Idiotic Filipinos at Face Book

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

With 84% of the respondents agreed versus the 16% disagreed when Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson posted a poser at her hundreds of thousands of followers at social media Face Book, it only attest that majority of FB users are gullible, misinformed, and idiotic.

Thanks but no thanks to the fake news feeds they subscribed at the social media that continue to poison their minds.

How can you say that the EDSA-1 Peaceful Revolution was faked when it was participated by former Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile and former Philippine Constabulary Chief Fidel V. Ramos who later became president of this rambunctious country?

The major details of the events were unequivocally written in the annals of the country and not some anal of some bloggers.

I myself heard in February 22–25, 1986 where I was glued at Radio Veritas and Voice of America in our rustic town in Mindanao when Enrile, Ramos and company holed in at Camp Crame and the Israeli machine gun pistol wielding Enrile begged Cardinal Jaime Sin to call thousands of Filipinos to cordon them so President Ferdinand Marcos and his generals commanding those huge Marine tanks could not turn them into smithereens.
 The rest was history.

Damn, with an Assistant Secretary like Uson it only aggravates the perception by people in and out of this country that the Duterte Administration is filled with handpicked officials who are nincompoops.

Damn, with 84% percent of the  Uson followers said that EDSA was a product of Fake News, international pollster’s Ipsos MORI was right on its survey that we Flips, er, Filipinos ranked as the third most ignorant people, (son of a gun, you heard it ‘the most effin’ ignorant) in the world in terms of knowledge on key issues such as murder, terrorism, health, and religion, to name some.

The bitter inconvenient truth came from a study by this pollster, the second largest market research organization in the United Kingdom,  that dubbed its polls "The Perils of Perception 2017," that asked 29,133 people around the world on key national issues and other crucial topics including murder, terrorism, and health issues, to name some.

In those polls, the Scandinavians, yep, those descendants of the Neanderthals who called themselves now as the Danes, Norwegians, and the Swedes are the top three smartest in the world.

Our colonizers the Yanks, yes those military weakling Americans that allowed the Chinese to grab our shoals and islets, were no longer in the top loop. Probably the Gringos were enmeshed sniffing meth and injecting heroin and no longer reading books and newspapers that their twisted thinking was likened to their former colonized brown brothers being presently inflamed by Mocha Uson who indiscriminately threw irresponsible posers.

Before Esther Margaux Uson, a village mate in Dagupan City, appointment as assistant secretary, she was the leader of the dance group Mocha Girls. She had some sex instruction videos at Facebook and You Tube.

In March 2017, radio station dzRH suspended and later canceled her program after she made series of blunders on the accuracies of her reports and opinions.

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

Senators, SINAG Hit BoC's Inaction vs Smugglers

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Some senators and the Samahan ng Industriya at Agrikultura (SINAG) bewailed the procrastination of the officials of the Bureau of Customs to file the no - bail Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016 versus the smugglers whose thousands of bags of rice were seized by the government.

“Ang smuggling tuloy pa rin ang pasok dapat malaman natin sa Port of Cebu saka iyong sa Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga kung nag file sila ng case kasi kung hindi sila nag file ng case, iyong Zamboanga kasi ay malaki about 60,000 bags I think ni press con pa nila dapat ni file na,” declared by Rosendo So, Chair of SINAG, during the February 27 hearing of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food chaired by Senator Cynthia Villar.

SUMMIT - Samahan ng Industriya at Agrikultura (SINAG) Chairman Rosendo So (extreme left) and Senators Cynthia Villar and Grace Poe lead the ribbon cutting for the opening of the International Farmers Summit 2018 held recently at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia in Pasay City.

Chairman So said that until now P120 million bags of rice impounded in January 7 this year in Zamboanga Sibugay have remained not inventoried.

“120 million (pesos) ito. Matagal na ito, 60,000 bags. Ngayon 40,000 bags nawala na iyong 20,000 bags,” he deplored.

Senator Villar admonished Zamboanga BoC District Collector Jesus Balmores when he said that the 60 bags of rice seized in the Philippine-registered cargo ship M/V J-Phia was an estimate by the Philippines Coast Guard while the Customs is presently conducting an investigation.

