Sunday, September 29, 2013

Mass based Proyekto ni Mayor Bona isu-sumite na sa Konseho

Mangaldan Mayor Bonafe de Vera (3rd from Right), Rep.
Gina de Venecia (2nd from Right), and members of the
Town Council after the turn-over recently of the meat
 processing equipment donated by the Department of
 Trade &Industry.
By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

MANGALDAN, Pangasinan – Si Mayor Bonafe de Vera-Parayno ng bayan na ito ay mag susumite ng kanyang mga maka masang proyekto para sa susunod na ta-on bago dumating ang deadline ng batas sa Oktobre 16 ngayong taon.
 “Some of these projects are practical, pioneering, revolutionary, and income generating that could be a model to towns and cities not only in Pangasinan but in the country,” ani ng isang opisyales ng first class na bayan na ito na ayaw magpakilala.
Ayon sa kanya, ang mga proyektong ito ay nanga-nga-ilangan ng paborabling suporta at boto ng mga councilors ng Sanggunian Bayan (SB).
 Ilan sa mga nasabing proyekto ay ang 1) Conversion ng hindi na ginagamit na Third Floor ng municipio sa Multi-Function Hall; 2) Swimming Pool; 3) Urgent Care Clinic.
Sabi ng source ay pansamantalang wala munang corresponding proposed budget ang bawat isa dito dahil under deliberation pa sila ng mga municipal heads at ni mayora.

Multi-Function Hall 

Sa panayam ng diyaryong ito, sinabi ni Mayor Bona na ang multi-function hall ay hindi lamang tatayong income generating sa bayan na ito kung hindi ay maging isang escape venue ng mga mamamayan dito pag dating ng dilubyo.
 Ang pagbabago sa nasabing third floor ay magpapakita sa mga tao dito na ang gusali ay hindi napapabayaan, hindi madumi, hindi madilim, at hindi na mapipintasan na hunted house ng mga taong dumadaan.
 “Maging evacuation center ito. Hindi lang namin lalagyan  ito ng elevator para hindi mahihirapan umakyat ang mga customers ng multi-purpose hall, kung hindi para na rin magamit ng mga dislocated residents, maykapansanan, at mga matatanda na gustong umakyat sa third floor para doon mag tago habang binabagyo at binabaha ang lugar nila,” ani ni Mayor.
 Pahayag ni mayor na sa ngayon ang elevator, gaya ng kotse, ay hindi na isang luho kung hindi isang pangunahing panganga-ilangan para mapadali ang isang gawa-in.
 Sabi ni de Vera-Parayno sa mga nangangantiyaw at hindi naniniwala sa elevator at swimming pool: “Huwag muna nila akong husgahan dahil isu-sumite at pagdidebatihan pa itong mga proposed projects sa SB ,” sagot niya ng tanungin ito matapos mainterbyu ng isang estasyon ng radio si Vice Mayor Manuel Casupang na tila ata nagdududa sa kanyang mga proyeto.
 Sa isang interbiyu sinabi ni vice mayor na hindi basta-basta makapag implement ng proyekto si Mayor Bona na walang pahintulot ng SB.
 Reaksiyon ng isang municipal official, na ayaw magpabanggit ng pangalan, masyadong biglaan ang tugon ni Casupang sa mga proposed projects:
 “Hindi niya pueding sabihin iyon. That’s why we are preoccupied nowadays at the mayor’s office detailing the nuts and bolts of the projects before we submit them for debate at the SB”.

Swimming Pool

Sinabi ni de Vera-Parayno, na lumaki sa Estado Unidos, na ang swimming pool ay ilalagay sa Mangaldan National High school para sa libring gamit ng mga mag-aaral sa nasabing paaralan.
 “It would be a training ground for disaster preparedness for the flood prone town where water rises as high as the rooftop of the houses “.
 Ang swimming pool, dagdag pa niya, ay magiging daan kung saan mahahasa ang galing sa paglangoy ng mga kabataan at mamayan dito hindi lang sa pagdating ng kalamidad pati na rin sa sports competition sa labas ng bayan na ito.
 “Isa pa, ito ay maging income generation sa mga parokyano na gustong gamitin ang swimming pool para sa kanilang private function sa minimum na halaga”.

Urgent Care Clinic

 Sabi pa ni mayor, na kung saan ang kaniyang pamilya ay na sa health care business sa U.S, na kanyang aayusin ang old infirmary building sa maliit na halaga lamang para ito ay magamit na first aid clinic, makakatulong ito sa pag-iwas sa impeksiyon ng mga ta-o na nasugatan o na aksidenti.
 “It takes 45 minutes inclusive of traffic to bring to Dagupan (City) a patient to a hospital there who was either struck by cardiac arrest or stroke”.
Paliwanag niya na ang mga untimely death ay maiiwasan sa bayan na ito kung may urgent care clinic dito.
 Ginawa niyang halimbawa ang biglaang pagkamatay ng dating mayor Herminio Romero na isinugod pa sa ospital sa Dagupan City matapos siya atakihin ng heart attack sa isang consultation meeting sa San Fabian.
 Sabi niya ang clinic ay mapagkikita-an ng bayan na ito sa mga ta-ong may pera na sa pamamagitan ng socialized payment depende sa kinikita nila sa buhay.
 Pero libri ang clinic, dagdag pa niya, sa mga mahihirap.
 “Parang Region 1 Medical Center(R1MC) kung saan ito ay kumikita ng P1 million kada araw sa mga pasyente na may kayang magbayad sa maganda nitong serbisyo kumpara sa mga private hospital sa Dagupan City. Ang kinikita ng R1MC ay ginagamit pantustos sa paglunas sa mga mahihirap nitong pasyente na walang pambayad. Itong ginagawa ni Mayor Bona ay isang master stroke na ang hindi naniniwala dito ay iyong mga taong may piring ang kanilang mga mata,” sinabi ng source ng diariong ito.
 Sa ngayong ang mga political observers sa loob at labas ng bayan na ito ay nag-aantay kung paano tatangapin ng SB ang reasonable, pioneering, revolutionary, at income generating projects ni Mayor. “Sana mangibabaw ang talino habang dinidebatihan ang mga proyektong ito sa council,” sabi ng source.

Pangamba dahil sa pagtanggal ng P3.2 million pork

Ang ikinababahala ng executive department dito, tanong ng source, ay baka kaagad-agad na harangan nila vice mayor at mga councilors ang proyekto para sa susunod na taon pagkatapos tangalin sa kanila ni Mayor Bona ang kanilang P3.2 million na pork –barrel na kanilang nakasanayang gamitin sa pag identify ng mga projects na gusto nila mag mula pa noong panahon ni dating mayor Benigno Gubatan.
 “Kasi noong meeting noong September 2 sa office ni mayor isang miembro ng SB ang nag banta na i-de-deny daw nila ang projects ni mayor matapos tangalin ang pork nila,” ani ng source.

Friday, September 27, 2013

“Days of corrupt town officials numbered” – Rosario

Mayor Sam Rosario (extreme right), Consultant
Hernani Braganza of the  Department of Interior
and Local Government, and Vice President Je-
jomar Binay posed to honor the flag.

