Water Impoundment for Climate Change - NIA

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

URDANETA CITY – The Division Manager A of the Pangasinan Irrigation Management Office of the National Irrigation Administration said that because of the climate change the government should resort to impoundment of water instead of diversion.

Division Manager Renato T. Millan of the
Pangasinan Irrigation Management Office .

Renato T. Millan however said so far all of the dams in the huge province of Pangasinan have been diverting water to rice fields.
He cited the proposed multi-billion pesos Alaminos- Bani-Mabini-Sual  (Alabamas) irrigation project in the town ofMabini and the Balog-Balog Multi-Purpose Dam Project (BBMP) in Tarlac in Tarlac as good example for the impoundment of water.
Aside from being an impoundment of water,  the more than P7 billion Alabamas, according to then NIA Regional Manager in Region 1 John Celeste, would be part of a hydroelectric power generating dam expected to produce 26 million KWH every year that would be erected in Balincaguing River in Mabini town. It also promised to irrigate 11,500-hectares of agricultural land in the said towns.  He said the project was endorsed by Congressman Jesus F. Celeste (1st District, Pangasinan) and the province’s Governor Amado Espino,

“Our dams are mostly for the diversion of water like that irrigation dams in Mangatarem and in Bugallon,” he cited.
Impoundment of water is where rice farmers particularly can have water to irrigate their crops even during the summer season.
He said the problems of the government why impoundment could not be funded like the Balog-balog in Tarlac and Alabamas in Mabini have been due to the opposition of the people there.

Dagupan Cops Nab Ex-Mayor Brod for Shabu

DAGUPAN CITY – Policemen arrested here a brother of the ex-mayor of San Fabian town for illegal drug pushing and illegal possession of firearm.

Supt. Cris Abrahon, Dagupan City's Chief of Police, (Left)
wields on this photo an assault automatic rifle's Bushmaster.

In a report sent to Northern Watch by Supt. Christopher Abrahano, this city’s chief of police, said that a police poseur-buyer arrested  at 2 A.M of July 29 Salvador V. Magliba, 59 years old, alias Ablast after the latter sold to him one piece sachet containing shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride).
A source, who asked anonymity as he is a friend of the Magliba family, said that Ablast is the younger brother of San Fabian’s former Mayor Romulo Magliba and the elder brother of the same town’s incumbent Councilor Alex Magliba.
According to the website of the Philippine News Agency, the other brother of the suspect is the late Archbishop Narciso V. Magliba of the influential Crusader of the Divine Church of Christ (CDCC). After his death in 2011 he was succeeded by Romulo as the Supreme Pontiff.
Abrahano added that another two pieces of small heat sealed plastic sachet containing shabu and one piece of .38 caliber “paltik” revolver were confiscated.
“Suspect is at the custody of this office while a case of violation of Sections 5 and 11 of Republic Act 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002) and Republic Act 10591 (A Comprehensive Law on Fire Arms and Ammunition and Providing Penalties Thereof) is being prepared against the arrested suspect,” the chief of police stressed. 

Violation of RA 9165 in the Philippines can be either non-bailable if one has been collared to be selling shabu, or bailable that runs up to P300, 000 if one has been arrested to be using small quantities.

P50M ER-OR-ICU Complex to rise at PPH

Lingayen – Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. led the groundbreaking of the Emergency Room-Operating Room-Intensive Care Unit Complex (ER-CR-ICU) which will soon rise within the Pangasinan Provincial Hospital compound.

100 Millionth Pinoy Baby in Pangasinan.  A nurse  from Pangasinan Provincial Hospital (PPH) hands over Baby John Paul Pedronio to her mother, Pamela Pedronio at the PPH in San Carlos City last July 27.  Baby John, who came out of his mother’s womb at 12:20 a.m. through normal delivery, was recognized as “symbolic 100 millionth Pinoy  baby” in Pangasinan as the Philippines hits the 100-million population.  Right photo shows Baby John and his mother as they received a starter kit worth P5,000 from the Regional Population Office.  /GDM-MVS

            In an interview with the media, Governor Espino said that the 3-in-1 complex worth P50-million is the 32^nd structure to rise at PPH since he assumed governorship in 2007.

