What Graft and Corruption are you talking?

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

The brouhahas and the circus continue in traditional, social and online media, brought by the consultation hearings by the City Councilors on the donation of the 1.2 hectares of land given by the brother of the mayor for the local government in Dagupan City.

One of the arguments of the opposition hinged on Section 3B of Republic Act or Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices Acts as quoted by Councilor Red Erfe-Mejia on TV interviews and the social media says:

"Directly or indirectly requesting or receiving any gift, present, share, percentage, or benefit, for himself or for any other person, in connection with any contract or transaction between the Government and any other part, wherein the public officer in his official capacity has to intervene under the law".

He continued: “Sa madaling salita bawal gamitin ang kapangyarihan sa pansariling benepisyo” and “Ililipat ang city hall sa lupain ng pamilya ng mayor na kung saan ang lupa mismo at ang mga lupang nakapalibot ay pag mamay-ari ng pamilya ng mayor”.

MY TAKE: In case Mayor Belen Fernandez signed into law the ordinance, almost unanimously passed by the members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod, the signature of the mayor could not be construed as abetting graft and corruption because the family owned land probably through a corporation (where the mayor divested her interest) would benefit tremendously because the lands there would appreciate their worth when buyers buy them.

The signature of the mayor was ministerial. She did not represent the Vox Populi, Vox Dei when the majority of the councilors debated and voted for the acceptance of the ordinance. It was the Councilors who represented the Voice of God and the people of Dagupan City that it was politically correct to accept the benevolence of donor Kerwin Fernandez, the sibling of Mayor Belen T. Fernandez, when the mayor signed the proverbial dotted line of the already approved ordinance.

“The acceptance of the mayor of the donation in behalf of the city government is immoral,” dissed by the opposition and critics.

The mayor could show to all and sundry that she is dispensable to the donation by vetoing it or rejecting it or ignore it, just like Vice Mayor Brian Lim when the ordinance accepting the donation needed his signature.

“You know Harold, the law knows about the nature and vested interest of elected public officials who could hostage the general welfare by not signing the law,” I told recently my radio tandem Harold Barcelona.

Septuagenarian Biker Still Races the 81 - Km Dagupan - Baguio Stretch

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY – The stamina powered 81 kilometers bike race Buelta Dagupan that started here to Baguio City showed its two facets: A septuagenarian and a teenage pedal aficionados.

Veteran racer Alex Jugo is 71 years old while minor Efren Reyes is 16 years old.

TWO FACETS of long distance low level handle bar road racing bikers. From left: The 71

 years old veteran cyclist Alex Jugo and the promising 16 years old Efren Reyes. 

MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

The long distance race from San Marino Place here to Benguet Province included the strenuous ascent to the snake- like cloud kissed Province’s highway before they reach Tuba town -  one of the two legs of the race before they sped off to Baguio City via the strenuous uphill highway of Naguilian, La Union.

The race show cases the mettle of the cyclists who used expensive low level handle bar road racing bikes and contraptions.

According to the septuagenarian Jugo, a retired seaman, he used to join cycling legend Jess Garcia, a Filipino-Mexican who is a Pangasinense, during contests in the 1970s and joined prestigious race Philippine International  Council Cycling Commission (PICCA) under a certain Tony Kairuz in 1971 to 1973.

Three-time national cycling marathon champion Garcia told this paper that the PICCA races ensued in the middle of 1970s.

Jugo was absent in the race for two years but did not see his age as an obstacle to conquer an uphill trek with fellow racers who were younger than him.

“Sa batch ko baka ako lang ang nagbibiseklita pa. Mga  edad 70 talaga o kahit na 60 medyo delikado kung hinde ka nag e-exercise (Probably I am the only septuagenarian who still race. 70 or 60 years old biker could be dangerous especially if he does not exercise),” he cited.

The minor Reyes said he was given a chance to join the prestigious races like Buelta Dagupan through the intercession and generosity of District Engineer Rodolfo “Boy” Dion of the Pangasinan 2nd Engineering Office of the Department of Public Works & Highway when the latter saw his biking potentials five years ago as they incidentally bike together in their morning regular runs at the modern Pantal-Lucao Highway here that Dion supervised when it was constructed decades ago.

