BOLINAO - Pristine beaches, golden shorelines,
lush vegetation, million years old Hundred Islands, clear turquoise water from
falls, Renaissance-styleblack coral stones made church, breathtaking
caves, and other gems are the draws of the nine towns and city’s Western
Pangasinan that made its tireless congressman moves heaven and earth to lobby
for billions of pesos funding from the national government to maximize the
potentials of the areas.
First District Representative Jesus “Boying”
Celeste said that the initial cash flows for the constructions of the billions
of pesos national highway at the coastal areas to amplify tourism that he shepherded in the national budget was the fruit of his consultations with
municipal and village officials.
Photo Credit: MC Santiago
He cited that the vaunted national artery that
snake near the seashores materialized
because of the collaboration and cooperation of the Departments of Public Works
& Highways, Tourism, Environment & Natural Resources, and Philippine Tourism
Authority.
Press report said that public work activities had
already billowed at the coastal areas of this rustic
town and Alaminos City.
DAGUPAN CITY – The reason that plunged the numbers of injuries from
firecrackers explosion from last year’s record and those in the 2017’s New Year
revelry had been credited to President Rodrigo Duterte’s disliked to many of them.
Region-1 Medical Center Director Joseph Roland Mejia said that because of the
Davao City’s ordinance banning firecrackers that President Duterte crowed to be
emulated by the whole country, many Filipinos heeded it.
Middle this year Duterte ordered the regulation of firecrackers and pyrotechnic
devises through Executive Order No. 28.
Mejia cited that in the records of December 21, 2016 to January 5, 2017
there were 38 firecracker injuries treated by R-1MC compared to the same days
in the data of nineteen years that spanned from 1998 to 2015 Doctor
Mejia distributed to media men.
Dr. Noel Manaois, a senior surgeon at R1MC, said that the other reason
for the decline in the firecrackers’ injuries happened because of the strict
implementation of their sale by this City’s local government unit under Mayor
Belen T. Fernandez and the police.
DAGUPAN CITY – The elevation and transformation to modernity of the AB
Fernandez Avenue in this city is one of his legacies to the people here and at
the Department of Public Works & Highway he would be looking after his
retirement on December 31 this year, a District Engineer (DE) cited.
DE Rodolfo “Boy” Dion, who supervised two congressional districts in
Pangasinan, said that without the transformation of the AB Fernandez Highway
from its previous asphalt condition it would now become a state of disrepair.
“Siyempre
existing asphalt iyan kung hindi na improve iyan panahon ngayon nasira na,” he stressed.
Dion supervises the Second and Fourth Congressional Districts at his office based in
Lingayen, Pangasinan.
The two districts are represented by Congressmen Leopoldo Bataoil and
Christopher de Venecia, respectively.
BRASS – Retiring Department of Public Works & Highway’s District
Engineer Rodolfo “Boy” Dion (left) of the 2nd Pangasinan
Engineering District poses with former Five-Time House Speaker Jose de Venecia
during the latter 81st birthday held in Manila recently.
DAGUPAN CITY –Director General Charito B. Plaza of
the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) recently told newsmen here that
construction of more power plants, including another coal-fired power plant in
the town of Sual, is welcome in line with the government’s plan to create a
mega-economic zone in Pangasinan.
PEZA Director General Charito Plaza bares plan to put up a mega-economic
zone in Pangasinan.
Plaza said big foreign companies are eyeing
Pangasinan for their expansion and conversion of the province into a
mega-economic zone will open this possibility.
This move requires stable and cheaper supply of
power to sustain the operation of the industries to be put up provided the
power plants to be constructed conform with environmental standards, she said.
Plaza led the opening program of the 2017 Luzon
Economic Zone Summit for Pangasinan and La Union held recently in this city.
Among
the guests were Baguio City Economic Zone Administrator lawyer Rene Joey S.
Mipa, 2nd District Rep. Leopoldo N. Bataoil, Sual Mayor
Roberto Arcinue and Pozorrubio Mayor Ernesto Go.
MANGALDAN – The supervisor of the abattoir here said that 35 carabaos are slaughtered everyday to satisfy the palate of the people of this town, nearby Dagupan City, and other municipalities.
Slaughterhouse Supervisor Veronica Junatas said that 24 hours a day with 27 personnel garbed on their sanitary uniforms like red t-shirts, black head covers, and rain boots not only butchered countless numbers of hogs and cattle but water buffaloes in the stockyard located half a kilometer from the municipal hall here.
CARCASSES of water buffaloes on a side and supine positions
at the slaughterhouse of Mangaldan in Pangasinan Province.
