New Year's Boo-boo in Baguio

By  MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA 

Are Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan and the members of the city council a poor wannabe of Davao City Mayor Rudy Duterte and his city council?

Baguio City has just passed an ordinance penalizing those who sell firecrackers in the cloud-kissed city but did not pass a law prohibiting its residence in using them for the revelry.

Because of that boo-boo, people in my city Dagupan laughed but thankful to Domogan and his dads at the council.

Why? Selling of firecrackers in Dagupan, known to manufacture them since time-immemorial, have been brisk thanks to the people of Baguio who swarmed the place to buy their firecrackers and fireworks.

What is bad in Baguio is good for the businessmen in Dagupan.

*** 

The ordinance blunder in Baguio City has been written by the Daily Inquirer on its December 31 issue. The following excerpts: 

"Firecracker stalls were put up on Monday along Marcos Highway in Tuba town, Benguet, spoiling the summer capital’s campaign to end firecracker injuries, at least in the mountain resort city.

Mayor Mauricio Domogan has imposed a ban on firecracker sales in the summer capital, but Tuba Mayor Florencio Bentrez has allowed 13 licensed fireworks traders to sell products near the boundary of the two communities.

“But I put my foot down and required them to only sell fireworks and not firecrackers,” Bentrez said by telephone on Monday.

Domogan said neighboring Benguet towns, like La Trinidad and Itogon, had also banned the sale of firecrackers in their jurisdictions, reinforcing his campaign to reduce the number of firecracker-related injuries.

On Monday, the Department of Health recorded another firecracker injury in Baguio, raising the number of people treated for injuries to six since the holiday week began. The agency also recorded a firecracker injury in Itogon town, raising the Cordillera injury list to 12 as of Dec. 30.

Guerrilla-style sales

“This morning, I learned Tuba had allowed the sale of fireworks. I was also warned that fireworks traders threatened to sell their wares guerrilla-style in the city. I hope they listen to their conscience,” Domogan told reporters.

Bentrez said his decision was not meant to counter Baguio’s policy.

And like many communities, Tuba designated a zone where firecrackers and pyrotechnic products may be sold, Bentrez said.

These areas have been placed under tight watch by the local police and fire departments.

In Talavera town, Nueva Ecija, vendors of firecrackers and pyrotechnic products were allowed to build 12 stalls under the close watch of the police, said Supt. Reynaldo de la Cruz, town police chief.

He said local police arrested four people for selling illegal products.

Firecracker stalls were also set up on the provincial road outside the Science City of Muñoz in Nueva Ecija".

(Send comments to totomortz@yahoo.com)

ALAN PETER CAYETANO FOR PRESIDENT ?

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

Since three months, U.S based National Defense Magazine has been sending me its free glossy magazines that feature those newest innovations on military hardwares peddled by merchants of deaths Northrop, BAE Systems, IRobot, Leupold Tactical Optic, to name a few  after the mag probably saw my zeal in writing and posting their wares on my blog.

Senator Cayetano (left) in a word-war
with then Senate President Juan Ponce
Enrile at the plenary hall of the
Senate.

Lately the foreign and military affairs magazine Diplomat has been flooding me too in social media Face Book with a lot of articles and analysis complement by the arrays of its perceptive authors about the brouhaha, positioning, and saber rattling of countries particularly the U.S, Japan, China, and India after I tipped my finger in liking its site.

Exhilarated about significant informational materials it espouses, I even included some friends who love to talk about the nitty-gritty of foreign affairs to be free members of the online  magazine.

In case links for the articles of Diplomat keep popping out at your Face Book account former 5- time Speaker Jose de Venecia, Harvard boy Vladimir Mata, and former social studies teacher and present high school principal Rene Pacolor (whom I told that he shared the same profession with former U.S House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Vietnam military genius General Vo Nguyen Giap who were once  social studies teacher before politics and war sucked them to the lime lights ) you now know already the “culprit” that interceded for you to be a lifetime member of Diplomat Online Magazine.

***

With “presidentiables” Vice President Jojo Binay and Secretary Mar Roxas of the Department of Interior & Local Government undermine and slander each other through their paid hacks in the traditional and online media, I doubt if the duo with their tarnished and damaged image, will still be palatable before the eyes of the voters in the 2016 election.

That’s why I told friends in some huddles that we still could not say who will be the new president comes 2016.

