Political Cartoon

P'gasinan politicos join Duterte's PDP-Laban

PDP-LABAN. Politicians of Pangasinan that included Dagupan City join President
 Duterte's PDP-Laban in an oath taking ceremony with Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi,
 party's national vice chairman, in Sison Auditorium, Lingayen.
The sworn-in ceremony of the elective officials of the huge province last 
Wednesday was led by 5th District Congressman
Amado T. Espino, Jr.

I lost my watch in a Duterte City’s taxi

By Mario Mata

At 1:10 pm recently, I was inside a Davao City’s taxi bound for meeting with friends at a coffee shop near Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU).

“The text message was not complete. It should be MTS (Matina Times Square) near ADDU-High School,” I told the taxi driver when I hailed him for the correct destination.

The Maro taxi where I lost my Rudy Project's sports watch.

As we drove to MTS, Edwin, the driver, told me that he came from Barangay Kalaisan, Kidapawan City a neighboring village of Barangay Calunasan of my town Mlang, Cotabato Province.

As we conversed I felt the rubber strap of my Rudy Project’s watch was wet after I rinsed my face at the rest room of Aldavinco Market near ADDU.

I unstrapped my watch and put it on the upper part of my knapsack which was on my my lap in the front seat of the cab.

“This is quite a spacious car. Is this Toyota?” I posed.

“Yes sir, Vios 2016 model,” Edwin, who is the son of the former Barangay Captain of Barangay Kalaisan, said.

 I told him that my brother has a rubber plantation in Barangay Calunasan near his village.

When we reached the coffee house I thanked him and fished out P100 bill when I saw P75 appeared on the taxi meter.

“Kini ang bayad, sa imuha na kanang kambio (Here’s the P100, the change is yours),” I said in Visaya.

When I settled with my friends at the table of the coffee house, I noticed, son of a gun, my sports watch ain’t on my left wrist.

“I knew it  fell inside the taxi,” I told them as I lost hope I could no longer recover it just like what happens when one left his precious stuff in a Manila taxi.

“Did you ask a receipt from the driver as we usually do so we could ascertain the name of the taxi?  Mike asked.

“No, I didn’t know the riding culture here,” I said.

“Did you take picture of the taxi drivers I.D near the front shield, the taxi’s name and number?” Lurie asked?

“No, I didn’t know that you’re doing that, too here,” I retorted.

“What’s the color of the taxi, Yellow?” Mike asked as he whisked out from his pocket his smart phone.

“Ah probably, I think yes!” I answered.

“It's Maligaya, I’ll search its landline number and I will tell the dispatcher that at 1:20 pm one of their taxes dropped you here from Aldavingco.

As Mike discussed with the dispatcher at the phone my predicament, I interrupted him that it was not yellow but a white taxi with two green lateral stripes painted on its two sides.

“It’s Maro Taxi!” Lurie exclaimed.

“Maro’ or Maru in Visayan has its equivalent  word in English as clever or swindler as I remembered some  smart aleck pals in college in Mindanao. Forget it, that watch was already lost,” I told myself after I heard the Visayan word “Maru” (Psst, I learned later that all those 600 Maro taxis are all owned by a lawyer surname Maro).

2017 MS. DAGUPAN CANDIDATES

 These 15 beauteous ladies are vying for the 2017 Ms. Dagupan on December
 14 during the Ms. Balon Dagupan 2017 Pageant at the Dagupan City plaza. 
They are (from left) Kristel Joyce C. Galvan, Angelika S. Perez, Jarsenna 
Christine A. Cativo, Crista Marie M. Pulo, Keesha Maye H. Abad, Sherry 
Anne G. De Guzman, Lavinia Marquez, Princess Marielle C. San Diego, 
Maria Danica D. Macaraeg, Allen T. Luna, Maridel E. Calimlim, Jhenelle Ann
S. Manaois, Lorena Guardiana, and Christine Joy E. Primero.  Not in the
 picture is Dorothy Mei P. Pagal. The winner will be officially crowned on 
December 26 during the Balon Dagupan Gala Night. (CIO photo by Jojo 
Tamayo)

Advocacy on employees’ compensation held in Pangasinan

DAGUPAN CITY-  Employers, human resource officers and labor union representatives gathered here on Wednesday  for an advocacy seminar  under  the Employees’ Compensation Program (ECP).