Most of these carabeefs are served to pigar-pigar (deep fried beef sprinkled with fresh slices of onions) restaurants here and nearby Dagupan City and Pindang (dried cured beef) stores that people inside and outside the mammoth Pangasinan province patronized.
Pigar-Pigar or Beng-Beng and Pindang are popular delicacies in the province.
Edukasyon. Trabaho. Negosyo. Before 2017 ends, let’s look back on the campaign promises delivered by Sen. Bam Aquino in just 4 years. Tuloy ang laban sa 2018.
P10,000 BONUS - Dagupan City Mayor Belen T. Fernandez gives P10, 000
perk to each of the regular employees of the local government unit. P5, 000 came from the Performance Enhancement
Incentive while the other P5,000 came as cash gift of 5,000.00. The mayor released
P5, 960,000.00 for distribution to these deserving public servants this
Christmas Season.
CALASIAO – The four provinces’ tax regional office based here will be
headed finally by a Pangasinense after the national office of the Bureau of
Internal Revenue appointed a daughter of Dasol, Pangasinan.
According to a source, who asked anonymity, BIR Makati City’s Assistant
Regional Director Clavelina S. Nacar will assume the post of outgoing Region-1
Director Teresita M. Dizon in January 8 next year after the latter was promoted
to Assistant Commissioner of the tax agency.
DIRECTOR - Incoming Region-1 Director Clavelina S. Nacar (right) of the
Bureau of Internal Revenue and spouse former Dasol Mayor Noel Nacar. Photo-
grab from Facebook.
Nacar, the wife of former Dasol Mayor Noel Nacar, used to be the
Revenue District Office -5 Chief of Western Pangasinan based in Alaminos City.
“She then
became RDO chief in Metro Manila, Assistant Regional Director in Region 9 San
Pablo City and Assistant Regional Director of Makati City,” the source disclosed.
Can you still remember that famous and courageous soldier who took off
his Kevlar helmet and bullet vest as quid pro quo to ISIS rebels in
Marawi City so he could save a four years old girl and other Christian hostages from the ISIS
rebels in Marawi City in exchange of containers of water, soft drinks, and
biscuits?
Yap, he isArmy Captain Jeffrey Buada, commander of the 15th Scout Ranger Company.
After he was feted recently by his town Mangaldan in Pangasinan for his conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in Marawi, I asked Buada, a graduate of the
Philippine Military Academy, about those incidents while we consumed our snacks
treated by Mangaldan Mayor Bona Fe D. Parayno and the town’s chief
of Police Superintendent Jeff Fanged.
Buada’s wife told me that the
spouse is a sniper, too.
A sniper with his M-24 Sniper Weapon System.
Indeed he was as I saw earlier on his shoulder badge a sniper’s logo
embroidered with a glaring red word “Sniper”.
Marksmen like Buada played a major role in the urban warfare in the
Philippines where the State Security just won in a protracted Pyrrhic victory against
the international terrorist Islamic groups and their associates’ Maute Muslim rebels
in the now scorched to that ground Southern Philippines’ city.
What price glory when the entire city was not only obliterated but turned into smithereens? JesusMariaHusef!
When Lieutenant Colonel Fanged, an alumnus of the Philippine National
Police Academy, posed what Buada was
thinking when he was saving each of the hostages unarmed while enemy snipers
lurking around ready to shoot him.
“Siguro
magda –dive din ako doon sa (inaudible). Parang tinitingnan ko na rin medyo
tumaas na rin ang confidence ko alam ko marami naka secure and nakabantay sa
amin. Pag may nangyari sa amin sigurado
ako may makapag react ng mabilis. Naka focus sila sa pag secure sa amin (I’ll
duck for cover. I have self-confidence because I know my comrade in arms were
watching. In case something happened to me and my companion I know they were
there to fire at the enemies. They were focus on our security),” Buada said.
“How many
rebels you negotiated? Those who hid around? Do they have snipers?” I posed.
“They were
40 to 60 (combatants),” The Scout
Ranger’s warrior told me on the tough but easily annoyed and hungry Moro
ideologues they were chasing and exchanging shoots for several days.
Sharpshooter
The other day I was browsing the book I bought at Book Sale in
Robinsons - Calasiao titled “Into the Fire”. It was a firsthand account
of the most extraordinary battle in the Afghan War. It was narrated by Marine
Corporal Dakota Meyer, a recipient of the Medal of Honor - an award that
happened after three decades in the history of U.S combat, and written
by Bing West, a Marine combat veteran who served as Assistant Secretary of
Defense in the Reagan Administration. Bing is also a veteran of the wars in Vietnam,
Iraq, and Afghanistan. He is also an award winning war correspondent and book
authors that suit him best as he had an actual experiences of what he penned.
