FOR PNP SAFE KEEPING

 Police Chief Supt. Ericson Velasquez (extreme left) , acting regional director of Philippine National Police Regional Office 1, inspects the licensed guns surrendered by former Rosales Mayor Ricardo Revita (second from left) to the Provincial Police Office (PPO) in Pangasinan for safekeeping as the election gun ban continues. Velasquez said the gesture of surrendering firearms to the police for the meantime is an example of assuring the voters that May 9 election would be violence free. Also in photo are former PPO officer-in-charge, Senior Supt. Sterling Raymund Blanco (extreme right) and Senior Supt. Reynaldo Biay (second from right). (Photo by Elsha Soriano/PIA-1, Pangasinan)

Dagupan receives Seal of Child Friendly Local Governance Award

DAGUPAN CITY – This city was conferred anew the Seal of Child Friendly Local Governance Award by the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC).  

Dagupan City Mayor Belen Fernandez with children. "Kids are my
friends," she posted at social media.

The award was received by Mayor Belen T. Fernandez from Victoria Jean P. Dawis, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Cluster Leader in Pangasinan in a ceremony on January 28 at the City Museum.

Dagupan was awarded for its commitment in promoting child rights to survival, development, protection and participation towards a Child-Friendly Philippines first in 2014 when Mar Roxas was still the DILG Secretary.

The 2015 Seal of Child Friendly Local Governance Award was signed by Department of Social; Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman, chairperson, CWC;  and  Interior and Local Government Secretary Mel Senen  Sarmiento.

The city was recently assessed for its child-friendly practices by the CWC National Award Committee Validation team as the city is a national contender again for the prestigious 2015 Presidential Award for Child-Friendly Cities under the independent component city category. The awarding for the winners is set on April 5 in Manila.

Dagupan was recognized twice by the Regional Committee as the Most Child-Friendly City in Region 1.

“Dagupan wants to be known as a child friendly city, but we don’t just want the tag or title. We want this etched in the hearts of all our people because this is the right thing to do,” said Mayor Fernandez, after receiving the award.

Joining Fernandez in receiving the award were city councilors Jose Netu Tamayo and Marcelino Fernandez; Schools Division Superintendent Froserfina J. Bravo and Assistant Schools Division Superintendent Lourdes Servito; DILG City Director Rhoderick Dawis; and Punong Barangays Helen Fermill, Joseph Maramba and Delfin de Guzman. (Joseph C. Bacani/CIO)

Pangasinan farmers affected by typhoon 'Lando' get farm inputs

STA. BARBARA,  – At least 4,000 Pangasinan farmers affected by typhoon Lando in October last year received certified palay seeds from the provincial government here on Tuesday to help them recover from their loses.

Dalisay Moya, acting provincial agriculturist in Pangasinan, said the distribution of at least 4,100 bags of certified palay seeds is a continuation of similar activity held in November 2015 where the provincial government distributed 15,584 bags of certified inbred palay seed, 15,051 bags of hybrid palay seeds and assorted vegetable seeds, mungbean seeds and onion seeds.

Moya said the farmers who received the latest farm inputs are those who will plant palay during the second and third cropping for 2016.

She said beneficiaries also farmers whose farmlands are located in fully irrigated palay areas being served by the national irrigation system.

Moya said the project is being closely coordinated with the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) to assure the availability of irrigation water in the project areas. (PIA-1, Pangasinan)

 

DOH, DepEd lead Deworming Day in Dagupan City

DAGUPAN CITY– The Department of Health (DOH) in cooperation with the Department of Education (DepEd) launched its second round of National School Deworming Day (NSDD) today in this city.

A kick-off ceremony for the NSDD was spearheaded by the DOH in the Ilocos at 9 a.m.  at the Federico N. Ceralde Integrated School in barangay Bonuan Binloc here.

Lawrence Navarro, senior health program officer  of DOH in the Ilocos, said the NDSS aims to increase the number of dewormed school children to ensure that more children shall be spared from helminthiasis or parasitism for better health and school performance.

