Merrera assails P55M loan of Binmaley

Mayor Cerezo (3rd from left) and Vice Mayor Merrera (extreme right) meet dignitaries

BINMALEY – The vice mayor of this largest voting town in the 2^nd congressional district of Pangasinan was not sold-out at the new P55 million loan entered with the Land Bank of the Philippines by the administration of Mayor Lorenzo Cerezo .

Vice Mayor Pedro A. Merrera reasoned that this town still pays the amortization of the P36 million loan contracted by former Mayor Samuel Rosario while the proceeds of the new P55 million loan goes to projects that are not income generating.

“Because how can we pay the P55 million if those projects are not income generating? As a businessman, I know that before you make a loan, you envision that your business grows up,” he stressed.

One of the projects envisioned by the Cerezo administration is the P23 million auditoriums in spite of the presence of the gymnasium built by the preceding administration.

The vice mayor said Mayor Cerezo plans to use the edifice as parking area for motorized trikes.

Mererra said the gymnasium should bode well if the mayor here leases some of its area to 711 retail store.

“I told him I will go with it. If that would not be P1.6 million I will be against it”.

He deplored the absence of transparency on the Cerezo administration and the councilors in the Sangguniang Bayan (town council) on the details how the projects from the P55 million loan would be implemented.

“Iyong hinihingi kong transparency hindi nila ibinibigay sa akin. Kasi nga noong pinag-uusapan ang P55 milion I told them when we do the ratification we will put na sana within a period of one month they submit a project- document on the proposed projects,” he averred.

He said despite his opposition to the loan, all the members of the august chamber including those “stalwarts” who are allied with former mayor Rosario voted for it.

Merrera and Rosario are rumored to slug it out with Cerezo incase he seeks his reelection for the mayoralty next year (Mortz C. Ortigoza).

Mandapat advises BSL how to spike tax collection

Mayor Benjie S. Lim

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VM Gorospe urges workers to sign their DTR honestly

Vice Mayor Onofre “Bong” Gorospe

Gay stunner’s family values earns him Festival Queen title

Kevin Balot

DAGUPAN CITY – His family-centeredness has won him the crown.

Pres. Aquino makes sure to attend Palarong Pambansa 2012

Lingayen - - President Benigno S. Aquino III, no less, will be the guest of honor during the opening ceremony of Palarong Pambansa 2012 on May 7 at the Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center (NRSCC) even as he is expected to strengthen sportsmanship and camaraderie among 10,000 delegates and spectators.

Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr presided over a meeting of the various working committees of the Palaro on April 25 at the NRSCC’s Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council Building to discuss salient concerns of the event.

Dagupan's vaunted majority now vanquished minority?

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

I have an opportunity to witness how Lent was practiced at San Fernando, Pampanga and the Holy shrine in Manaoag, Pangasinan.

In Pampanga I saw a drunk effeminate (gay or bakla in Filipino) praying loudly to a crucified “Jesus Christ” by asking the latter that somebody give him a branded T-back underwear.

Palarong Pambansa 2012 Goes Global

Lingayen- - -Palarong Pambansa 2012 will go global. This developed as Pangasinan, the host province of the country’s biggest sports event for the second time, launched the official website of this year’s games--- www.palarongpambansa2012.com with a unique package that will feature an 18-channel live streaming of all events. In the launching rites held April 26 at the Capitol Resort Hotel here, Provincial Administrator Rafael Baraan said that Pangasinan has ventured on a hi-tech Palaro to make the sporting event not just a benchmark of all future national games in terms of hosting but by making it the “most digital” ever. “This will give not just the Filipinos who live in different parts of the country but also those living abroad a chance to watch live a blow-by-blow account of the events,” he added. It will be recalled that Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. vowed to spearhead the conduct of an environment-friendly and hi-tech Palaro which include the move to go green and go global. Vanjie Padilla, Social Media Specialist, said that the live streaming venture is the country’s first attempt for Palarong Pambansa to reach a wider range of audience. “Those who have relatives who are playing in the national games need not go to the venue to watch since we are offering them the opportunity to monitor the various games online,” she noted. Padilla said that the audience can connect via smartphone (android, IOS, wi-fi enabled mobile phones) to monitor the games live. “Makikita po ang real time score at kapag di mapanood live pwede din syang i-replay,” she stressed. The Social Media Command Center (SMCC), which will be housed at the Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center (NRSCC) new building along with the Media Center, will be manned by IT personnel, online content writers, social media monitoring teams, video editors, bloggers and other related personnel, will take charge of the live streaming. The website, on the other hand, will have an interesting feature that will involve the audience all over the country to interact, cheer, share files, photos and videos through their favorite social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Linked In. Bill Velasco, Philippine Star columnist and Palaro national media coordinator, commended the preparation done by the province as he said that he has never seen any other event as equipped and as focused as what Pangasinan has been doing. “It is noteworthy that Pangasinan is charting a new direction for all future Palaro to follow. Certainly, this event will go down the history as all future games will surely pattern their hosting based on what will be achieved in this year’s games. I am all praises on the leadership of Gov. Espino. He has given so much concern on the welfare of the young Filipino athletes,” he said. Games for Palaro 2012 will kicked off on May 6 while the opening program will be held on May 7 with no-less than President Benigno S. Aquino III gracing the affair along with other national officials. (PIO/Ruby R. Bernardino)