I relished Page 32 of the book as Dakota said that the U.S Marine Corp
emphasizes on marksmanship.
“Every
Marine is a rifleman. It makes no difference what rank you are or how
sophisticated your job is. Marine General Jim Jones was the Supreme Allied
Commander in Europe and served as President Obama’s first national security
adviser. Even in those prestigious top jobs, he still signed his emails as
“Rifleman,’ Meyer cited.
He said the U.S Marines were acknowledged as having the finish sniper
training program. He cited that in that training school of the Corps if you
qualified, where 50% of the candidates failed, one received a special “Military
Occupancy Specialty” – 0317 that the holder, just like those pin or badge given to the
Scout Rangers and Navy SEALs, is given pride and fulfillment.
Meyer said that civilians are wowed and mystified with the
sharpshooters that many of them posed when they meet one: “How many enemies
have you killed?”
He cited that the greatest snipers in the world so far were Finnis
Sniper Simo Hayha who held the world record of most killed enemies in World
War II when the Soviets invaded his tiny country.
“He killed
more than 500 Russian soldiers. He was called the “White Death” because his
white camouflage uniform blended into the snow”.
The other celebrated sharpshooters were a platoon of South African
soldiers, recruited from big animal game hunting, to fight in World War 1 in Europe.
Each of these former hunters average by 125 Germans and their allies killed in
that mostly trench battles.
“In
Vietnam, Marine Sgt. Carlos Hatchcock, killed 93 of the enemy. In
Iraq, Chris Kyle, a SEAL, recorded 160 kills”, Meyer said.
Son of a gun, my favorite Vasily Grigoryevich Zaytsev, whose true- to-
life story was put into film titled Enemy at the Gates casting actor
Jude Law as Zaytsev, was not mentioned by the Marine Medal of Honor Awardee and
Bing West.
Vasily was a sharpshooter of the defunct Union of Soviet Socialist
Republic in World War – II. Before
November 10, 1942, he killed 32 German soldiers with a standard-issue rifle. Between
November 10, 1942 and December 17, 1942 in the Battle of Stalingrad Zaytsev
killed 225 enemy soldiers, including 11 snipers that probably included that
swashbuckling German Major the Fuehrer Adolf Hitler ordered sent to haunt down
the effing pain- in- the- ass Russian’s marksman.
Glamorized and Glorified
What romanticized and glamorized the sniper, for me, came from the
chutzpah of British Director Stanley Kubrick in his Full Metal Jacket’s
flick, critics said the best combat movie ever produced, where Marine Drill
Master Gunnery Sergeant Hartman showed his antics and skills.
Hartman, who in real life is Marine Corps Retired Staff Sergeant Ronald Lee
Ermey (born March 24, 1944), was a former Marine Drill Instructor and a student
at the University of Manila when he was assigned at Subic Naval Base when the
Yanks were still here in the early 1980s. In Full Metal Jacket, based on the novel “Short Timers” by Gustav
Hasford, the foul mouthed drill sergeant lectured the Marine recruits at Parris
Island, South Carolina before they were transported to Vietnam by citing
historical events and characters about the greatness and danger of an excellent
or a rogue Marine marksman.
Here are the excerpts from those exchanges:
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: Do any of you people know who Charles Whitman was?
None of you dumbasses knows? Private Cowboy?
Private Cowboy: Sir, he was that guy who shot all those people from that tower
in Austin, Texas, sir!
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: That's affirmative. Charles Whitman killed twelve
people from a twenty-eight-story observation tower at the University of Texas
from distances up to four hundred yards. Anybody know who Lee Harvey Oswald
was? Private Snowball?
Private Snowball: Sir, he shot Kennedy, sir!
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: That's right, and do you know how far away he was?
Private Snowball: Sir, it was pretty far! From that book suppository building,
sir!
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: All right, knock it off! Two hundred and fifty feet!
He was two hundred and fifty feet away and shooting at a moving target. Oswald
got off three rounds with an old Italian bolt action rifle in only six seconds
and scored two hits, including a head shot! Do any of you people know where
these individuals learned to shoot? Private Joker?
Private Joker: Sir, in the Marines, sir!
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: In the Marines! Outstanding! Those individuals showed
what one motivated marine and his rifle can do! And before you ladies leave my
island, you will be able to do the same thing!
Geez whiz!