DADS SKED BRGY CONSULTATIONS ON TRANSFER OF CITY HALL

 Barangay Cluster 1 consultation with barangays Bolosan, Salisay Tebeng
and Mamalingling whether or not to transfer Dagupan City Hall (TEXT AND
PHOTO: COUNCILOR NETU TAMAYO)

DAGUPAN CITY – The Sangguniang Panlungsod’s committees on laws, ordinances and judiciary and on land utilization chaired by Councilor Jose Netu M. Tamayo have scheduled public consultations in the barangays on the city’s plan to transfer the city hall from its present location on A.B. Fernandez Avenue to Barangay Pantal  along the De Venecia Expressway Extension.

This is pursuant to a motion of Councilor Nicanor D. Aquino during an initial public hearing conducted by the city council on June 22 in order to get the pulse of the people in the city on whether they favor or not the transfer of the city hall to a new location as specified in the city’s newly approved Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) and Zoning Ordinance of 2015-2025.

The committee decided to conduct a three-day public consultation, one in the morning and one in the afternoon in six clustered barangays.

The schedule, as determined by the members of the committee and with the assistance of Liga ng mga Barangay president Marcelino DS. Fernandez is as follows: Cluster 1 - June 27, a.m. at Bolosan Elementary School; Cluster 2 - June 27, p.m. at Bonuan Boquig Barangay Hall; Cluster 3 – June 29, a.m. at the city museum; Cluster 4 – June 29, p.m. at Caranglaan Elementary School; Cluster 5 – July 1, a.m. at Lucao Elementary School; and Cluster 6 – July 1, p.m. at the city museum. (Joseph C. Bacani/CIO/June 28, 2017)

Dekada 2017-1017 wins Parada Dekada float top prize

DAGUPAN CITY – Float Dekada 2007-2017 of the Dagupan City National High School (DCNHS) was adjudged as the best float during the city’s 70^th year anniversary parade called "Parada na Dekada" along the main streets on June 20.

PARADA DEKADA FLOAT CHAMP. Float Dekada 2007-2017 of the Dagupan City National High School (DCNHS) was adjudged the best float during the 70^th year anniversary Parada na Dekada along the city main thoroughfares on June 20. Dekada 2007-2017 was also adjudged as most disciplined secondary school while Elementary Dekada 2018 won the best presentation award. In photo are (from left) Platinum Year chairman Froserfina J. Bravo, Mayor Belen T. Fernandez, DCNHS representative Emmanuel Toledo and DCNHS school principal Ely Datario. (CIO photo by Jojo Tamayo)

DCNHS brought home the cash prize of P20,000 including one minor award as  most disciplined Secondary Dekada 2007-2017 float with P10,000 as additional cash prize.

The best presentation award was won by Elementary Dekada 2018 and beyond with P10,000 cash prize.

"Parada na Dekada" was one of the major events in the city’s Platinum Year celebration, which featured different floats depicting the seven centuries the city had gone  through from 1947-1957, 1957-1967, 1967-1977, 1977-1987, 1987-1997, 1997-2007, 2007-2017.

ASEAN kiosk opens in Pangasinan

CALASIAO- In pursuit of promoting and advocating the importance of the Philippine membership to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Philippine Information Agency in Region I launched the first-ever ASEAN kiosk  in Pangasinan.

The kiosk will primarily provide information materials about ASEAN and PIA through brochures, leaflets and magazines. A television screen is also provided to showcase the history of ASEAN  and its impact to the community. 

A standee of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, representing the Philippine chairmanship this year which coincides with the 50th ASEAN anniversary, can also be seen in the kiosk. 

Regional Director Jennilyne Role, as represented by Officer-in-Charge Freddie Lazaro, encouraged the people of Pangasinan to visit the kiosk to learn more about ASEAN.

The Robinsons Place in Calasiao town is home to the first kiosk in the province. It has provided free installation and power consumption for the government project until December this year.