Atty. Milo warns public vs. fixers in BIR

Atty. Beverly Milo

URDANETA CITY – The top honcho of the Bureau of Internal Revenue that covers eastern Pangasinan warns taxpayers not to transact business with BIR personnel who are not designated officer of the One Time Transaction (ONETT).

ONETT covers sales of real property, estate and donor’s taxes, and exchange of properties.

Atty. Beverly Milo, the chief of Revenue District Office-6, added that it includes also registration, closure, and opening of business.

She cited for instance Perla P. Mondina as not authorized to transact business with the paying public.

The RDO-6 boss, in a paid advertisement, said Mondina has been declared by her office as absent without leave (AWOL).

Atty. Milo said that RDO-6 is not liable incase taxpayers transact business with unauthorized BIR personnel, fixer, and other unscrupulous persons hanging in and out of the tax office.

Belen outsmarted by Lim and Mata?

Dagupan City Mayor Lim

Dagupan City vice mayor Fernandez

City Administrator Vlad Mata

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

Corruption, corruption!

 

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

Another expert on the nuances of the projects undertaken by the Department of Public Works & Highways reacted to my recent column on the failure of the DPWH, under the watch of Engr. Marietta Mendoza, chief of the Sub-Engineering District, to put a footbridge at the already closed- to- traffic Marusay Bridge in Calasiao, Pangasinan.

This caused consternation among commuters who are inconvenienced with a longer and expensive fare for a detour in Brgy. San Vicente before they reach the town center or Dagupan City and vice versa.

BM Rosario deplores inefficiency of school boards

BM Ming Rosario

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

LINGAYEN – The chairman of the committee on education of the Sangguniang Panglalawigan (SB) assailed the “inefficiency” of some local school board (LSB) in some towns and cities in Pangasinan.

SB Member Jeremy Agerico ”Ming” Rosario said based on the survey of the Department of Education, the LSB’s use of the one percent share from the real property tax is not being maximized.

Dagupan dads blame for stalling street dance contestts

Mayor Benjie S. Lim

Vice Mayor Fernandez

Dagupan City – It’s only several days to go before the staging of the much-anticipated Gilon-Gilon street dancing competition , a major component of the Bangus Festival 2012, but the contestants’ preparations have been stalled and their participation still hang in the balance.

Romero waits COA reports on payroll scam's yarns

Mayor Romero (extreme right) joins public officials in a boodle fight 

MANGALDAN – “The problem is in the hands of the COA (Commission on Audit),” tersely declared by this town’s mayor in relation to the payroll padding brouhaha that spawned to the media recently.

Mayor Herminio Romero said that the employee at the treasurer office has been relieved already of her task to disburse funds as investigation by the COA progresses.

Blame corruption why this town is poor?

BY MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

There are only few palatial mansions (just like those owned by actors in Hollywood) in the province that I can count with my fingers.
Each of these mansions costs millions of pesos.
One of them is located in an exterior village in a very poor town.
The imposing abode is owned by a sacked treasurer because of the bursar’s differences with the incumbent mayor.
The treasurer is identified as crony of the previous mayors who were responsible for the penury of the town.
The bursar was heard to lend monies to the poor farmers for them to buy fertilizers and pesticides. My source told me that it is the same treasurer who sold these stuffs to them.
Many suspected that the funds the bursar loaned to these hapless people were sourced from the town’s coffer.
When the incumbent mayor assumed office he was able to almost double the tax collection of the sorry town in one fiscal year compared to the last year of his predecessor.