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

 BINMALEY – After suspending two department heads here, the mayor warned recently corrupt municipal officials and personnel that their days are already numbered.
Mayor Simplicio Rosario declared in a press conference in September 24 that scoundrels should brace themselves as long as he is the chief executive of this town. “Sa mga taong inaabuso ang kanilang position sa paglikom ng salapi para sa kanilang negosyo, sinasabi ko sa inyo tapos na ang maligayang araw ninyo. Habang nandito ako maghanda kayo sa inyong kinagagawi-ang pagnanakaw ng salapi ng kaban ng bayan,” he stressed in Pilipino.
 In August 27 Rosario issued the preventive suspension for 60 days of municipal accountant Gertrudez C. Reyes and Municipal Budget Officer Jeffrey de los Angeles after they were administratively charged by the mayor with dishonesty, misconduct in office, gross negligence, and dereliction of duty at the Civil Service Office.
This town administrator lawyer Armenio Escat, Jr. said the 60 days suspension is not a punishment but a measure for the duo not to manipulate records and influence other people because of their position.
 One of the charges against them was their alleged conspiracy with former mayor Lorenzo Cerezo in exhausting the funds at the mayor’s office six months before the end of this year.
Rosario said they are the Office Equipment Maintenance, Other Repair & Maintenance, Other Expenses, Advertising & Printing Expenses, for Program/Projects/Activities, Maintenance, Upkeeping of Infrastructure, Etc., and Furniture & Equipment Outlay of the public coffer exhausted after he took office in June 30 this year.
 He cited the balances of the appropriation of P700,000.00 for the mayor’s gasoline, oil, and lubricants expenses that have been squandered to zero sum six months before the end of the fiscal year.
Rosario said his administration mulls the anti-graft and corruption case he would file against the respondents on the administrative case.
 Rosario denounced Marilyn Zamora, the dismissed Human Resources Officer, who deceived the public with her pronouncements that she was unjustly prosecuted by Rosario. “Nakisaw-saw pa sa gulo at isyu si Zamora. Pinatanggal kuno, hindi naman. Ang totoo hindi ni renew ang kanyang kontrata sa kanyang position. Ginamit pa niya ang media at iba pang paraan (para sabihin ang nangyari sa kanya)”.
 The people of this first class town, Rosario said, is fed up with the old practice of corruption by municipal officials. He said for starters, the bidding process of all municipal projects will be open to the public. “Pina-aabot ko sa inyong lahat habang ako ang naka-upong mayor hindi ko hahayaan na mana-ig ang corruption. Inumpisahan po naming ang bidding open lahat.Walang pinipili kung sino ang mananalo. Ang hangarin ko bilang alkalde ng bayan na ito ay protektahan ng interest ng bayan”. He said his aim is to make this town great and corruption free.

Would Dads oppose Mayor Bona’s worthy projects in Mangaldan?

Mangaldan Mayor Bonafe de Vera-Parayno (4th from left)
strike a pose with Rep. Gina de Venecia (4th District, Pangasinan)
 (5th from left) and some members of the Sangguniang Bayan
(town dads) during the turn over of the meat processing
equipment given by the Department of Trade & Industry to
the burgeoning town.

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

Speed browsing the Obama’s War by Bob Woodward at my computer, I stumbled on the” moral ascendancy” of a political columnist when she “chided” a four-star general who is an alumnus of West Point and Harvard University.
Here are the excerpts of the book: “As General David Petraeus and Richard Holbrooke (President Barrack Obama’s special envoy to Iraq and Afghanistan) huddled intently, reviewing each line of Obama’s speech. Holbrooke had what he said were important edits about the Afghan police. As the restaurant cleared out, Petraeus suddenly jumped to his feet to greet the elderly woman passing by their table. “Helen Thomas (who just died this year- MCO),” he said, in a courtly display of military manners and charm. “It’s David Petraeus. It’s so good to see you.” There was the 88-year-old columnist for Hearst newspapers, the scourge of ten presidents and their press secretaries. “What the hell are you doing in Afghanistan?” she asked. Not even a hello. Why escalate the war? she prodded. “This is Vietnam all over again.” No, Petraeus said, trying to respond. But Thomas barged into his answers with more questions, some of which she recalled later in an interview. “Come on, don’t give me that stuff.” “What’s your exit strategy?” “How are you going to solve this?” “What are you talking about?” “And anyway, what are you screwing around in Iraq for? You know it’s going to hell when we leave.” “What are we going to do? Are we going after al Qaeda?” 

***
 Here’s what I found I reading on speeches of then President William Jefferson “Bill” Clinton to get an idea for a piece I am going to write for a Philippines mayor’s first 100 days in office.
 Has the speech writers at the White House forgot to insert the most appropriate word here?
"America demands and deserves big things from us,- and nothing big ever came from being small. Let us remember the timeless wisdom of Cardinal Bernardin, when facing the end of his own life. He said, "It is wrong to waste the precious gift of time, on acrimony and division (it should be "dichotomy" in lieu of "division "para rhyme sa "acrimony"- MCO)
 ***
While Janet Napoles caper’s on the hated pork barrel could probably put the coup d’ grace (death blow) to the “pork ” where lawmakers illegally pocket a significant portion of public funds that should go to the community as projects, Mangaldan Mayor Bona Fe de Vera-Parayno has literally put the death blow to the P3.2 million pork barrel a year given to the town’s vice mayor and the members of the Sangguniang Bayan (town council) that has become a customary practice of the “honorable” at the August Chamber since the time of former Mayor Benigno Gubatan in the 1990s.
 Would the smarting members of the town council still be magnanimous in the name of public interest and general welfare in approving the mayor mass based projects for fiscal year 2014 before the October 16 deadline this year as mandated by the local government code?
Some of these projects are practical, pioneering, revolutionary, and income generating that could be a model to towns and cities not only in Pangasinan but in the country.
  But these projects need corresponding appropriation from the town council that would approve the following: 1) Conversation of the Idle Third Floor of the municipal building to a Multi- Function Hall; 2) Swimming Pool; 3) Urgent Care Clinic.

Multi-Function Hall
The mayor explained that the multi-function hall would not only become income generating to the town from the revenues it gets from the private sector who availed it but would be an escape venue for Mangaldinians who find shelter whenever calamity like the monstrous flood strike again the town.
The renovation would erase the public perception of the place as idle, unkempt, and dark that is ridiculously referred by passers as hunted house.
 “It could be an evacuation center. We are going to construct an elevator there that would complement the place to ferry not only the patrons of the multi-purpose hall but those dislocated residents, the handicapped, and the old folks who would be having a hard time ascending to the third floor,” she stressed.
 De Vera-Parayno said that elevator nowadays, just like car, is not a luxury but a necessity in fixing the problem quickly.
Her justification for the construction of the elevator was a refutation to critics who mocked it in the media. She has something to say to those cynics who take potshots of the elevator and the swimming pool.
 “Not so fast, we have to present and debate first the merits of my projects in the SB (Sangunian Bayan),” de Vera-Parayno told this paper after asking her about the skeptical stance of Vice Mayor Manuel Casupang of her projects in a radio interview.
 Casupang said that Mayor Parayno could not just unilaterally implement projects without the approval of the council.
A municipal official, who asked anonymity, said the pronouncement of the vice mayor in the radio was sweeping. “Hindi niya pueding sabihin iyon. That’s why we are preoccupied nowadays at the mayor’s office detailing the nuts and bolts of the projects before we submit them for debate at the SB”.

Swimming Pool
The mayor, who was brought up in the United States, said the swimming pool would be constructed at the Mangaldan National High School for the free use of the students there. “It would be a training ground for disaster preparedness for the flood prone town where water rises as high as the rooftop of the houses “.
 She said the pool can bolster the swimming acumen of the students and folks in her town. “It would be another source of income for individuals who will avail it for their private functions through a minimum fee”.

 Urgent Care Clinic
 The mayor, who was into the health care business in the U.S, explained that her administration would renovate the old infirmary building so it can serve as first aid clinic, and mitigate morbidity of the people in the town who suffered physical ailment and accident.
 “It takes 45 minutes inclusive of traffic to bring to Dagupan (City) a patient to a hospital there who was either struck by cardiac arrest or stroke”.
 She said if there is an urgent care clinic untimely death of people in Mangaldan could be avoided.
 She cited the case of former Mayor Herminio Romero who died in a heart attack as he was being brought to a hospital in Dagupan City. The mayor stressed the clinic would also be an income-generating project to the municipal coffer through its socialized payment system based on the financial capacity of the people who patronize it.
 She said it is generally for free for the poor people of the town. “It is like Region 1 Medical Center where its more than P1 million a day revenue from patients who are capable to pay for its quality service that is much better than its private counterparts in Dagupan City is used to subsidize the free medication of the indigents. What mayor Bona has been doing is a master stroke that only the skeptics and anti-progress in Mangaldan would frantically oppose,” a source told this paper.
 Political spectators in Mangaldan cross their fingers with bated breath as they wait how the members of the council under the leadership of Vice Mayor Casupang treat the commonsensical, pionerring, revolutionary, and income generating projects the Parayno Administration will submit to them anytime next month.