“The partnership with PIA  is a welcome breather for the mall as Robinsons Place commits  its full support to the programs of ASEAN to help make life better for the Filipinos,” Vallo said.

BIGGEST JOLLIBEE

Binalonan Mayor Mon Mon Guico says that the opening last Thursday of the Jollibee Food Store in his town is the biggest Jollibee in the North Luzon Areas. Among the Jollibee franchised and corporate run food stores from Bulacan province to Ilocos Norte Province and Baguio City this one in Binalonan is the biggest that gears to serve commuters and motorists that travel in this route. The food store, according to the mayor, is operated by Jollibee Food Corporation. MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

 Binalonan Mayor Mon Mon Guico (center), Vice Mayor Mel Patague, and a media man during the opening last Thursday of the biggest Jollibee Food Store in North Luzon.

The new Land Bank extension in Binalonan. Mayor Guico said that he was informed by the Bank’s officials that the bank would be converted later on as a branch from its present extention status of LBP-Urdaneta City. MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

Bullets riddled BIR’s boss car blamed on steep tax collection

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

ALAMINOS CITY – Was the bullets riddled car of the chief of the Bureau of Internal Revenue in Western Pangasinan happened because of excessive taxes being billed by that office to taxpayers?

An agent of a bookkeeping company, who asked anonymity, commented that the countless bullet holes that peppered the body and side glass window of the government issued red Innova multi-purpose vehicle to Revenue District Office -5 Chief Thelma D. Mangio last May was blamed on the tax agency officials’ excessive exaction of taxes.

BIR billed taxpayers with taxes like income, capital gain, estate, donor, and others.

The car, according to BIR insiders, was shot by unidentified gunman sometime in May this year while it was parked at the periphery of the BIR office in this city. No one was inside the car during the incident.

BULLET HOLES. The bullets riddled Toyota Innova car of Revenue District Office Chief Thelma D. Mangio of the Bureau of Internal Revenue based in Alaminos City. The car, according to BIR insiders, was shot by unidentified gunman sometime in May this year while it was parked at the periphery of the BIR office in this city. Bullet holes are covered by a brown packaging tape in this photo. MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

 “Sinisingil ng BIR officials doon iyong old taxes sa bago at mataas na zonal valuation na dapat e implement lang noong May 31,” she said.

The three Revenue District Offices in Pangasinan have spiked the zonal valuation after it underwent a public hearing last November last year.

Zonal valuation is used by the BIR officials to compute the proper taxes taxpayers should be paying the government in transactions like sale and transfer of real properties.

We Are Screwed If They Prevail

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

The acrimonious debate on the 1.2 hectares land donated to the local government of Dagupan City and the plan of the powers that be to relocate the new city hall at the PEZA (pssst, they call it Philippine Economics Zone Authority) approved growth area in Pantal-Lucao Road expose the idiotic, the stupid, and the nuisance wannabe critics who opposed these development.

Some of their comments that proliferate on social media that pollute the minds of the gullible:
“The relocation of the city hall would financially burden the residents of Eastern Barangays like Tebeng, Tambac, Mangin, others”. “Motorized tricycle rides of those who have transaction with the officials at the city hall would be burdensome because of the perennially prohibitive charges by trike drivers”.

“Overcharging tricycle drivers for that almost two kilometers ride from the old city hall would surely punish Dagupenos?”

MY ANSWER: These scenarios could not happen because the new growth area, already approved by the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), would give opportunity for the local government to pass a law for a new franchise for public utility jeep to have a new route from the old city to the new city hall and the new business establishments there vice versa.

“Even franchise of taxi just like in Iloilo City, Cagayan de Oro, Davao City, and Cebu City would be opened because of the additional stretch of business zones brought by the growth areas and the multiplier effects they bring. 
One of the examples here is the 5,000 jobs to be offered by the Business Process Outsourcing-Information Technology (BPO-IT), the vaunted Sunshine Industry of the Philippines, in the next three years after these BPO-ITs put shops there,” I told recently my radio tandem Harold Barcelona.

The additional jeepney fares of those residents of the Eastern Villages in going to and from the new city hall and the commercial areas are minuscule price for the jobs and other economic opportunities for Dagupenos.