PhilHealth expects complaints on premiums’ hike

By Mortz C. Ortigoza DAGUPAN CITY – The president and chief executive officer of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth) said the corporation expected grumblings among its members on the impending premium spikes from P300 to P500. Dr. Eduardo P. Banzon said he has anticipated the uneasiness among its paying beneficiaries but said this would eventually die down after his office explains to them why the increase was necessary. “Changes have their inherent complaint. My question is: Have we explained to the members the changes? Have we explained the increase on the premium? Have we explained the benefits?” he said in Filipino. He said the hike was needed if members expected expanded benefits. He disclosed the proposed P200 additional increase to the present P300 will be implemented after the expanded benefits are already in the pipeline. The plan is for the government-owned insurance corporation to provide additional health benefits, such as maintenance medications, out-patient treatments, and illness relief fund that covers catastrophic cases like heart surgery, breast cancer, and child cancer treatment, among others. The present P300 premium paid by a member every quarter entitled him and his immediate family of 23 medical and surgical procedures.

Corruptions at the Register of Deeds

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA Are heads of the Register of Deeds in Pangasinan patently corrupt? Lately, Commissioner Kim Henares of the Bureau of Internal Revenue exposed and charged in court Atty. Cecilia L. Munar head of the Register of Deeds of Dagupan for conspiring with land seller Humberto Cason Solis and land buyer Elma de la Cruz Versoza. Henares said Solis sold to Versoza an agricultural land in Binalonan, Pangasinan for x amount that were all listed on the Certificate Authorizing Registration (CAR) issued by Revenue District Office-6 of the BIR in Urdaneta City. This transaction was covered by Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT) 89201. But one among Solis and Versoza (or their adviser) was probably born a genius. Solis sold again to Versoza another 1,282-hectare commercial land in Dagupan City using the same TCT numbers by falsifying through replacement, alteration, addition and superimposition of details on the face of the document, among others, of the CAR issued by RDO-6 to look liked it was issued by RDO-4 based in Calasiao, Pangasinan. According to the BIR the “malefactors” paid tax payments only of Capital Gains Tax and Documentary Stamp Tax for P6,000 and P1,500 to P206,000 and P31,500, respectively.

Mark Cojuangco mulls senate post

By Mortz C. Ortigoza URDANETA CITY – Former fifth district Rep. Mark Cojuangco is thinking about joining the senatorial race next year. He said in case this pushes through, he would run under the family-affiliated Nationalist People’s Coalition. Cojuangco said it was no longer necessary to coalesce with the administration party’s Liberal Party. “NPC is NPC. We are already in coalition in the House with the Noynoy Aquino’s administration, so we are supportive and collaborative,” he said. Meanwhile, the former solon still advocates nuclear power as a source of electricity in the country. He explained however that he still is waiting for the official result of the investigation of the nuclear plants –in Fukushima, Japan after they were devastated by a tsunami in March 16, 2011.

BIR-Pangasinan upbeats on good collection with credit upgrades

CALASIAO – With the optimism felt by the Central Bank Governor that the Philippines gets a BBB upgrade for the Standard & Poor, the chief of the Bureau of Internal Revenue Central Pangasinan is upbeat that collection will be bullish for her coffer this year. “Yes, we will be much better financially and economically. Mas madami ang gustong mag-invest dito,” explained by Revenue District Office-4 chief Christine Cardona. She stressed that with the looming triple B upgrade from the New York based credit watch S&P, more foreign investors will invest in the country thus it will increase employment. “Baba ang unemployment natin. Iyong buying capacity ng mga ta-o lalaki. An S&P review team has been in the country recently as part of its regular assessment on the country’s fiscal and monetary environments and overall economic fundamentals. The team met with BIR Commissioner Kim Henares regarding gains made in tax administration and revenue enhancement. Henares said that during their meeting, the S&P team called for the passage of the two revenue measures by June 30. The timely passage of the two measures would boost the country’s chance of securing a credit rating upgrade. Cardona said she is always optimistic that she can attain her goal of almost P2 billion this year. RDO-4 is the only two revenue district office in Region 1 that has attained its goal of P1, 776,721,000.00 last year by exceeding it in her collection of P1, 810,923,237.5. The other one is RDO 2 that is based in Vigan, Ilocos sur.

Resuelo: Exceeds performance despite P50 M budget slash

SAN CARLOS CITY – Despite the reduction of P50 million share of this city from the national government, Mayor Julier “Ayoy” Resuelo wants to maintain if not exceed the services as what he has done to his constituents last year. “Actually, nabawasan iyong program natin for 2012 dahil nga P50 million sa ciudad ng San Carlos City because of the 16 (new) cities na ina-probahan ng Supreme Court. So, siguro mabawasan na iyong programs natin but the services will be the same at mas lalo pa nag nating pag-i-igtingin ang services natin. Puro program and puro projects lang,” he stressed.