sa droga.

Naging hepe rin siya sa bayan kong Sto. Tomas noong ako ay mayor pa.

Subalit, ang laman ng kanyang report ay nangangailanagn talaga nang malalimang pag-aaral bago tayo maniwala. Malaliman na kasing lalim nang hiwaga ng mga naaakusahang Muslim na nakatira sa nasabing lugar na diumano’y nasa likod ng pagbebenta ng iligal na droga.

Matagal na rin nating naririnig ang balitang ito kaya nga noon pa man ay gusto ko nang tuldukan na ng mga law enforcement agencies natin ang problemang ito sa anomang paraang legal.

Mas nababahala nga ako sa balitang mga menor-de-edad ang ginagamit na drug courier sa Sitio Silungan!

Papurihan din natin si Caramat dahil sa isinagawa niyang buy-bust operation noong nakaraang Linggo at nahuli nila ang isang 12-years old na batang Muslim, tubong Marawi City , na taga-abot ng droga sa isang pulis na posuer-buyer at mga parokyano ng sindikato nila!

Sa imbestigasyon na isinagawa ni Caramat, ang naturang bata ay nagtatrabaho sa apat na drug pushers sa Dagupan.

Meron pang mga walo hanggang siyam na kagaya niyang menor de edad na ginagamit din bilang drug courier ng anim na kilalang drug pushers ng Dagupan.

Ito ang hirap sa Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act 2006 kung saan ang mga batang 15 taong gulang pababa ay hindi puwedeng kasuhan. Kaya patuloy silang ginagamit ng mga sindikato. Kawawang mga bata!

Balik tayo sa dating tanong. Bakit nga ba hindi matigil-tigil ang drug problem sa nasabing lugar?

Ito ang dapat na kalkalin ng mga otoridad kung bakit nga ba at sa magkanong dahilan kaya?

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Marami na ring nakakarating na feedback sa akin tungkol sa Urdaneta City.

Gusto kong papurihan si Mayor Boboom kung kalinisan ang pag-uusapan sapagkat napaka- ayos talaga ng Urdaneta sa kasalukuyan sa pamumuno ni Mayor Boboom.

Halos wala kang makikitang upos ng sigarilyo o balat ng kendi, o mga plastic bag na nakakalat sa daan. Napakalinis talaga.

Balita ko, malaki na rin ang nakokolekta ng syudad na multa mula sa mga violators. Walang sinasanto si Mayor Boboom. ’Yan ang dapat!

May paninindigan, ’di tulad ng ibang lider na sobrang lambot ang pamamalakad at mukhang walang sinseridad ang mga binibitiwang salita.

Sa panahon ngayon kasi, isang malaking kasalanan sa tao ang magpakita ng kahinaan sa pamumuno.

Tungkol naman sa problema sa kalsada ng nasabi ring syudad, alam kong naging malaking perhuwisyo ito sa mga commuters na dumadaan sa highway ng Urdaneta papuntang Norte at pabalik sa Manila dahil sa ginagawang kalsada ng Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Bilis-bilisan naman sana ng DPWH ang kanilang trabaho para naman hindi mapagbintangan si Mayor Boboom ng kapabayaan sa sobrang inconvenience ng mga pasahero!

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May natanggap din akong impormasyon na sa North Fairview Subdivision, Quezon City, kung saan may Muslim community din sa loob nito ay balitang gumagamit ng mga menor-de-edad bilang courier sa pagbebenta ng bawal na droga.

Hindi ko lang alam kung ang balitang ito ay luma na o sadyang bina-bale-wala lamang ng otoridad? Hindi naman kasi nakatago ang subdivision na ito para hindi mangamoy ang balita kung totoo ang inireport sa atin.

Mas maganda siguro na mabigyang-pansin ang lugar na ito upang malaman natin ang katotohanan. Hindi tayo galit sa ating mga kapatid na Muslim. Ang sa atin lang ay gusto nating masawata agad ang problema kung meron man!

Tawagan na natin ng pansin ang PDEA at PNP-AIDSOTF tungkol dito. Paki-tingnan na ang katotohanan ng balitang ito!

(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)

Newsmen urged to fight ‘harassment’

By Ruel Camba

DAGUPAN CITY—“They should stop harassing the media who are just doing their job of reporting the news and digging out the truth.”

Businessman and civic leader Rosendo So issued the call in a radio interview over the weekend, after he was informed that three of his friends in the local media have been sued for libel by a member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

SP Member Alfonso Bince Jr. last week filed a libel suit against Yolanda Sotelo, Brando Cortez, Mortz Ortigoza, and one John Doe.

Sotelo, Cortez and Ortigoza are the publisher, editor and columnist, respectively, of Northern Watch, a local newsweekly based in Dagupan City.

So, an engineer and founding chairman of the Abono Partylist, has been presumed to be the John Doe in the complaint.

However, So categorically denied the report, stressing that he does not own the paper and that he was just one of the many advertisers of the said newspaper.

“Marami din akong advertisements sa TV, sa radio at iba pang newspapers. Ibig din bang sabihin na akin ang mga ‘yon?” he said.

Bince’s libel suit stemmed from a column item of Ortigoza dated July 24, 2011 in which he quoted SP Member Danilo Uy as telling him (Ortigoza) and several other local newsmen that most members of the provincial board were receiving P40,000 monthly payola from jueteng.

“BM Uy for several times has been telling me and some media colleagues with bravado that he did not receive even a single centavo from jueteng intended monthly for the members of the SP,” Ortigoza said.

