Mayors Support More Cong. Districts

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

SAN CARLOS CITY – A huge city and three town mayors in Pangasinan support the reported stance of four congressmen for up to four additional congressional apportionment in the province.

San Carlos Mayor Julier Resuello told this writer that cities and municipalities need funding from allocation given by the national government to new congressional districts.

“Definitely, iyon nga hawak na districts ng mga congressmen ngayon ay napakalalaki. So we need additional congressional districts para mabigyan ng tugon mabigyan ng solution iyong pagkukulang sa budget especially sa local government units that has not enough money to build infrastructure programs. So Definitely, additional districts or additional congressmen for the provinces will be very good help that will be useful for the province,” he stressed.

Resuello said that this 86 villages city with a projected P200, 000 population comes the publication of the 2018 census needs two towns to meet the 250, 000 requirement of the number of inhabitants for a new congressional district as mandated by the Constitution.

PRO REDISTRICTING. San Carlos Mayor Ayoy Resuello (Left photo clockwise), Binmaley Mayor Sam Rosario, Aguilar Mayor Roldan Sagles, and Basista Mayor J.R Resuello.

When this writer cited that Basista, where his younger brother is a mayor, is contiguous to the city here, Resuello cited that he still needs another town to be viable candidate for a new redistricting.

Another practicable, compact, and adjacent town for this city is Urbiztondo. 
Both Basista and Urbiztondo belong to the Second District while this city is part of the most populated Third District.

Benefits of More Congressional Districts

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

                                            

Most mayors in the 44 towns and 4 cities' gargantuan Pangasinan province aspire up to four congressional apportionment the soonest.

Four of the six members of the House of Representatives in the province want it too.

Two, however, did not want to mangle the status quo to make it to ten congressional districts probably with varied reasons.

One reason could probably be they don’t want that their half to one billion pesos a year allocation on infrastructures from the national government reduced thus prejudicing their twenty percent cut of S.O.P from contractors.

The other reason could be they don’t want to endanger their bailiwick that could threaten their hold of the prestigious office despite it’s being mocked with disdain by critics as House of Thieves instead of the respectable House of Representatives.

Unlike its counterpart and copycat the U.S Congress whose member use titles on themselves as “Mister” and “Missus” or “Miss” our imperious and condescending solons want to be called “Honorable Congressman” on official and social functions despite most are only qualified as “Mambubutas (Swivel Chair Driller) of the infamous Committee of Silence.
Some in the Visaya and Mindanao Regions want to be called with the prefix's "Honorable" but also as "Deputado (Representative)" in Spanish where most of them could only qualify in debate and legislative prowess as "Hijo and Hija Deputas (son of bitches)!

The 297 members' House of Representatives in the Philippines. Photo Credit:

Thanks but no thanks to popularity votes of our electoral system. A moneyed “idiot” who has the propensity to help the destitute is catapulted to the August Chamber instead of his intellectual qualification.

SP issues ‘no-fly zone in Capitol Complex’ ordinance

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan enforced ordinance on no-fly zone in Capitol Complex especially during flag-raising ceremonies and special activities in the Provincial Government of Pangasinan.

This was formalized through the passing of approved Provincial Ordinance No. 9-2020 during the regular session of the provincial board on January 28.

The ordinance, authored by Sangguniang Panlalawigan member Jeremy Agerico B. Rosary, aims to address the potential hazards that aircrafts in flight might cause, both to persons and property in the province of Pangasinan.

Board Member Ming Rosario

Furthermore, this ordinance is not intended to hinder Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines’ regulations, but rather to work in conjunction with existing policies to ensure public safety and security in Pangasinan.

It can be recalled that the provincial board held a question hour with CAAP Cluster I Manager Ronald V. Estabillo and some representatives from the three aviation schools operating in Lingayen Airport during their previous regular session on January 20 which tackled the issue of low-flying aircrafts traversing the Capitol premises and the implementation of the no-fly zone.

Cong. Probe on Gambling in P’gasinan Resets Anew

PERYAHAN NG BAYAN VS SPEED GAME

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY -  A member of Congress said that the hearing for the legality of a number game in Pangasinan that should be held in December 17 last year was indefinitely postponed this month for reason beyond his knowledge.