“Look at Noynoy Aquino, were the Pinoys agog about him in years 2008 and 2009? Naah, he became the favorite presidential bet when he mournfully walked at the side of the hearse of his mother former president Cory when the latter’s remain was brought to her final resting place,” I told them.

I added that the convergence of events bode well with him after the perceptively cruel and corrupt President  Gloria Arroyo was criticized by the soft-spoken and almost saint- like Cory. 

***

For me one of the presidential dark horses in the 2016 election will be the eloquent vernacular speaking Senator Alan Peter Cayetano.

“You’re   a rabble rouser,” I told him three years ago when his University of the Philippines school mate Vladimir Mata introduced him to me at the Dagupan City Plaza in a Christmas event when Mata was still the city administrator of the Bangus City .

The defining moment of Alan Peter was when he tangled with the smart-alecky then Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile at the plenary hall of the August Chamber when he questioned Enrile’s unfair distribution of the Maintenance Operating and Other Expenses (MOOE) as Christmas bonuses among the 24 members of the Senate.

Enrile probably has regretted that distribution of the spoils as the feisty Senator Miriam Santiago keeps “exorcising” him by disgracing him directly in her privilege speeches.

 The following excerpts of Cayetano and Enrile bitter exchange have been forever etched on the psychology of the Filipinos as they saw it on the evening TV news:

Enrile: Eh ito ang record ng opisina namin.
Cayetano: Kung may record kayo di pakita ninyo, singilin ninyo kami.
Enrile: Pinapakita ko sayo, halika.
Cayetano: Pinapakita ko rin sa inyo Mr. President na may utang na loob din kayo pero never ko naman siningil.
Enrile: Anong utang na loob ko sa inyo?
Cayetano: Hindi ho ba na pinagsilbihan kayo nang maganda [ng tatay ko]?
Enrile: Ano ba yung bahay ninyo?
Cayetano: Yung bahay po namin inutang sa bangko at nabayaran po yan, yan po ba ang issue?
Enrile: Yung mga kahoy?
Cayetano: Hindi ko po alam saan nanggaling ang kahoy.
Enrile: Ikaw ang nag-umpisa niyan.
Cayetano: Hindi po ako ang nagumpisa. Every time po na may issue, sasabihin ninyo sa akin di ka pa pinapanganak iho nagpapractice na ako.  
Enrile: Alan, tama na. Akala mo yata hindi ako preparado sa mga sinasabi mo.
Cayetano: Ang akala ko sasagutin ninyo ang issue sa Senado, hindi yung personalan.
Enrile: Ikaw nag-umpisa.
Cayetano: Hindi po ako nag-umpisa, tinatapos ko lang.
Enrile: I will not go down to the gutter.
Cayetano: You already went to the gutter. Your chief of staff has already gone to the gutter. This is irrelevant to our discussion here and you're bringing up things where a person who's already dead cannot answer.

***

Before this exchange, Alan Peter assailed Enrile and his rumored mistress Attorney Gigi Reyes and Enrile’s closeness to former president Gloria Arroyo.

"Dahil dati na po kayo galit sa akin sapagkat napakalapit po ninyong dalawa ni Atty. Gigi sa dating Pangulong GMA (Arroyo's initials) at kay First Gentlemen [Jose Miguel Arroyo]. Kasama naman po talaga kayo noon sa planning group at sa asar na isang katulad ko ay pwedeng tumayo sa Kongreso at labanan sila," he said.

As quoted at GMA-7 online news, Cayetano also said Reyes was a close friend of their political rivals in Taguig, where his wife, Maria Laarni, is the incumbent mayor.

"Hindi ba si Ma'am Gigi po best friend po niya ang asawa ni Justice [Dante] Tinga na nakalaban ng asawa ko sa Taguig at hipag ni Ma'am Gigi o sister-in-law niya ang isang konsehal sa Taguig na number one kritiko ng aking asawa," he said.

"So every time naman na may hearing dito pati pag nandito si [Comelec] Chairman [Sixto] Brillantes, 'di ba sa opisina ninyo ang diretso? [Tapos] ako inuupakan at minsan tinutulungan ninyo pa kaya nagkakasagutan tayo after that I approach you and I just say we have different opinions, I never took it personally," he added.