Moreover, the migration of the new city hall would decongest the decades long traffic snarl in the old city.

Marawi, arawi!

NI KITZ BASILA

MAPANGANIB na lugar sa ngayon ang Marawi, pati ang Kapitolyo ng Lanao Sur. Pero, ang bawi ng mga Pangasinense, ‘arawi’ so Marawi!

HIDWAAN sa ipinaglalaban ang digmaang nagaganap sa Marawi, ayon na rin sa mga naihahayag sa balita. Pero, ang tantiya ng mga Pangasinense, ‘arawi’ ed paninisiya so gapu (malayo sa paniniwala o belief).

MAHIWAGA raw ang lokal na rebelde na ngayon ay pumepeste sa kabuhayan, kabahayan, katiwasayan at katwiran ng Marawi, dahil sa konting-bilang kontra Military ay perwisyo-todo ang isusukli sa labanan. Pero, mas mahiwaga raw ang mga Pangasinense, kasi ‘arawi’ so Marawi sa kanila.

PAGLABAN na walang katiyakan ang ibinubuyangyang ng gulo na inumpisahan ng mga rebelde sa Marawi. Pero, ang ipinaglalaban na laban ay ‘arawi’ ed karunungan say nga ng mga ilan na Pangasinense!

So far ang marawi, arawi so Marawi, so pray for Marawi!
**************
Araw ni Rizal, bumati ka ba?

HAPPY FATHER’s day! Maugong na pagbati tuwing sumasapit ang linggo na alinsabay sa kaarawan ni Gatpuno Jose Rizal.

Si Jose Rizal ay turing na pambansang bayani. Habang ang father ay pam-pamilyang bayani.

Kailan nga ba ang birthday ni National hero Jose Rizal? Eh, kailan kinikilala ang kadakilaan ni Itay, Tatay, Papa, Daddy o Ama ng Pamilya?

Sabi nga, bumati ka ba kay Jose Rizal? Kay Ama na pinagmulan may inilaan bang pagbati?

Ewan kung maaantig ang iyong kamalayan na kung bakit isinabay ang Father’s Day sa Jose Rizal’s birthday, bakit nga ba?

Teka, alam mo ba talaga ang iyong hero na maituturing, Ask lang?

Mangaldan vigorously implements No Smoking Law in public

                                No Smoking Areas

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

MANGALDAN – “Smoker Beware!"

This first class town had just implemented President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order against cigarette smoking but would enforce it in all public places here.

Fernando Saguisag “Adje” Cabrera, administrative officer of the local government here, said its implementation would not give any exception like smoking areas in public places here.

“As of now wala na talaga. Kung talagang bawal, bawal na siyempre”.

President Rodrigo Duterte and Mangaldan Mayor Bona Fe
D. Parayno hated cigarette smoking.Photo Credit:
 Favradio Global News Center

 Cabrera stressed that in 2015 the administration of Mayor Bona Fe D. Parayno had passed and signed into law an ordinance against cigarette smoking but would vigorously implement it after President Rodrigo Duterte signed an Executive Order 26 banning smoking.

The president signed last May 16 the executive order banning smoking in all public places and prohibiting cigarette consumption by minors.

Cabrera said the fines for violator are P200 , P300, and P1,000 for the first, second, and third offenses respectively.

“Inalis na iyong community service dahil bawal na iyan, “he cited. 

De Venecia urges youth to be part of global network for peace

DAGUPAN CITY—A Pangasinan lawmaker said that for peace-building to be inclusive, it has to actively include the youth.

Speaking on the role of youth and students in creating a culture of sustainable peace at the inauguration of the network of Youth and Students for Peace at the United Nations Conference Center in Bangkok, Thailand on June 12, Pangasinan Fourth District Representative Christopher de Venecia said the youth have a special role in building peace, lasting peace, here and around the world.

 

Pangasinan 4th district Rep. Christopher de Venecia at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand for the launch of the Youth and Students for Peace for Asia and the Pacific. With him are Gen. Nem Sowath, Director General of the General Department of Policy and Foreign Affairs in Cambodia, and Indonesian Member of Parliament Dave Fikarno.  De Venecia delivered a speech on the role of youth in creating a culture of sustainable peace.