The solon, who asked for anonymity, said that the 65 - members Committee on Games and Amusement chaired by Representative Eric Go Yap should be probing the complaint on the operation of Globaltech Mobile Online Corporation’s Peryahan ng Bayan (PnB) in the huge province but was indefinitely postponed for the second time.

Scheduled, he cited, last December 17, 2019 it was reset in the third week of January this year and again postponed to a date beyond his knowledge.

The hearing for the legitimacy of PnB was due to the clamor by various sectors that Authorized Agent Corporations (AAC) Speed Game, Inc. of the Small Town Lottery (STL), should be the one operating the number games in the province.

PnB has been doing business in Pangasinan since January last year. It resumed operation after President Rodrigo lifted the suspension of the Small Time Lottery in August 2019 after he suspended it in July 27, 2019.

LOGOS of Peryahan ng Bayan and Speed Game, Inc.

“Pending investigation, lahat ho ng laro ng (all games such as) lotto, STL (small town lottery), Peryahan ng Bayan, or whatever nature…. I said all gaming activities, gambling, that got their franchise from government through PCSO are, as of today, suspended or terminated because of massive corruption," Duterte said in a television message on July 26,2019 evening.

A source at the STL, who asked not to be named, said that the January 2020 hearing will stamp-out with finality the operation of the PnB in lieu of the Speed Game, Inc .because it is the AAC of the PCSO.

Ph High Power Rates Shoo Away Foreign Investors

The high cost and unreliable supply of electricity in the Philippines are now the main deterrents to investing in the country, according to foreign business leaders who see the problem as a persuasive reason to invest overseas.

Vietnam, for instance,  has overtaken the Philippines in terms of foreign direct investments.

While Manila lagged behind its neighbors in Southeast Asia,  Hanoi – the capital of Vietnam- is now enjoying a double-digit foreign direct investment (FDI) levels.

Foreign Investors in Vietnam

According to a survey done by the International Energy Consultants (IEC), an Australian-based consulting firm specializing in Asian power markets, electricity rates in the Philippines are the third highest in Asia and fourth in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Philippines’s power rates are also the 16th highest in the world.

Group opens way for second power plant

SUAL, Pangasinan – Majority of residents here have favored the planned construction of a second power plant to prevent another power crisis and to address spiraling electricity costs.

            Sual Pro-progress, a development-oriented group of residents, cited the various public hearings conducted in the past years which showed that most of the local folk have welcomed the project as it provides jobs and additional income for the municipality.

            They also underscored the need to put up more power plants to help address the high cost of electricity in the country, which is the second highest in the Asia-Pacific region.

            According to recent survey conducted by Pulse Asia, a majority of Filipinos are dissatistied with the current prices of electricity and frequent power disruptions in many parts of the country, including Pangasinan.

The group said that aside from hundreds of jobs to be generated by the project, some P800 million in real property taxes could be collected annually from the proposed power plant, which shall be shared by the province, the municipality of Sual and the  barangay Baquioen where the plant would be located..

During the public consultations, majority of Sual residents welcomed the second power plant project, including womenfolk, senior citizens, farmers and fisherfolk, employees, and students who stand to benefit through the scholarship program of the project proponent .

The project proponent, Korean Electric Power Corporation, is spending about two billion US dollars for the power plant project which has a generating capacity of 1,000 megawatts.

The projectis expected to boost and stabilize the power supply for the Luzon grid to do away with frequent power interruptions.

The Greed of this Member of Congress?

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

SANDERS ECLIPSES TRUMP. Despite the majority grips of the Republicans in the U.S Senate (that’s 53. 45, 2 Senators for the GOP, Democrats, Independent, respectively), public opinions on Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress of President Donald Trump in the impeachment bid by the Democrats in the House and now in the Senate have afflicted voters as seen on this latest poll.

Here’s the January 22,2020 Newsweek written by Shane Croucher:
"Senator Bernie Sanders leads President Donald Trump by the widest margin of all the candidates in the Democratic Party's 2020 race when Americans are asked to choose in a face-off against the Republican incumbent, according to a poll”.

"SurveyUSA asked 4,069 registered voters nationwide how they would vote in an election today if Trump was pitted against each of the 2020 candidates in the Democratic race. The progressive Vermont independent came out on top”.