Cayetano said he won't go into the details of Enrile and Reyes' personal relationship, but revealed that he knew "a hundred truths.”

***

Enrile paid a dear price for that nasty argument with Cayetano.

His son Jack, a senatorial aspirant who was Numbers 2-6 in the July 27-30, 2012 Pulse Asia Survey, had a  free fall outside the Magic 12 as the campaign sortie came to finality.

As what I wrote in my column in March 9, 2013:

“My already long face dropped further after browsing its findings.

 How could re-electionist senator Cayetano dropped from No.3  (January SWS's poll) to No.6 (StratPOLLs) when he should be up after people empathized with him with his calm tact in dealing with the classless gutter verbal attack of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile Sr. that was seen on national TV late of January this year by the whole nation?

To rephrase Charles Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities:

That was the best of Cayetano that was the worst of Enrile          

So how could StratPOLLs explain why Enrile's son Jack eclipsed to Nos.7-8 from his No. 8-9 in the January Social Weather Stations poll when he should be sliding to the lower notches after his namesake Enrile Sr. put a noose on his neck and hanged himself on that fateful encounter with Cayetano?

***

Author in a huddle with Senator Cayetano (R) after he
spoke early this month with a group of fishermen
 in Dagupan City.

Two weeks ago I met Senator Cayetano (when his Man, er, Woman Friday Marivic Cheng invited me) when he personally gave a seed money to Dagupan City based USADA (Ulopan ng Sumisigay Ed Dagupan, Inc) headed by Ronaldo Cayabyab after I drafted his letter asking the senator for his final assistance.

I asked Allan Peter the following:

“Sabi ng Supreme Court unconstitutional ang PDAF. Does it mean gone are the days of SOP (euphemism for cut by senators and congressmen every time they use their pork barrel to fund government project)? Gone are the days of hanky panky?

“Let me say, yes and no iyan. Gone are the days of SOP, gone are the days of corruption sa PDAF. Pero tandaan mo ang PDAF is only one percent of the (national) budget. Mas malaki ang nasa departamento. Sabi nga ni Benhur Luy na mismo sa D.A (Department of Agriculture) nag de-deal sila directly – hindi lang sa PDAF,” he answered.

I asked him too about the fear that I shared that Malacanang could no longer marshal the members of congress since the carrot (alias SOP in the lump sum PDAF) to motivate them to blindly vote for Palace- sponsored bills like Freedom of Information, Anti-Dynasty Law, to name a few has been revoked by the Supreme Court already.

Cayetano said: “ Tama ka, maging challenge sa Malacanang ngayon kung paano ipapasa ang budget. So it remains to be seen. Itong January hanggang March pagka nandiyan na iyong mga important bills kung maipapasa pa rin kahit wala iyong PDAF. Kung maipapasa e di good. Nag mature na ang Kongresso. Kung hindi, e back to square one”.

You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com).

Suspected Notorious Criminals in Dagupan Killed

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

Recently, I picked in the news stand in Baguio the 44- page Baguio Midland Courier and 16 pages Sun Star.

Midland Courier, used to be read by my father in early 1970s when we still resided at PMA compound, reported that the local government unit of the Pines City has a staggering proposed 2014 budget of P1.4 billion.

That budget dwarfed the same year’s budget of two Pangasinan cities – Urdaneta- P700 million and Dagupan -P626 million.

“Mayor Mauricio Domogan submitted an executive budget of P1,395,822,000 for 2014.  This is P109,679,000 higher than last year’s P1,286,143,000 budget,” the Courier reported.

The mammoth local revenues of the Pines City, that helped back the 2014 proposed budget,  surely comes from its vaunted tourism and its galloping real estate industries, and the business taxes  paid by its burgeoning malls and its retail stores including the famous ukay-ukay industry.

The saving graces of the Pangasinan cities and towns in having their allocation from the national taxes called internal revenue allotment come from their population. The more population you got the more taxes you will receive (an upside argument college debaters should cite whenever they are asked to defend the resolution: Resolve that bigger demography is good for a country or a community).

Just look at the towns of Bayambang and Calasiao. Mayor Ric Camacho told me before that next year his renowned fish-rich freshwater town (soon to be included in the Guinness Book of World Record, am I right Janice Hidalgo?) will be operating on a P186 million budget – complements of Camacho friendly members of the Sanggunian Bayan (town council).