            The ER-CR-ICU structure will also house a new laboratory and state-of-the-art medical equipment that are normally utilized for diagnostic purpose.

The infrastructure development will be completed in two phases. The 30M budget will be shouldered by the provincial government while the remaining 20M budget was allocated by the Department of Health (DOH) in recognition of the province’s outstanding performance in health care services.

“We will start the ground preparations and civil works to lessen the contract price,” Gov. Espino disclosed in an interview. He said, however, that the target completion of the structure by mid-2015 will be dependent on the release of the budget.

Elated over the activity, the Governor expressed his heartfelt thanks to the services of doctors, nurses and personnel working in the provincial hospital who have been doing their best in rendering medical services for Pangasinenses.

Paragas out, Tang-co in at DPWH District 2

LINGAYEN – After barely warming his seat, the district engineer of the 2nd Pangasinan Engineering District has been replaced after an alleged brush with some private contractors of the power-that-be.

NEW DISTRICT ENGINEER. Engineer Yolanda I. Tangco, new district engineer of the 2nd Pangasinan Engineering District of the Department of Public Works & Highway .

Engineer Yolanda I. Tangco replaced Engineer Elpidio Paragas as the top honcho of the Department of Public Works and Highways office that oversees the 2nd and 4th congressional districts of Pangasinan.
Paragas, according to a source, chose to retire from his post..
Tangco, an old hand at the DPWH regional office in San Fernando City, La Union, said she was still in a transition period as she was just appointed to the post last July 18.
She said one of the first agenda she would do is to see personally the sloppy painting of the pedestrian lanes in Dagupan City that got the goat of Mayor Belen Fernandez as reported by Northern Watch lately.
“Please bear with me as I just took over as DE,” she said.

Exec deplores Dagupan’s boo-boo on “No Helmet Law”

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY – A regional manager of a government agency deplored the legislative blunder committed by the city government here after it passed and signed into law the “No-Helmet Policy” in the central business district so it can prevent motorcycle riding in tandem (MRT) criminals.
“Paano naman kung nabangga ng truck o jeep o ibang sasakyan pagkatapos na-hospital o namatay kasi walang helmet, sino ang mananagot? Ang city government o konseho kaya?,” posed, as a reaction to this paper’s last week column titled”Idiotic No-Helmet Law in Dagupan City “ by Manager John Celeste of the National Irrigation Administration-Region 11 .
This city’s acting Mayor Maybelyn Fernandez signed into law last July 21 Ordinance No.2013-2014. Its principal author Councilor Jose Netu Tamayo said its implementation will be on late of August or early of September this year.
Salient feature of it says:”..Mandated to remove the same at authorized checkpoints by law enforcement agencies; provided that motor vehicle riders with speed limit below 15 kph are likewise exempt from wearing helmets at the Central Business District, including but not limited to Caranglaan, Mayombo, M.H. del Pilar, Arellano, A.B Fernandez, Gulig, Malued, and such other areas hereafter identified as economically viable for growth”.
The Ordinance said that the fine shall be payable to the City Treasurer’s Office within three days or seventy hours from the date of the issuance of the Citation Ticket. Moreover, it said that upon payment of the required fine, the driver’s license shall be released immediately. However, if after three days, no penalty payment was tendered, the corresponding case for violation of the City Ordinance shall be filed in the Municipal Trial Court for appropriate trial.
The ordinance metes the following fines of P200.00 for first offense, P300 for the second offense, P500 and imprisonment for the third offense and subsequent offenses receive various flak from the media and the motorists as it violated the national Motorcycle Helmet Act of 2009 (Republic Act No. 10054) .
Land Transportation Office –Region 1 Director  Teofilo F. Guadiz warned motorcycle riders in his various interviews in radio and television networks here that his personnel will flag and fine motorists and their riders on the very first day of the ordinance's implementation.