The poll found that 52 percent of voters would choose Sanders and 43 percent Trump, giving the veteran senator a nine-point lead. Next was former vice president Joe Biden at 50 percent to Trump's 43 percent, a seven-point lead"

The online survey was conducted between January 14-16 straight after the Democratic debate in Iowa and on the eve of Trump's Senate impeachment trial. It has a credibility interval of 1.7 percentage points.

***

Majority of the congressmen in my burgeoning province want to have additional congressional districts.

The plan is to apportion two to four more congressional districts from its original six making it ten at the maximum.

Pangasinan has a population of almost three million or to be specific 2,956, 726 according to the 2015 Census.

The demography of the province is bigger now after the 2018 census will be published by the Philippines Statistics Authority.

 Pangasinan, I guess, will hit 3.5 million in demography if the new survey goes public.

With 250, 000 inhabitants needed to create a new congressional district as mandated by the Constitution, Pangasinan can have 14 congressmen who will add to the excitement and fire of the public hearings and the acrimony of the grandstanding at the House of Representatives in Quezon City.

Of course there will be spiked too of the numbers of solons who will become members of the infamous Committee on Silence where most of our jaded or boring congressmen belong ha ha ha!

Just to show the population of the province's swelled significantly, she has 1,946,682 or almost two million voters as based on the records of the Commission on Election compared to the 1, 705,260 in 2016.

I argued before with commentators on my blog the advantages to the people of more districts.

Here’s one of them: 
“With additional districts can they solve poverty? Corruption? Crime rate? High prices of commodities? High prices of petroleum? Taxation? Free education? Hospitalization, malnutrition and health programs, land reforms for farmers and agricultural problems? If the answer is "yes" then I am in favor for it. But if it will only benefit corrupt public officials and their families, what for?”

15 years of fun at the Villasis Talong Festival

By Virgilio Sar. Maganes

VILLASIS- It may pale in attendance of townspeople and balikbayans (expatriates) as compared to past years’ celebration, the 15th Talong Festival as one of the nine day activities of the town’s town fiesta was a success.

 At 8:00 in the morning of January 17,  municipal officials led by Mayor Nonato S. Abrenica and the fiesta’s Executive Committee converged in front of the municipal hall  for the Talong Festival  activities  featuring the tasty “pinakbet”, a traditional Ilocano dish cooked with a twist  in a “pinakbet sa kawa” by the 21 barangays. After cooking, the villagers in each barangay partook of the “pinakbet” with gusto.

EGGPLANT DANCE. Garbed in eggplant-inspired costumes, these students take part in the street dancing competition Friday afternoon as part of this year’s Talong Festival in Villasis town. CESAR RAMIREZ 

 “Pinakbet” is from the Ilocano word “pinakebbet” meaning “to shrink” the eggplant when it is being cooked together with other vegetables like tomatoes, okra (lady finger), ampalaya (bitter gourd) and green chili, and fish sauce.

At the Public Auditorium, the Farmers Day was also held with the support of private agricultural companies. There was a selection of Mr. Farmers Day with games and raffle draws of farm implements and tools.

The Cheer Dance competition featuring elementary schools was conducted at the grounds of the Villasis Gymnasium.

Heightened Checkpoints Vs. Imported Pork – SINAG

AFTER ASF CLAIMS AGAIN COUNTLESS DEAD HOGS

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

ROSALES,Pangasinan – The government should secure its borders and put checkpoints to avoid the proliferation of the African Swine Fever (ASF) infected imported frozen pork that wrought havocs to places in Central and Northern Luzon.

“So ang sinasabi natin basta may threat ang pagpasok ng frozen may threat na talaga kaya very strict tayo sa borders natin. Siyempre hindi natin alam kung nakakalusot e doon sa check points natin,” declared by Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) President  Rosendo So when this writer asked him about the deaths of swine in Bataan and Tarlac Provinces,  Binmaley, Malasiqui, and Dagupan City in Pangasinan.

Authorities reported that pigs in Bataan and Tarlac have been inflicted with the virus.