Scout Ranger Captain Jeff Buada and his Sniper's Badge
By the way, according to Corporal
Dakota Meyer the standard sniper rifle is the 16.5 pounds M40-A3 equipped with
an adjustable cheek rest, a heavy twenty-four-inch barrel, and a bipod stand.
It has a 7.62 millimeter (.308) rifle based on the Remington 700 short action
fired the M118LR 7.62x51 HPBT military action-only cartridge that retained
supersonic speed out to nine hundred meters.
“In addition, we used the standard infantry M4 5.56 millimeter
rifle and the monster M107 Barret. 50 –caliber,” he stressed.
The Barrets were the favorite show boat
of the Moro rebels in the South but expert said since they were locally and
crudely manufactured their accuracy and lethality are doubted.
The first time I touched, held, and
wielded an empty sniper M24 Sniper Weapon System (SWS) was when Police Superintendent
(Lieutenant Colonel) Noel Vallo acquiseced to my request when he was the Chief of Police of the 86 villages’
San Carlos City, Pangasinan several years ago.
Vallo’s Uncle Vivencio Vallo, a former
town administrator and a lover of combat history, told me his nephew whom he
considered his son is a sniper and a graduate of the PNPA – the police version
of the elite PMA where Scout Ranger Captain Buada graduated in 2007.
(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)
MALASIQUI – The legal squabble at the national high school here between
the principal and her male teacher has been stopped by the Ombudsman when it
exonerated the former.
On a nine pages resolution dated November 7, 2017, Deputy Ombudsman for
Luzon Gerard A. Mosquera dismissed the Anti-Graft & Corrupt Practices Acts (Republic Act No. 3019) and administrative cases filed by Vladimir Y. Laxamana
against Principal IV Olive Paragas Terrado for lacks of probable cause and substantial evidence.
VINDICATED: Malasiqui National High School Principal IV Olive Paragas
Terrado is all smiles these days after the Ombudsman exonerated her on the
criminal and administrative complaints filed at the Anti-Graft Body by her
subordinate at the MNHS. Her receipt of the decision coincided with her
birthday.
The legal complaint that became acrimonious inside and outside the
media circles in the province started when Laxamana filed on March 17, 2017 a
complaint at the Ombudsman for Luzon in Metro Manila against Terrado.
Laxamana said respondent committed the misused of the two canteens’
funds that started when she assumed her post in May 2014.
He raised the following complaints that Terrado manipulated the income
of the canteen since her assumption as principal in May 2014 and misused the funds;
she did not allow the teachers to form a cooperative to manage the canteen; the
absence of financial reports of the projects funded by the Maintenance and
Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) of MNHS; no financial reports on the popularity
contests and other income earning projects spearheaded by respondents; Terrado
was not fair in giving teaching loads to faculty members as she gave lesser
loads to teachers who were closed to her; she did not accept and act on the
promotion papers of complainant and Ms. Rowena Dollente; Terrado did not allow the
students to join the Division Schools Press Conference due to lack of funds and
MNHS had no school paper upon her instruction; she did not support the projects
of the student leaders like the program for Teacher’s Day; and the fire
extinguishers are placed in the room of respondent and not in their proper
places.
In June 7, 2017 the Ombudsman directly asked Terrado to file her
counter affidavits to each of the complaints of Laxamana.
She said that it was the head of the TLE Department and not her who
designated the teacher-in-charge of the canteen. The teacher who managed the
canteens prepared a monthly “Report on Canteen Operation” which was audited by
other teachers. These monthly reports were also filed with the Commission on
Audit (COA) by the School Senior Bookkeeper; the canteen funds were not misused
nor mismanaged. They were also never used for her personal benefit. They were
used to finance activities that were related to or within the ambit of the
enumerated items in DepEd Order No. 8, Series of 2007. The COA even approved
it; it was the teachers themselves who did not want to pursue the formation of
a cooperative due to the required documents to be submitted pursuant to Section
7.0 of DepEd Order No.8, Series of 2007. The DepEd Order also did not mandate
that a school canteen be managed by a teachers’ cooperative; there were
financial reports on projects funded by the MOOE of MNHS. These financial
reports have been and continued to be published and posted in the Transparency
Board located at the most conspicuous part of the Administrative Building;
Terrado had no participation in the fund-raising activities for the
construction of the school gym. The projects mentioned by complainant were
project of the Parents-Teachers Community Association (PTCA), MAPEH teachers,
Math Department and the MNHS teachers. The financial statements on the
construction of the school gymnasium, signed and audited by the concerned
teachers/officers, were only noted by her; the absence of school paper and
non-participation to the Division School Press Conference were due to financial
constraints. Pursuant to DepEd policies, no contributions were asked from the
students for school years 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 for the school paper; and the
fire extinguishers are located in strategic places of the school building.