Mayors Hit Greedy Congresswoman

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

Rosario bewails Cerezo’s Extravagance

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Rosario: Judicious practice of public spending

BINMALEY – The mayor of this burgeoning town bemoaned his predecessor’s splurging of the Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) at the expense of this town's coffer. 
In his State of the Municipality Address held recently at the town’s gymnasium, Mayor Simplicio Rosario cited how former Mayor Lorenzo Cerezo spent P3,153,375.18 in July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013 for  fuel consumption and lubricant expenses compared to what he spent on the same goods by P2,739,799  in July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014.
“Nakatipid tayo ng malaking halaga na mahigit P413,575.93,” he stressed before the thousands of his constituents who attended his SOMA.
Rosario declared  to his constituents that as long as he is the incumbent mayor here he would not used even a litter of fuel for his private car.
“Samantalahin ko  po ang sasabihin ko sa inyo,  habang ako ang mayor sa tatlong ta-on hindi ako papayag na isang private vehicle na hindi sasakyan ng government nagkakarga ng gasoline. Maski ako na mayor, maski si vice mayor (Pedro Merrera) at lahat ng municipal officials,” he stressed.

Cerezo: Splurging on municipal funds?

He told the spectators that this started during the onslaught of Typhoon Peping when he told this town late Administrator  Armenio Escat Jr. that they would not use municipal fuel to run their private vehicles when they would be in the position.
“Nakatipid tayo ng P441,754,02, napakalaking tipid ang ating natitipid sa dating pag-gastos ng motor vehicles”.
He cited that this town saved P8,819,980.60 on MOOE in July 2013 – June 2014 compared to the same preceding period under Cerezo.
He cited that the judicial use of the public funds by his administration was responsible for the savings.
The revenue of this town spikes by P1,703,705.43 this year compared to the collection of his predecessor in the same period last year.
Due to the aggressive and wise collection of business permits the goal of P5,032,532.56 for this year has nearly reached by the collections of P5,485,000 in the first six months of  this year.

Asis Confirmed as HRM Officer

 The Sangguniang Panlalawigan officially confirmed the appointment of Jannet Asis (at the rostrum) as Human Resource and Development Officer of the provincial government of Pangasinan during the SP’s executive session last Monday, July 21, at the Capitol Building in Lingayen.  (VFS)

P’sinan court workers deplore threat versus JDF

By Mortz  C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY – Employees of the municipal trial courts (MTC) in this city lament the plan of the allies of President Benigno Aquino III in the House of Representatives to abolish the Judicial Development Fund (JDF). 
A Processor- 1 and a Clerk- 3, who asked anonymity, said that the measly salary of P15, 000 they get each  every month from the Supreme Court would shrink to P13, 000 in case president Aquino becomes successful in rallying his allies that dominate the majority of the solons in Congress in repealing the JDF.
They said 80 percent of the payment of the JDF collected by the Office of the Clerk of Court from litigants on cases involving money went to the employees of the judiciary in the form of benefits that translate to P1,800 to P2,000 per employee. A certain percentage of the court fund is spent on the rehabilitation of court houses.
JDF benefits more than 30,000 employees in the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Sandiganbayan, Court of Tax Appeals and the trial courts.
“Paano na ang mga pamilya namin niyan pag wala na ang JDF?” one of them posed.
He said that the president should not center the brunt of his ire on them just because his P177 billion Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) was vigorously rejected by the high tribunal in a 13-0 votes.
“We are only here to meet both ends. Huwag naman kaming maliliit ang pag-initan ni Presidente,” he deplored.