During the one-day activity, the deworming tablet called albendazole was administered to a child two hours after they had a full meal.

Schools Division Superintendent Froserfina Bravo said the deworming tablet is being given to children from kindergarten to Grade 6 in public schools in the country for free every six months, which means that the next round will be in July this year. (AMM/PIA-1, Pangasinan)

P'gasinan’s schools are either demolished, burned – Sec. Luistro

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

BAYAMBANG - The Philippines education secretary deplored that school buildings in Pangasinan province are either demolished or burned.

SOB. A sobbing Filipinas Alcantara, president of the Parents Teachers Association in Bayambang, told reporters about the death threats she received as a result of her and her group courageous and adamant stance not to heed the order of Bayambang Mayor Ricardo Camacho to leave the more than hundred years older Bayambang Central School after it was suspiciously burned in the wee hours of June 2012. MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

Mrs. Filipinas Alcantara, president of the Parents Teachers Association here, said Secretary Armin Luistro told her in meeting last December in Manila that of all the schools under the Department of Education, the most problematic he faces is the Bayambang Central School especially the fate of the more than a hundred years older Gabaldon building.

“Sabi niya ang pinaka problema niya sa buong Pilipinas ay Pangasinan, Bayambang particularly ang pinaka problema. Kasi sinasabi po kasi niya kung hinde dinedemolish ang Gabaldon sinusunog. Iyan iyong mismo lumabas sa bibig ni Luistro,” she stressed.

The central elementary school was razed by fire in a suspicious manner in the wee hour of June 2012.

Alcantara said she just received a letter from Maria Serena Diokno Chairman of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), exhorting this town’s Mayor Ricardo Camacho to cease and desist on any demotion or alteration he undergoes on the BCS.

“Please be advised that the American period Gabaldon’s school falls within the purview of the heritage law, which provides that structure fifty years older shall be presumed to be important cultural property. Since the NHCP collaborate with the Department of Education to preserve (the) Gabaldon building throughout the country, we enjoin you to refrain from demolishing or altering the Gabaldon building in keeping with the law,” the letter says.

For ART's SAKE !

BIR to political candidates and donors: Be sure to pay your taxes

URDANETA CITY- The Bureau of Internal Revenue Chief has a friendly reminder to political candidates and their donors for the election campaign: Be sure to pay your taxes.

BIR Commissioner Kim Henares graced the inauguration'
of the new revenue district office in Urdaneta City.

Commissioner Kim Henares, who was in Pangasinan for the inauguration of a new BIR building in Urdaneta City, said donations given to politicians must be spent for the campaigns. Otherwise, unused donations must be returned to the donor or must be declared in the candidate’s income tax return form.

“Pag may nag-donate, gastusin sa kampanya, kapag hndi nagastos sa kampanya at may tira,  if they (candidates) don’t like to pay taxes, ibalik sa nag-donate. Pag hindi ibabalik, ire-report yan dapat  sa income tax return at magbayad (sila) ng buwis,” Henares said.

Candidates  who buy services, use pamphlets and tarpaulins and buy  media airtimes must also pay withholding taxes of five percent, she added.

As for the donors of the candidates, Henares reminded them to make sure that they pay their taxes correctly.

“Yung mga nag-donate naman,  siguraduhin niyo na nagbayad kayo ng buwis. Kasi kung magdo-donate kayo, saan ninyo kinuha yung pera?” the BIR chief reiterated. (VHS/PIA-1/Pangasinan)

35 Mla. scribes tour Pangasinan’s famous sites

Lingayen- - -Thirty-five young Manila-based journalists, bloggers, and photographers toured various famous sites in Pangasinan from January 27 to January 30 as part of the annual North Philippines Bureau’s familiarization trip dubbed Lakbay Norte. 

Media men from Manila experience the gastronomic delights done by the
culinary experts in various famous restaurants in Pangasinan. The members
of the 4th Estate were invited by tourism's Pangasinan Visitors' Bureau
led by its president the beauteous Michelle Zarate Lioanag (extreme
right).
  