SB Member threaten to block proposed budget? 
 “We hope the magnanimity of the vice mayor and the members of the SB should allow reasons to prevail as these projects are deliberated and debated on the hollowed hall of the council,” the source fervently hope. The apprehension of the executive department, the source said, is when the vice mayor and some members of the SB would throw their weights in opposing the projects after Parayno took away their P3.2 million pork barrel.
 The source said one of them even has the gall, in September 2 meeting at the mayor’s office, in warning that they would block her projects.
The pork made the recipients identify their pet projects for their favorite private contractors to construct. But the mayor opposed this. She said that it is high time for the town to walk the straight path (Daang Matawid” the campaign slogan of the Liberal Party where she and President Benigno Aquino III belong) where the SB should make laws and not implement projects. It is the executive department that should implement the projects and not the legislature, “the source opined.
 My poser: Would the honorable SB members allowed their post to be bastardized in opposing worthwhile projects that could bring the town to places because of the seemingly immoral pork barrel taken away from them? Hindi naman siguro ganoon kababa ang talino ng mga councilors diyan sa Mangaldan.
(Send comments to totomortz@yahoo.com)

LTO chief’s “ride” stolen, suspected theft sued



Suspected carnappers detained by the police.
By Mortz C. Ortigoza

 MANGALDAN – The officer-in-charge of the Land Transportation Office (LTO)-Lingayen said the two suspected thieves who took his mountain bike have been sued by the local police.
 Jun Fabia said his blue bike was stolen by Wilmar Serraon Abalon alias Tamar, 26 and single, and Ariel Advincula Serote, 31 and single, who bartered it with illegal drug shabu (methamphetamine hydro-chloride) at Sitio Silongan in Brgy. Bonuan Binloc , Dagupan City.
 Silongan in Dagupan is notorious as illegal drugs haven which is alleged to be a shabu supplier in Regions 1 and 2, and the Cordillera.
Fabia, a resident of Barangay Palua here, said one of the employees of his wife who is into mutton business told her that the culprits were the peers of his uncle who brought the bike and exchanged it with illegal drug from a Muslim resident of Sitio Silongan.
 “Ayaw pa ibigay (bike) noong Muslim nuong pinasok namin kasama ang mga police galing sa Dagupan at Mangaldan,” he said.
 He narrated that when one of the elders there learned that he is the chief of the LTO he immediately ordered the peddler to return the bike. “Bahala na kayo sir sa mga tao ko dito na mag exam (driver’s license) sa LTO,” Fabia quoted the leader of the community. Superintendent Policarpio Cayabyab, chief of police here, said his men asked one of the suspects to drive the bike, as a sort of punishment, from Silongan to this town under the blistering sun.
 The two suspects who are residents Barangay Salay of this town have been suspected to be responsible for to the strings of robbery of Indian nationals here who are into the lending business. “We are waiting for some of the Indians to come to my office to identify them so we can file more cases against them”. He said Tamar is one of the top suspects under the surveillance of his men.

Friday, September 20, 2013

PMAyeer Urges LGUs to Lead in Hero's Burial

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

 Over cup of coffee Americano somewhere in Dagupan City, I narrated before to Pangasinan Police Director Marlou Chan and Dagupan City Police chief Lt. Colonel Cris Abrahano the feats of retired U.S four-star general David Petraues (USMA or West-Point ’74).
A Marine looks at a wounded soldier as he geared
for a fire fight with Moro rebels in Zamboanga
City.
 Prior to his assumption as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Petraeus was a highly decorated four-star general, serving over 37 years in the United States Army. His last assignments in the Army were as commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A). His other four-star assignments include serving as the 10th Commander, U.S. Central Command(USCENTCOM), and as Commanding General,Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF-I).

 “Sabi ni Bob Woodward (on his book “Obama’s War”) that Petraues is a 50 something years old warrior who lives in a body of a 35 year- old athlete. Can you imagine whenever colonels wanted to confer with him they have to don their sports attire at 6 in the morning and brace for a five (5)- mile ( 8.0467 kilometers) speed non-stop run as they convey their agenda to the general,” I said.
ZAMBOANGA CASUALTY: Another dead
 Marine who hailed from Lingayen, Pangasinan
 I told them that Despite his being a post study graduate of Harvard (University) and author of COIN Manual (Counter Insurgency Manual that reduced civilian casualties and expedited the withdrawal of American and coalition troops from Iraq), he was disgraced as the chief of the Central Intelligence Agency.

“Ya, he was disgraced after he “screwed” his bibliographer Paula K Broadwell ( a pretty muscled 1995 West Pointer) who was a former intelligence officer in the Army in an extra-marital expose’ that rocked the CIA,” Chan butted in the vernacular (the Tagalog version of Chan was more music to the ear).

But look at the now part time college “prof” Petraeus. I just saw him days ago at Huckabee at Fox News walking in the street defenseless as he was verbally abused by college students at City University of New York (CUNY).
 Jesus Christ, he was incessantly heckled with the following: “There’s blood all over you, I can smell it”, "Every class, David (it means they are going to protest him every time he reports to his teaching class at CUNY)”.
 Geez, this is not how to bully a general who gave the very freedom of speech (including the heckles) of these students when Petraeus annihilated those Muslim radicals in Afghanistan and Iraq that could sow mayhem in America in the future.
 These activists should know about class when they resort to activism.
 You can accessed the video and article of this brouhaha at CUNY at http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/13/david-petraeus-heckled-cuny

 ***
 If you saw the “pompous” hero’s burial on TV given by the local government unit of San Quintin, Pangasinan to the late PO2 Chris Hernaez, one of the zealous proponents of Pangasinan giving a huge honor to her military and police sons who died fighting for peace and tranquility was police lieutenant colonel Eric Noble (PMA ’92), who posted on my blog Pangasinan News Aro:

“Very nice event, sana mangyari din yan sa mga ibang namatay na pulis at sundalo. Nawa ang ginawa ng mga taga San Quintin ay tularan ng mga iba pang kumunidad na matutong tumingin sa kabayanihan na ginawa ni PO2 Hernaez!“.
 Noble, who speaks like Pangasinan Police Director Marlou Chan, is not only the advocate for the humongous province to lead in giving honors to her slain sons but an author of the book Global Cop.
 Eric, veteran of two United Nations peacekeeping operations, is the handsome version of U.S Colonel H.R McMaster.
 McMaster (West Point '84, Harvard), which I stumbled on Bob Woodward’s 487 pages “The War Within”, was the author of Dereliction of Duty which exposed the weakness of the Joint Chiefs during the Vietnam War has found its success in the Iraq war after McMaster exposed those past mistakes committed by the generals.
*** 
Here under is a hearth wrenching letter, I found on social media Face Book,  dedicated to a fallen PMAyeer:


"I am Christopher Rama. In all likelihood, you don't know me and never will. I died yesterday at Zamboanga City in the service of our country.
 To the rebels who killed me, I forgive you. I'm sure you just followed orders like I did mine. Lay down your arms and rejoin the Zamboanguenos rebuild their homes and the city.

To the leader and instigator of the rebellion, I dare you to come out and face the consequence of your act. No cause is just if pursued with violence.
 To those who call for peace, I ask you remember that it's a truce between two parties. There can never be peace if one often breaks it.
 To officials who crave for the limelight, stop and let my commander-in-chief do what's best for all. Loss of life and limb isn't a political game.
 To my PMA class 2008 mistahs, I leave to you my 1st Lieutenant patch. Continue to defend our country with honor, courage and integrity.
 To my countrymen who care, I entrust to you my young wife and child. Help them live a life without a husband and father.
 And to God, I surrender to you my body so that I may rest in eternal peace"
 Related story - http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/327352/news/nation/wife-of-soldier-killed-by-mnlf-sniper-mourns-loss-during-her-birthday
(Send comments at totomortz@yahoo.com)

Is BIR Commissioner Henares heartless?