Idiotic No-Helmet Law in Dagupan City

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

The Dagupan City Council led by its proponent Councilor Netu Tamayo, a lawyer, had passed an ordinance revising the helmet law by imposing  a fine for motorist who drive motorcycle above 15 kilometers per hour (KPH) and/or wearing his helmet inside the central business district as a way to deter criminals riding in tandem in perpetuating their dastardly acts.

The intention of the dads versus the criminals is laudable but the passing of the no-helmet law is idiotic.

Lawyer Jojo Guadiz, the regional director of the Land Transportation Office based in San Fernando City, even warned the councilors that in case he and his men see motorcycle riders driving without a helmet they would flag and fine them.

Republic Act No. 10054 mandates all motorcycle riders to wear standard protective helmets while driving. It imposes fines for violators at P1,500 for the first offense; P3,000 for the second offense, P5,000 for the thirds offense and P10,000 plus confiscation of driver’s license for the fourth and succeeding offenses.

What would Netu and his colleagues do in case a motorist is fined by an LTO enforcer because he violated a national law like RA No. 10054?

Would Netu and the councilors chip-in to pay the fine in behalf of the flagged motorist?

Let us remember an ordinance can not supersede (replace) a national law.

If the dads were against the national law they should lobby at Congress to pass the law they want and not act among themselves to make their own law. Son of a gun, they are not congress, they are only a city council. 

When I told Ruel Camba in his radio program that Netu said  a motorist can tell, as an alibi, an LTO officer who apprehended him that he is not wearing his helmet (as he tied it at the back of his motorbike) because he is looking for a parking space, Ruel yelled at his microphone: “Tuturu-an ninyo pa magsinungaling ang motorista! Tama si (former councilor) Chito Samson, puro kayo mga nincompoop diyan sa konseho!”

Aray!
 During a commercial break, yes Virginia, I do radio commentary work too, Ruel posed to me: “What were those councilors have been smoking lately? Why they passed this kind of idiotic law?”

Why Catapang, not Iriberri, got the Top AFP’s Post

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

President Benigno S. Aquino III graces the Testimonial Review and AFP Change of Command Ceremony at the AFP General Headquarters Grandstand, Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo in Quezon City Friday (July 18, 2014). With the President is Lt. Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang, the new AFP (left), outgoing AFP Chief Gen. Emmanuel Bautista Chief of Staff and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin. (Photo by Gil Nartea/Ryan Lim/Malacanang Photo Bureau)

Until the AK-47s brouhahas, some colonels have been telling me that Police Regional Office-3 Director Chief Supt. Raul Petrasanta (Philippine Military Academy 1984) would be the shoo-in, despite bypassing three senior PMA classes 1981, 1982, and 1983 who have still bets for the top police post, after chief PNP Director General Allan Purisima retires this September.
“Matibay iyan. Habang mga mistah (classmates) niya M-16  ang dala-dala sa field noong tinyente pa sila, siya payong para kay Kris Aquino noong panahon ni (President) Cory (Aquno),” one quipped.
Political observers have been wide eyed by Petrasanta’s rise to power.
From being the chief of the envied Firearm & Explosive Office in the police national headquarter to being the top honcho of the chosen Police Regional Office-3 based in Pampanga, he is not only the top gun but have a deputy regional director for administration (DRDO) Chief Superintendent (military rank of a star rank) Wendy Rosario, a member of PMA Class 1982 –  his town mate in Pangasinan and his senior when he was a plebe and Wendy was a junior or cow (3rd year) at the long gray line at Fort del Pilar, Baguio City.
(You can accessed my Petrasanta's article entitled "The Elusive PNP's Top Post" at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-elusive-chief-pnps-post.html

Espino Welcomes the Police during Disaster Consciousness Month

Gov. Espino Welcomes the Police during Disaster Consciousness Month Kick-off.  Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. (right) welcomes the members of the police force, one of the member-agencies of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC), during the kick-off ceremony of the National Disaster Consciousness Month at the Capitol Plaza in Lingayen last July 14.  Through the disaster preparedness program of the PDRRMC chaired by Gov. Espino, Pangasinan recorded zero casualty and zero damage in agriculture during the onslaught of Typhoon Glenda.  /VFS