On August 7, 2017 the parties submitted some of their positions that
reiterated their accusation and defenses.
The Ombudsman ruled that Laxamana failed to prove that Terrado
controlled the income of the two canteens and that the income from the canteens’
operations was used by the latter for her personal gain or benefit. Terrado had
no direct control in the collection, deposit and withdrawal of their funds.
Complainant also failed to prove that the canteen funds were devoted to any
other endeavor not included in the guidelines prescribed by DepEd Order No. 8
Series of 2007.Laxamana was not able to establish that respondent refuse to
form a teachers’ cooperative to manage the school canteen. No evidence was
presented to show that the teachers complied with all the documentary
requirements for the formation of a cooperative. Laxamana also failed to prove
the distribution of teaching loads by respondent was inequitable like the
teachers close to Terrado were given lesser teaching load than others.
Respondent sufficiently explained that the mentors mentioned by Laxamana have
ancillary duties and responsibilities in addition to their regular teaching
loads, and that Section 13 of R.A 4670 (Magna Carta for Public School Teachers)
was applied to all teachers, without distinction. Finally, complainant was not
able to prove that Terrado refused to act on his and Ms. Dollente’s promotions
despite their qualifications. The records show that there were no existing
items for the positions they applied for.
DAGUPAN CITY - The Pangasinan chapter of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas was recognized as the best chapter in the Philippines.
KBP President Herman Basbano and Chairrman Ruperto Nicdao, Jr. led the awarding ceremony during the Incentive Program for 2016 held at the Clark Freeport in Pampanga on November 16, 2017.
Mark Espinosa, chairman of KBP-Pangasinan Chapter for 2017, received the award on behalf of the officers.
“We are very happy with this recognition and we will do our best to continue to be of utmost service through proper broadcasting and projects,” Espinosa said.
Espinosa said Pangasinan chapter has been on the second spot for two straight years and for 2016, the chapter officers are happy to be declared as number one or the ‘Best Chapter’
KBP-Pangasinan chapter holds a weekly forum every Thursday in partnership with the Philippine Information Agency and Pangasinan media. Environmental awareness is also being implemented with the project ‘Oplan Broadcastreeing.”
It has also initiated projects such as ‘Ballet and Ballads' and Media Tours in partnership with other civic organizations. (VHS/PIA-Pangasinan)
ASINGAN – A lady councilor here said that that the first top two
elected municipal legislatures will replace temporarily the mayor and vice
mayor here who were suspended for one year by the Ombudsman.
Councilor Evangeline Dorao cited that Councilor and Lawyer Joshua Viray
and Councilor Mel Lopez will replace Mayor Heidee Chua and Vice Mayor Carlos Lopez,
Jr. after the Ombudsman Conchita C. Morales issued a suspension order last October
13 against them.
She said the assumption of Viray and Lopez will take effect after the
full implementation of the order by the Department of Interior & Local
Government that according to an expert will take anytime from now.
“I was the only one to
have the courage to write the Ombudsman and their indifference (Chua and Lopez)
not to reply on my letters,” Dorao told this paper.
The issue according to Dorao was when the mayor and vice mayor of this
Eastern Pangasinan town adorned last year with their names and pictures the ambulance bought by the local government unit (LGU).
CASA REAL – The almost restored Casa Real that imposes its grandeur at the poblacion
area in Capital Town Lingayen, Pangasinan.
The monumental and stately P85 Million edifice’s renovation
materializes because of the intercession of Pangasinan Second District Congressman Leopoldo
Bataoil to look for funding from the Department of Public Works & Highway
and Tourism Infrastructure Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA).
The solon said the completion of the former 1,480-square meter two-storey
stone masonry and brick building will be finished next year.
The third and final phase waits for the remaining funding from TIEZA
that would bankroll the perimeter fence, equipment, and other facilities.
Royal House is one of the grand government edifices that used to be the
seat of the provincial government of the huge Pangasinan’s province during
the Spanish Colonization. It was where the Alcalde Mayor or the Governor who
acted also as the Judge of the Court of First Instance or the present Regional
Trial Court. The National Historical Commission of the Philippines declared it
as a National Landmark by citing its “outstanding and unique example of
civil architecture from the Spanish and American colonial periods". Upon its completion, Casa Real will be a museum for Pangasineneses and tourists to see the artifacts and mementos of the old Pangasinan province.