“Ini-imbertaryo pa nila hanggang ngayon after two months. Siguro bago matapos ang imbentaryo ninyo ubos na iyong bigas. Ano ba iyan?! Akala naman ninyo sa mga senators kaka iñgot!” the lady senator hissed.

Senators Francis Pangilinan, Jayvee Ejercito, and Nancy Binay posed the same questions why until now the BoC did not investigate and file the heavy Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act against the violators.

When Balmores said that his office was still waiting for funds to start the inventory, he was reproved again by Villar.

“Hindi pa ninyo pa na inventory two months na, bumaba na sa 40 thousand bags bago ninyo maimbenteryo baka below na sa  ten million pesos iyan na hindi na iyan large scale agricultural smuggling”.

The Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act penalizes with a life imprisonment and a fine of twice the fair value of the smuggled agricultural product and the aggregate amount of the taxes, duties and other charges avoided shall be imposed the smuggling of rice with a minimum amount of ten million pesos (P10,000,000.00) to the offender, as valued by BOC.

Villar did not want the illegal goods sell at an auction because the smugglers themselves will win the bid.

“Hindi na e auction kasi kung bibili sa auction iyon din iyong smuggler, ano ba iyan? Halatang halata na iyan!”

Mr. So said the exact numbers of rice confiscated can be found out at the ship’s draft.

“May record ang Customs niyan kung ilang metric tons”.

Binay suggested that those smuggled goods can be donated to the poor in the war torn Marawi City and the Department of Social Welfare & Development while Villar appealed to President Rodrigo Duterte to issue an executive order to donate the rice to the National Food Authority.

Deputy Customs Commissioner Edward James Dy Buco said the Bureau of Customs had seized 10 containers of the smuggled staple in Subic, 40,000 bags in Zamboanga, and 32 containers of rice in Cebu.

READ: 

Duterte should kill those corrupt NFA officials!

10 NEW DUMP TRUCKS FOR THE CITY ARRIVE

DAGUPAN CITY – The 10 new dump trucks purchased by the city government are now ready to haul wastes from the barangays as the city prepares for the launching of its citywide program “Solar Ko Linisan Ko” on March 3.

Dagupan City Mayor Belen T. Fernandez and staff pose with the ten color coded brand new dump trucks for the Waste Management Division.

  

These new dump trucks are also in preparation for the city’s Waste to Worth project, which will turn wastes into useful energy.

Each of the 10 dump trucks has its own distinct color coding to indicate the kind of wastes like residuals, plastics, food waste and hospital wastes, they would haul. Two pairs are colored blue, the others, which also come in two pairs, are in red, yellow and green, respectively.

Incidentally, the mayor also met with the different barangay focal persons on waste management and ordered them to organize the Barangay Manager Waste (BMW).

Bands War: Poor Side A, Powerful Free Style

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

The last time I saw pop, ballad, soul, and rhythm & blues bands Side A and Free Style strutted their music prowess were in the late 1990s at the air conditioned Dagupan City’s government owned Astrodome.

The second time I saw them up close was in a twin-header concert last Valentine’s Day Party at 9 pm to midnight at the sprawling world class CSI’s Stadia owned by the family of Dagupan City’s Mayor Belen T. Fernandez.

“It surprised us when we first saw the Stadia, we thought it was an airport terminal,” declared by Side A’s new lead singer and guitarist Yubs Esperat to the more than a thousands of crowd who were a mixed of executives, professionals and youngsters.

“Where’s the shrilling voiced Joey Generoso, the guy whose voice ranges could whip base G# to tenor of high E5?,” I posed to myself when I saw a lead singer belting the band songs who was not as tall as the six –foot tall long haired Generoso, the front man of the band.

When I Goggle searched him on my IPhone, the online info told me:

“He left the band in 2015 for a solo career. Joey Benin, composer of top songs like Forevermore, left too in 2008 and went to Negros Occidental to tend his fish farm and teach poor kids in his organizations Tapulanga and Kalipay”.
"Kasimanwa gali ining lininti-an," I muttered.