Now on its fifth leg, Lakbay Norte, aimed to promote North Luzon as the preferred travel destination in the country.

In their four-day stint in Pangasian, travel writers and photographers from top broadsheets, magazines and online blogs journeyed to different Pangasinan destinations to experience outdoor adventures and gastronomic delights with the assistance of the Provincial Tourism and Cultural Affairs Office (PTCAO) led by its chief Ma. Luisa A. Elduayan.

On their first day, Lakbay Norte participants were brought to Balungao Adventures Park where the famous Pangasinan zipline, the country’s longest zipline, stretching 1.4 kilometers, is found.

Second day of their trip, as disclosed by the PTCAO, was concentrated on the local cuisine where the group were brought to Matutina’s Restaurant and Patio Elmina Restaurant both in Dagupan City to witness live cooking demonstrations and food tasting.

The group’s adventure was highlighted with a visit to the Capitol and a courtesy call on Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr., who warmly welcomed the visitors at the Urduja House.

After the courtesy call, the visitors proceeded to the historic Lingayen beach area for a land kite-boarding clinic.

Top PNP General coddles drug Lords

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

My posed last Tuesday at the Stadia in Dagupan City to Liberal Party’s vice presidential bet and Sorsogon Congresswoman Leni Robredo: “Bong Bong Marcos in the latest survey of Social Weather Station breathed behind the neck of Senator Chiz Escudero for the vice presidential race. Kayo No. 3. Weeks ago tinanong namin si Chiz Escudero na si Senator Alan Cayetano spent almost 400 million sa TV ads, Bong Bong P103,429,000 kayo P92 million. Si Chiz, P30 thousand pa lang. Sabi ni Chiz ‘di pa daw siya nag papa TV ads kaya hinde siya alarmed sa latest polls. Paano ngayon iyan pag gumastos na si Sen. Chiz sa ads at dadalhin niya si (wife and actress) Heart Evangelista sa sorties all over the country, ‘di ba kayo threatened diyan sa ka province mate ninyo?

Philippines police officials promoted to general rank. Photo Credit: PNP

One of the answers of Robredo, a widow and pretty faced lawyer, was she runs scared in this election.
After the press conference, I bumped into former 5-time Speaker Joe de Venecia.

“Did you like my question to Congresswoman Robredo”

 After he nodded, I told him in a serious demeanour:

 "Wala iyong tanong na iyon Speaker, mas matinde ang tanong ko kay Congressman Manny Pacquiao sa Manila".

 "What did you ask him?" he curiously posed

 I told him when I asked Pacquiao about the status of the Peace and Order situation in Mindanao he told me: "Many Fish like tuna but No Order".

 Old and gasgas na joke iyon, pero first time ata ni Speaker madinig, he had a good laugh.

 Sabi ng mga media men around, first time nilang nakita si Speaker Joe na tuwang-tuwa sa joke na iyon.

Here the second jab to the boxing icon that I told the five times House of Representatives’ top man.

"I told Pacquiao that what I asked was not the Fish but the Violence in Mindanao".

 "What did he tell you?"

"Grabe sir, he said he could not even play the piano and lyre what more of the violin," I said.

The Speaker had a guffaw.

Sammy Losala, broadcaster of DWPR, said we only saw Speaker Joe serious and preoccupied shepherding members of the rambunctious Congress when he was building the Rainbow Coalition to expedite the urgent bills of President Fidel V. Ramos on liberalization of the transportation and telecommunication industries so every Filipinos avail of cheap telephone and air and sea fares, and others. 
'But not at this moment that I saw the Speaker heartily enjoying your antics, “ he said.

Urdaneta leads cities in R-1 with P771M budget

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

URDANETA CITY - This thriving wholesale cattle and vegetable business hub in Northern Luzon leads the cities in Region 1 with the highest annual budget for this year.