BY MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

 Just saw Ed Henry of FOX News and White House spokesman Jay Carney sparred during the White House's presser over Eric Holder's lies under oath, President Obama's adamant stance to bypass congress and bomb Syria, and his present diplomatic stance to allow Syria's to pin point sites of her chemical weapons. This scene is a rarity these days in the Philippines where reporters who cover a press conference expose the ignorance of the interviewee-public official. You can watch this treat by accessing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USkihhGSE20.

READY, AIM, FIRE! BIR Commissioner
 Kim Henares
***
 Look what I read recently at Forbes Magazine: " Floyd Mayweather and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, billed as “The One,” generated a record $150 million in pay-per-view (PPV) revenue on 2.2 million buys. It breaks the record of $136 million for Mayweather’s 2007 fight against Oscar De La Hoya, but falls short of the 2.5 buys for that bout. “It shows the health of boxing and that it can deliver at the highest level,” says Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy which promoted both Mayweather “. According to the magazine, Floyd would be earning $80 million (P3.2 billion Philippine currency) in a slugfest many non-purist boxing fans dubbed as a snooze fest. Inclusive of the PPV, the 23 year-old Mexican boxing icon Saul “Canelo” Alvarez earned $12 million or P480 million in Philippine peso. ***
 Barely a week after Mayweather “schooled” with his weaving, bobbling, slipping, sliding, and shoulder rolling Alvarez, son of a gun, the wily “grand father of the hurt business” Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins is amenable to the proposal of some matchmakers that he and Floyd clashed somewhere in 160 pounds. It means Bernard comes down from his 170 lbs light heavyweight kingdom to 154 lbs of the junior middleweight turf of Floyd to make the fight possible? “This is crazy man. It would be déjà vu for Oscar dela Hoya who threw significant portions of his weight to rumble with Manny Pacquiao for the love of money. Hopkins, just like what befell Hoya, will become a lethargic zombie and a paper target from Floyd's punches,” I told my “hard core” boxing fans at one of the global boxing websites.
***

 Here’s what I found I browsing on speeches of then President William Jefferson “Bill the intern lover” Clinton to get an idea for a piece I am going to write for a Philippines mayor’s first 100 days in office. Has the speech writers at the White House forgot to insert the most appropriate word here? "America demands and deserves big things from us,- and nothing big ever came from being small. Let us remember the timeless wisdom of Cardinal Bernardin, when facing the end of his own life. He said, "It is wrong to waste the precious gift of time, on acrimony and division (it should be "dichotomy" in lieu of "division "para rhyme sa "acrimony"- Mortz).

 ***
 I got a copy recently of the Revenue Travel Assignment Order (RTVO) No. 38-2013 dated September 11, 2013 of the chiefs of revenue district office of the Bureau of Internal Revenue all over the country. The order thus said: “The exigencies of the revenue service so requiring, the following personnel are hereby relieved of their present duties and directed to report to their new assignments as indicated…”
 There were mixed reactions on this latest reshuffle from BIR officials executed by its Commissioner Kim Henares.
 One of them told me it is good for the tax collection efficiency of the bureau as new faces in a district avoid familiarization and favoritism with the tax payers who did not pay the right taxes they owe the government because they have rubbed elbows with the old tax top honcho in their district .
 The other one disagree how Henares handles the RTVO since it displaced families.
 He cited as an example the reshuffle done by Henares on 2011. One of the RDO chiefs affected was former RDO chief Merlyn Vicente of RDO -6 that covers Eastern Pangasinan. “Although her reassignment in Zamboanga City was a promotion for her since the RDO office there is much bigger than her previous post, she displaced her family especially her children who are still in the elementary grades”. My source appealed that Henares should be considerate on giving travel assignment orders.
“She should not be heartless. She can reassign those RDOs within the Luzon peninsula, those in Visayas and Mindanao within the same islands. At least in weekends those mothers like Vicente can have physical rapport with their loved ones”.
Moreover, another source said if one browses the RTVO in September 11, the revamped was replete with inequality among many RDO chiefs in the provinces and their counterparts in Metro Manila.
“Sa Metro Manila pinaglilipat lang ang mga RDO doon. Iyong sa Taguig nilagay sa Quezon City, iyong sa Quezon City nilagay sa Taguig. Mukhang may mga ninong itong mga RDOs doon. The commissioner should be fair on reassigning them to far places just like RDOs in the provinces.

Another source said that he could not fathom why many Assistant RDO chiefs become officer-in-charged RDO chiefs while there are a lot of competent RDO chiefs who can handle the same post.

 Here under are the new assignments of the RDO chiefs in Region 1: RDO-1 Ilocos Norte, Melanie Soriano to Batangas; RDO-2 Ilocos Sur, Imelda Bueno to Core Expert Team, Metro Manila; RDO- 3 La Union, Erlinda Victorino to Lipa, Batangas; RDO- 4 Calasiao, Pangasinan, Christine Cardona to La Trinidad, Benguet; RDO-5 Alaminos City, Pangasinan, Quirino Ramos to Marilao, Bulacan; RDO-6 Urdaneta City, Pangasinan, Attorney Beverly Milo to Core Expert Team, Project Management & Implementation, Metro Manila.
 The new RDO-chiefs in Region-1 are: RDO-1 Simplicio Cabantac from Assistant RDO, RDO-31 Sta Cruz; RDO-2 Yolanda Ferrer from RDO chief of RDO-60 Lucena City; RDO- 3 Amador Ducut from OIC-RDO chief RDO- 21B-South Pampanga; RDO- 4 Renato Molina from RDO Chief, RDO- 24 Valenzuela; RDO-5 Emir Abutazil from Technical Assistant, Taxpayer Assistant Service, Metro Manila; RDO-6 Attorney Nasrollah Conding OIC-RDO RDO 92 Pagadian City.

 According to my source the assistant revenue district officers and the examiners brace themselves for other rounds of reshuffle anytime before the end of this year. They pray that Commissioner Henares hopefully reassign them within the Luzon Island so they can be near with their families especially the babies for the mothers even for a weekend or once a month
 Would you acquiesce on that Christian proposal Commissioner?
(Send comments to totomortz@yahoo.com)

LTO chief’s “ride” stolen


By Mortz C. Ortigoza

 MANGALDAN – The officer-in-charge of the Land Transportation Office-Lingayen said that the two suspected thieves who took his mountain bike have been sued already at the police office here.
Jun Fabia said his blue bike, was stolen by Wilmar Serraon Abalon alias Tamar, 26 and single, and Ariel Advincula Serote, 31 and single, who bartered it with illegal drug Shabu or known in the medical world as methamphetamine hydro-chloride at Sitio Silongan_in Brgy. Bonu-an Binloc , Dagupan City.
 Silongan in Dagupan is notorious as illegal drugs haven where it has been alleged to be a shabu supplier in Regions 1 and 2, and the Cordillera. Fabia, a resident of Barangay Palua here, said one of the employees of his wife who is into mutton business told her that the culprits were the peers of his uncle who brought the bike and sold it in exchanged of the illegal drug to a Muslim resident of Sitio Silongan.
 “Ayaw pa ibigay (bike) noong Muslim noong pinasok namin kasama ang mga police galing sa Dagupan at Mangaldan,” he stressed.
 He said that when one of the elders there learned that he is the chief of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) he immediately ordered the adamant shabu peddler to return the bike.
“Bahala na kayo sir sa mga tao ko dito na mag exam (driver’s license) sa LTO,” Fabia quoted the leader of the community. Superintendent Policarpio Cayabyab, chief of police here, said his men asked one of the suspects to drive the bike, as a sort of punishment, from Silongan to here under the blistering sun. He said the duos, who are residents Barangay Salay here, have been suspected to be responsible to the strings of robberies of Indian nationals here who are into the lending business of the usurious 5-6.
“We are waiting for some of the Indians to come to my office to identify them so we can file more cases against them”. He said Tamar is one of the top suspects under the surveillance of his men.