Sen. Bam calls for resignation of NFA execs on rice fiasco

Senator Bam Aquino has called for the resignation of National Food Authority (NFA) administrator Jason Aquino and top officials, saying that they have failed to ensure food security for the Filipino people, especially the poor.

“We are talking about food security for the poorest Filipino families. We need someone who can get the job done,” said Sen. Bam after attending the hearing of the Committee on Agriculture and Food on the issue of NFA rice.

During the hearing, Sen. Bam stressed that poor Filipinos will have to spend P500 more a month for rice until June due to the NFA’s failure to ensure the supply of affordable NFA Rice in the market.

”Ang 27 pesos per kilo ng bigas noon ay 42 pesos na. Limandaang piso ang dagdag nito sa gastusin ng pamilyang Pilipino kada buwan kung isang kilong bigas ang kanilang nakokonsumo bawat araw. Nangyari ito dahil nabigo ang NFA na mapanatili ang mandated 15-day buffer stock,” said Sen. Bam.

DOTr taps Dagupan as pilot area for public transport modernization

DAGUPAN CITY – This city is being considered by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) as pilot area in the implementation of the national government’s thrust of modernizing the public transport and it’s “Tanggal Bulok, tanggal usok” campaign.

DOTr USEC VISITS DAGUPAN. Former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) General Manager now Undersecretary of DOTr Thomas “Tim” Orbos (left) confers with Mayor Belen T. Fernandez (2^nd from left) for the implementation of the modernization of public transport in Dagupan and in considering a plan on how to come out with a traffic management that is suitable to the landscape of the city. Also in photo are City Administrator Farah Marie G. Decano (center), POSO chief Carlito Ocampo (right) and the representatives of the different local transport cooperatives. (CIO photo by Arriz Fruelda)

This was bared by former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) General Manager now Undersecretary of DOTr Thomas “Tim” Orbos in his meeting with Mayor Belen T. Fernandez on February 22.

Orbos thanked the mayor for initiating the move to modernize the public transport in the city.

He disclosed that Fernandez is not just considering the road worthiness of the public transport vehicles but is also considering a plan on how to come out with a traffic management that is suitable to the landscape of the city.

Orbos said that the agency will have a lot of things to do in the city which will start with the removal of old and  worn out or unsafe vehicles along  the road and help the local transport groups here on how to secure the proper vehicles under the modernization program.

Mga kontrabida sa Sual hinamon ni mayor ng debate

 SUAL, Pangasinan- Hinamon ni Mayor Roberto Arcinue ng debate ang mga kumukontra sa mga isinusulong nitong programa at proyektong pangkaunlaran, tulad ng power plant, international seaport, hospital, libreng abuno at patubig sa mga magsasaka at marami pang iba.

“Kahit saan sabihin lang nila kung saan kami mag-debate. Haharapin ko sila,” sabi ni Mayor Bing Arcinue.

TIRELESS - The tireless Sual, Pangasinan Mayor Roberto "Bing" Arcinue in one of his countless consultations with his constituents in the Western Pangasinan's town. Under the stewardship of Arcinue and his predecessor former Mayor John Arcinue, his son, Sual was catapulted to the No. 4 richest town in the Philippines. TEXT: MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

Ang hamon ng debate ay ginawa matapos ikalat sa social media ng mga tinaguriang kontrabida sa Sual na ayaw humarap sa isang public debate tungkol sa samot saring issue ang alkalde.

Mariing pinabulaanan ito ni Mayor Bing Arcinue, bagkos sinabi nito na ang mga kontrabida sa Sual ang takot na takot na humarap sa  debate dahil pawang kasinungalingan at haka-haka lamang ang kanilang sinasabi. Katulad ng sinasabi ng mga kontrabida na kinsenas at katapusan lamang pumapasok sa opisina ang mayor upang kunin daw ang sueldo.