The almost restored to its old glory Casa Real (above photo) and
the worn-out national landmark left to the elements.
"Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon, BALON BAYAMBANG! God Bless Us All" - Bayambang Mayor Cezar T. Quiambao and wife Mary Claire "Niña" José - Quiambao.
DAGUPAN CITY – A
convicted cattle rustler in Pangasinan recalled the hardship of being a
detainee at the jail here and the years he spent at the National Bilibid Prison
in Muntinlupa.
Jose de Guzman (not
his real name) told Northern Watch Newspaper that aside from the skin
diseases like galis (scabies) that afflicted him inside the Bureau of Jail,
Management, & Penology (BJMP) here for his two years and two months
detention, he slept squatting because the cement floor were filled with
prisoners who lay like sardines because of congestion.
HELL - The hellish existence of being a detainee in a Philippine prison. Photo Credit: News.comau
The BJMP’s
buildings have been occupied by more than one thousand inmates despite the
capacity of the dormitories there to occupy 300 detainees.
“Tatlong tabo lang ng tubig ang puwedi mong
gamitin sa kada araw na ligo mo doon?” De Guzman lamented.
He said after being
convicted by the Regional Trial Court here he was sent to the national
penitentiary in Muntinlupa to serve the between 10 ten years and more than 17 years
of sentence meted to him.
He cited that punishment by leaders of convicts to a violent prisoner was harsh.
Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, chief of Philippine National Police and so far, the most popular general of the Philippines today, was the guest of honor at Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco Friday evening.
Philippine Center Kalayaan Hall was filled up with several Filipino-American civic organizations. Bay Area Fil-Am police officers came and look snappy on their uniform.
Handling my book on leadership to Philippines National Police's Director General Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa.
Former mayor now Daly City council member Glenn Sylvester presented a plaque containing city ordinance which designates December 8th as General Ronald Dela Rosa Day.
On his acceptance speech, Gen. Dela Rosa thanked Glenn Sylvester and the city of Daly, which has about 30% Fil-Am population, for the recognition. The general offered his invitation for Glenn to visit the Philippines and he told the council member that he will direct the PNP to declare everyday as Glenn Sylvester Day.
Gen. Bato updated the Fil-Am organizations on the purpose of his US trip to Washington DC and the status of Philippine government’s war on drugs.
The general hinted drug lords and drug addicts are salivating for his mandatory retirement when he reached the age of 56 on January 21, 2018.
Photo-op followed after his speech. Everybody in the hall wanted to take photo with this famous and very accommodating general.
DAGUPAN CITY – This city has been conferred anew as finalist in the 2016 Presidential Award for Child-Friendly Municipalities and Cities by the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) during the Gawad Parangal held at the Rizal Hall in Malacañang Palace on December 12. Mayor Belen T. Fernandez received the Plaque of Recognition for the city from Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Undersecretary and CWC Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Emmanuel Leyco, CWC Executive Director Mary Mitzi Cajayon-Uy, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary Eduardo Año and Department of Health (DOH) Assistant Secretary Maria Francia Laxamana.
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte graced the conferment ceremony. This was the third time that Dagupan City was finalist in the Presidential Award for Child-Friendly Municipalities and Cities since 2014. As a finalist, the city received P50,000 from the CWC. “It is with great measure of happiness, honor and satisfaction that I received this conferment in behalf of the children of Dagupan. Our children are our true source of indescribable joy, and it is compassion and care that drives us to work harder for them. We are self motivated to pursue plans, programs, policies and projects for children because we believe that a city that takes care of its children takes care of the future,” said Fernandez. Fernandez disclosed that like other municipalities and cities, Dagupan is a great believer in the dreams of the children. “When we plan our activities, when we pursue our programs, when we evaluate our goals and targets, when we reassess and honestly critique our assumptions and identify gaps in our strategies, we always put the best interest of our children in mind because as Eleanor Roosevelt said the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their (children) dreams,” she said. (Joseph C. Bacani/CIO/Dec. 12, 2017)
SUAL, Pangasinan – Recent monitoring
activities conducted by water specialists on marine, groundwater and stream
water around the Sual Coal-Fired Power Plant
show that water quality in the area continues to meet the standards set
by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
The monitoring activities were conducted by
AECOM Philippines, Inc. from April 25-26 and July 17, 2017.
Sual Coal Power Plant runs by Team Energy in Sual, Pangasinan is the biggest power plant in the country with its 1,218 megawatts energy.