 “How much is your local revenue there, mayor?” I posed.

“Mga P36 million,” he answered.

In a conversation lately with Calasiao Vice Mayor Roy Macanlalay ( a three-term hizzoner) told me that his burgeoning town will have a conservative budget next year of P155 million - despite the almost two year non- operation of the Villamil Bridge that sapped the tax efforts of the town. The bridge is an essential egress of the town to Central Pangasinan’s municipalities and Manila.

“Mga P50 million and local taxes namin,” he told me when I asked him how much was the local revenue in the P165 million budget.

***

But what makes Calasiao unique to Bayambang or Mangaldan and other bigger towns in the province is the puto making town has a population (2010 census)of 91,109  and land area of  48.36 kilometers  while Bayambang has a huge demography (2010 census) of 111,521 and land area of  143.94 kilometers .

The difference why Calasiao got P50 million versus Bayambang’s P36 million was the former has been enjoying the robust local taxes it gets from the entries of international and national business behemoths car sales and service centers like Honda, Toyota, Isuzu, Nissan, and lately giant retail store Robinson and new gas stations.

These businesses, including the future presence of renowned mall SM unless Mayor Lito Zaplan of the nearby Sta Barbara does not snap it, jostle and shove each other in a limited area of the town. The more business entities outdo each other, the more business taxes and revenues from the appreciation of the real property taxes the local government gets. 

*** 

As I prepared to encode my column here, the 6-foot 2- inch Dagupan City chief of police Supt. Cris Abrahano text me the following shoot out incidents that ensued yesterday.

“Robbery holdup suspect liquidated. Shooting incident transpired at 12: 20 pm this date in Brgy. Tebeng, Dagupan City. Victim sustained gunshot wounds on his head causing his instantaneous death. Victim identified as Reynald Flores y Espejo alias Palos Dugong of legal age, married, known hold upper in the area and was believed to be behind the series of robberies. He was jobless and resident of Bacayao Sur this city. Shooting suspect fled to unknown direction by taking away victim's blue Raider single motorcycle”.

The other text message said: “Wanted person shoots it out with Dagupan Police and was killed in the encounter. The shoot out ensued after the police served his warrant of arrest at 1:30 pm on December 27, 2013 at Sitio Parongking, Brgy. San Miguel , Calasiao, Pangasinan. Elements of Dagupan City Police Station and Calasiao Police Station served his multiple warrant of arrests for murder against Noynoy Diaz, a member of de Guzman gun for hire and hold up group operating within the 3^rd and 4^th Districts of Pangasinan. The said suspect, when alerted of policemen’s presence, refused to surrender and attempted to fight it out with police prompting the police to engage in the exchanged of fire. Suspect sustained fatal gunshot wounds.”

(Send comments to totomortz@yahoo.com)

Corruption ensues despite revocation of PDAF – Cayetano

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY – Senator Allan Peter Cayetano said corruption will still haunt the Filipinos despite the revocation recently of the pork barrel known as priority development assistant fund (PDAF) in congress by the Supreme Court.

Senator Allan Peter Cayetano answered questions recently
 before the throng of reporters in Dagupan City after he
came out in a meeting with a group of fishermen
in the city.

“So iyong S.O.P (euphemism for cut by a public official for every government funded project) nandiyan pa rin hindi lang sa PDAF,” Cayetano quipped.

He said that even corruption in the PDAF has been excised by the high tribunal; pork barrel is only 1 percent of the national budget.

“Mas malaki ang mga nasa departamento. At sinabi na ni Benhur Luy na mismo sa DA (Department of Agriculture) na nag de-deal sila directly hindi lang sa PDAF,” he stressed.

Cayetano said that Filipinos should watch how congress reacts to the bill sponsored by the Palace after the Supreme Court wrote off the lump sum system in the pork barrel as illegal.

Senators and congressmen have been accused to pocket a part of the PDAF every time it is used to fund government project.

“Pagka nandiyan na iyong mga importanting bills kung maipapasa pa rin kahit wala iyong PDAF. Kung maipasa – good nag ma-mature na ang kongresso. Kung hindi e, back to square one tayo”.

He said the acid test how the solons react in the absence of a carrot dangles above their heads  will be when Malacanang sponsored bills are presented in the halls of Congress in January to March next year.