Lawyer Jonathan Villasoto, deputy executive director of the Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC), said the activity aims to ensure that workers are informed of their rights, benefits and privileges under the ECP.

The ECC, he said, is an attached agency of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) mandated by law to provide meaningful and appropriate compensation benefits and services to workers in the event of work-related contingencies.

“Prevention, compensation and rehabilitation services play a major role to effectively and efficiently deliver to workers a comprehensive package of services  and benefits to workers who suffered from work-connected illness, injury or death,” Villasoto said during the press conference for Pangasinan media.

Villasoto, however said, the compensation cannot be equated with an employees salary, rather ,just the work-related benefits.

Government employees mandatorily contribute P100 a month for ECP while private sector employees contribute at least P20 to P50 pesos per month for the program depending on their salary range, information division chief Cecilia Maulion said.

In the said seminar, a consultation meeting with the Social Security System (SSS) and Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) representatives was held to update officers on the recent EC programs on policies and resolutions in order to facilitate processing of  ECP claims. (VHS/PIA-Pangasinan)

2 Dagupan Villages Narc Cleared

TWO BARANGAYS DRUG-CLEARED - Lasip Grande and  Carael  became  the 11th and  12th barangays, respectively, that were  declared as drug-free  by the Philippine National Police (PNP) under Chief of Police P/Supt. Neil O. Miro. The official declaration was signed on November 21 by Punong Barangay Rodolfo S. Siapno of Lasip Grande and Punong Barangay Luzviminda DV. Velasquez of Carael, both as chairmen of their respective Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council; Mayor Belen T. Fernandez as City Anti-Drug Abuse Council chairman; and Miro as the Chief of Police of the Dagupan City Police Station. (CIO photo by Jojo Tamayo

)

LOCAL TALENTS TO COMPETE IN THE FIRST DAGUPAN CITY 'GOT TALENT'

DAGUPAN CITY – To recognize the special and extraordinary talents of promising local artists and later elevate and encourage their participation to a higher competition, 2016 City Fiesta Hermano Mayor Dennis C. Canto has included the conduct of the first Dagupan City 'Got Talent' as one of the several activities of the 2016 City Fiesta celebration.

The activity is in line with the thrust of Mayor Belen T. Fernandez to develop and sustain the special talents and skills of every Dagupeño in every field of endeavor be it in sports, academics or in culture and arts.

“The Dagupan City 'Got Talent' demonstrates to the public the concern and involvement of Local Government Units in developing these talents,” said Canto.

The DC 'Got Talent' is open only to all residents of Dagupan aged 14 years and above. Interested individual, in solo or in group may present their talents either in singing, dancing, and musical instrument playing including those with extraordinary talents.

 The top 12 finalists in the grand audition will finally face each other in the final showdown on December 16 at the city plaza.

DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING TO?

                                  (An Advocacy on PLEA BARGAINING AGREEMENT)

By Lawyer Napoleon B. Arenas

 It seemed that we have no viable and lasting solution to our drug problem; and the sad reality is that there is so much killing and bickering among our leaders on how to combat our drug menace. Worse, even our top leadership has no apparent and logical plan to succeed in this endeavor,   We do not have the luxury of time by our indecision and inaction. Let us consider these hard realities that confront us now:

Congested jail in the Philippines

SERIOUS DRUG MENACE:

There are 3 million current drug users in the Philippines or 3% of the total population of 100.98 million, results of the Dangerous Drugs Board survey.

More than 8,629 or 20.5 percent of the 42,065 barangays nationwide have drug related cases.

EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS:

There have been killings not only by the police but by some groups, like vigilantes or by drug lords themselves, in an effort to cut their ties with their pushers and assets, and some 3,000 (still rising day-by-day) have already been killed, and if we still give the government another six months, more will be killed. We cannot kill all the drug users and peddlers to solve our problem on illegal drugs! As long there’s demand for illegal drugs, the drug menace will be here with us…

Duterte himself is helpless and do not know how to end his “war on drugs”. In his speech before troops of the 9^th Infantry Division at Camp Elias Angeles in Camarines Sur, September 21, 2016,  Duterte justified killing of users and pushers because, according to him, “the technicality of the law makes hard for me to deal with the drug problem.”