AECOM Philippines, Inc. is a subsidiary of
AECOM International, which is listed in Fortune Magazine’s 500 richest
companies and has branches in 150 countries.
The report submitted to the DENR Central
Office last November 17 said that “water
quality samples were collected from previously established monitoring stations
consisting of nine marine water quality monitoring stations in Baquioen Bay and
Pao Bay, four stream water quality monitoring stations in Lugulog River, and
four groundwater quality monitoring stations located in Sitio Bangayao, Sitio
Salumagui and Sitio Lugulog in Barangay Pangascasan where the power plant is
located, and in Sitio Calupani in Barangay Capantolan here.
The sampling techniques used to collect the
water samples were based on three guidelines:
1.DENR Administrative Order No.
1990-34 or the Revised Water Usage and Classification/Water Quality Criteria
Sa Pilipinas meron ho tayong 2.76 million (January 2017 NEDA) na
unemployed at 2.2 million na overseas foreign workers (OFWs) as of 2016 according to psa.gov.ph.
Ilagay natin na kalahati sa OFWs na ito ay napilitan lamang magtrabaho
abroad because of glaring unemployment problems dito sa Pinas. So, kung may
pagkakataon na may trabaho dito, ay dito na nila pipiliin na mamalagi.
Photo Credit: The Southern Times
Siyempre, malapit sa pamilya at peace of mind kay mister na nasa
abroad.
Why? Anak ng baka, mababantayan niya si misis sa lurking adulterous
relationship sa kay kumpare na mukhang matagal ng may pagtitinginang malagkit
ang dalawa sa isat-isa.
Sanamagan, that’s the social cost of working abroad!
So how can the government mediate for these unemployed and OFWs to have
jobs in the country?
Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam took most of the Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI) in the ASEAN - 10 Region with U.S $77.83 Billion for the three
of them while the Philippines got $7.93 Billion, according to the 2016 ASEAN
Investment Report.
Our lethargic FDI figures happened because, one reason, our law dangles
only 40% and even 30% for the foreign investors to control the capital of the
corporation here while the Filipinos are given 60% and even 70% control of the
business.
Sa media industry nga 100% Pinoy ownership, pero iyan ay nasa
Constitution at hindi nakalagay sa Public Service Acts.
For decades this First Filipino Policy I called xenophobic or
bias against foreigners deprive us with the presence of more FDIs where many of
them even transferred, as a contract with the host country, their technological
blue prints how they manufactured their products.
Have you seen air-conditioned buses plying the highways in the
Philippines? Their brands are no longer Japanese’s Hino and Isuzu or South
Korean’s Hyundai and Daewoo but those cheap but world classes Mainland China’s
Yutong, Shenlong, and others.
Yes, the chink eyed Sinos not only snared more foreign investment but
also chalked up how to make those products built by the Americans, Japanese,
Germans, and others.
China is making now a commercial airline’s Comac C919 that would
compete with American owned Boeing and selected European countries owned
Airbus.
Thanks to transfer of technology if not cyber thievery the Chinese are
famous, too he he he!
All-encompassing pala itong FDI’s hosting, kasi may employment na sa
mga tao, magkaka industrialization pa sila.
Thanks to Representatives Gloria Arroyo, Arthur Yap, Joey
Sarte-Salceda, Jose Christopher Belmonte, and Manuel Monsour Del Rosario (the
last one a Taekwando champ but through God’s miracle turned into an economic
solon) where last September 8, 2017 their combined four bills passed the third
reading in the House of Representatives.
How about its counterpart in the Senate to complement it?
Here’s Senator Bam Aquino when I interviewed him about the amendment of
the Public Service Acts in the Senate.
“Well, una
meron po kaming bill na ina-amend iyong Public Service Act. Pinapaliitan na
public service. I think iyong matitira lang po ay tubig at kuryente. Pero lahat
ay iba gaya ng Telco, gaya po ng internet service dapat binubukas natin iyan sa
mas maraming players.
Iyan ho ang
isang paraan para gumanda ang serbisyo sa ating bayan para may kumpetisyon”.
Aquino said the amendment of the PSA is not the absolute silver bullet
to solve our economic problems.
He cited that other problems that discourage investors to come to our
shore are corruption, red tape, arduous requirements to get a franchise, and
others.
“Kailangan ng
telco sa Pilipinas, kailangan mo pa dumaan sa Kongreso e alam mo
naman napakahirap na proseso iyan. Dadaan ka sa NTC. Naparaming permit magtayo
ka ng power plant 300 signatures iyong kailangan, sino naman mahihikayat
magtayo ng negosyo dito kung ganoon kahirap iyan?”.