“Ito ay isang kasinungalingan dahil halos araw araw ay pumapasok sa office namin si mayor. Kung minsan nga nalilipasan na ng gutom si mayor dahil sa dami ng kinakausap at trabaho,” sagot ni Catherine Bonzo, isang empleyada sa munisipio.

CITY HONORS BALON DAGUPAN ATHLETES

DAGUPAN CITY – Dagupeños warmly greeted the city’s more than 500 athletes and coaches who made history for bringing home the city’s first Region 1 Athletic Association meet championship trophy as they marched along the city’s main thoroughfares during their victory parade on February 22.

Mayor Belen T. Fernandez and Schools Division Superintendent Lorna G. Bugayong, along with the commissioners of the Dagupan City Sports Commission (DCSC) led by Finnela T. Sim and the officers of the Dagupan City Athletic Association led by its acting president Renato D. Benitez, marched along with the athletes and coaches from Perez Boulevard, Marcelo H. Del Pilar street to Angel B. Fernandez Avenue. The parade ended at the city plaza.

From the city plaza, the delegation commuted to the CSI Stadia where the victory party was held.

Sim recalled in her message how the DCSC went through the birth pains of outlining an honest to goodness sports program for the city’s athletes, which even came to a point where she was humiliated and mocked of doing an unbelievable thing in the city’s sports program.

She also recalled seeing how happy a little boy was when he was given a pair of shoes for his training with tears streaming down his face while hugging his shoes tightly on his chest. Those were his first pair of shoes.

JDV and his man hours incisive column – Rep. De Venecia

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY – It took eight hours before this veteran politician and former House Speaker can chalk-up a perceptive and in-depth column for a daily in the Philippines.

Pangasinan Fourth District Representative Christopher de Venecia recounted in a student journalists’ convention  here that it amused him seeing his father former Five-Time Speaker Jose de Venecia, 82, affectionately called as JDV enmeshed writing in a corner of their home in Forbes Park a column for the Manila Bulletin.

FREE EQUIPMENT - Pangasinan Fourth District Representative Christopher de Venecia speaks before hundreds of barangay health workers (BHWs) and tanods (barangay guards) in Mangaldan town where he distributed hundreds sphygmomanometers, sets of nebulizers, two-way radios, and stethoscopes and belt bags. He said all the apparatuses became possible after his fundraising activities where he got some part of the proceeds of the stage play “Himala” he directed and where he was supported by friends in the private and public sectors.

The young solon distributed the sets of equipment among the BHWs and tanods in all of the local government units of the one city four towns Fourth Congressional District. Before he started his solicitation he empathized how pathetic the situations of the village workers. Mangaldan Mayor Bona Fe D. Parayno is third from right of the photo. PHOTO MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

“It took him eight hours drafting and redrafting his column,” he stressed.

The old De Venecia write mostly international issues and sometimes provide solutions to the either perennial or nagging world’s problems by citing even his direct interaction with presidents, prime ministers, secretaries, and other luminaries of other countries in his stints as congressman, Speaker, and being the founder and present chairman of the  International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP).

ICAPP, according to Wikipedia, is a forum of political parties of Asia-Oceanian countries, which was launched in Manila Philippines in September 2000. Its objectives are to promote exchanges and cooperation between political parties from different countries in the area and with various ideologies; to enhance mutual understanding and trust among Asian countries; to promote Asia's regional cooperation through the unique role and channel of political parties; and to create an environment for sustained peace and shared prosperity in the region.

The young de Venecia could relate with his father the demanding challenges of Op-Ed or Opposite the Editorial writing since he had an experienced as columnist of Young Star and editor of Chalk Magazine Lifestyle of the Philippine Star before he became a solon in Central Pangasinan province after winning the 2016 election.

He said it took him two days before he could write a lengthy final article at the national broadsheet.

De Venecia cited the life of a newspaper writer when he spoke before thousands of high school and elementary students from the private and public schools of this City at the CSI Stadia during the Children’s Journalism Summit.  

Former government officials now like Speaker de Venecia who write a column or do radio commentary are former Philippines President Fidel V. Ramos former Senators Rene Espina, Joey Lina, Edgardo Angara, and Manny Villar in the Manila Bulletin, former Air Force Chief and former Custom Commissioner Ramon Farolan in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, former Congressman Jonathan dela Cruz in Manila Business Mirror, Daily Tribune and DWIZ-Manila, and others.