Mayor Bobom dismisses raps he barred media men

                       On Sec. Alcala Recent Visit

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

ALCALA AND VENDOR. Agriculture secretary Proceso Alcala talks to a vendor during his visit in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan to lead the inauguration and blessing of the Pangasinan Agri-Pinoy Trading Center last July 9. With Alcala in photo is former Pangasinan 5th district Rep. Mark Cojuangco.CESAR RAMIREZ

URDANETA CITY- The mayor of this city denied he barred media men to attend the lunch sponsored recently here by Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala after he graced the openning of the Pangasinan Agri-Pinoy Trading Center.

“Merong lunch sa D.A (Department of Agriculture) lang, kay Alcala may nakita akong dalawang media men pero hindi kami ang host. Private usapan na sila-sila lang. This event hosted by D.A not us, not the city government,” said by Mayor Amadeo Gregorio “Bobom” Perez IV after some reporters in the print and broadcast assailed him for prohibiting media men to join the lunch tendered by Alcala.

 Perez said he even saw in that affair a large number of reporters attended the press conference called by the secretary. “Pagkatapos ng opening ng bagsakan, press conference media were all  there inside”. 

He said the lunch hosted by Alcala was an exclusive function for the Department of Agriculture as he was only an invited guest. The whole sale edifice, a P29.3-million project, was one of the two projects by the DA intended for the entire country this year.

BIR Western P’sinan Lags anew in Collection

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

CALASIAO – The Revenue District Office 5 in Alaminos City lagged again in the tax collection efforts of the Bureau of Internal Revenue this year.

LOT FOR BIR EASTERN PANGASINAN: A Filipino Chinese couple (4th and 3rd from Right) in Urdaneta City donated a sizeable lot in Brgy.

In a cumulative and comparative collection report furnished to Northern Watch by the regional office of the BIR based here, RD0-5, that oversees almost all of the towns and a city in Western Pangasinan, has been left behind by its five counterparts in Region 1 in the collection of revenues in January to June this year compared to the same period last year.

According to the report, RDO-5 collected only P423, 932,834.91 this year versus the P437, 739,356.19 in the same period last year.

Last year RDO-5 did not meet its goal and its year-on-year tax efforts.

RDO-5 is under the watch of RDO chief Emir Abutzil.

The same reports said that RDO-1 in Ilocos Norte collected P577 million versus 572 million last year, RDO-2 gathered P599,328, 772 versus P562, 418,144 last year, RDO-3  collected P909, 604,375 versus P826,342,359 last year, RDO-4 gathered P1, 289,528,950 versus P1,150,116,199 last year, and RDO-6 collected P537,324,638 versus P504, 237, 521 last year. 

The cumulative and comparative report did not provide the tax goal given by the national government to the six RDOs.

In genera however, the regional office under the stewardship of lawyer Arnel Guballa collected P4, 818,869,458.31 in the first semester versus the P4, 653,434316.35 in the same period last year. 

BSP CLEAN-UP DRIVE AT TONDALIGAN BEACH

 Employees of the  Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), implementing its corporate-social responsibility of maintaining the cleanliness of the environment, conduct a clean-up drive at the Tondaligan Beach along with some volunteers last July 18 as part of the activities during the BSP's anniversary celebration this month. (CIO photo by Mitz Cresencio)

DAGUPAN CITY HOLDS ANTI-DRUG SYMPOSIUM AMONG EDUCATORS, PARENTS

By Felisandelle C. De Vera

The Dagupan City government held an anti-drug symposium last July 12  on the theme "Keeping our Schools, Barangays and Communities Safe from Drugs which was attended by 221 participants from the education sector and officials of the Parents

Teachers Association (PTA).

The seminar answered  various queries from teachers, parents and concerned citizens on what to do or how to deal with situations regarding the illegal drug trade.