In the Philippines, our government has been engaged in formal peace talks with various armed groups for over decades now, he said.

He added that the mere mention of “peace talks” evokes the image of old men and women sitting across each other, trying to figure out what commonalities they share which would serve as a place from which to start.

 “When it comes to peace, our young men and women are left out of the conversation — and, as studies have shown, that is often the case in many countries around the world,” he said.

He pointed out that political power, whether inside or outside the realms of peace and peace negotiations, tend to be capitalized by adults or elders.

De Venecia said as early as 2014, the United Nations noted that there are more young people in the world than ever before.

“At 1.8 billion, we are seeing the largest global youth population in the history of humankind,” he said.

He added, “The flipside is this – young people often form the majority of the population in conflict-affected countries. The world’s youth is directly affected —and that means that stakes are higher for us to get involved”.

He pointed out that because success in building peace depends so much on inclusiveness, “we can only ignore the youth at our own peril”.

He said this would involve a bottoms-up approach – where the imperative is that “I don’t know, but I want to find out.”

DTI launches 'Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso' program in Pangasinan

DAGUPAN CITY – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on Thursday launched the “Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso” (P3) program in Pangasinan to help microenterprises and entrepreneurs which do not have easy access to credit.

 

Peter Mangabat, provincial director of DTI-Pangasinan, said the P3 program, which has a nationwide budget amounting to P1 billion from the Office of the President, aims to provide microenterprises an alternative source of financing and stop the usurious practices of 5-6 moneylenders.

 

“Ito yong programa na pangkontra sa mga usurious practices ng ibang mga lenders kung saan target nito ay ang mga market vendors, micro, small and medium enterprises na pauutangin ng halaga ng pera na maaari nilang magamit bilang capital na may mas mababang interes,” Mangabat said.

Marawi kids find home in Urdaneta school

by Venus May H. Sarmiento

 

 

URDANETA CITY -  The Urdaneta I Central School in eastern Pangasinan is now the second home of at least 12 students from embattled Marawi City, upon their transfer to this province.

 

School Principal Dr. Robert Tababa said the pupils, whose age bracket range from seven to 12 years old, were warmly welcomed by the school despite the lack  of  school credentials like birth certificates and report cards.

 

“May Department of Education policy tayo na i-accept ang mga bata maski walang credentials kung may nangyaring kalamidad sa kanila either man-made o natural. Kaya itong mga bata na sinabi ng kanilang mga kamag-anak na galing sa Marawi ay andito ngayon,” Tababa told the Philippine Information Agency (PIA).

 

Tababa said the pupils, who were mostly girls, were just interviewed and were asked their names and grade levels. Their credentials could be traced through the Learners’ Information System of DepEd. Some,  however, could not recall  the name of their school in Marawi and their principal’s name. 

 

Most of the children were enrolled by their relatives residing in Urdaneta and the children’s parents went back to Marawi, he said. 

 

The principal  said the transferees will not have a hard time blending well with Pangasinenses because they can speak good Filipino (Tagalog).

 

 

Brothers Hamza and Hizam (surname withheld), two of the pupils who transferred to Urdaneta,  are now in Grade 2.  

 

They said their parents brought them to Pangasinan because “may barilan sa Marawi”. Based on their stories, their school named Pilot Central School, was bombed and their aunt’s house was rained with bullets.

 

Grade 2 teacher Analyn Dela Cruz said she didn't see any trace of trauma among her students even if they came from a conflict-torn city. 

 

 

“Ok naman sila at magagalang. Sila pa nga ang leader-leader sa classroom kasi magaling sila. Kahit transferees, very good sila.” Dela Cruz told PIA. (VHS/PIA-Pangasinan)

KAKANEN TRADE FAIR OPENING

 Manlingkor ya Kalangweran young city mayor Jilian Kay Madison S. Fernandez cuts the ceremonial ribbon with DepEd Supervisor Venus Estonillo formally opening the Kakanen Trade Fair at the CSI Atrium on June 10. Also in photo are City Social Welfare and Development Officer Leah Aquino (2^nd from left), City Health Officer Dr. Ophelia Ticsay Rivera (right), newly-promoted SDS Diosdado Cayabyab (2^nd right) and Epee Rafanan (3^rd right). (CIO photo by Jojo Tamayo)

Nonsense arguments!