EXHORTS - Congressman Toff de Venecia exhorts
 night guards and health workers in Dagupan City

Double Headers Election this May – Bataoil

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

LINGAYEN – Expect a double - header village elections come May 21 this year, a congressman said.

Pangasinan Second District Represetative Leopoldo Bataoil cited that the candidates and the electorates would be seeing a barangay election and a plebiscite simultaneously to be held middle of this year.

AWARDING - Pangasinan Police Provincial Office marks its 27th PNP Foundation Day Celebration and Awarding Ceremony this Monday with Pangasinan 2nd District Congressman Leopoldo Bataoil  (3rd from left) graces the occasion as the guest of honor and speaker. The affair coincides with the ground breaking ceremony of the multi - purpose hall that will be constructed inside the provincial headquarter in Lingayen, Pangasinan. The solon commends the efforts of policemen and gives recognition to those who are in the field, sacrificing their lives for the people. Bataoil also donated computer units to the eight municipal police stations in the 2nd Congressional District.

“The barangay election maybe doubled with a plebiscite. So, in the Senate there is also an effort for the senators to separately conduct their own assembly,” Bataoil cited on the deliberations and hearings being done by the Upper House for the revision of the 1987 Constitution.

The solon said that the members of the House of Representatives are busily conducting their own version of the hearing for the charter change before it can be submitted to the Bicameral Conference Committee (BCC) of the 17^th Congress to harmonize with the version of the House of Senate.

NBI, Police brass fired because of Jueteng

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

The reasons why some high officials of the Philippine National Police and National Bureau of Investigation in Pangasinan were sacked and reassigned to either a floating position or thrown into a far flung area, according to my source, because they did not act in raiding and arresting those illegal bookies of the number game of chance  despite the presence of the government sanctioned SpeedGame, Incorporation that was given the franchised as the Authorized Agent Corporations (AAC) of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes to operate in January this year in the 44 towns and 4 cities’ Pangasinan.

Son of a gun, lawyers called this actuation of the brass as "non feasance" or failure to perform an act that is required by law.
He told me that as of this moment many towns in Pangasinan have bookies that sneaked out to perpetuate their nefarious trades so they can siphon the millions of pesos bet monies despite the heavy criminal penalties that await them in case they are apprehended by the law enforcers.

 The punishment clauses in Section 3 of RA 9287 or the Act Increasing the Penalties for Illegal Number Games, Others say:

LINGAYEN NOW A DRUG-FREE MUNICIPALITY

DECLARATION OF LINGAYEN TOWN AS A DRUG-FREE MUNICIPALITY. Lingayen Mayor Josephina Castañeda receives the marker of drug free municipality from DILG Regional Director James Fadrilan during the ceremonial signing and declaration of drug free municipality held in Lingayen Public Auditorium on Wednesday. Lingayen is the 19th municipality in Pangasinan to be declared drug-free. (Photo by Roland Naoe/PIA-1, Pangasinan)

DOLE offers over 5,000 SPES slots for Region 1 beneficiaries

DOLE offers over 5,000 SPES slots for Region 1 beneficiarieDAGUPAN CITY - Poor but deserving students and out-of-school youths who are willing to engage in summer jobs can now submit their application requirements as the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Region 1 now offers around 5, 000 slots for the Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES).
Panfilo Dioquino, labor communications officer of DOLE-Central Pangasinan, said the program is open to all indigent students and out-of-school youths aged 15 to 30 years old who are willing to work and pursue their education.
“Itong taon po na ito, inaasahan po natin na hindi bababa sa 5, 000 ang open na slots sa buong Region 1. Samantala sa DOLE-Central Pangasinan, meron po tayong hindi bababa sa 510 na slos o target na mga bata na maaaring maging benepisyaryo ng programa,” said Dioquino.