The new and swanky Urdaneta City Hall

City Administrator Ronald San Juan said that for this year, this city has P771 million annual appropriation budgets.
Neighbouring Dagupan City, where some anti-progress legislatures there tried but failed to stall the 2016 budget, has P768 million budgets only.
Laoag City last year had a proposed total budget of ₱ 632,565,171 for 2016.
“We are less dependent on the internal revenue allotment since we collect more on the local taxes.“It is like 60-40 percentage equation,” San Juan cite.
 Mayor Amadeo G.E Perez IV explained that this city has higher revenue than other cities in Region 1 because of the bigger sizes of its population and its land area.
The Local Government Code said that province, city, and municipality have each shares of 50% on population, 25% on land area, and 25% equal sharing on the internal revenue allotment from their shares on the collection of the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
Ms Saniata A. Elegores, this city’s treasurer, cited that this year this city pays Land Bank of the Philippines P30, 207, 232 and P23, 800,028 for the principal and interest of the hundreds of millions of pesos loans on the sanitary landfill and the new public market.
Meanwhile, Mayor Belen Fernandez lamented that the obsolete Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) approved by the local government of Dagupan City in 1978 faces rough sailing among many councillors who are to approve it and the critics who sow misinformation on its viability. Those who opposed it argued that with the growth areas and the new city hall constructed because of the CLUP, the city will be more vulnerable to flood.
“Ang CLUP natin ay 1978 pa, di ba nakakahiya iyon? Ang Calasiao nag upgrade na, ang Urdaneta City nag upgrade na, ang La Union nag upgrade na. Naiwan na ang Dagupan City. Noong kauupo kung mayor, ang Dagupan City ay No. 78 in terms of competitiveness. No.78, di ba nakakahiya?”

I got visions while my critics blabber – Mayor Belen

Selected reporters in Dagupan City led by political columnist Mortz C. Ortigoza of Northern Watch Newspaper  sat with City Mayor Belen Fernandez in a no- hold- bar interviews on new investors that come in the city, growth areas she looks to decongest and expand the city, the threat of cities like Urdaneta and San Fernando in La Union, and the burgeoning and neighbouring Calasiao town, the new city hall she eyes, the Comprehensive Land Used Plan (CLUP) to make the expansion possible, and the acrimonious critics who do not want her vision to materialize. Excerpts:

TOURISM. Dagupan City Mayor Belen Fernandez discusses with staff how to boost the tourism industry as come-on for more people to visit the burgeoning city. MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

Kamusta po mayor ang investment climate in Dagupan City?

Dumating dito ang Double Dragon at in one setting lang tapos na, may permit na. Wala kaming hiningi sa kanila kahit isang sentimo. Ang kailangan ay trabaho ang ibibigay sa mga taga Dagupan, iyon lang.

Iyong Sta. Lucia (Reality Subdivision) sa (Barangay) Bulosan pumasok dito iyan kami rin ang tumulong. Ang bilis din nila nakakuha ang permit.

Ano ang city office na puwedeng mag apply ang mga investors?

City Development and Investment Board. Investment board kasi lahat ng development ng Dagupan sila kausapin ng mga investors na papasok.

Makikita mo ang Dagupan maraming nagpapatayo ng restaurants. Doon sa Perez ilan na ang nagpatayo. O, ang Matutina (sea food restaurant) nag expand na (at the New De Venecia Highway). Pag nahirapan sila sa Dagupan, as what my critics said, hinde na sila mag i-expand.

How about SM?

Si SM may binili siyang property sa Pantranco at meron siyang nabiling property sa Tambac, fishpond din iyon. So far sa ngayon hinde pa sila lumalapit pero nakausap ko na sila minsan.

Iyong bagong city hall, kailan mag start ang construction niya?

Hinihintay natin ang bagong CLUP, iyon ang kinokontra ng opposition at mga critics kasi sabi nila mababaha na daw itong Dagupan pag ni-amend natin ang CLUP.

Ang CLUP natin ay 1978 pa, di ba nakakahiya iyon? Ang Calasiao nag upgrade na, ang Urdaneta City nag upgrade na, ang La Union nag upgrade na. Naiwan na ang Dagupan City. Noong kauupo kung mayor, ang Dagupan City ay No. 78 in terms of competitiveness. No.78, di ba nakakahiya?