Fishermen group is P650, 000 richer

                                                                       By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY – A group of fishermen in this city is P650 thousand richer after Representative Gina de Venecia and Senator Allan Peter Cayetano gave its members P500, 000 and P150, 000, respectively.

Seed Money: Senator Peter Allan Cayetano spoke before members
of the 1,500 strong members of Ulopan ng Sumisigay Ed Dagupan, 
Inc. (USADA) in Dagupan City early this month after he
gave them the initial tranche of financial
 assistance its president Ronaldo Cayabyab (2nd from left) 
can lend to its members.

Ronaldo Cayabyab, the president of the Ulopan ng Sumisigay Ed Dagupan, Inc (USADA),  said that early this year Congresswoman de Venecia (4^th District, Pangasinan) gave half-a-million pesos as first tranche of the P1 million she pledged to USADA while Cayetano gave early this month P150,00 as the first installment of the  seed money loan on its members.

“Ang sabi niya by January or February magdadagdag pa siya kung maganda ang pagtakbo ng USADA ,” he stressed in Filipino.

Cayabyab said the senator did no say the amount he would be giving on the second tranche.

Cayabyab said the P150,000 that Cayetano gave will be a loan to its members who are under the mercy of the usurious rate lent by the Indian nationals who are into the 5/6 or 20 percent interest padding loan.

“P5000.00 ang ibibigay namin sa isang miembro na nagtitinda ng isda. P200 a month – that’s 4 percent interest no collateral. Basta member siya nagtitinda, nandito siya at nagtitinda na umaasa sa 5/6 iyon ang unang bibigyan”.

Cayabyab said his organization that has been operating for years here has more than 1, 500 head of families as members. 

Heroes’ welcome for the 120-man Tulong Yolanda team held

Pangasinan contingent repairs classrooms in Leyte town.  The Pangasinan delegation deployed 
by Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. for a 10-day humanitarian mission (December 13-22, including travel
 time) in Dulag, Leyte repaired and rehabilitated eight classrooms (like the photo at left) which were 
heavily devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda.  Vice Gov. Jose Ferdinand Z. Calimlim, Jr. (center photo, 
left) turned over two classrooms at Dulag Central School (right photo), four classrooms at Dulag SPED 
Center and two classrooms at Dulag National High School to Dulag Mayor Manuel Sia Que (center 
photo, right). The team also conducted cleaning and clearing operations, relief distribution, gift-giving 
of toys to 
kids, health care delivery, installation of lights to church and plaza and film showing at the town plaza.  (PIO Photo by Jun Moran)

Lingayen- - -Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr. commended the 120-man team from Pangasinan provincial government who went to Dulag, Leyte to extend relief and rehabilitation operations for the Yolanda survivors barangays in the said town.

In the heroes’ welcome rites conducted on December 23 during the regular flag-raising ceremony at the Capitol plaza, the governor expressed his appreciation to the employee volunteers who brought with them “the heart and spirit of volunteerism of Pangasinenses.”

“You are the perfect example of what the provincial government is nowadays,” Gov. Espino said as he disclosed that Pangasinan is truly proud of what the team has accomplished in their 10-day mission in Dulag, Leyte.

Board Member Clemente Arboleda, who led the team, recounted how each volunteer did their share to fulfill the provincial government’s mission within the scheduled timeframe (December 16-20).

“It has been a life-changing experience. It has touched our lives. I am not a prayerful person but with what I saw and felt, I have learned how to pray,” Arboleda said as he added that he prays that Pangasinan will be spared from intense calamity like typhoon Yolanda.

Vice Governor Jose Ferdinand Z. Calimlim, Jr., on the other hand, said that the humanitarian mission that was rendered by the provincial government only proves how progressive Pangasinan became over the years under the leadership of Gov. Espino in terms of disaster response and management.

“Dati po tayo ang humihingi ng tulong, ngayon tayo na po ang nagbibigay suporta sa mga kapwa Pilipino natin,” he remarked.

Among the services brought to Leyte included distribution of relief packs to 10 barangays of Dulag town composed of food items, blankets, slippers, and some 2,000 toys for children.

Arboleda reported that some 1,400 families or approximately 7,000 individuals were given relief goods or gift packs through the employees of the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office.

Medical and dental mission were also conducted on December 16-20 by the doctors, dentists and nurses from the Provincial Health Office, serving about 1,300 residents who received medicine items.