Solon worries on Senator's Ex-Paramour Safety

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY - A Pangasinan congressman manifested to his colleagues the safety of a former lover of Senator Leila de Lima who was arrested recently.

SAFETY. Pangasinan congressman Leopoldo Bataoil (2^nd District) appealed to national police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa to take custody of arrested former driver and body guard Ronnie Dayan who  told a congressional hearing that he (Dayan) had personal knowledge about the eight  million pesos given by dangerous drug lord Kerwin Espinosa to Dayan’s former mistress then Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. Photo: Mortz C. Ortigoza.

Ronnie Dayan, charged for contempt of Congress for failure to attend its hearing, was arrested last November 22 at Barangay San Felipe, San Juan town in La Union .
“Being the father of the Second District, I feel that I am responsible for his safety including that of his family. And it is important that he is kept alive so that his testimony for whatever purposes is seen necessary be put to good use,” Representative Leopoldo Bataoil (2^nd District, Pangasinan) stressed.

Dayan told the members of the Committee on Justice and Human Rights how he received eight millions  pesos of narcotic monies from drug lord Kerwin Espinosa and how he slapped then Justice Secretary de Lima upon hearing she had promiscuous relationship with former Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) motorcycle traffic enforcer’s Warren Cristobal.

"[N]agkakalabuan na kami ni ma'am. Kesyo hindi na daw kami masaya sa pagsasama naming (sic), lagi kasing bangayan, at laging nag-aaway kami," Dayan told the congressmen who relished the revelation.

Cayetano vows to push for a package of initiatives to modernize the PNP and sustain internal reforms

A two-pronged approach has been proposed by Senator Alan Peter Cayetano to sustain the initial successes of the four-month war on drugs of the Duterte administration.

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano with PNP Chief Director General Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa and other officials of the Philippine National Police. The senator recently said he would push for a package of initiatives to help modernize the PNP and sustain the initial successes of the four-month war on drugs of the Duterte administration. 

“The modernization of the PNP entails adequate investment in its infrastructure and crime-fighting equipment and development of a service-oriented culture among its ranks based on integrity and love for country,” Cayetano explained.

“While the PNP is purging its internal organization of scalawags and crooks, we need to recruit and train more men and women with better pay to combat crime since they face risks and dangers everyday,” he added.

Cayetano filed Senate Bill No. 71, also known as the Philippine National Police Compensation Act of 2016, that seeks to increase the minimum base pay and allowances of PNP personnel, allowing the lowest ranking police officer to receive a gross minimum pay of P50,530 per month, inclusive of benefits and allowances.

The senator warned that unless Congress acts on the pending bills to significantly increase the compensation and incentives for the police officers and soldiers, they remain vulnerable to crime syndicates, particularly drug lords.

Cayetano also lamented that while crime syndicates continue to be innovative in promoting their illegal activities, our police are left with piecemeal budgets to improve their capacity to maintain peace and order. 

The senator said to fast track the effectiveness of the police organization, help through foreign assisted projects, legislation, supplemental budget, and private sector partnership should be explored. 

Tough officer now Mangaldan's top cop

FEARSOME COP. New Mangaldan officer-in-charge (OIC) chief of police (COP) Superintendent Jeffrey Fanged paid a courtesy call last Friday to Mayor Bona Fe D. Parayno.

Before he became O.I.C in this town, the unassuming Fanged was assigned with the Philippine National Police’s Anti-Kidnapping Group in Manila and had stint for several years as COP of Urdaneta City. In that city, lawless elements like narcotic peddlers scampered away to other towns because of the dreaded fear to Fanged’s styles of combating criminals even during the time of President Benigno Aquino III. Fanged is a member of Class 1999 of the Philippine National Police Academy. TEXT by Mortz C. Ortigoza

Bridge closed to public due to shoddy work

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

STA. BARBARA – A hundred million pesos bridge was closed to the public after its completion few months ago because of shoddy workmanship, according to a source at the Department of Public Works & Highway.