Noong umupo ako, nagkaroon ng infrastructures marami ang inayos. Ngayon, No.19 gumanda ang income. Pero kulang iyan e without the CLUP, walang expansion ang Dagupan City. Ang CLUP, ang ibig sabihin niyan i- amend natin ang 1978 CLUP para may growth area ang Dagupan.

Saan ang growth areas natin mayor?

Caranglaan, Tambac. No. 2 Pantal, Lucao para merong expansion ang Downtown area, business center and economic center. Ngayon, ang isang expansion. No. 3 is Bonuan Gueset and Boquig Areas. Kinokontra ng mga kalaban ko sabi nila mababaha ang Dagupan City.

Is it true that the city is below sea level?

With the help of the Chinese businessmen na pumasok, nagkaroon ng commercial area ang Dagupan. Chinese and Filipinos nag combined. So from 1945 nagkaroon ng semento. Pero from 1978 up to now wala na tayong plano.

Hinde na angkop sa development.

Kasi pag hinde natin na change iyan, kakainin tayo ng Calasiao at Mangaldan.

Iyan! Kakainin tayo ng Calasiao. Tingnan ninyo ang Urdaneta ngayon expansion sa subdivision. Ang Dagupan pag hinde nag expand wala na tayong lugar for expansion.

When will you plan to construct the new city hall?

Ang city hall tinitingnan pa natin in which area. Wala pang final. Ngayon, sinasabi nila bakit meron daw tayong plano. E siyempre mi vision tayo e. Alangan naman hinde mo ipapadrawing iyong  gusto mong mangyari. Di ba iba na ang situation ngayon compared noon.

Ngayon sabihin mo lang sa computer expert magagawa na kaagad nila hinde naman kailangan na umabot ng buwan iyan. Gusto mo three storey, four storey gusto ko gawin ang perspective, kaya na nilang gawin iyon. Iyon ang isang kinu- question nila bakit daw nagka ganoon na plano na wala pa daw CLUP, vision nga e. May direction ka dapat!

Iyong lote na papatayuan ng city hall sa inyo daw iyon?

Yaman ko naman, hinde! Alam mo hinding hinde mangyayari iyan na magbebenta ang pamilya ko ng lupa. Hinde puwede iyan. Siguro may ibang paraan hinde ko alam but later on. But never na magbebenta.

Wala pang  lote dahil proposal pa lang?

Wala pa. Sinasabi noong isang critic marami daw akong lupa, ano ba ang kasalanan ko doon (if I got lands).

Because you are a successful businesswoman?

Ay naku, hindi lang iyan. Nag start ako sa CSI  namin ang liit liit. Iyong CSI Lucao (biggest mall in Pangasinan – Editor) noon tinayo ni mayor iyan, bakit walang nagko contra. Na pagginawa ang Lucao ma decongest ang traffic sa Downtown. Anyway, hinde naman na decongest lahat.

Bakit iyong mall and bagong diversion road na vision ni Speaker Joe de Venecia, kung hinde nangyari iyon e di grabe ang (traffic) Downtown, wala ng papasok sa Dagupan City.

Ang tawag doon ay vision. Alam mo na ang mangyayari may plano ka na mangyayari, ganoon. Sila wala e, alam nila puro daldal.

Importante tuloy ang growth center for expansion.

Growth center kailangan may expansion. Tingnan mo ang SM nag-i-expand siya sa maraming lugar. Bakit iyong pinupuntahan ninyo ang lalayo. Bakit ang pinupuntahan ko Lucao noon. Sabi nila Low-cao ito, ngayon High-cao. Noon Low-cao Low-cao walang pupunta diyan sabi nila. But look at Lucao now, kasi nga we plan ahead

(To be continued)

Fernandez commends PICPA for tax updates info campaign

DAGUPAN CITY – Mayor Belen T. Fernandez lauded the worthy and notable education and information campaign on tax updates mounted by the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) Pangasinan Chapter on January 19 at Emerald Hall of CSI Stadia  in Lucao here.