SAFE. (Front row from left) Department of Agriculture Secretary William Dar, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, and Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) President Rosendo So bite a part of a roasted pig displayed inside the Manila City Hall to assure all and sundry in the country that pork is safe to consume despite the reported cases of African Swine Fever scourging on various places in Central and Northern Luzon.

Dr Alberto Venturina, provincial veterinarian of Bataan, said laboratory results showed that random blood samples from pigs in the towns of Dinalupihan and Hermosa were positive for ASF.

Officials of the provincial government of Pangasinan and the chartered city of Dagupan said that the virus killed several numbers of hogs in January 8 this year in Binmaley while countless swine were found dead in Barangay Carael in Dagupan.

21 pigs in Barangay Linoc, Binmaley were culled last January 14 to contain the spread of ASF. According to Pangasinan provincial veterinarian Jovito Tabarejos, blood samples of these pigs tested positive for the virus.

Tabarejos cited that the culled pigs were just under the one-kilometer radius of a piggery in Binmaley where 34 pigs died of ASF last week.

Recently, villages in Apaya and Polay Norte in Malasiqui saw municipal officials and livestock owners culled those dead and live hogs in the critical one kilometer as part of the 1-7-10 protocol mandated by the Department of Agriculture.

Local authorities call too for vigilance of checkpoint personnel in the entry and exit points of the huge province.

SINAG President So said the joint tasked force of government and the private sectors, where he is prominent member, flagged down recently a vehicle carrying uncertified frozen meat bound to La Union.

“Kaya kagabi may nahuli tayo sa process meat going La Union pero pinabaon natin”.

One of the local government units the SINAG chief wanted to monitor is Dagupan City where sale of frozen meats were unhampered.

A kilo of frozen meat there is peg at P130 a kilo while the same kilo of locally butchered pork is P200.

“Iyon nga diyan  sa Dagupan iyon ang dapat nating malaman”.

The SINAG President said countries with ASF are Germany, Poland, Belgium, and other European nations and China.

“Germany dahil may Poland na hinalo tapos Belgium may mga European Countries of course iyan smuggle from China iyon ang mga countries. Almost I think 18 countries ang bonding sa atin”.

When asked that meat sellers in Dagupan City said that pork comes from Canada and the United States thus not included to those ASF afflicted countries, So said the problem of these imported swine meats in the two countries do not undergo test in the Philippines.

“Kaya sabi namin dapat mag pa test lahat dito sa atin bansa. Worth worker policy dapat hindi doon kasi doon ang source”.

READ MY OTHER BLOG/COLUMN:

MORE CONG DISTRICTS, MORE MONIES

Non-Issuance of Receipt: Bizman Fined First Before Being Sued – BIR

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

CALASIAO – Those who operate businesses are not automatically sued but meted out to pay a compromise penalty for their failure to issue official receipt (O.R), according to the regional director of the Bureau of Internal Revenue in Region-1.

Director Thelma S. Milabao said that despite the wordings of Section 264 of the National Internal Revenue Code of the BIR that after the fine it has a jail time of not more than four years, it has a Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) to follow where schedules of compromises are provided.

“Meron kami RMO na nakalagay schedule sa compromise and penalties,“ she stressed.

Regional BIR Director Thelma S. Milabao

The law says:

“Any person who, being required under Section 237 to issue receipts or sales or commercial invoices, fails or refuses to issue such receipts of invoices, issues receipts or invoices that do not truly reflect and/or contain all the information required to be shown therein, or uses multiple or double receipts or invoices, shall, upon conviction for each act or omission, be punished by a fine of not less than One thousand pesos (P1,000) but not more than Fifty thousand pesos (P50,000) and suffer imprisonment of not less than two (2) years but not more than four (4) years,” mandated by the NIRC.

She said that after the examiner and his personnel tax mapped a business establishment, it can still operate as long as the proprietor pays immediately the “One thousand pesos (P1,000) but not more than Fifty thousand pesos (P50,000)” to the tax agency.

Milabao said that registration in the BIR takes only a few minutes.

Cops Nab General Chan's Killer

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

So, it was Friday night that the Special Investigation Task Force (SITG) Chan, who did the sleuthing on the assassination of Police Retired Brig. General Marlou Chan, arrested a “Person –of- Interest” Edwin Ferrer.