SUBSTANDARD PROJECT. The Department of Public Works & Highway closed
 a portion of the Sinocalan Bridge because of this crack in the middle of the bridge.
 The multi-million pesos bridge was just opened to the public a year ago.
 The substandard work allegedly done by Northern Builders based in Tarlac
 City showed a very thin cement pavement that exposes the iron grills.
PHOTO CREDIT: Northern Watch Newspaper.

Before the Sinocalan Bridge, that connects the cities of Dagupan and Urdaneta, was closed, motorists and commuters saw the pavement of the bridge turned powdery and a portion saw the iron reinforcements appeared before the naked eye because of the thin cement application.

The brass, who asked anonymity, cited the negligence too of the 4^th Engineering District based here on checking contractor Northern Builder when its personnel mixed the curing compound to the cement and sand for the construction of the pavement.

How BIR officials divide the loot from a cheating taxpayer

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Were Custom Deputy Commissioner Arturo Lachica and Bureau of Internal Revenue’s Revenue District Office-chief Jonas Amora of Revenue District Office 8 in Makati City, corrupt thus they died in an ambushed recently?

“I’m very sorry pero sabihin ko sa inyo, isa sa pinaka-corrupt na 

agency ang Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Bureau of Customs (BOC), LandTransportation Office (LTO)—iyang tatlong iyan… I-abolish ko na 

lang,” declared by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Photo Credit: Anti-

CorruptionDigest.Com.

According to President Rodrigo Duterte, the BIR is one of the most 
corrupt government agencies at the league of BoC and the 
Land Transportation Office. Many readers heard that the BIR
 is a haven of scoundrels but have no idea how the officials there
 fleece the taxpayers at the expense of the government’s tax 
collection effort.

Cayetano: Maguindanao massacre victims deserve swift justice

           Expresses confidence in govt’s commitment to end culture of impunity

“To delay prosecution is to deny justice for the Filipino people.”

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano gets interviewed by members of the media. The senator has
 lauded the current administration for its notable effort in promoting transparency in
government and in creating a task force that would investigate unsolved cases of
media killings in the country. #

Seven years ago today, the entire country was shaken by the gruesome murder of 58 people, including 32 media workers, in Maguindanao. It saddens me to think that seven years had passed, but justice remains elusive for the victims and their families, and their call for the resolution of the case had not been heard.

 Our previous leaders’ failure to resolve this case has perpetuated a culture of acceptance, or at least a misguided tolerance of a criminal justice system that moves at a glacial pace. The wheels of justice were moving, but they have turned slow.

 Fortunately, with the dawn of a new leadership, real changes are bound to happen. I trust that while the past administration had failed in bringing justice to the tragic mass killing of journalists in Maguindanao, the Duterte government is set to go after those who violated our people's freedom and continue to evade the law, as well as to end the culture of impunity in the country.

DAGUPAN TO ESTABLISH FRIENDSHIP TIES WITH THE CITY OF DUARTE, U.S

DAGUPAN CITY – The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) on Tuesday approved the resolution 

authorizing Mayor Belen T. Fernandez to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding
 with the City  of Duarte .

 Duarte City Mayor Tzeitel Caracci and Filipino delegations lead by
 Dagupan City Mayor Belen Fernandez

in California for the purpose of establishing a sister city relationship.

Authors Councilors Marvin V. Fabia and Dennis C. Canto disclosed that the resolution aims

 to widen

 the city’s sphere of diplomatic relations and intend to establish friendship ties anchored 

on shared 

and mutual ideas, vision and principles.

“This is to include the mutual economic, social, political and cultural benefits and the 

advancement of 

international relations, goodwill and cooperation, particularly through reciprocal 

social and cultural exchanges,

” said Canto.

A copy of the resolution will be sent to Mayor Samuel Kang of the City of Duarte in California.

Earlier the SP also approved the establishment of sisterhood relationship with Xiamen, China.

Dagupan is currently enjoying its sisterhood ties with Milpitas in California of the United

 States of America 

which hosted a number of high school students from both public and private schools as

 part of the 

student exchange program between the two cities. (Joseph C. Bacani/CIO/Nov. 22, 2016)

Political Cartoon by Mortz

Legarda: Going low carbon crucial for 2040 goals

Senator Loren Legarda said that treading the path of low carbon development would be beneficial to the Philippines and help the government achieve its long-term goal of a “matatag, maginhawa at panatag na buhay” for Filipinos.