 

“I commend our PICPA Pangasinan president Luz De Guzman for mounting a worthy and notable education and information campaign on tax updates. As an entrepreneur, teaching tax updates is invaluable because this would help enhance and equip people and their businesses with the knowledge that they can  soon rely on in the future, hence it is important that we must be consistently aware of the updated tax rules and regulations,” said Fernandez.

 

Revenue District Officer Fely C. Simon of Revenue District Office 004 gave the lecture on tax updates along with Dean Estelita C. Aguirre, president, ASEAN Federation of Accountants (AFA).

 

Fernandez acknowledged that she depended heavily on the sound advice of De Guzman and many of the PICPA members on many matters relating to her good governance initiatives in putting the city in order.

 

“Our city was in near financial ruin because of poor fiscal policies when I assumed as Mayor in 2013 but we worked so hard to bring the entire city government in the pink of health, with the help of so many learned and compassionate individuals, many of whom come from the accountancy profession,” said Fernandez.

 

She added that there were strong temptations urging her to focus on improving revenues to fund city’s projects by increasing taxes, “but I turned all these down and instead followed the sound advice of our local finance team to just focus on efficient tax collection”.

 

Without increasing taxes, the city through Mayor Fernandez made an incredible turnaround on its fiscal status and was able to boost the benefits of government workers, build more roads, more schools, repair day care centers and elevate roads and pathways in many flooded schools.

 

“We are now able to send 500 indigent college scholars to universities of their choice, feed thousands of children who are nutritionally deficient, provide medicines and medical services and buy musical instruments for many young people who have the talent and flair for music,” said Fernandez.

 

Dagupan probes high level of phosphate in Bayaoas River

DAGUPAN CITY – Mayor Belen T. Fernandez held a dialogue with the different barangay officials of Mangin and Tebeng in Dagupan  as well as those from  Ambonao and San Miguel, Calasiao, Pangasinan on  Friday and discussed the reported high phosphate level of the Bayaoas/Parongking River.

 

This stemmed from a letter of one Felicidad Salazar Visser of Tebeng to Barangay Tebeng Council on Jan. 6 calling  attention on the death of different river species  like tilapia, malaga (siganid), catfish and mudfish in her fishpond sometime  last November 2015.

 

When Visser had the water tested by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, it was  found out that its  salinity was low at 0.5 ppt. but  the phosphate level was however high at 0.788.

 

The maximum safe level of phosphate in the water is 0.4, showing in that phosphate level (0.788), the water was polluted.

 

In her letter, Visser also reported that dead fish were also seen floating in the river which meant that the problem was not in her fishpond.

 

She also noted the presence of different trash and floating garbage, like empty sachets and plastic bags among others, which obviously came from upstream.

 

Not only is this unhealthy but it is unsightly as well, Visser mentioned this in her letter.

 

To help the city determine the source of high phosphate level in the river, Mayor Fernandez requested the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office represented by Senior Environmental Management Specialist Edward V. Vergara to determine whether the different big industrial companies operating along the area are indeed complying with the environmental regulation viz-a-viz the dumping of industrial waste.

 

Salapingao evacuation center under construction

DAGUPAN CITY –The construction of a three-storey evacuation center with a roof deck on top in Barangay Salapingao is now underway, according to Mayor Belen Fernandez.

The project is being funded under the Bottom up Budgeting (BUB) of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) through then Secretary Mar Roxas, with counterpart from the city government.

Measuring 900 square meters, the project will soon accommodate residents of Salapingao and Pugaro in case of storm surge.

“This is part of the city disaster risk reduction management program of the city which aims to keep the people safe in the island barangay in case a storm surge occurs considering that Salapingao has no land access and can only be travelled by boat,” said Mayor Fernandez who visited the construction site on January 21 along with DILG City Director Rhoderick Dawis and OIC City Engineer Josephine Corpuz.