That’s two days after the grisly murder of one of the intelligent, eloquent, and shrewd alumni of the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City. Chan is a native of San Quintin, Pangasinan thus media men with humor described him when he was a honcho in the gargantuan province as “from Chan Quintin, Pangasinan”.

He told me then that his father was a pure Chinese World War –II veteran from Amoy or Fukien, Mainland China.

Amoy is the present Xiamen Port City while Fukien is China’s province. So it is safe to say Amoy, Fukien just like Urdaneta, Pangasinan te-he!

“When China invades the Philippines, I’m sure I will be the chief of the Philippine National Police because the Chinese consul in Ilocos knew my father was from China,” he crowed to me ha ha ha!

FILE PHOTO: Police Brig. Marlou Cortez Chan  (extreme right) "Home Coming" Visit  on March 23, 2016 at the Police Provincial Office in Lingayen, Pangasinan. This was after his promotion to Star-Rank. Chan was assassinated at 2:50 pm last Thursday in Calasiao,Pangasinan.

Before Chan’s stint in Pangasinan as Police Provincial Office (PPO) Director in 2012 to 2013, he was the PPO Director of Ilocos Norte.

Two envying glamorous posts before the eyes of the brass of the PNP who settled on their swivel chairs and their less lucrative posts.

***

I digressed.

Let’s go back to the arrested gunman with an unmarked .45 handgun, bullets, and hand grenade confiscated from him as shown by the TV footage.

During the evening newscast of GMA-7 TV Monday, Calasiao Police Chief Lt. Colonel Joseph Fajardo said that Ferrer was a gun-for-hire.

Ferrer, who was inside the slammer, vigorously told the TV giant that he was fall guy.

The words of the week now is Person -of- Interest.

In College of Law Class when you arrest somebody, it’s not because of being Person -of –Interest (POI) but because of being a suspect or accused as cited by the Handbook on Criminal Procedure.

Excerpts of the book's Rule 113 for the education of the many:

“Sec. 5. Arrest without warrant; when lawful. – A peace officer or a private person may, without a warrant, arrest a person:

(a) When, in his presence, the person to be arrested has committed, is actually committing, or is attempting to commit an offense;

(b) When an offense has just been committed and he has probable cause to believe based on personal knowledge of facts or circumstances that the person to be arrested has committed it; and…”

Was the cop or cops confused by their choice of words about POI versus Accused or Suspect?

I remembered in 2014 when Deputy Regional Director for Administration General Chan came from the Police Regional Office-1 in San Fernando City, La Union to brief the provincial police under acting Police Provincial Office Director Colonel Sterling Blanco (now a one star general) instructing them on the semantics for the PNP integrated Transformation Program Performance Governance System (PNP ITPPGS) 2030.

Chan and Blanco, members of PMA Classes of 1985 and 1989, were publicly editing the English words of some officers mostly Lt. Colonels, on their reports as police chiefs at the function hall of the PPO in Lingayen, Pangasinan.

“Editor din pala itong dalawa,” I told myself amused.

One’s savvy on the Shakespearean language of course came from a long process of voracious readings of newspapers and books since teenage.

With the mangling of the used of words on POI to suspect that resulted for his arrest, the police needs “Editor” to coach them how to properly use the words to avoid being ridiculed by the public.

 ****

According to news reports, after two of the four gunmen who rode two separate motorcycles, peppered Chan with bullets from their .45 caliber hand guns. Juanito Lozada, continued stepping on the gas and asked to stop for directions from a group of people. Ferrer volunteered and insisted to drive and help them.

Lozada, who is from Taguig City, agreed as he was not familiar with Calasiao and Dagupan City’s highways. Ferrer drove them to the Villaflor Hospital in Dagupan, where Chan was declared dead.

Three hours after the ambushed of Chan, a surgeon reacted to my blog that the general was DOA or Dead-On-Arrival at the hospital he was working with fatal wounds on the neck and chest.

Thereafter, I saw on some posts at the Facebook like from the local CNN, not the Calasiao News Network but the real CNN owned by Ted Turner, that the Good Samaritan that helped Lozada was Ferrer.

Was Ferrer a Hero or a Heel?