Blame Congress for the deaths, abuses of OFWs

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Because there were not enough attractive paying jobs in the Philippines, Joanna Demafelis, 29,  took her chances as servant for the family of a Lebanese  and a Syrian couple in Kuwait – a country notorious for abuses among foreign workers.
Demafelis had not only been looked down, but abused, harmed, and murdered by her masters who hid her cadaver in a freezer in an abandoned apartment for a year while they absconded to another country.

The cadaver (left) of Servant Joanna Demafelis, 29, of Sara, Iloilo Province who was murdered by her foreign couple employers in Kuwait and her remains stuffed in a freezer for one year before they were discovered by authorities.

The resident of Sara, Iloilo was only one of the countless Filipinas who suffered those brazen inhuman abuses like wanton rapes because members of the Congress – yes Virginia those  publicity hungry senators and congressmen you saw on TV in a circus called public hearings – did not act if not procrastinate in amending the Public Safety Acts (PSA).

Amendment of the PSA or Commonwealth Act No. 146 is the Silver Bullet that would give tremendous jobs for the Filipinos.

It deals with and regulates all types of common carriers, be it by land, air or water, water supplies and systems, petroleum, electricity, communications systems and even broadcasting stations.

It is where utilities have been mandated by law to be averagely 60 percent owned by Filipino or Filipinos despite the thick pockets of the foreign partners who contented themselves to settle for the 40 % of the voting stocks.

As a result, most foreign investors shun our country and instead poured their billions of U.S dollars in Mainland China, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, other countries in the Far East Region.

These countries dangle 100 percent business ownership and other perks to draw to their shores the elusive capitals of these businessmen.

 A report on the amount of  foreign direct investments to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) shows that between 1952 and 2012, Singapore accounts for more than half of total foreign direct investment (FDI) to the whole region (at 52 percent). Thailand ranks the second with a 13 percent share, followed by Indonesia with 11 percent, Malaysia with 10 percent, Vietnam with 8 percent and the Philippines with 3 percent.

Consequently, these countries have less employment problems unlike the parochial thinking Filipinos whose senators and congressmen were seen riding in a lent helicopters and planes of local oligarchs who need protection (read: against adverse legislation) for their well-entrenched businesses at the expense of better services to the Filipinos.

Yes, I know what you are thinking as you read this column. What flashed in your mind are PLDT, Globe, and other big businesses that got your ire because of not only pathetic but very expensive services. Blame duopoly and members of Congress who relished and splurged the alleged lobby monies in tens if not hundreds of millions of pesos allegedly given by these Interest Groups.

Because of reduced competitions, Filipinos wallow into poverty because of lack of jobs because firms are limited to Filipinos lead by tycoons like Ayalas, Manny V. Pangilinan and his Hong Kong-based First Pacific Company Ltd., Sys, Gokongweis, Aboitizes, Tans,  Gotianuns, Angs, and others.

In December 2017, the Philippines Statistics Authority disclosed that we have 2.2 million unemployed Filipinos in October last year. That’s 5.0 of the employable aged Filipinos. That’s almost half of the presently 106 million populations.

The Lebanese and Syrian couple, the alleged killers of Filipina maid Joanna Demafelis? A photo grab from the Facebook's community page.

Experts forecasted that unemployment worsen at the end of the first quarter of this year with 5.50 percent while the percentage of unemployed Filipinos was estimated at 5.0 percent in October,

On the other hand, independent organizations have forecasted the unemployment rate to be 5.50 percent by the end of this first quarter and around 6.30 percent in 2020.

If our congressmen and senators had summon their common sense and acted when Former President Gloria Arroyo assumed office in January 20, 2001 by amending the PSA we would have avoided gory deaths like the one that befell Demafelis  and less reports of abuses among our workers abroad 18 years later.

Are you not bothered by those regular wailing of helpless Filipina maids at their self-taken video they posted at Face Book while their masters sexually molested if not raped them? That’s the price of being a poor country with narrow minded and greedy members of Congress.

If they have changed in 2001 the xenophobic 60-40 percent to 100 percent business equity for everybody, we do not have that 2.2 million unemployment problem presently and we have less than the present 10 million overseas foreign workers (OFWs) that were vulnerable to abuses.