The Senate version, a combination of five bills that are similar to the
Lower House, talks about the amendment of the public utilities in the PSA.
These utilities are mentioned at Section 11 of Article 7 of the 1987
Constitution where the law says they could be amended, altered, or repealed by
Congress.
So the anxiety about somebody questioning the amendment as
unconstitutional to the Supreme Court has been answered by the provision at
Section 11 that says in part: “Neither shall any such franchise or right be
granted except under the condition that it shall be subject to amendment,
alteration, or repeal by the Congress when the common good so requires”.
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD) among the 104 countries including the Philippines the five
most-affected industries in competition are transportation, media, electricity,
telecommunications and mining, oil and gas.
VIDEO SA AYAW NA MAGBASA NITONG ARTICLE
Hinihimay ko dito ang pag pasa ng Congress ng
batas kung paano magka trabaho ang 3 million
unemployed at paano padamihin ang foreign
investors para bumalik na ang mga OFWs.
Mabagal kasi ang pagpasok ng Foreign Direct
Investment dito sa Pinas versus sa Singapore,
Malaysia, Vietnam, others
Three of these industries, transportation, electricity and
telecommunications are considered “public utilities” in the Philippines.
The old Commonwealth Act No. 146 or known as Public Service Acts restricts
the ownership of public utilities. It is the reason that discourages foreign
investors to come to our country and instead go to Thailand, Singapore, China,
and Vietnam where they can own up to 100% of the capital and the control of the
board of directors.
Commonwealth Act No. 146 or famously known as Public Service Acts
covers the following public utilities:
“…any common
carrier, railroad, street railway, traction railway, sub-way motor vehicle,
either for freight or passenger, or both with or without fixed route and
whether may be its classification, freight or carrier service of any class,
express service, steamboat or steamship line, pontines, ferries, and water
craft, engaged in the transportation of passengers or freight or both, shipyard,
marine railways, marine repair shop, [warehouse] wharf or dock, ice plant,
ice-refrigeration plant, canal, irrigation system, gas, electric light, heat
and power water supply and power, petroleum, sewerage system, wire or wireless
communications system, wire or wireless broadcasting stations and other similar
public services”.
This lengthy coverage of the public utilities in Acts No. 146 have been
chopped and replaced by House Bills 5828 limiting its coverage with the clause “person
that operates, manages, and controls the distribution and transmission of
electricity, and water pipeline distribution system or sewerage pipeline system
for public purpose” where Filipinos could still continue to control 60% of
the corporation.
That House Bill 5828 has hurdled the third reading last Sept. 8, 2017.
Meanwhile, five bills have been filed in the Senate which also seeks to
amend the Public Service Act.
If the Senate version can pass the third reading, say, March next year,
the Bicameral Committee of Congress approved it by June 2018, and the
pro-foreign investors' President Rodrigo Duterte signs it into law by August, we
can have that FDI friendly come- on statute in the last quarter of next year.
Surely that policy could solve our unemployment and mitigate the mass
exodus of our people abroad where many of them are maltreated and sexually
abused by their employers in the Middle East.
Can you imagine the benefits the travelers derive if more players in
the aviation industry to compete with Philippine Air Lines and Cebu Pacific
whose delayed flights become a regular bane to commuters? Can you imagine
investor for power plants come in droves thus decreasing the prices of
electricity here that are bane too with other investors?
Isa po ang Pinas sa may pinakamahal na kuryente sa mundo.
Sa article “Philippines Has 5th Highest Cost of Electricity in the
World” it says:
“No wonder even Filipino Chinese tycoons are moving out of the
Philippines to put up their factories in China, where electricity rates are
nearly a third of the Philippines. Have you noticed that even shampoos and
toothpaste are now made in Thailand and Indonesia? Electricity in Thailand
costs nearly half that of what it costs in the PH, in the cost of electricity
in Indonesia is only a fifth! (Manila Times)”.
Of course the migration of big time traders in the Philippines to China
is no longer feasible because as what business mogul Cezar Quimbao told me the
minimum wage in the urban areas in China is P1,350 a day presently while Manila is
P512 for non-agriculture worker.
But nobody rejoiced in the Philippines. Filipino and foreign investors
relocated instead to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos because the minimum wage there
is P200 a day and a businessman or corporation can owned the business 100%.
But with more public utilities in the Philippines liberally owned by
investors and with the government curbing corruption and the taxing requirements a
businessman has to undergo to get a franchise, the economic landscape in our
country would not only be a threat to the ASEAN 10 but to the world in the snaring game of FDI.
(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)