24 new doctors join prov’l government hospitals

Prov’l Gov’t hires new doctors.  Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. (standing, 10th from right)
together with the chiefs of hospital and some 24 newly-hired doctors flashes the “number 
one” sign as a gesture of unity that the mission to transform Pangasinan as the “home
 of the healthiest Filipinos” will soon be realized.  The hiring of the medical consultants 
management team is designed to respond to the growing demand of hospital clients, 
and upgrade the service capacity of all government hospitals in the province.  The 24 new
 doctors paid a courtesy call on the government last September 19.  (PIO photo by 
Meinard Sadim)
Lingayen- - -The provincial government’s health reform agenda has picked up steam with the appointment of some 24 new doctors. Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr. made this assessment during the courtesy call of the new physicians on him last September 19. The governor urged the newly-hired health practitioners to work hand-in-hand with the present administration to fully attain its mission to make Pangasinan the “home of the healthiest Filipinos.”
“Our hospitals are now well equipped and I am challenging each of you to do your very best so that you can deliver the genuine service that the sick and poor Pangasinense deserve,” Gov. Espino said.
The number of patients admitted in the provincial hospitals had dramatically increased from 46 in 2007 to 560 in-patients to date over the past six years after the governor upgraded the facilities of the hospitals.
 “I challenge you to speak for the hospital,” Gov. Espino said as he added that it is only under the present administration that Pangasinan government hospitals were improved tremendously.
Meanwhile, Dr. Ana Ma. Teresa De Guzman, Chief of Provincial Health Office, said that the hiring of the medical consultants management team was designed to respond to the growing demand of hospital clients, and upgrade the service capacity of government hospitals in the province to further deliver quality health care services.
 “The increasing demand is complimented with the hiring of some 31 new doctors but only 24 have assumed their posts to date because the seven others are still working on their papers but will later assume duties,” said the PHO Chief.
 Dr. De Guzman further disclosed that the newly-hired physicians are all specialists in different key areas like pedia, OB, medicine, surgery, radiology, anesthesia and orthopedic. Likewise, the PHO Chief said that the provincial government decided to field in more doctors in the Lingayen District Hospital (LDH), Pangasinan Provincial Hospital (PPH) and Urdaneta District Hospital (UDH) because LDH, according to her, is centrally located and expected to cater to the needs of the populous 2nd district that will help decongest the number of patients going to the PPH. The first batch of new doctors are assigned in different government hospitals like in Lingayen District Hospital (8), Pangasinan Provincial Hospital (7), Urdaneta District Hospital (5), Eastern District Hospital in Tayug (2), Western District Hospital in Alaminos (1), and Bayambang District Hospital (1). (PIO/Ruby R. Bernardino)

Thursday, September 19, 2013

"Profanity-laced speech" by a Great General

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

As I was browsing military speeches after a high police official tasked me to write an eulogy for him for a dead commando who was waylaid by Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, I stumbled on this scintillating “I’ll be damned profanity-laced speech” extemporaneously’ delivered to the U.S 6th Armored Division assigned in England in May 31, 1944 by one of the great generals of World War II – four-star swashbuckling general George S. Patton.
Here’s its excerpt and a must-read if one is a military or police officer who aspire for greatness:

"Be seated.
 Men, all this stuff you hear about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is a lot of bullshit. Americans love to fight.

All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big-league ball players and the toughest boxers. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. That's why Americans have never lost and will never lose a war. The very thought of losing is hateful to Americans. Battle is the most significant competitions in which a man can indulge. It brings out all that is best and it removes all that is base. You are not all going to die. Only two percent of you right here today would be killed in a major battle. Every man is scared in his first action. If he says he's not, he's a goddamn liar. But the real hero is the man who fights even though he's scared. Some men will get over their fright in a minute under fire, some take an hour, and for some it takes days. But the real man never lets his fear of death overpower his honor, his sense of duty to his country, and his innate manhood. All through your army career you men have bitched about what you call 'this chicken-shit drilling.' That is all for a purpose—to ensure instant obedience to orders and to create constant alertness. This must be bred into every soldier. I don't give a fuck for a man who is not always on his toes. But the drilling has made veterans of all you men. You are ready! A man has to be alert all the time if he expects to keep on breathing. If not, some German son-of-a-bitch will sneak up behind him and beat him to death with a sock full of shit. There are four hundred neatly marked graves in Sicily, all because one man went to sleep on the job—but they are German graves, because we caught the bastard asleep before his officer did. An army is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, and fights as a team. This individual hero stuff is bullshit. The bilious bastards who write that stuff for the Saturday Evening Post don't know any more about real battle than they do about fucking. And we have the best team—we have the finest food and equipment, the best spirit and the best men in the world. Why, by God, I actually pity these poor bastards we're going up against. All the real heroes are not storybook combat fighters. Every single man in the army plays a vital role. So don't ever let up. Don't ever think that your job is unimportant. What if every truck driver decided that he didn't like the whine of the shells and turned yellow and jumped headlong into a ditch? That cowardly bastard could say to himself, 'Hell, they won't miss me, just one man in thousands.' What if every man said that? Where in the hell would we be then? No, thank God, Americans don't say that. Every man does his job. Every man is important. The ordnance men are needed to supply the guns, the quartermaster is needed to bring up the food and clothes for us because where we are going there isn't a hell of a lot to steal. Every last damn man in the mess hall, even the one who boils the water to keep us from getting the GI shits, has a job to do. Each man must think not only of himself, but think of his buddy fighting alongside him. We don't want yellow cowards in the army. They should be killed off like flies. If not, they will go back home after the war, goddamn cowards, and breed more cowards. The brave men will breed more brave men. Kill off the goddamn cowards and we'll have a nation of brave men. One of the bravest men I saw in the African campaign was on a telegraph pole in the midst of furious fire while we were moving toward Tunis. I stopped and asked him what the hell he was doing up there. He answered, 'Fixing the wire, sir.' 'Isn't it a little unhealthy up there right now?' I asked. 'Yes sir, but this goddamn wire has got to be fixed.' I asked, 'Don't those planes strafing the road bother you?' And he answered, 'No sir, but you sure as hell do.' Now, there was a real soldier. A real man. A man who devoted all he had to his duty, no matter how great the odds, no matter how seemingly insignificant his duty appeared at the time. And you should have seen the trucks on the road to Gabès. Those drivers were magnificent. All day and all night they crawled along those son-of-a-bitch roads, never stopping, never deviating from their course with shells bursting all around them. Many of the men drove over 40 consecutive hours. We got through on good old American guts. These were not combat men. But they were soldiers with a job to do. They were part of a team. Without them the fight would have been lost. Sure, we all want to go home. We want to get this war over with. But you can't win a war lying down. The quickest way to get it over with is to get the bastards who started it. We want to get the hell over there and clean the goddamn thing up, and then get at those purple-pissing Japs. The quicker they are whipped, the quicker we go home. The shortest way home is through Berlin and Tokyo. So keep moving. And when we get to Berlin, I am personally going to shoot that paper-hanging son-of-a-bitch Hitler. When a man is lying in a shell hole, if he just stays there all day, a Boche will get him eventually. The hell with that. My men don't dig foxholes. Foxholes only slow up an offensive. Keep moving. We'll win this war, but we'll win it only by fighting and showing the Germans that we've got more guts than they have or ever will have. We're not just going to shoot the bastards, we're going to rip out their living goddamned guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. We're going to murder those lousy Hun cocksuckers by the bushel-fucking-basket. Some of you men are wondering whether or not you'll chicken out under fire. Don't worry about it. I can assure you that you'll all do your duty. War is a bloody business, a killing business. The Nazis are the enemy. Wade into them, spill their blood or they will spill yours. Shoot them in the guts. Rip open their belly. When shells are hitting all around you and you wipe the dirt from your face and you realize that it's not dirt, it's the blood and gut of what was once your best friend, you'll know what to do. I don't want any messages saying 'I'm holding my position.' We're not holding a goddamned thing. We're advancing constantly and we're not interested in holding anything except the enemy's balls. We're going to hold him by his balls and we're going to kick him in the ass; twist his balls and kick the living shit out of him all the time. Our plan of operation is to advance and keep on advancing. We're going to go through the enemy like shit through a tinhorn. There will be some complaints that we're pushing our people too hard. I don't give a damn about such complaints. I believe that an ounce of sweat will save a gallon of blood. The harder we push, the more Germans we kill. The more Germans we kill, the fewer of our men will be killed. Pushing harder means fewer casualties. I want you all to remember that. My men don't surrender. I don't want to hear of any soldier under my command being captured unless he is hit. Even if you are hit, you can still fight. That's not just bullshit either. I want men like the lieutenant in Libya who, with a Luger against his chest, swept aside the gun with his hand, jerked his helmet off with the other and busted the hell out of the Boche with the helmet. Then he picked up the gun and he killed another German. All this time the man had a bullet through his lung. That's a man for you! Don't forget, you don't know I'm here at all. No word of that fact is to be mentioned in any letters. The world is not supposed to know what the hell they did with me. I'm not supposed to be commanding this army. I'm not even supposed to be in England. Let the first bastards to find out be the goddamned Germans. Some day, I want them to rise up on their piss-soaked hind legs and howl 'Ach! It's the goddamned Third Army and that son-of-a-bitch Patton again!' Then there's one thing you men will be able to say when this war is over and you get back home. Thirty years from now when you're sitting by your fireside with your grandson on your knee and he asks, 'What did you do in the great World War Two?' You won't have to cough and say, 'Well, your granddaddy shoveled shit in Louisiana.' No sir, you can look him straight in the eye and say 'Son, your granddaddy rode with the great Third Army and a son-of-a-goddamned-bitch named George Patton! All right, you sons of bitches. You know how I feel. I'll be proud to lead you wonderful guys in battle any time, anywhere. 
That's all!'

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

P’sinan witness SAF’s hero’s burial


Spectators and police officers from Manila and 
Pangasinan were in solemnity during the
 necrological service of San Quintin's, Pangasinan 
fallen hero PO2 Christopher Hernaez at
the town's plaza.

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

SAN QUINTIN, Pangasinan – People in and out of this town were treated with a huge colorful military honor after the mayor here initiated a hero’s funeral to a police commando who died fighting Muslim rebels that attacked recently Zamboanga City.
Hernaez's older brother eulogized as two commandos
 guard the casket of the slain Special Action
 Force member.
Mayor Clark Cecil P. Tiu said that the local government unit of this eastern Pangasinan town organized the hero’s burial of Police Officer-2 Christopher Hernaez, a member of Special Action Force (SAF), because of his exceptional sacrificed fighting for the safety, peace, tranquility, and way of life of the Filipinos. “Ni initiate namin ito siyempre we treat our kababayan as hero because of what happened to him. Siyempre lumaban iyan sa giyera kaya hindi siya makakalimutan,” Tiu stressed.
Mayor Clark Cecil Tiu and Pangasinan Police
Provincial Director Marlou Chan (3rd and
4th from right respectively) queue to
offer flowers to their fallen town mate.
Pangasinan Provincial Director Marlou Chan said that aside from the military honor attended not only by hundreds of police personnel in the province and a team of olive green garbed SAF from Manila, the Tiu administration extended financial assistance to the family of Hernaez.
The awarding of the assistance and the resolution acknowledging the heroic deeds of Hernaez were handed by the mayor, Vice Mayor Napoleon N. Co, and the members of the Sangguniang Bayan (town council) to the bereaved family of the town’s hero during the necrological service held here last September 18.
 The verdant town, according to Tiu, is one of the biggest producers of graduates from the Philippine Military Academy and the Philippine National Police Academy in Pangasinan.
TV photo grabbed from the burial. Two
 national TV networks cover the funeral.
“We got a lot of military and police officials here. I think we have six active and retired generals who hailed from this town,” the mayor said.
Senior Superintendent Chan,  a proud son of this town and one of the proponents of the colorful burial, is a member of PMA class of 1985.
Hernaez is from Barangay Bantog here. He was born in July 22, 1981 and died fighting the Moro National Liberation Front in Zamboanga City in September 11 this year.
The slain son of San Quintin who fought for freedom
and democracy.
"May the Force be with you, commando" Colonel Chan
seems to utter as he and two SAF members extend their
snappiest salute to a hero.
Gun Salute for a fallen comrade-in-arms


AFP Northern Luzon Command hails Gov. Espino’s leadership

Lingayen --- “If there is something that I want to bring out and carry with you -- it is to learn lessons from how Governor Espino led, commanded and managed the province of Pangasinan to what it is today.” This was uttered by Brigadier General Hernando DCA Iriberri, AFP Commander, 7th 1nfantry Division, during the fellowship night of the Northern Luzon Battalion Commanders held at the Sison Auditorium on September 14, admiring the “effective and excellent command, management and leadership of the Governor” who brought massive transformation to a province which was neglected for so long.
The fellowship was part of the three-day symposium participated in by the Northern Luzon Battalion Commanders of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) at the Capitol Resort Hotel on September 13.
 “We cannot think of any other place that can be the venue of our activity, other than Pangasinan,” he remarked, adding that they can learn many lessons on the ideals of leadership of the Governor, who himself, was a military man. General Irriberi was amazed on the performance of Pangasinan -- which from a 64th-ranked province three years ago, managed to be the country’s fourth best performing province today.
 “Probably, we will no longer wait for years to make the Philippine Army world-class -- If we only have the attitude, political will, focus and the standard of excellence as Gov. Espino,” he said.
 “If the Governor was able to do it in just a matter of three years, with collective efforts and commitment, we can shorten the process,” he added.
Provincial government owned Capitol Resort Hotel
 He even thanked Chief Administrative Officer Irmina Francisco and the heads of offices and divisions of the provincial government for the coordination and preparation of the fellowship night.
 The symposium aimed at updating and upraising the unit commanders on the current operational and administrative thrusts of higher quarters of the Philippine Army. Information on Army Transformation World Map and Internal Peace and Security schemes was fed to the battalion commanders during the symposium, which according to Iriberri, enhanced their skills on how “to command, align their mission and actions on the excellent implementation of the thrusts of higher quarters.”
Meanwhile, host Brigade Commander Vic Casto, also thanked the Governor for hosting of the symposium. Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. was represented by second District Congressman Leopoldo Bataoil. Board Member Nestor Reyes was also present during the fellowship. The unit commanders of the fifth infantry division cover the entire Region and Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) while regions one, three and some portions of region two are under the unit commanders of the seventh infantry division. (PIO/Mark Gerry Naval Oblanca)

GATE calls anew on school heads to firm up scouting movement

Pangasinan Governor Amado T. Espino (R) pressed flesh
with Custom Commissioner Ruffy Biazon during the
latter  recent visit in the humongous province.
LINGAYEN---Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr.has reiterated his call to the principals and other institutional heads of the School Divisions of Pangasinan 1, Alaminos City and Pangasinan-San Can Carlos City Division to make scouting a way of life as we instill in the minds of the young people the values that the scouting movement lives by.
Gov. Espino, who is the regional chairman of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, told the 4th group of participants to the scouting orientation course last September 14 that scouting is still the best activity that a child could be a part of, especially among elementary pupils and high school students.
 “If we look at the scouting laws and oath “you will see that we are developing a future good human being, who is independent, responsible, trustworthy, clean, respectful, honest, helpful and other values that make a good human being,” Gov. Espino said.
The Governor urged all scouters to teach such values not only among boy scouts but young kids as well.
 He also stressed that scouting is among the best equalizer “dahil dito lahat ay pantay-pantay.” As this developed, the governor thanked all the 600 participants in the orientation course, mostly scout commissioners and institutional heads, who were refreshed on the various ideals of scouting.
 It was learned that membership in the scouting movement has decreased after it was deleted from the school curriculum, thus making membership on voluntary basis.
 The scouters likewise thanked the governor for initiating the activity saying that this is a great opportunity for each of the scouters to have learned about the proper perspectives of scouting that they will bring home back to their schools.
The orientation course was an offshoot of the previous meeting where the BSP council elected their new set of officers where Gov. Espino was reelected as the regional chairman. Other activities of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines Ilocos Region include a Regional Jamboree to be held at Barangay Estanza here on October 12 to 16. (PIO/Angeline D. Villanueva)

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Gov. Espino urges employees of LGU Alaminos to catch up

Pangasinan Governor Amado T. Espino (with sunglasses)
and Alaminos City Mayor Art Celeste (blue shirt) made
recently an ocular inspection of the poor state of
the Hundred Islands.