 According to PPO spokesperson Captain Ria Tacderan, as quoted by Rappler.com, the police ran a background check on Ferrer and found that he had a history of “involvement with gun-for-hire groups.

Police could not confirm whether he was even convicted of a crime, but Tacderan said that after the background check, they applied for a search warrant for Ferrer’s house, which yielded a .45-caliber pistol and a grenade.

For me, the whisking to the jailhouse of Ferrer as based on the news report above was because of Illegal Possession of Firearm, Ammunition, and Explosive and not directly as part of the conspiracy to kill a bemedalled police general.

There’s also a person of interest according to Rappler.com: Tacderan said that just 30 minutes before Chan was killed, he met with Pangasinan-based Indian-Filipino businessman Ashok Vasandani. Vasandani was not arrested, but identified as a person who could help solve the puzzle of the retired cop's murder. Vasandani is a survivor of an assassination attempt in Pangasinan in February 2018.

The retired general and Vasandani apparently met at the Panaderia Antonio, which was 10 minutes by car from the crime scene. It was unclear what the two discussed, but Tacderan noted that Vasandani immediately turned up at the police station after news broke of Chan’s assassination.

The cops nevertheless have not established the motive for Chan’s killing. 

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

Gunmen Know Ex- Gen Route Before They Killed Him

(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)

Ex-Mayor Waits Suspension, Arrest of VM, Dads

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

SUAL, Pangasinan – The former mayor here wishes that the Ombudsman favors him on the criminal and administrative complaints he filed to the vice mayor and some members of the Sangguniang Bayan (legislature) for their procrastination in the passing of the 2019 Annual Appropriation Budget.

“People of Sual and I wait anytime from now the favorable decision of the Ombudsman against those I sued. Any favorable decision from the Information given by the Ombudsman to the Sandiganbayan (court) means warrant of arrest for the respondents and preventive suspension in their posts,” former mayor Roberto Arcinue told this newspaper.

In June 10, 2019 Arcinue filed at the Ombudsman in Quezon City criminal case of Anti-Graft & Corrupt Practices Act and administrative cases of Conduct Prejudicial to the Best Interest of the Service and Gross Neglect of Duty against then vice mayor Dionisio G. Caburao, Jr., Sangguniang Bayan (SB) members Dionel G. Caburao, Alex I. Osana, Michael John C. Millan, Danilo B. Vinluan, and Emerina O. Taboy.

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte waves goodbye to the five Vietnamese fishermen during the ceremonial send-off of the Vietnamese fisherman at the Sual Wharf and Causeway in Sual, Pangasinan on November 29, 2017. Joining the President are Department of Social Welfare and Development Officer-in-Charge Emmanuel Leyco, Hermogenes Esperon Jr., Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Director Eduardo Gongona, Vietnamese Ambassador to the Philippines Ly Quoc Tuan, Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence Go and Sual Mayor Roberto Arcinue (Extreme Right). ACE MORANDANTE/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

In the July 10, 2019 Order signed by Director Joaquin F. Salazar, he directed the respondents to file their respective counter-affidavits on the criminal and administrative cases.

Recall that in January 15, 2019, February 11, 2019, and May 15, 2019 then mayor Arcinue wrote then Vice Mayor Caburao, the members of the SB, SB Secretary Wilma A. Asuncion for the urgent passing and approving of an ordinance authorizing the annual budget of the first class town for Three Hundred and Fifty Million Pesos (Php 350, 000,000.00).

In his February 11 letter, the former chief executive said that the services in the field of agriculture, education, infrastructure, and livelihood were dependent on the approval of such.

“Even the permanent deployment of doctors and nurses at the Sual Primary Care Facility (PCF) relies on its passing. Our constituents deserve to have the medical assistance to be provided by these doctors, most specially those who are under-privileged and destitute of financial resources,” he continued.

Primicias Calls LGUs, Others to Build Gym in Every Village

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – Here’s for the School Division Offices (SDO) of the Department of Education (DepEd) in the country.

The visionary head of the 15, 000 strong teachers of DepEd Pangasinan-1 exhorted the local government units (LGU) in the barangays and towns in Pangasinan to contribute sums for the construction of a gymnasium to every public school in the barangays.