City Administrator Farah Decano welcomed  the participants  by asking questions on why drug abuse still thrives  in the city despite the presence of many courageous individuals.

In her  message, Decano said  that through the guidance of the Dagupan City Drug Abuse Council (DCDAC) and other supporting offices, "we must disseminate information so that  we may be able to use our courage properly".

Meanwhile, Supt. Christopher Abrahano, police chief, said that now is the time for the city to wake up and do its part in fighting drugs given the fact that five of the 31 barangays in the city were identified as drug hot spots with the other barangays having at least one case of drug abuse each.

Since January 2013, the Dagupan City Police Station (DCPS) conducted   95 operations that led to the arrest of 159 persons  and the seizure of P2.9 million worth  of  illegal drugs.

Abrahano, who is vice chairman of the Dagupan City Drug Abuse Council,  assured that  the police are doing everything to stump  out  illegal drugs  in the city and is now bringing its educational campaign  in schools and the barangays.

 “Your government is doing something about it, the police is doing something about it. Let us all help each other  in this endeavor . . . in the greatest fight of our lives," Abrahano said.

Meanwhile, Dagupan City Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Gloria R. Torres encouraged teachers to join and win  the fight against the drug menace,adding that the education sector is one with Mayor  Belen Fernandez in her  crusade against illegal drugs and in making the city drug free. 

Torres   announced that DEPED staff and teachers will  undergo a mandatory drug testing sometime in August adding "it's about time to get to know who among our people are really into drugs".

Gov. Espino stays at PDRRMC till Typhoon Glenda turns signal no. 1

LINGAYEN-Governor Amado T. Espino Jr. stayed the whole day at the Tactical Operations Center of the Pangasinan Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council to oversee the operation of the PDRRMC staff and monitor the erratic movement of Typhoon Glenda which put Pangasinan under storm signal no. 3 today (July 16).

Governor Amado T. Espino (4th from left)

Governor Espino left PDRRMC at 5 pm just in time when PAGASA lowered the storm warning signal to category 1. The Typhoon headed towards the direction of the West Philippine Sea.

Although GIenda wrought havoc in some parts of the country, Pangasinan was spared from massive loss and damage

Even before the entry of Typhoon Glenda in the Philippine Area of Responsibility, Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr. as chairman of the PDRRMC has already activated the disaster council to plan the emergency measures they will be undertaking in the event that Glenda lashes  Pangasinan.

OCD-PDRRMC to conduct flood evacuation drill

 Office of Civil Defense Regional Director Melchito M. Castro (left photo) underscores the importance of readiness and public awareness in facing an imminent disaster during a conference with the member agencies of Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) at the Talibaew Elementary School in Calasiao last July 14.  The PDRRMC chaired by Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr. is set to conduct flood evacuation drill to residents of Brgy. Talibaew in Calasiao as part of the Disaster Consciousness Month celebration. (GDM)

The Elusive Chief PNP’s Post

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

I told a high elective official that I saw him with President Benigno Aquino III at the helipad of the Virgin Milagrosa University in San Carlos City and at the residence of the slain mayor Ernesto Balolong, Jr.

(You can accessed my earlier column, as the “first series” of this column, “PSG Smitten by the Smoking of the President?

” at http://wwwmortzcortigoza.blogspot.com/2014/06/psg-smitten-by-smoking-of-president.html)

: 

BELEAGUERED: Police Regional Office 3 Director
Chief Superintendent Raul Petrasanta.

 “Oo, pinatawag niya ako pero noong nandoon na siya sa crime site (Urbiztondo town) umuwi na kami (with his body guards). Pero tumawag ang PSG (Presidential Security Guard) hinahanap daw ako ni presidente”.

He said his convoy of sports utility vehicles that were already near San Carlos City made a quick u-turned for Urbiztondo. After he jumped off from his vehicle, with a body guard covering his head with a wide umbrella as it was drizzling during that time, rushed to the president but, an armed- to- the- teeth black garbed members of the PSG blocked their way.

“O, saan kayo pupunta?” one of the PSG, armed with a laser-scoped Israeli made sub machine gun confronted them.

Before the official opened his mouth, the commodore (general in the army) who was the commanding officer of the PSG shouted to the PSG to allow him to enter as the president was looking for him.

“Kaya nandoon ako katabi ni presidente mismo habang iyong ibang V.I.Ps nasa sideline lang”

After spending some 20 minutes at the crime site, the president, the VIPs, and the curios multitudes have left the area.

But unknown to the many, he, the president, and Police Regional Office Director Chief Supt. Roman A.Felix went to a sari-sari store and the president sat at the bench there, whisked a stick of Marlboro Gold from its flip top box and puffed some smoke to relax before going airborne in the Bell Helicopter waiting at San Carlos City.

“O bakit nawala ka kanina doon sa crime site?” the president posed to him.

“Doon lang ako sa kabila sir, nag yosi (smoke) rin,” he answered as he stooped with a folded arms from where he stood to hear what the president was telling him.

Now dear readers you probably asked me the relevance of this antics, er, column about the president relaxing in a corner with his nicotine producing stuff.

 Son of a gun, this is public interest that is unheard by the hoi-polloi where the president went to a “gareta (variety store)”, sat on an innocuous bench, flipped up the cover of his Gold, took a stick and lighted it.

This can be juxtaposed either to the human nature of the president who came from the illustrated lineage of the Cojuangcos and Aquinos of the landed elite of Tarlac province or as an Exhibit A of an International tobacco-control organization that smoking cannot only be cancerous but could dragged a president, as the nicotine clouds his thoughts by committing a bind called Disbursement Acceleration Fund or DAP.

***

It seems this one was immaterial to others but Calasiao Chief of Police Satur Ediong and former Malasiqui Chief of Police Abugan have left some legacy to the town folks to cherish.

MOIST EYE FOR THE PNP's TOP POST?
 Criminal Investigation Detecton Group
chief Director Benjamin Magalong.

Abugan was able to solve the perennial traffic congestion that haunted every commuters and motorists who entered the town proper.

“What I did was to divert away from the highway the vehicles that were bound to Dagupan City, Calasiao, and Sta.Barbara, while allowing those bound to Bayambang, Tarlac, and Manila inside the poblacion area,” he told me in a chance encounter at a car repair shop in Dagupan.

Ediong told me in his office that he studied thoroughly why there is a vehicle’s traffic bottleneck in the market area of the burgeoning town. He said one of the causes of the congestion was drivers of Dagupan City-San Carlos City public utility jeeps (PUJ) habitually parked their PUJs in front of the Senior Montesoro Church.

“I asked them to leave the place and park in a designated area to give some breathing space for traffic in   the poblacion area,”

Aside from solving if not mitigating the traffic snarl, he trained and provided, of course with the imprimatur of Mayor Mark Roy Macanlalay and Vice Mayor Roy Macanlalay, new uniforms for the presently snappy Public Order & Safety Enforcer (POSO) that primordially manned the traffic situations of the town.

Have Ediong and Abugan really made a difference with their predecessors who since time immemorial could not solve the traffic nuisance’s puzzle? With a smooth if not mitigated traffic condition that these two towns enjoy I think they made an unheralded difference.

***

 ‘Don’t you know that the official table you’re using used to be the table of the general that is groomed to be the next chief of the Philippine National Police” I told Ediong, a member of the Philippine National Police Academy class of 1999 whose “mistahs” are Lt. Colonels Rod Castro (the consummate mission oriented intelligence chief) and the mestizo Jack Candelario (chief of police of Mangaldan town).

I don’t know if Ediong, a Baguio City resident, was perturbed by my comment.

Of course he knows that I was talking about Police Chief Supt. Raul Petrasanta, a resident of the town and presently the regional director of  police regional office 3 (PRO-3) based in Pampanga. 