Lingayen --- “We have lost a lot of time. We have lost a lot of grounds. Let us make it up in the next three years.” Governor Amado T. Espino Jr. issued candidly these statements during the short program recapping the first phase of “Pasyar Pangasinan” (Travel Pangasinan) participated in by about 180 local government employees of Alaminos City led by Mayor Arthur F. Celeste at the Sison Auditorium on September 12.
The employees of Alaminos City go on tour at the Manaoag Shrine; Urduja House and Capitol building located inside the capitol complex. Around 200 more employees will be toured tomorrow, September 13.
The activity, an innovative project of the provincial government anchored on the promotion of Pangasinan’s best tourism assets, is another gesture of the inclusion of the City to the mainstream of support from the provincial government.
 “Napaka-importante ng Alaminos City at ng Hundred Islands sa akin -- na pwede nating ipagmalaki nationwide and worldwide,” Gov. Espino said as he expressed elation over the presence of department heads and employees of the city government.
 However, “Your City is one of the most neglected LGUs in Pangasinan,” he said, recounting how he missed a lot of opportunities to help and support the city government because of political differences over the past six years. The Governor urged the employees and officials to cooperate in the development and growth advocacies of the present city administration.
 The two-day travel escapade also highlighted the commitment of Gov. Espino and Mayor Celeste to “reinvent the City and make the Hundred Islands a premiere tourist destination in the country.” The Hundred Islands, which was once called the “8th natural wonder of the world,” suffered years of neglect and mismanagement that was evident by the presence of illegal fish pens and ugly structures in the Quezon and Governor Islands months ago.
Recently, dismantling operations of illegal fishing structures was led by the Governor and the Mayor as initial step to bring back the natural beauty and grandeur of the Hundred Islands. In response, City Mayor Celeste thanked the Governor for his support to the City government. “Hinihingi ko ang suporta ng ating mga empleyado sa City government at tulungan nyo kami ni Governor sa pag-transform sa Alaminos bilang magandang syudad sa Pilipinas,” he averred.
 Mayor Celeste said the provincial chief executive has loved the province and the Hundred Islands, citing that the Governor has mentioned that the Hundred Islands is included in the world map of European countries, except Scotland and Ireland. (PIO/Mark Gerry Naval Oblanca)

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

DPWH rushes completion of major projects in Dagupan City

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – The Department of Public Works & Highway-2nd District Engineering Office that is based here is about to complete the upgrading of the concrete road at the stretch of A.B Fernandez Avenue in Dagupan City. 
District Engineer Elpidio "Pidiong"
Paragas of the 2nd District Engi-
neering Office of the DPWH
According to its new District Engineer Elpidio Paragas, LLB, the remaining works to be done are the pedestrian sidewalk's painting and the concrete pavement.
 Paragas, a native here, said these were not included in the original program of work in the construction of the P49 million road elevations. Paragas stressed that these entails additional work time equivalent to 30 calendar year. 
The revised target completion date of the projects that include the additional work time will be on October 22, 2013.
 This project was inspected by the engineers of the Quality Assurance Unit (QAU) who hailed from the central office of the DPWH in Manila. 
 Their observations, findings, and recommendations are being implemented by the 2nd District Engineering Office through the private contractors to ensure durability, worthiness, and good quality of the project.
 Meanwhile, the office is rushing the design and the construction of Mangueragday Bridge along Bonuan Binloc, Dagupan City and San Fabian town to ensure that the fund intended for it will not be reverted by the end of Calendar Year 2013. 
According to Paragas the construction consists of detour road, dismantling of the old steel bridge, and the construction of its sub-structure that constitute the Phase 1 of the project.
 “They would be started before the end of the year,” he said. Moreover, to ensure effective and efficient drainage system along the national road in Barangay Tapuac in Dagupan City, the office is now constructing drainage concrete canal adjacent to NEL-AR’s residence which will contain the excess surface run-off water that will egress to the creek at the back of CSI Mall. 
Paragas said the survey of the river bank at Pantal River in Dagupan City is ongoing. He stressed that it is being done by his office to prepare the protection structure of the river bank.

Stop and Frisk will mitigate gun-related incidents

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

A police officer cautiously implement the Stop and Frisk or the 
Terry Frisk to individuals he suspected to possess illegal objects
 like gun. This mode of search and seizure has been sanctioned
 by jurisprudence as necessary to put the lives of the police out 
of danger.

Political observers opined that barangay (village) election in the Philippines is more intense emotionally than the provincial and municipal elections in the May 13 polls this year.
 The protagonists in the village elections, they said, have more personal ax to grind against each other than their counterparts in May 13.
Patrol 101 that can deter criminalities
 There is this perception that killings through the use of guns particularly among political rivals and their supporters in this poll could eclipse those numbers of corpses in the May 13 electoral derby.
 Barangay election is fast approaching. It would be held on October 28 this year.

 PNP incorporates Stop and Frisk
 Since this writer was “flattered” by the disclosure of Pangasinan Police Director Senior Superintendent Marlou Chan that his article titled “Police Stop and Frisk help Lower Shooting Incidents “(that compared shooting incidents last year in the 8.5 million populated New York City that claimed 450 lives versus the 3 million populated thriving gun-for hire province Pangasinan where killers snapped out 249 lives in the same year (you can accessed it at http://wwwmortzcortigoza.blogspot.com/2013/08/polices-stop-and-frisk-help-lower.html ) ) has been integrated in the Philippine National Police’s pilot project in Malasiqui town.
 Police Regional Director Ricardo Marquez lauded recently on TV Chan and the provincial police rising star Lieutenant Colonel Rodolfo Castro (lately reassigned as chief of police of another "Tombstone" City  San Carlos) whose Lennon-McCarthy collaboration in the Squad Patrol 101 (Read: Police visibility, check point, etc.)  resulted in a zero shooting incident since the project’s inception recently.
 The pronouncement of General Marquez on TV was refreshing since the 73 villages’ strong town has been a lair of hired killers according to the former chief of police there.
“Bawat barangay dito may hired killer (Every village here has hired killer),” he told me over a cup of coffee in his office.
Police Superintendent Rod Castro, alumnus of the PNPA 
and formerly assigned with the PSG, passionately explained 
his Patrol 101 being implemented at the once rambunctious 
86-strong barangays San Carlos City, Pangasinan where he is
the incumbent chief of police.

 Assassins in Pangasinan thrive as Village poll approaches
 Now that the village poll is just around the corner, assassins are honing their target shooting accuracy and their motorcycle proficiency in their hideouts ready to go for business to clients who can afford their price tag.
If remains unabated, this turmoil will cause losses of precious lives, a broken peace and order situation as residents live in fear, anxieties among public officials as the acrimonious media assailed them for their incompetence to put a plug on hit men in a rampage.
 As what I told former police general and incumbent congressman Pol Bataoil in the last national and local election that the police are afraid to do the stop and frisk or open the trunk and compartment of the motorists even with the latter consent because the police fear the motorists complain or sue them at the People’s Law Enforcement Board, human right bodies, or the court.
 “That’s part of the hazard of the service. But as long as the policeman is doing his job properly and in accordance with their police procedures they can defend their actions even in Plaza Miranda,” the solon told me.

Basic Equipment of Police Patrollers

 Brief history and legal dynamics of Stop and Frisk
For starter, here’s the brief history and legal dynamics of Stop and Frisk (Terry v. Ohio) if the PNP wanted to adopt it on the October poll so it can mitigate the number of shooting incidents and other gun related crimes.
On October 31, 1963, while on a downtown beat which he had been patrolling for many years, Cleveland Police Department in the United States detective Martin McFadden, 62, saw two men, John W. Terry and Richard Chilton, standing on a street corner at 1276 Euclid Avenue and acting in a way the officer thought was suspicious.
 Detective McFadden, who was well-known on the Cleveland police force for his skill in apprehending pickpockets, he observed the two proceed alternately back and forth along an identical route, pausing to stare in the same store window. Each completion of the route was followed by a conference between the two on a corner. The two men repeated this ritual alternately between five and six times apiece—in all, roughly a dozen trips. After one of these trips, they were joined by a third man (Katz) who left swiftly after a brief conversation. Suspecting the two men of "casing a job, a stick-up", detective McFadden followed them and saw them rejoin the third man a couple of blocks away in front of a store.

 Police approach the suspects
 The plainclothes officer approached the three, identified himself as a policeman, and asked their names. The men "mumbled something", whereupon McFadden spun Terry around, patted down his outside clothing, and felt a pistol in his overcoat pocket. He reached inside the overcoat pocket, but was unable to remove the gun. The officer ordered the three into the store. He removed Terry's overcoat, took out a revolver, and ordered the three to face the wall with their hands raised. He patted down the outer clothing of Chilton and Katz and seized a revolver from Chilton's outside overcoat pocket. He did not put his hands under the outer garments of Katz (since he discovered nothing in his pat-down which might have been a weapon), or under Terry's or Chilton's outer garments until he felt the guns. The three were taken to the police station. Terry and Chilton were subsequently charged with carrying concealed weapons.

Guns seized on Stop and Frisk as Evidence 
The defense of the charged individuals moved to suppress the use of the seized weapons as evidence (Filipino law practitioners called them Fruits of a Poisonous Tree) on grounds that the search and subsequent seizure were a violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution (where Philippine Constitution adopted it at Section 2, Article III ( Illegal search and seizure" of the Bill of Rights).
 Though the trial court rejected the prosecution theory that the guns had been seized during a search incident to a lawful arrest, the court denied the motion to suppress and admitted the weapons into evidence on the grounds that:
 1) The officer had (reasonable doubt) cause to believe that Terry and Chilton were acting suspiciously;
 2) That their interrogation was warranted, and;
 3) That the officer for his own protection had the right to pat down their outer clothing having reasonable cause to believe that they might be armed.
 Terry and Chilton were found guilty by Court of Common Pleas of Cuyahoga County (U.S version of the Philippines’ Regional Trial Court) , an intermediate appellate court (Philippines’ version of its Court of Appeals) affirmed the conviction, and the Ohio State Supreme Court dismissed the appeal on the ground that "no substantial constitutional question" was involved.

 Why Stop and Frisk Necessary

 1) Police need a certain flexibility in dealing with quickly evolving and potentially dangerous situations that arise during routine patrol of the streets;
 2) A rigid and unthinking application of the exclusionary rule (The rule means that a search of a person should be with the benefit of a warrant or illegal object is seen inflagrante delicto before the police arrest him) in futile protest against practices which it can never be effectively used to control, may exact a high toll in human injury and frustration of efforts to prevent crime.
 3) The court made room for the idea that some police action short of a traditional arrest (through Plain View and Search Warrant) could constitute a seizure—that is, "whenever a police officer accosts an individual and restrains his freedom to walk away, he has 'seized' that person.
 Thus, when the police detective took hold of Terry and patted him down on that Cleveland street, the detective "seized" Terry and subjected him to a "search" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment.
But the Fourth Amendment protects only against unreasonable searches and seizures, so the Court next had to determine whether Terry’s seizure and search were "reasonable".
 4) Reasonable search for weapons is for the protection of the police officer, where he has reason to believe that he is dealing with an armed and dangerous individual, regardless of whether he has probable cause to arrest the individual for a crime.
The court however cautioned the police to avoid using good faith or hunch to stop and seize a person.” If subjective good faith alone were the test, the protections of the Fourth Amendment would evaporate, and the people would be 'secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,' only in the discretion of the police," the court quoted Beck v. Ohio, 379 U.S. 89 (1964).
 5) Evidence found on Terry's person was properly admitted because the search was reasonable. The detective had observed Terry and his companions acting in a manner of a stick-up. A reasonable person in the detective's position would have thought that Terry was armed and thus presented a threat to his safety while he was investigating the suspicious behavior he was observing. The events he had witnessed made it reasonable for him to believe that either Terry or his cohorts were armed.
 6) The police detective here limited his search to the outer surfaces of Terry's clothing. His searched was reasonably related for his own safety that justified the stop from the beginning. Accordingly, the Court concluded that the revolver found on Terry's person was properly admitted into evidence.
 7) The sole justification of the search ... is the protection of the police officer and others nearby, and it must therefore be confined in scope to an intrusion reasonably designed to discover guns, knives, clubs, or other hidden instruments for the assault of the police officer."

 Subsequent Jurisprudences on warrantless Search after Terry v. Ohio. 
1) The Supreme Court ruled that car compartments could be searched if an officer had reasonable suspicion that the suspect is armed and dangerous. Thus the compartments are viewed as an extension of the suspect's person. This is known as "frisking the lunge area" as an officer may protect himself by searching any areas the suspect could grab a weapon from.
2) The Court most recently cited Terry v. Ohio in Arizona v. Johnson. In that 2009 case, the Court ruled 9-0 in favor of further expanding Terry, granting police the ability to frisk an individual in a stopped vehicle if there is reasonable suspicion to believe the individual is
1) armed and dangerous (in the Philippines we have a jurisprudence on warrantless search through Moving Vehicle (you can accessed my article on this at  http://northwatch.wordpress.com/2013/02/16/ortigoza-its-a-joke-police-tied-to-visual-search/. ). This fulfills only the second prong of Terry (the first prong—reasonable suspicion that a crime has, is, or will be committed—is fulfilled by whatever traffic violation prompted the pull-over). According to Whren v. United States,
 2) any traffic violation, no matter how small, is legitimate basis for a traffic stop.

 Oh by the way, if you are probably confused why a lot of U.S cases were cited here when we are Filipinos living in the Philippines. Philippine courts are liberal for litigants who adopt the U.S jurisprudence if it involves constitutional issue of an individual like our search and seizure topic here.
 Remember America was our colonizer where we hammered many of our constitutional provisions from her. Our Bills Of Rights are almost if not copy cat of the U.S Bills of Rights.
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VP Binay gave me 1000 bags of relief goods - Zaplan

STA. BARBARA – Mayor Carlito Zaplan said that Vice President Jejomar Binay gave recently here one thousand pieces of relief goods for the people of this town who were affected by the flood brought by Typhoon Maring.
Vice President Jojo Binay and  Sta. Barbara Mayor Lito
Zaplan (2nd, 3rd from left respectively) strike a pose
after they distributed recently relief goods in the town.
He said that 12 of the villages here have been declared under the State of Calamity. “There were 12 barangays but we considered them minimal. Those villages that were struck by huge flood were Barangays Dalonge, Malibago, and Songkil,” Zaplan explained in Pilipino.
But he said the beneficiaries of the relief goods who trooped to the public gym were not necessary those who were from the 12 barangays. “We just invited some of them. They were residents who did not suffer the way those villages I mentioned where flood were deep, ” he stressed.
 Zaplan said he discussed too with Vice President Binay housing projects here through the social _Pag-Ibig. Binay was accompanied by Pangasinan Vice Governor Ferdinand Calimlim, Pangasinan Police Director Marlou Chan, Colonel Castro of the Army Brigade assigned in Binmaley, Pangasinan, Binmaley Mayor Sam Rosario. (MCO)