Engr. So said that in his past conversations with Uy, he also heard the same story.

However, Uy denied ever telling Ortigoza and other newsmen that the SP members received jueteng payolas.

Ortigoza said he was standing by his story.

“I did not concoct the statement of BM Uy. There were media men and non-media men who already went public by corroborating what I exposed that they, too, heard Uy as saying that most of his colleagues were recipients of the illegal number game,” he said.

Ortigoza said that in his column, he did not directly mention Bince as recipient of jueteng payola.

He said that he only mentioned the name of Bince as the one “commenting adversely on the surge of Loterya ng Bayan (LNB),” adding that the provincial solon even went further as to tag LNB as the “Loterya ng Mayayaman.”

Ortigoza said that he did not specifically named Bince as beneficiary of jueteng payola in his column, rather he posed the question, “Is the absence of payola the reason that members of the august body critical of LNB?”

However, Bince insisted that he was the one being mentioned as among those benefitting from the operation of jueteng in the province, which he vehemently denied, stressing that the column article “tends to cause his dishonor, discredit, and contempt from his constituents in the 6^th congressional district….and in the entire province and all possible readers of Northern Watch, who by reason of which has suffered mental anguish and wounded feelings.”

Ortigoza said that he wrote his column “in good faith” and was guided by his “patriotic duty to unmask the hypocrisy of some public officials who are critical of the Loterya ng Bayan but not to jueteng.”

Ortigoza rallied his media colleagues “to resist any form of harassment against any member of the local media who are out to ferret out the truth.”

“In the pursuit of our calling, may we be guided by an adage from the brilliant Edmund Burke who said, ‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing,’” he said.

Bince filed the case before the prosecutor’s office in Rosales town where he resides.

In a radio interview, Bince said he has asked his brother Noel, currently the acting provincial prosecutor,  to inhibit himself from the prosecution of the case.

The Anatomy of Corruption in Dredging Operation

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

I wrote an article before how corrupt government officials pocketed as much as 40 to 60 percent from the funds appropriated on their dredging operation project of a lake or a river.
It means up to P6 million scarce government monies went to the pocket of these vultures if a certain project cost P10 million.
A veteran contractor whose clients are senators, congressmen, Departments of Public Works & Highway and Agriculture, and the National Irrigation Authority told me that “sounding” is of no value if the implementer is corrupt government officials.
“Sounding” is a gauge using a rod to know how deep the river and lake are from the water bed up to the surface before and after the dredging operation, my source told me.
It means the Commission on Audit (COA) particularly would know the volume of silts that have been taken by the backhoe on a barge or a dredging machine in a certain area of a river or lake.
“A representative of the COA and field engineers of the department or agency concern measure it vertically as a requisite of a pre-audit .”
He deplores how these people usually concoct an imagined gauge in a post audit because the same government officials including the private sub-contractors were in cahoots with each other at the expense of the people’s monies.
A representative from the COA who is assigned in a notoriously corrupt public work’s office in the region told me that pre-audit of a dredging operation has been stopped a long time ago.
“Wala na iyang pre-audit. Matagal ng tinangal iyan as far as our office is concerned.”
Now I know why Transparency International ranked the Philippines as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
The Berlin based anti-corruption outfit ranks the Philippines 134th in a list of 176 countries arranged according to how bad the level of corruption in government is globally perceived to be last year.
***

Dr. Danny Sison, Assistant Superintendent of the Department of Education in Pangasinan- 1 and head of its Bids & Award Committee (BAC) would not entertain media men in his office recently who want to ask him some questions why a DepEd funded school building sans paint, toilet, ceiling, to name a few cost P750 thousand while its counterpart building with all the amenities the former lacks costs only P350,000.
According to my source, Sison would immediately entertain if the visitors in his office are contractors and suppliers.***

Who is this judge who interceded for the downgrading of a case filed by the Lingayen police against a certain Dr. Andico — a professor of the Pangasinan State University?
According to a source, Andico was arrested and locked-up by the police because of illegal possession of a 9mm pistol in Andrea Beer house in Lingayen last October 6.
“He should be charged with Illegal Possession of Firearm and not Alarm and Scandal,” my source whispered to me.
Alarm & Scandal carries either a mere penalty or fine of Arresto Menor (1 day to 30 days imprisonment) or 200 pesos.
Illegal Possession of Firearm metes a penalty and fine of prision correctional in its maximum period ( up to 6 years in prison) and a fine of not less that Fifteen Thousand pesos(P15,000.00) as based on the amended Republic Act No. 8294.
***Eng.Reynaldo Mencias, Project Manager of the multi-billion pesos funded Agno River Integrated Irrigation Project (ARRIP), was on hot seat recently in a modified program of ABS-CBN – Dagupan City.
I asked him via phone-patch if it was true that government offices like Department of Public Works & Highway, National Irrigation Authority, Department of Agriculture, and others forego the pre-audit by the Commission on Audit of “sounding ( a gauge using a rod to know how deep the river and lake are from the water bed up to the surface before and after the dredging)” every time there is a dredging operation.
“Yes, there was a circular that pre-audit for dredging has been abolished,” he said.
Susmariosep, without a pre-audit of heavily silted river that needs dredging, vultures in Congress and bigwigs of those government offices I mentioned could feast more because of the loot they can get from the dredge.
As you know corruption at a dredging operation reached as much as 60 percent.
It means P6 million out of the P10 Million budget goes to the pocket of grafters.
Now I know why some towns and cities are flooded every time there is a drizzle or typhoon.
(Send comments to totomortz@yahoo.com)