Our Johnny-come-lately members of the House of Representatives, who were branded as House of Thieves vis-à-vis the customary cut on the 20 percent on projects, had passed in September 8, 2017 the Third and Final Reading the amendment of the PSA while the senators procrastinate and had just woke up to their slumber last February 15 and started to deliberate and debate about their version of the PSA before they submit it to the Bicameral Conference Committee and for President Rodrigo Duterte to sign it into a law we called Republic Act.

There is a probable snag: If the Interest Groups interfere, would the senators pass a watered down version of the bill on the PSA? 
In case the oligarchs succeed, then we defenseless Filipinos just brace ourselves in the corner and wait for another Joanna Demafelis  and other Filipinas to be raped and murdered in a foreign land because the exodus of the Filipinos there are blamed to the lack of job opportunities that should be brought by a liberal PSA.

READ MY Q&A WITH FORMER SPEAKER JOE DE VENECIA

CHA-CHA: One - House, One - Senate are Unwieldy, Duplicitous – JDV

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

Miss Bayambang 2018 Strut Before the Press

By Staff of the Bayambang 's LGU

And then there were 20!

From 46 applicants, the number was whittled down to that magic number, and the lucky girls picked out by the Screening Committee are the official Bb. Bayambang candidates for 2018.

STUNNERS - The 20 members of beauty pageants for the Search for Binibining Bayambang 2018 pose recently for the selected members of the media for the Top 3 “Darling of the Press” held inside the Saint Vincent Village Pavilion of the palatial mansion in the Central Pangasinan town of Business Czar and the town's Mayor Cezar T. Quiambao.The lookers are led by the pageant’s organizer chaired by Actress and Bayambang First Lady Ms. Niña Jose-Quiambao (black dress) and the town’s Administrator Lawyer Rodelynn Rajini A. Sagarino.This year’s contestants are mostly students who studied as far as the University of Makati in Makati City and Saint Louis University in Baguio City. The pre-pageant and pageant nights will be on March 24 and April 6, 2018 The financial prize for the winner of the spectacle will be P100, 000 and additional P100,000 for her chosen charity organization while P10, 000 each as consolation prizes for most of the 19 other contestants. PHOTO: MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

The lineup was presented to members of Pangasinan media at the Saint Vincent Village Pavilion on February 10. The press contingent, gathered by Media Affairs Officer Dr. Leticia B. Ursua, was led by no less than the veteran trimedia man Rhee Fer Hortaleza, who has been the mentor’s mentor of Pangasinan-based media people for decades, and Lelia Chua-Sy, the publisher of Northern Times and Pangasinan Star, among other things.

The young ladies admirably kept their poise despite the intimidating presence of such high-ranking members of the press. Some of the questions dwelt on current events, while other questions, like Hortaleza’s, focused on Bayambang and the pageant itself (“How did all this start?”), particularly its advocacy of stamping out poverty in the whole town. A few questions, like that of Chua-Sy’s (“Why is it important for you to win?”), probed the personal side of the beauty title contenders.

Ex-PMA Cadet, M'lang Resident Murdered

By 97.5 Brigada News FM-Kidapawan

KIDAPAWAN CITY-Dead on the Spot ang isang dating PMA Cadet na kung saan itoy pinagbabaril kahapon pasado alas kwatro ng hapon sa bahagi ng Sta. Maria Street, MBRH sa Cotabato City.

Kinilala ni Police Major  Efrez Salazar Hepe ng PS1 ang biktima na si Glitter June Asotic De la Cruz,22,Single isang Private Security Guard sa ilalim ng Phil Guard Security Agency at residente ng Malayan,Mlang North Cotabato na nagtamo ng tama ng bala ng pinaniniwalaang Caliber 45 Pistol sa kanyang Ulo habang lulan ng kanyang Honda XRM na kulay puti at itim na may plakang 8337KX.