“Iyon ang problema. Iyong mga bata wala sila mapuntahan na paglaruan kasi wala silang bubong kasi limited lang ang classroom. Tapos graduation nila mainit,” newly appointed acting School Division Office Superintendent Sheila Marie Angeles-Primicias, CESO VI, told subordinates and the 22 town mayors and their representatives during her recent State of the Division Address (SODA) held at the DepEd Division Office here.

 TOP EXEC. Department of Education - Pangasinan 1 Acting School Division Office (SDO) Superintendent Sheila Marie Angeles-Primicias, CESO VI, answers questions from reporters after her recent State of the Division Address (SODA) held at the SDO in Capital Town Lingayen, Pangasinan.

Encouraged by her experience as acting City SDO in the mammoth San Carlos City when she buoyed up 12 barangay chairmen, the mayor, and stakeholders there to build gymnasium that cost P1 million to P1.5 million each.

“Ibig sabihin noon iyong IRA ng mga barangay makipag tulungan ang mga barangay. So what they will do for the IRA they will build posts, then the mayor will take care of the bubong. Kasi mas ma multiply nga iyong funds for example share ng IRA ng LGU”.

Gunmen Know Ex- Gen Route Before They Killed Him

He Met Somebody at a Restaurant Before His Assassination

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

CALASIAO, Pangasinan – The gunmen who killed a retired police general here have been waiting for their prey before he arrived at a restaurant.

The security camera of Panaderia Antonio has footage where one of the two motorcycles utilized by the four killers even stopped at the parking space in front of the façade of the building, according to Police Provincial Office Director Col. Redrico Maranan  in a press conference he called at dusk of January 10, 2020.

Chan was assassinated at almost three o ’clock in the afternoon of that day where he was fatally hit on the major veins of his chest and neck while inside his orange Ford Ranger Pick-Up.

“Minutes before the arrival of our victim (Chan) andoon na ang mga gunmen. Meron ng prior information sila na darating diyan,” Maranan said by even explaining that the motorcycles have been reconnoitering the restaurant from the highway.
Media report said that  prior to the arrival of the victim, two of the motorcycle riding killers took their meals at the nearby makeshift eatery of Panaderia Antonio while the other stood at the waiting shed and another hit man  made countless incessant pass-by with his motorcycle at the restaurant 

CORPUS DELICTI (BODY OF THE CRIME). The Ford Ranger Pick-Up of retired police Brig. General Marlou Chan who was assassinated by two motorcycles riding in tandem criminals last Thursday (clockwise left photo. Photo Credit: Top Car Manila); Chan when he was Police Provincial Office (PPO) Director  of Pangasinan in 2013; PPO Director Colonel Redrico Maranan (3rd from left) and brass during a press conference he called dusk of January 9. Photo Credit: Internet Grab. 

Two of the motorcycle riding killers clad in a neon green jacket and garbed in a black jacket, the provincial director cited.

He said the gunmen rode on a Yamaha NMax motorbike.

“Nililingon na nila ang paligid. Based on our assessment hinihintay na nila diyan ang kanilang target”.

When the Pick-Up of Chan, driven by Juanito Lozada, Jr. arrived, the hitmen immediately revved up their bike and scurried away from the place.

Ex-Police Gen. Chan Killed

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

CALASIAO, Pangasinan – Former police  Brigadier General Marlou Cortez Chan was assassinated by two motorcycles riding in tandem killers near the Regency Hotel here while his car was traversing the highway.

According to a police officer, who asked for anonymity, Chan was with his driver when the short firearm-wielding gunman shot him with volley of fires.

 “There were five empty shells of .45 caliber found on the vicinity of the crime,” the source cited to this writer who went to the police office here for a copy of Spot Report of the incident.

The peace officer told this newspaper that the office could not give the Report until Police Regional Office-1 Director Brig. Gen Joel Sabio Orduña and Police Provincial Office Director Col. Redrico Maranan arrived for a briefing and press conference at five o’clock in the afternoon today at the function hall there.
"Sir, just wait for the Report because what is involved here is a high profile personality".

Chan was-shot- to- death inside his Ford Ranger Pick-up at 2:55 this afternoon.

His driver, Juanito Lozada, Jr. was unhurt, drove him to the Villaflor Hospital in Dagupan City.