Legarda, chair of the Senate Committee on Climate Change and UN Global Champion for Resilience, made the statement after the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) issued a report commissioned by the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), independently developed together with climate science and policy institute, Climate Analytics, titled Low Carbon Monitor (LCM) at the UN Climate Change Conference in Marrakech (COP22).

The Senator said, the report examines benefits and opportunities of limiting warming to 1.5°C as enshrined in the goal of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

“Keeping to a 1.5°C limit could raise growth economic output by as much as 1% by the 2040s, since so many of the devastating impacts associated with higher levels of warming would be avoided,” stated the report’s Preface signed by Legarda, together with Gemedo Dalle, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in Ethiopia, and Edgar Gutierrez, Minister of Environment and Energy in Costa Rica.

“If we take into consideration the facts stated in the report, we will see that going low carbon is crucial in our pursuit of our vision and development goals under the Ambisyon Natin 2040 of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA),” said Legarda, who also chairs the Senate Committee on Finance.

The LCM states that if the government aligns its policies with the 1.5°C limit, the Philippines will improve its chances of enjoying the benefits of low carbon development.

The report enumerates some of the benefits that the Philippines will gain if nations are successful in limiting warming to 1.5°C. This would prevent a loss of 0.5 percentage point in GDP growth per capita by the 2040s compared to a high-warming world, prevent reduced labor productivity due to heat in the work place, and investing in renewable energy would improve economic stability and independence in the country.

Since global warming affects productivity due to heat in the work place, if the Philippines goes low carbon, it will minimize losses caused by extreme heat to total national work hours of 1% at 1.5°C compared to 2% at 2°C.

Moreover, the report indicated that limiting warming to 1.5°C would create 68% more energy-related jobs in 2030 compared with current policies.

In the Philippines, more than 1,000 MW of renewable energy projects had been completed under the Feed-in Tariff System (FIT) of the Renewable Energy Act as of April 2016. The construction of these renewable energy plants has created approximately 100,000 jobs.

“Today’s priority is to access the largest possible share of the benefits of the low carbon transition, and as quickly as possible. With the whole world working together, if all embrace low emissions development, renewable energy could be five times cheaper or more by 2050—that is a vision of a low cost energy future we believe everyone wants and should get. 1.5°C can and must be done. We will make it happen not just to survive but also to thrive,” said Legarda

CHIEF GIRL SCOUTS

The 10 Chief Girl Scout Medal awardees who were among the 758 girl scouts 
throughout the country conferred with the highest and most prestigious
 Girl Scout award present their medals and certificates to Mayor Belen T. 
Fernandez during the flag-raising ceremony at the city plaza on Nov. 7. 
The awardees were (from left to right) Melanie F. Sanchez, Phoebe Christia 
Ferrer, Janelle Isabel Sarmiento, Giezel Mayrina, Dimple Manipon, Kristen 
Claire Z. Bacani, Fria Joyce Taminaya, Bea Nicole Ragutana, Fritzie Joyce
 Cacapit, and Julianna Ferrer. On the other hand, Francine Beatriz Pradez (far right
) is an Outstanding Girl Scout in the national level and a recipient of an international 
award. Also in photo are the Girl Scouts of the Philippines – Dagupan City Council
 officers headed by their president Zenaida L. Sinlao (4^th from left), Lerma P. 
Nicomedez (5^th from right) as council executive, City Schools Division
 Superintendent Froserfina J. Bravo (7^th from left) as commissioner on 
administration, Assistant Superintendent Lourdes D. Servito (6^th from left) 
as chairman of the membership committee, Dr. Venus SM Estonilo 
(5^th from left) as chairman of the finance committee, Dr. Beng Y. Reyes
 (7^th from right) as vice president for field and Erly G. Datario (6^th from right),
  the immediate past president of the council. The girl scouts’  troop leaders 
are Araceli Nimer (3^rd from left), Andora Villanueva (2^nd from left), Zenaida David 
(2^nd from right), Imelda Bacani (4^th from right), Imelda dela Rosa (far right), 
Liezl Duque (3^rd from right) and Teresita Esmeralda (far left). (CIO photo by 
Jojo Tamayo)