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

A critic should not only be a critique just to be called a critic, he should critique intelligently.

Here’s an example how shallow if not stupid the critics of Dagupan City Mayor Belen T. Fernandez when her brother Kerwin donated a 1.2 hectares of land to the local government as situs for government building.

They said the market peso value of the donated lot is not sixty million pesos but could reach up to four hundred million pesos.

In short, they insinuated the donor underpriced the property.

My Answer: The prices are immaterial. The land, for Christ sake, was being donated to the city government. It means it was given for free otherwise we would be applying for loans at the bank to buy a lot and will be paying the amortization for years at the expense of our funds for social service.

Even a top brass of the Bureau of Internal Revenue in Central Pangasinan told me that the donation by the donor to the government is not even taxable.

The purpose of the absence of the 30 percent tax to the zonal valuation of the property given as “gift” is to encourage people like Kerwin to give to the “cash-strapped” government.

“It’s benevolence,” as what Councilor Jigs Seen, the brother-in-law of the mayor told the members of the August Chamber why he voted “yes” to empower the city mayor to accept the donation.

Son of a gun Jigs, because of your “benevolence or compassion term I remembered the Americans who want to educate us in the early 1900s colonization.

The Yanks’ high officials in P.I, not P__ng Ina but Philippine Islands, argued for appropriation in the U.S Congress to help us flips, er, Filipinos’ in the name of  Benevolent Assimilation.

Now, my favorite DVD seller Datu Odtog Ramanam Amin asked me what in heaven “Assimilation” was. I surreptitiously whispered to him he could buy it at the malls.

***

One of the critics said that the area where the city hall will rise will undermine the grandeur of the fishponds that made Dagupan City’s famous.

My Answer: What grandeur?  That imagined grandeur of the fishpond could not substitute for the nagging economic problems of Dagupenos to find jobs and wiggle from the going hellish traffic congestion around the old city hall.

The Lucao-Pantal Road where the city hall and the commercial growth centers would provide Dagupenos with the projected 5000 jobs from Business Process Outsourcing –Information Technology, and other investors to be brought by the likes of  Kapideco (Ayala Project) Estates, SM Properties, and the Megaworld, and others just like the burgeouning city of Iloilo .
Moreover, Councilor Seen told me the affected area covered by one of the three growth areas by the Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) of the local government composed only 10 percent of the entire fishponds in the entire topography of the city.

Gee whizzzz, how could that imagined grandeur massage the ego of those unemployed and those who are bitching and bellyaching in the middle of the traffic congestion?

That grandeur crap only protects the fishpond owners who are modicum in our entire local population.

Back off critics, we are talkin’ here about the 5000 jobless and the multi-plier effects that situs would give us!

Another argument: Relocation of the city hall to the donated lot of Kerwin Fernandez only worsen the plight of the residents of Eastern Barangays Tambac, Tebeng, Mamalingling, Mangin, and others because they would be doubling their fares on public utility jeeps in going to the new city hall.

My Answer: That’s bullshit! Are we going to allow ourselves to be hostaged by that ‘stupid” argument that because a few portion of the population would be doubling their eight pesos fare in going to the new city we better scrapped the relocation of the government building that would stimulate growth for the majority of the population?

Crap!

 (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)

Prepare yourselves for Brgy Polls - Solon

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

LINGAYEN - A congressman exhorted village officials who want to run for the barangay election this coming October to prepare since there are no debates on bills that will empower President Rodrigo Duterte to postphone the poll.

“As of now wala akong personal knowledge. Kung meron man dapat it has to be done and should be prioritized kasi malapit na ang October ang election,” Pangasinan Second District Representative Leopoldo Bataoil cited.

Barangay election in the Philippines, according to law, provides that each village includes a chief called Punong Barangay, the seven members of the Council called each as Kagawad, and the Sangguniang Kabataan Chairman who are candidates submit themselves for a fifteen days campaign period.