The retired general however expired there with bullet wounds on the chest.

"The doctors there try to revive him but he was already D.O.A (Dead on Arrival). He was hit on the vascular or major blood vessels," a surgeon, who asked not to be named, told this writer.

Aussie Pilot Cites Ideal PAF Attack Chopper

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

A Filipino pilot based in Australia said the ideal procurement of an attack helicopter for the Philippine military is to buy the Bell AH-1Z Viper Attack Helicopter (AH)H than the Bell AH-1 Super Cobra or Boeing AH-64  Apache.

Denmark Suede told this writer that with a limited budget of P13.8 billion for a purchase of a squadron of these combat choppers, the offer of Bell to buy five of its Vipers and the remaining seven funded by soft loan was the best gesture.

“Plus magbibigay ang U.S ng Whiskey (Super Cobra) na one squadron (10 to 12 helicopters). The U.S offer is the best offer,” he said in Filipino.

He cited that Turkey Aerospace Industry (TAI), the maker of T-129 attack chopper, offers loan too to the Philippines to buy their product.

A pilot and a pilot-gunner operate each of the attack helicopters.

ATTACK CHOPPERS FOR PH. Clockwise above: U.S Bell AH-1 Z Viper Attack Helicopter (AH), U.S Boeing Apache AH, Turkey Aerospace Industry’s T-129 ATAK, and U.S Bell AH-W Super Cobra.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the Technical Working Group of the Philippines Air Force (PAF) recommended in 2018 to purchase the T-129.

“But they could only get “less than 10” units with their budget,” he said.

Last December 2019, Boeing offered to sell a squadron of AH-64 Apache to the Philippines.

The country has a budget of P13.8 billions for a squadron of attack choppers as mandated by the Horizon-I of the Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Modernization Act (RAFPMA) or what is known as Republic Act 10349,  that covered years 2013 to 2017.

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According to a military website, Super Cobra AH W or Whiskey, AH-1Z Viper, Apache, and T-129 have price tags of US$10.7 million (2007)/ P535 million (AH-W), US$27 million/P1.350 billion (refurbished Viper) or US$31 million/ P1.55 billion (newly built Viper), $40 million/P2 billion (Apache), $50 million/PP2.5 billion (T-129), respectively.

DefenseTurkey.com cited that the $50, 000 or P2.5 billion price tag apiece of T-129 includes the comprehensive packages of logistics, munitions, spare parts, ground support equipment and training.

P11-K Monthly Makes Family of 5 No Longer Poor- PSA

                                       THE ECONOMIC GAUGE IS CRAZY

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

My wife could not believe that the Annual Per Capita Poverty Threshold (APCPT) of P25,744 a year or P10, 725 a month of a family of five in the Philippines, as averagely tallied by the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) in 2018 and released to the public in December 6, 2019, could be enough to sustain their existence.

“Paano sila nabubuhay diyan sa P10, 725 a month masyadong maliit iyan?” she quipped while sipping her brewed coffee.

The computation of the PSA how to get the monthly threshold is: National APCPT P25, 744 divided by 12months equals P2,145 multiplied by five members of a family equals P10, 726 monthly APCPT.

“Iyan ang threshold ng PSA. If you did not fall into it you’re not poor ha ha ha!” I retorted with amusement.

Poor children in the Philippines. Photo Credit: Internet Grab

Despite that miniscule amount, PSA said there were 2, 986, 300 Pinoy families (14, 931, 500 members of households) who were poor in that census.

The missus told me that garong side car riding Ninoy Torres and his garbage collectors from the local government of our village are not poor because they earn bigger amount than the national monthly threshold of  P10,725

A family in Pangasinan has a yearly P 27,760 earning or a monthly equivalent P11, 566 of APCPT in the 2018 census.

North Cotabato, my former province and one of the poorest, has P25,015 yearly APCPT or its monthly equivalent of P10,422.

“Oo naman. Kasi sila Ninoy bukod sa suweldo nila they still earn tips from the households because of the special services they rendered by personally taking in and out those garbage cans and bins and even washing them,” I answered her about the other sources of income of our rubbish collector’s friend.

I told my wife the real barometer of BEING POOR AND NOT BEING POOR is the standard of living of the two households.