I told him that the official table and probably the official chair are the magic stuffs for going to places, or they can be a jinx for ones career.

Jinx for the sake of the balut vendors, jeepney drivers, and other pedestrian who gamble their time to read this column means a person or thing that brings bad luck. .

“Don’t you know that I read a livid conversation among the members of the Army Scout Ranger - those small units of elite Army infantry men who bring war directly to the enemy and with “musang” (civit cat) as symbol of their patch embroidered on both of the shoulders of their black uniform) at their Face Book Community Page,”

One of them on the internet thread said: “Mga ka-musang gapangin na natin itong mga mayayabang at korupt na mga pulis at gigilitan natin sila sa le-eg”.

Ediong asked why.

I told him the Scout Rangers really felt bad about the thousands of Russian made AK-47 imported by  Isidro Lozada, owner of a security agency in Caraga Region, who allegedly conspired with PNP top brass that included Petrasanta, as former head of the Firearm & Explosive Office.

“Mga ka musang, ang pumapatay sa mga kabaro natin sa Army ay itong mga corrupt na miyembro ng PNP na kasabwat sa pagbenta ng P55,000 na AK-47 na kumikitil sa ating mga buhay sa field,” one of the Scout Rangers commented on the FB board.

Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) Director Benjamin Magalong, upper class of Petrasanta at the PMA and perceived rival at the top police post, said at least 19 police officers could be hit with administrative and criminal charges resulting from this.

I opined that with the adverse media reports on the thousands of AK-47 allegedly sold to the communist and the demolition  jobs that probably came from those generals that belong to PMA (Philippine Military Academy) Classes of 1982 and 1983 (Petrasanta, favorite of the President Noynoy Aquino and sister Kris) could kiss his ambition good bye”.

***

Is being a chief PNP everything?

When Rey Velasco (police deputy director general, PMA Class 1971 whose illustrated classmates were Senator Gringo Honasan and Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery Panfilo Lacson) lost in his 2010 reelection mayoralty bid by a 244 hair thin votes to veteran politician Carlito Zaplan, I asked him the following: “Is this loss the most devastating thing that happened in your life?”

Velasco, who has a lot of vision for his town, pooh-poohed my query. He said he was more hurt when he did not get the chief PNP’s plum.

Now allow me to connect this Velasco conversation to my visit at the residence of former PNP chief Jun Ebdane, through the intercession of his pal veteran newspaperman Jun Velasco. In a huddle with Ebdane a day after he celebrated his bacchanalian feast as the new governor of Zambales by defeating the well-entrenched battle scarred politician former Governor Amor Deloso, I asked him that as a former Defense Secretary, why the militarily poor Philippines did not purchase the used Cobra Helicopters and Kfir jets cheaply sold by the Israeli.

After giving some of his thoughts on my query, he asked me how’s Rey Velasco.

I told him he just lost to Zaplan in a razor thin but Pyrrhic victory.

Broadcaster Harold Barcelona, his friend since his PNP provincial directorship day in Pangasinan, who until now still visit him to get some “dough”, told him that Velasco told us media men that Ebdane’s budget for governorship was an allocation already for a presidential election.

Ebdane was flustered.

“No love lost between me and Rey,” he smarted.

He said he could show us the photo copy of receipts he  got from media men and newspaper publishers in Manila Rey commissioned to demolish his chances for the chief PNP.

“Nakasalubong ko pa sa Malacanang si (Renato) de Villa. He chided me that as long as he is the 

Executive secretary malabo na ang chansa ko maging chief PNP”

De Villa by the way was the patron of Velasco.

 Ebdane however said that God was good to him.

“Na heart attack si de Villa, pinalitan ni (Eduardo) Ermita (Ebdane’s patron) siya as executive secretary”

Although Ebdane told us some juicy and controversial story, I’d rather entertain you dear readers on this information and nothing more I got form the horses’ mouths.

Hope you relish my stuffs mga tsismoso he he.

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