Provision of medical and dental services was held in the following areas: Poblacion RHU (Dec. 16), medical-327 and dental-42; Brgy. Calubian (Dec 17) medical-350 and dental-115; Poblacion RHU (Dec 18) medical-105; Brgy. Luan (Dec 19) medical-291, dental-47; and Brgy. Sabang (Dec 20) medical-107 and dental-23.

Aside from Vice Governor Calimlim and BM Arboleda, the Pangasinan contingent was led by Board Members Raul Sison, Liberato Villegas and Generoso Tulagan, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management OIC Chief Fernando de Guzman, Ret. Col. Mariano “Sonny” Verzosa and Col. Manny Velasco as well as PHO Chief Ana Maria Teresa de Guzman, PSWDO Chief Emilio Samson and PIO Chief Orpheus Velasco.

The team arrived in Pangasinan on December 22, 9am. (PIO/Ruby R. Bernardino)

Bataoil in a tensed negotiation with Misuari

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Moro Rebels Chairman Nur Misuari

 A lot of Filipinos were agog recently about the front cover of the male FHM magazine and its headliner the voluptuous actress Alice Dixon. According to what I read, that particular issue of FHM vanished in the market like hot cake because of the poses of the divorcee half American actress who used to work as real estate broker in the U.S.

What made a lot of younger women turn green with envy was Alice Dixon was already 44 years old – an age, just like in boxing, considered as old and over the hill.

Ano kaya ang sekreto ni Alice, siya ay 44 na pero sexy pa rin. Si comedienne Eugene Domingo ay mas bata pa sa kanya pero mukhang matanda na?

Former Police General Pol
Bataoil

***

I was watching recently the evening news of GMA-7 TV. Its reporter said that the driver and conductor of the "killer" bus Don Mariano receive P1,200, P1000 a day as pay or P36,000 or P30,000, respectively, a month if they don't take their weekend leave. Manila bus drivers receive much higher pay than a public school principal whose lowest pay is P28, 000 a month.

Years ago in a conversation with a driver of an air-conditioned  Victory Liner from Manila to Dagupan City, he told me that he and the conductor receive that pay in a twice a day hair raising  trips ( one trip is six- hour ride) a day. He rued however that many folks considered their work as less prestigious than say a P19, 000 a month new public school teacher or a rookie policeman.

***

Air conditioned bus drivers are even accused of indulging in illegal drugs Shabu so they can fight sleepiness.

The driver of the Don Mariano that crashed at the railings of the SkyWay in Manila and fell like an accordion into a van in a highway downstairs was suspected to have dozed off. Probably he was not into shabu as some of his counterparts have been accused to use.

His common law wife (live-in partner) said his husband parked his bus at midnight but he was asked by the owner to drive it at five am the following day.

Kulang sa tulog, and many of these drivers in Manila face this same dilemma.

***

The brewing conflicts among claimant countries in some islets in the Far East Asia bode well for the military industries of the United States and Europe.

Look at the $240 billion shopping lists of Japan for a four years military hardware streak:

To buttress its maritime and defense capability around the disputed islets, the Abe administration, according to Philippine Daily Inquirer December 18 issue, announced recently to buy $240 billion  new military hardware in a five-year span starting next year that include five submarines, three drones, 52 amphibious vehicles, 17 Osprey hybrid choppers, and others.

The Philippines is part of the queue too in the arms purchase as it modesty prepares its defense on the saber rattling Mainland China in the South China Sea.  The Aquino administration is going to purchase the following: One squadron of T-50 jets from South Korea, frigates from Italy, attack helicopters, C-130 cargo planes, to name a few that cost hundreds of billions of pesos from our coffer.

The more Asia countries rearms, the more employment for the Americans, Europeans, and the Koreans .

***

Pangasinan Congressman Pol Bataoil told recently broadcaster Ruel Camba in his program that the former considered Maguindanao and Cotabato Provinces as his second home after Pangasinan.

The solon told Ruel that I was with Brig. General Ademar Tomaro (PMA ’82), Maguindanao Governor Toto Mangudadato, and former Governor Manny Pinol in Maguindanao recently.

He said he talked with Brig. General Tomaro who used my phone when I was there two weeks ago.

When he was a major and the chief of Cotabato City Metro District Command, Bataoil said he was involved in a tension filled negotiation with MNLF chieftain Nur Misuari when the latter sneaked in a bay in the city with thousands of his armed to the teeth troops.

“I introduced myself to him as a major and the chief of the Metrodiscom. I told him that he could not parade his troops in the city since it would cause tension among the residents there”.

Batoil said that my fellow Ilonggo general, dubbed by his PMA Mistah Generals Vic Castro and Sonny Versoza as the member of the Buldog (Delta) Company at the PMA, then Captain Tomaro was just around the corner with his tanks ready to turn Misuari into mincemeat if he would persist on his desire to show boat his troops without an imprimatur from the national government.

(Send comment to totomortz@yahoo.com)

Merrera to sue delos Angeles, 16 Kaps

THREAT: Former Barangay Liga President Arsenio Merrera 
(holding a microphone) of Binmaley, Pangasinan lectured fellow
 village chiefs about the illegality of their plan to call an election
 for the Liga ng mga Barangay in November 9.He
threatened to sue those who would not heed his
warning.

BINMALEY The   president of the league of barangay here said he would file a criminal case  against Bolago Chair Douglas delos Angeles and 17 other chairmen who convened a meeting last December 9 for the election of the league’s officers.

“I would leave to the prosecutor’s office what case to file against them,” Malindong Chair Arsenio Merrera said when asked what case he  would file against Angeles who is supported by 16 village chiefs.  Merrera  has 15 chairmen on his side.

He earlier said one of the cases he would file against delos Angeles nd the others  was criminal usurpation.

 Merrera said that the national league has revoked last December 13 the certification of recognition it gave to the group of delos Angeles after he personally complained at the league’s office in Manila.

He cited Section 1 of the Code that says the (league) president duly assisted by the government officer aforementioned shall notify, in writing, all the above concerned at least twenty-five (25) days before the scheduled election meeting on the exact date, time, place, and requirements of the said meeting.

Merrera accused the new League elected president Angeles and his 16 barangay chairmen of insisting that the December 4 meeting he called was above board.

“How can it be above board when those who attended it could not form a quorum,” he said.

Merrera, in a tension-filled assembly in November 9 lectured delos Angeles and his supporters on the provision of the Code and the legal consequences that await them and the supervising representatives from the Department of Interior and Local Government, Commission on Election, Department of Education, and others, who would transform the meeting into an election.

Merrera in that meeting banged the gavel on the table and told the attendees that he just adjourned the meeting.

But delos Angeles and the village chiefs pushed through with the election with delos Angeles  getting elected as president.

When asked on the comment of lawyer Manuel Manuel, the counsel of the Angeles and the 16 barangay chairmen, that he was stalling so he can retain his post as ex-officio councilor, Merrera retorted:

“I told them already before that I am not obsessed with the position we have to apply the rule of law. And whoever will win I am always willing to vacate this position.”

He explained that as acting league president what he was been doing was a call of duty.

“ If not, I will be prosecuted also for my failure to assume office– I don’t want to be prosecuted”.

Merrera is supported by Mayor Sam Rosario and Vice Mayor Pedro Merrera- his brother, while delos Angeles and his group are identified with losing mayoral candidate former mayor Lorenzo Cerezo.

No Looming War between China and Japan, Ph - JDV

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY - One of Asia’s foremost geo-political experts did not believe that the saber rattlings between China and some Asian countries will result in  a shooting war.

Former five –time Speaker Jose de Venecia said he did not see any eminent explosion of conflict in the East and South China Seas with China versus Japan and the Philippines.

“All of these will be settled by diplomacy and negotiation,” he stressed.

He said the belligerent attitude shown by Japan’s hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and China President Xi Jinping only drumbeat their self-confidence before the eyes of their constituents.

“Well, both are talking self-confident action for home politics. In the end, all of them will seat and settle these issues satisfactory to the satisfaction of both sides,” he said.

De Venecia said it was just normal for the United States commercial airlines to seek first the notification of the Chinese for them to pass the Area Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in East Asia that China unilaterally proclaimed.

“That’s normal, that’s normal because you cannot experiment with the lives of passengers in civil aircraft,” de Venecia quipped.

The arbitrary action of China to impose an ADIZ that covers the disputed islets Senkaku-Diaoyu has prompted a protest from Japan.