Samantala sugatan naman ang isang Senen Revadolla Lucas,50,May asawa at isang government employee na nooy nagwawalis lamang sa kanyang Bakuran ng mangyari ang insedente,Nagpapagaling na si senen sa Pagamutan matapos madaplisan ng Bala sa kanyang Kaliwang Bewang.

 Glitter June Asotic De la Cruz during his PMA, Baguio City cadet stint.

Narekober sa Crime Scene ang tatlong cartridges at isang Slug ng Caliber 45 Pistol.

Dating membro ng 4thClass si Glitter ng matanggal dahil sa pagkabali ng isang parte ng kanyang katawan at bago palamang pumasok sa Isang security Agency.

Patuloy pa nag imbestigasyon ng PNP sa Dahilan at pagkakakilanlan ng SUspek. Reports from BNFM-Cotabato

Dagupan City Over-All Champ at R1AA

She Beat ‘Em All!

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY – The small but well-funded and dexterously - trained delegation of this City showed to their bigger rivals in the Region-1 Athletic Association  recently held in Alaminos City who was the boss in snaring more gold medals.

“Despite against all odds we won,” Mayor Belen T. Fernandez told this paper in a text message on the prowess of the high school students here who would be joining the Palarong Pambansa (National Game) in Vigan City this coming April 16 to 20.

“Up to know hindi pa binigay sa akin pero you use the count of Dagupan City Sports Commission,” she cited on the number of gold medals won by the richest city in the four provinces and nine cities’ Region-1.

As based on the DCSC's official record the final score for this burgeoning city was 71 gold, 51 silver, and 34 bronze medals.

“From 50 plus gold medals last year to a whopping 70 plus gold medals this time around. Balon Dagupan is the No. 1 over-all Best Performance Delegation and Champion city for the first time in R1AA history beating Vigan, Alaminos, Pangasinan 1 and 2, Batac, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, Urdaneta and San Carlos City”, DCSC Co- Commissioner Nestor Duque said.

DAGUPAN CITY BEAT 'EM ALL: 2018 R1AA CHAMP

DAGUPAN CITY – After finishing second best for two consecutive years, Balon Dagupan finally clinched the crown as this year’s Region 1 Athletic Association (R1AA) champion after five grueling days of competitions in Alaminos City on February 10-15.

CHAMP - Holding the over-all championship trophy is Dagupan City Mayor Belen T. Fernandez (4th from left) and the other brains behind the victory in the Region 1 Athletic Association's championship’s feat City Sports Commissioners  Finnela Sim and Commissioner Nestor Duque  (5ft and 6th from left, respectively).

This is the city’s first championship crown in the R1AA since the annual meet started, finishing the game with 71 gold, 51 silver, and 34 bronze medals.

In 2016 the city placed second best overall for the first time with 44 gold, 38 silver, and 38 bronze medals, rising from its almost perennial seventh place in past meets.

In 2017 the city almost clinched the top spot as it was just short five gold medals to the champion Pangasinan II   and settled for second best again with 51 gold, 40 silver, and 41 bronze medals.

For this year, the city’s powerhouse swimming team remained as the city’s strongest medal haulers, accounting for 32 gold, 13 silver, and 12 bronze medals. This is now the third consecutive year that the Balon Dagupan swimming team was the team to beat in the R1AA’s swimming events.

Surprisingly, the city’s arnis team, the gymnastics, and taekwondo teams, including players in badminton and athletics contributed more gold medals this year than in the last three years, said Dagupan City Sports Commissioner Finnela T. Sim.

Mangaldan Mayor opens 2 new buildings

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

MANGALDAN – Another two local government buildings here have been inaugurated recently by this burgeoning town mayor.

The new facade of the Mangaldan Public Market.

Mayor Bona Fe D. Parayno led last Monday the official opening of the completed world class façade of the main public market and the other additional Pasalabong Center.

“Ito ay cutting of ribbon sa market façade at saka additional na Pasalubong Center ng Mangaldan LGU,” she stressed.

She said the façade was worth P10 million.

 Parayno graced Last July 2017 the groundbreaking ceremony of the renovation of the public market she dubbed as the market central of the three towns and a city that surrounded it.