In March this year, Surigao del Norte 2nd District Representative Robert Ace Barbers filed the first bill that would postpone the village polls originally set for October 23, 2017.

Veems suspect mayors cheat them on gambling payolas

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Some town vice mayors in Pangasinan smarted of being deprieved by their mayors on their payolas from gambling operator.

A vice mayor, who asked anonymity, said despite the law on Small Time Lottery that only three percent of the total gross receipts of the bets in his town goes to the public treasury, he and the other vice mayors suspected that operators of the STL, a government sanctioned number games, in their areas have another illegal list on bettors where their mayors continue to receive a percentage.

Small Time Lottery's papelito and STL's logo.
Photo Credit: Veritas

In a letter earlier sent to Pangasinan's mayors by Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office’s General Manager Alexander Balutan said that “additonal revenues for the the game are also intended to benefit the Municipality of xxx by the allocation of 3.00% from the gross sales of the STL operation in your area of jurisdiction”.

The vice mayors and the councilors of a town or city and the chief of police there were no longer given a percentage on the gross collection of the PCSO oversees STL.

The outwitted vice mayor said that he and other vice mayors had a conversation with another vice mayor in a meeting who told them that he continues to receive his share from his mayor.

The smarting vice mayor said he and his fellow vice mayors would expose this to the media this shenanigan perpetrated by the mayors after they could gather strong evidences that there is another list for the operator of the STL.

There are two franchisees of STL who squabble for official recognition in the 44 towns and 4 cities’ Pangasinan.

“I thought President (Rodrigo) Duterte wanted to eradicate illegal gambling like jueteng and Meridiane, but it seems illegal number game is still perpetrated in the same places?” he posed to reporters.

The vice mayor said that he has no problem of the three percent share from STL that goes to the public coffer but would be affronted if his mayor receives payolas from an illegal list of the cobradores or collectors of the number game.

“During Meridiane Vista Gaming Corporation (MVGC) , every vice mayor in Pangasinan was given a montly 1.5 %, the same 1.5% with the chief of police while the mayor got 7% monthly of the gross collection,”he stressed.

He explained that during that time his 1.5% supposedly translates to more than P200, 000 monthly where the mayor deducted P90, 000 for the nine municipal councilors who received P10, 000 each monthly while he was given P50,000.

“The mayor was already cheating me by more than P60, 000 monthly but I kept mum on it,” he deplored.

But with the suspected stunt being done by the mayors, he said he and his fellow vice mayors are in a bind presently because they could not give anything to indigents who go to their houses and offices for alms.

“My almost P60, 000 pay monthly salary was gone two days after I received it. I gave them to the needy”.

He denied when asked that the vice mayor who was given a montly share by the mayor in another town enjoyed the perks because illegal operator runs bookie or guerilla in that municipality.

“I was told there was none. Even in my town it was only STL that operates”.

MEAT VENDORS, BUTCHERS SUPPORT CITY’S PLAN TO BUILD SLAUGHTER HOUSE

 DAGUPAN CITY – Meat vendors and butchers support the city’s proposal to build its own modern abattoir as outlined by Mayor Belen T. Fernandez during a one-day seminar on hygienic handling practices of meat products for meat handlers at the museum on June 15.

Modern Abattoir in another country

The seminar was facilitated by the City Veterinary Office in cooperation with the National Meat Inspection Service with Regional Director Dr. Eduardo Oblina, Senior Meat Control Officers Dr. Jorge Bacani and Dr. Cherry Ann Javier as resource speakers.

Councilor Dennis Canto, the city council’s chairman on market, was also present along with Dr. Michael P. Maramba of the City Veterinary Office.

Fernandez said that under the Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) and Zoning Ordinance covering the period 2015-2025, the city has already identified a possible site for the city’s slaughter house, a project that could be possibly implemented in 2018.

“We will allocate P30 million budget for the purchase of a lot and the construction of the slaughter house next year and we will make sure that this will be a model abattoir in the province of Pangasinan,” disclosed Fernandez.