Abe said his country will not honor the imposition of China for airlines to seek first the imprimatur of the Chinese before they pass the area.

To buttress its maritime and defense capability around the disputed islets, the Abe Administration announced recently that it will buy $240 billion  new military hardware during a five-year span starting next year that include five submarines, three drones, 52 amphibious vehicles, 17 Osprey hybrid choppers, and others.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that during  his visit in the country last December 17, U.S Secretary John Kerry announced another $40 million military assistance so the Philippines can protect its territorial waters amid the rising threat shown by  China even as he asked nations in the South China Sea to lower the tension.

The $40 million comes from the US program known as the Global Security Contingency Fund. It would be spent over three years and will be used in improving the Philippine Coast Guard’s maritime security abilities and the boosting of the country’s counter terrorism capacity of the Philippines National Police in Mindanao, where the United States has also backed a decade-long Philippine government campaign against al-Qaeda-linked local militants

In that visit Secretary Kerry categorically said that China cannot unilaterally declare an ADIZ in East China Sea and put another one in the South China Sea.

 “The United States does not recognize that zone and does not accept it,” Kerry said during a news conference with Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario.

He said the zone should not be implemented and China should refrain from taking similar unilateral actions, particularly in the South China Sea,” he said.

De Venecia is the founding chairman, International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) , and founding president, Centrist Asia Pacific Democrats International (CAPDI).

 In the past he has called for dialogue among the East Asian countries that have similar claim in the land and water territories in the South and East China Seas.

The innocuous islets there have been suspected to seat in a huge deposit of mineral resources.

He espoused that the claimant States should resort to joint fishery consortium and joint exploration of the hydrocarbon and gas in the areas.

De Venecia cited a formula after World War II when Great Britain, Norway, and Germany jointly explore an oil field in the North Sea.

He said the claimant countries in East Asia can copy this North Sea model.

“The other model is that we will drill together and the profit we split. You see? So we shelve the issue of sovereignty. This is the formula that will solve the problems of China, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Therefore that will solve the problem between China and Vietnam in the Paracel. This (in) the Spratly claim, Vietnam went to war over there a dozen years ago. This is the same formula that should be used (by) Japan in Diaoyu Strait, what the Chinese call the Senkaku Strait. This is the third formula that could be used on the Sea of Japan and the East Sea, between Japan and South Korea, “he stressed

Philvolcs estimates 7 to 8-meter high tsunami in Dagupan if Manila Trench moves

An 8.5 magnitude earthquake emanating from the Manila Trench could generate from 7 to 8-meter high tsunami in Dagupan City. This was estimated by Dr. Leonila Bautista, an official of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), who was invited as a resource speaker during her weekly executive meeting with department heads called by Mayor Belen Fernandez. The Manila Trench is a fault line running from north to south some 100 kilometers away into the West Philippine Sea from Bolinao, Pangasinan, west of Dagupan City across the Lingayen Gulf. Bautista estimated that the tsunami, when it comes will have a width of from five to 10 meters. She said that Phivolcs has installed a tsunami warning station in Bolinao, which can transmit signals to the tsunami warning station in Dagupan City. The tsunami, she said, will come 40 minutes after a high-magnitude temblor occurs in mid-sea as a result of the movement of the Manila Trench. Water generated by tsunami, she said, will follow the river systems, thus people must stay away from rivers even if these are located inland. At the same time, Bautista confirmed that there is no fault line in Dagupan but the problem here is that its soil is soft and affected by liquefaction The Phivolcs official suggested the planting of mangroves in the coastal areas to help cushion the impact of the tsunami inland. Since the tsunami will be from 7 to 8 meters high in Dagupan, Bautista suggested a vertical evacuation for the people, which means they should seek refuge in strong tall buildings. The officials of the city should see to it that tall buildings will be opened to accommodate people when a big tsunami strikes, she said. She left to the people of Dagupan City to decide on whether they will still continue with the construction of a man-made tsunami hill in the village of Pugaro and in case they will decide to continue, this must be relocated, strengthened and made higher to ensure it can really save people. The man-made tsunami hill, whose first phase was the only one completed, it should be designed at only six meters in height and located only 100 meters close to the sea and the mouth of a river. Mayor Fernandez already phased out the project upon her assumption of office in July and instead, deemed the center of the circular embankment to be just made into a tree park. PNA