The entire project costs P15,089,624.96 million. (Joseph C. Bacani/CIO)

GOD WILL MAKE A WAY – MBTF

DAGUPAN CITY – Mayor Belen T. Fernandez believes  that God will make way for the passage and approval of the city’s City Land Use Plan (CLUP)  like what happened to the passage of the 2016 Annual Budget.

She disclosed this during the regular flag raising ceremony at the city plaza as she encouraged every city hall employee to pray more for the approval of the CLUP as this will benefit the city and its citizenry in terms of improved economic status of the city so that it can be at par with its neighboring cities, which are undoubtedly have become more progressive.

The city’s CLUP remained untouched for the last 37 years since its approval in 1978.

“We need to update our CLUP so that we can create more opportunities to address the needs of the present generation and for the next 50 years. With God’s intervention, I know that there’s no problem that we can never resolve,” said Fernandez.

City Councilor Joey Tamayo, who was present during the flag raising ceremony, vowed to do his best to convince his colleagues in the council to eventually pass the CLUP and for its eventual approval by the National  Land Use Plan Committee.

“We need to seek Divine intervention for this,  so let’s do this together,” said Tamayo while appealing for support from everyone when he too spoke during the flag raising ceremony.

Once approved,  the CLUP will open the door  for the establishment of a new government center along De Venecia highway and more job opportunities for every Dagupeño. (Joseph C. Bacani/CIO/Jan. 18, 2016)     

NEW BIR BUILDING

 NEW BIR BUILDING. Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares graced the inauguration last Friday of the new  Revenue District Office (RDO)- 6 of the Bureau of Internal Revenue’at Barangay Anonas in Urdaneta City.

The P63 million four-storey elevator run edifice is the prettiest RDO in the country, according to BIR insiders.

 1000 square meters (sq m) of its lot was donated by Pangasinan businessman Ernesto Go and wife while 200 sq m was given by  the local government of Urdaneta City.

From left of the photo: Lawyer Maria Isavel Barcia-Utit, Chief of RDO-6; BIR Region 1 OIC Regional Director Eduardo Pagulayan; Henares, and other commissioners of the tax agency.  MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

Monster traffic in Tapuac ends late February

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY – The heavy traffic congestion experiences by motorists at the MacArthur Highway in Barangay Tapuac here will be a thing of the past next month.

BOTTLENECK. Vehicles are caught in a bottleneck at the MacArthur Highway in Barangay Tapuac as the Department of Public Works & Highway closed two lanes of the road there as it elevate the four lanes highway in a P20 million project. MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

Department of Public Works & Highway's District Engineer Rodolfo “Boy” Dion, chief of the Second Engineering District Office, all the elevation and drainage in the four lanes 320 meters construction highway will be completed on the third week of February.

“Pag walang aberya matatapos iyan third week ng February. 320 meters mula tapat ng overpass diretso doon tapat ng Dominican kasi iyong doon sa Dominican nandoon iyong transition iyong pababa,” he stressed.

He said the length of the twenty million peso construction done by the construction firm owned by Mario Arenas of Bugallon town started from the Dominican School and ends at the overpass near the Dagupan City National High School.

“The highway would slope down from Dominican (School) to Pedrito’s restaurant, but motorists could not distinguish it”.

 Dion said that the elevation is 28 centimetres as based on international standard.

“We improve the one meter  high drainage by unclogging and reinforcing them. He said the source of the highway funds were interceded by Fourth District Congresswoman Gina de Venecia in Manila.

He said the curing period before the highway could be used is faster because the contractor uses additives where curing period takes for only 14 days than the traditional 20 days period”.

Dion said the elevation projects initiated long ago by Congresswoman de Venecia and DPWH started from Arellano, AB Fernandez, and Brgy. Tapuac.

RIVALS

RIVALS. Pangasinan vice gubernatorial rivals Calasiao Mayor Mark Roy Macanlalay and Vice Governor Ferdinand Calimlim are comfortable sitting with each other as they once in a while exchanged pleasantries. Officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs invited them and former President Fidel V. Ramos who graced last January 17 the opening of the satellite office of the DFA at Robinsons Mall in Calasiao, Pangasinan. MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA