Mayor slammed for closing town’s hospital

 By Mortz  C. Ortigoza

Concerned citizens and a broadcaster denounced the mayor of Sual, Pangasinan for closing the Primary Care Facility (PCF) there.

DWPR -Dagupan Broadcaster Francisco Tamayo, Jr., known as Macky Delgado, assailed Mayor Liseldo “Dong” Calugay after the latter closed last April 16 this year the community hospital located at Barangay Caoayan.

“Sa panahon ng pandemic ang pagpasara ng hospital ng pagamutan ay taliwas po sa utos ng Malacanang at mismo ng DOH,” he howled at his 10 to 11 A.M radio program.

Tamayo slammed the Executive Order No.23 of Calugay that temporarily closed the PCF.

10-ROOM HOSPITAL. The ten-room’s Sual Primary Care Facility during its ground breaking ceremony in June 15, 2016.

A listener deplored to Tamayo that the closure of the PCF prejudiced those who suffered asthma, fever, cough, hypertension, heart problem, and other ailment.

“What will happen to us residents of Sual?” the listener posed a question.

Tamayo became emotional upon learning that residents of the coastal town are barred now to the facility whose construction commenced in June 15, 2016.

First Kap to Post SAP Recipients

PRESSURED OTHER VILLAGE CHIEFS TO EMULATE HIM

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

M’LANG, Cotabato – The village chief in this landlocked town seemed to pressure other barangay chairmen after he posted at public places the recipients of the monetary assistance given by the government to the people.

Barangay Chairman Noah Zabel said his actuation as the first village chief to post at the wall of the barangay hall the names of each of the beneficiaries of the P5,000 from the Department of Social Welfare & Development showed that there was no anomaly in the selection of the recipients.

The 354 beneficiary-households out of the 1,091households hailed from the poorest of the poor in the 5,700 populated village perched near the great Liguasan Marsh. 

SWANKY. The three million pesos swanky two-storey’s Dugong Barangay Hall in M’lang Cotabato (above photo). Other edifices (other photos) of the local government unit of Dugong.

He cited that the financial figure of the recipients did not include those members of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program popularly known as 4Ps who earlier received through their automatic teller machine (ATM) cards their Social Amelioration Program (SAP) from the national government.

“Ang purpose ko dito sabi ko sa pag post sa mga beneficiaries sino gusto mag comment e-report ninyo sa akin kung sino dito ang disqualified para mapag aralan natin kung papaano natin iyon ang purpose ko doon,” he stressed in Filipino.

Meeting a Moro Brigade Commander Turned Village Chief

By Mortz C. Ortigoza
 

At last I stumbled into the Muslim village chairman, colloquially or tritely called Kapitan, of Dugong, M’lang, Cotabato when I was driving a car bound to the houses of my maternal uncle and auntie located at the heart of the village.

Aside from being the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Brigade Commander of the M’lang, Matalam, and Makilala towns, Barangay Chairman Noah Zabel impressed me about his witty, funny, and educated posts at Facebook.

“How lucky I am to meet the honorable Kapitan and not Colonel Rody Celeste who is probably drunk now,” I cracked a joke at the expense of my retired army uncle who loved to swig beer bottle, son of a gun the jumbo one, before I extended my right hand to shake with the amused kapitan.

BRASS. Author and Dugong, M'lang, Cotabato Barangay Chairman Noah Zabel.

“He was probably there quaffing beer,” the portly probably 5 feet and 7 inches Zabel gestured his chin at the nearby sari-sari store owned by a son of an Ilocano settler.

In that 5 P.M Friday meeting, Zabel was with No. 6 Councilor Danny Cacacho, an Ilocano, where they sat at the bamboo walled and G.I sheets roofed lounged perched at my mother’s farm land and overlooking the swanky security cameras protected barangay hall and a gym.

“He married Rody’s younger sister Robina,” by referring to Cacacho who told me he saw me when we were kids in the village that is just spit away at the great Liguasan Marsh.

P5,000 ng DSWD Sinugal sa Lamay

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Pagkatapos lindolin ang tinirhan kung 10 rooms na old house dito sa M’lang, Cotabato kaninang 4:30 A.M, ako'y nagkakape sa gate ng Kamalig Water Refilling Station na nasa harapan lang ng aking tinirhan na malapit rin sa plaza

Dito makikita ang iba't ibang uri ng tao na mga taga bayan at barrio na nagsisidatingan dala-dala ang empty water containers nila sakay ng mga motorsiklo, tricycle, at mga di makinang sasakyan.

Hindi gaya noong 1970s at 1980s na kung saan ay basta na lang kami humihigop ng tubig sa poso, balon, at flowing wells sa bukid o sakahan sa mga Bisaya, ang tubig dito sa rustic landlocked na first class town ko ay malansa na kahit na may gripo na ng Nawasa sa mga barangays.

Habang hinihigop ko ang Bukidnon refined brewed coffee na mainit na bigay ni DepEd Kabacan National High School Principal Doctor Rene Pacolor, kebegan ko na mahilig sa world issues, may dalawang lalaki na taga barrio na nagkasalubungan dala-dala ang mga containers na lulan sa kanilang mga motorskilo.

LALAKI 1: Kamusta ang last night sa patay noong isang gabi?

LALAKI 2: Masaya, madaming tao!

LALAKI 1: Malakas ang sugal?

LALAKI 2: Sobrang lakas. Noong umaga kasi kakatangap lang nila doon sa P5,000 nila sa DSWD hayon pinagpupusta na sa sugal.

ME: E di natuwa iyong namatayan, malaki ang tong sa lumisan na mahal nila sa buhay.

Sabay na napa-oo ang dalawa sa aking tanong.

GAMBLING in a wake in the Philippines. Police usually do not apprehend the gamblers here despite being included in the gambling laws of the country due to custom.

Ani noong isang peasant woman na nag mi-meron sa dalawang nag uusap: Hindi rin naghihirap ang mga tao doon sa barrio nila kasi kabebenta lang nila ng mga harvest na palay. Tapos sumabay pa si (Social Amelioration Program - author) ng DSWD kaya  hayon umuusok ang pustahan sa sugal.

Only in the Philippines! 

 *** 

Noong isang lingo ang title ng blog ko: My Encounter With a Lady Ghost kung saan naka sagutan ko ang White Lady na matagal ng nakatira dito sa ten rooms’ old walled house kung saan ako ay nakasadlak mahigit na isang buwan dahil sa lock down.

Kaninang umaga habang ako nag jo-jogging sa M’lang Plaza, may isang lalaking nagpakilala na siya si Lika DepEd Teacher Lot Capuyan – kasama kung manginginom ng tuba noong early 1980s sa landlocked na bayan sa Cotabato;

“Diyan ka pala nakatira sa malaking bahay, Mortz? aniya.

“Oo,” ani ko.

“Matagal ng may balitang may mga nagpapakita diyan, dahil nasa itaas ang kuarto mo may naramdaman ka ba?

“Oo, noong isang gabi habang tumatagay ako ng Shoktong kasi ubos na ang paninda na Tanduay ni Africa Store diyan sa tabi”.

“Anong klaseng multo ang andiyan, iyong kapre, tikbalang, o iyong white lady na nabasa ko sa blog mo na nilagay mo pa sa community page na Taga Mlang Ako (Official)?”

“Tatlong Bampira ang narinig ko sa isang kuarto na katabi ko kagabi ng hating gabi. Ganito ang huntahan nila:

MAYAMANG VAMPIRE: Oorder ako ng fresh blood diyan sa District (Emergency) Hospital bukas ng alas kuatro habang wala pang nagjojoging sa plaza.

ORDINARY VAMPIRE: Sa akin isang order na dinuguan.

POOR VAMPIRE: Hot water na lang sa akin diyan sa Kitoy Restaurant.

MAYAMAN NA VAMPIRE: Bakit hot water lang ?

POOR VAMPIRE: Nakapulot kasi ako ng napkin diyan sa mga damuhan kung saan may mga nagdi date na mga students. Mag-tsa tsaa na lang ako.

***

DAGDAG JOKE PA!

Nay, bakit po VICTORIA ang name ni ate?

Kasi anak dun namin siya ginawa ng itay mo…

Eh bakit si kuya, ANITO?

Ay, tumigil ka na nga Luneta at baka mapalo kita! tawagin mo na si kuya FX mo.

READ  MY OTHER BLOG:

My Encounter With A Lady Ghost

Congressman Toff De Venecia, Suportado ang Red Cross

Ang puso ni Congressman Toff de Venecia ay nananatili sa distritong kanyang kinakatawan, ang 4th District ng Pangasinan, pero ‘wag kayong magtaka kapag nakita ninyo ang kanyang Medical Mission van, na umiikot sa buong lalawigan, kasama ang Red Cross.

 

Pangasinan Fourth District Representative Toff de Venecia  and his Blood on Wheels Letting Program of the Philippine Red Cross.

 

Mangyari, suportado ni Congressman de Venecia ang adhikain ng Philippine Red Cross - Pangasinan Chapter na makapangalap ng dugo para sa blood bank ng mga ospital sa Pangasinan.

Citizen slams hospital brass

                     FOR SEIZING FOODS OF FRONT LINERS

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

A concerned citizen denounced officials of hospitals in appropriating for themselves the foods given by donors for the front liners who wrestle the killer Corona Virus Disease-19 (CONVID-19).

The source, who asked for anonymity, said that some hospital insiders in Pangasinan told her that foods like cartoons of pizza given by donors were withheld by brass of the hospitals. 

"Iyong iba inuuwi pa sa mga pamilya ang foods. Grabe!" she stressed.

Filipino restaurants displayed the Bayanihan spirit and sent free food to healthcare workers who have been on code red alert in the Philippines. Photo Credit:goodnewspilipinas.com

 These foods should be given to medical staff like doctors and nurses who grapple with patients suspected to be infected by the pandemic’s CONVID-19.

She cited these front liners sacrificed their lives and limbs in protecting and saving patients because they locked horns with the virus that gripped the forty four towns and four cities' province.

DPWH brass will not pay shoddy work

Mortz C. Ortigoza

STA. BARBARA, Pangasinan – Unlike other District Engineers (D.E) of the Department of Public Works & Highway, the D.E here will not pay contractor for a substandard infrastructure work.

4th Engineering Office's D.E Simplicio D. Gonzales said he will ask the contractor to repeat his shoddy work.

“Blame ko diyan contractor. Hindi ko babayaran iyan!” he stressed to this newspaper.

Gonzales cited those he will withhold payments are the one who built newly constructed highway with cracks on their pavements.

Components of Road Structure. Photo Credit: Google.com

The Declaration of Gonzales cropped up when some DPWH district offices allowed contractors to apply asphalt or epoxy to cover the gap caused by the cracks of their newly constructed highways.

Pangasinan records 12 COVID-19 recoveries, 12 others still confined

Medical facilities in Pangasinan succeed in producing more COVID-19 recoveries. There are 12 recoveries as of today, April 15, of whom three were discharged from the provincial government- run Pangasinan Provincial Hospital (PPH) in Bolingit, San Carlos City.  

Of the 33 COVID-19 patients in Pangasinan, 12 are still confined in private and public medical facilities. It was last April 9, or six days ago, when the ninth and last fatality was recorded. 

As of April 15, 2020 (7PM) COVID-19 MONITORING REPORT IN PANGASINAN

The 12 recoveries are from the following localities: Malasiqui (2), Pozorrubio (1), Bayambang (1), Rosales (1), Urdaneta City (1), Bugallon (1), Infanta (1), Asingan (1), Sto. Tomas (1), and Dagupan City (2).

With 12 COVID-19 recoveries today, Governor Amado I. Espino III calls on the people of Pangasinan not to be complacent, reminding all to stay in their houses and to adopt health safety precautions to prevent them from contracting or transmitting the disease.

Trak-trak na bigas, hatid ni Cong, de Venecia sa kanyang mga kabaleyan

Nagbigay kahapon si Congressman Christopher de Venecia ng tatlong daang sako ng bigas (300 sacks of rice) sa Dagupan City bilang tulong niya sa relief operation ng siyudad para sa iba’t-ibang barangay.

300 SACKS of rice given by Congressman Toff de Venecia to administration of Dagupan City Mayor Brian Lim for the needs of his constituents.

Nagkakahalaga ng P600,000 ang ibinigay ni De Venecia mula sa personal nitong pondo.

San Carlos City huge budget due to share from nat’l gov’t

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

SAN CARLOS CITY – Because of its huge population this city has an annual appropriation budget (AAB) of more than eight hundred million pesos this year.

Mayor Julier "Ayoy" Resuello said that this local government unit chalked up most of the AAB from the national coffer because of its huge population, after this newspaper told him that his city competes with the annual appropriation budget of the two Pangasinan cities’ Urdaneta and Alaminos.

“Mas malaki kaya lang mas maraming local income si Alaminos City because sa tourism spot niya, e”.

 BIG CITY. 84 villages' San Carlos City, Pangasinan Mayor Julier "Ayoy" Resuello (right) after his interview at his office by the author.

Among the four cities in Pangasinan, Dagupan City, the commercial hub of Region-1, had hit the one billion pesos AAB under the mayorship of Belen T. Fernandez in 2019.

My Encounter With A Lady Ghost

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

This story is not about an American preacher in a village in the Philippines asking his congregation who are mostly peasants “Who among them have sex with a ghost?”

The preacher, whose intention was to jest, was surprised when a farmer in his early 20s stood to affirm he had copulation with the object.

 “Really, you had sex with a ghost or spelled G-H-O-S-T?” the stunned preacher asked.

The peasant immediately apologized to the pastor that it was not a G-H-O-S-T he had sex for countless of times but a G-O-A-T.

“Unfortunately that stocky female goat, er, doe had been butchered when Mortz Ortigoza arrived here in the town last March 13 and could not go back to Luzon because of the locked down because of the Corona Virus  Disease-19,” he said embarrassed.  

Son of a gun, I remembered the classic case Hustler Magazine and Larry C. Flynt, Petitioners v. Jerry Falwel  where smut Hustler Magazine publisher Flynt sued by Southern Baptist Reverend Falwel.

Hustler magazine featured in a parody the first sexual encounter, an incestuous rendezvous, of the Reverend to his mother in the family outhouse while they were both "drunk off our God-fearing asses on Campari."

A white clad lady ghost.

That criminal and civil cases became a hall mark jurisprudence on press freedom, when the U.S Supreme Court held that the First and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit public figures from recovering damages for the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED), if the emotional distress was caused by a caricature, parody, or satire of the public figure that a reasonable person would not have interpreted as factual.

Warning on dependency to imported rice haunts Filipinos

                                   LIMITED RICE COULD REEL IMPORTERS

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

M’LANG, Cotabato – A former executive of the Department of Agriculture told this writer the warning of former D.A Secretary Manny Piñol that the government should not rely on imported rice to feed its people start to haunt Filipinos.
Former Executive Assistant Ferdinand “Bobong” Piñol said that after Vietnam suspended her exportation of rice because of the dreaded Corona Virus Disease-19 (CONVID-19) pandemic, Cambodia and India stopped selling rice overseas because they were hampered by the lockdowns.
Due to the pressing demand, Thailand spiked the 5% broken white staple per ton to U. S $560 to $570, the highest in its inventory since April 2013, based on the news report of Business Recorder sent to this writer by  Piñol.

Sacks of rice ready for export to other countries. The Philippines is the biggest rice importer globally. Photo Credit: Devdiscourse

“The situation in Vietnam, India, and Cambodia have us prepared for the unexpected, so Thai rice prices are going up and up," the news report cited.

Over - Sex Ang Pinoy Dahil sa Quarantine

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Sabi ko na nga tama iyong kumentaryo ko sa radio at sa social media na isang social problem na maging bunga nitong maghalos isang buwan na na lock down at quarantine kontra sa deadly Novel Corona Virus Disease – 19 (COVID-19) ay ang pagsabog uli ng mala rabbit nating population.

109,581,078 na po tayo ngayong year 2020 ayon sa United Nations.

Alam ito ni Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte. Kaya noong namudmud siya kasama ang mga kawani ng Davao City Hall ay kasama na doon sa relief goods ang mga di mabiliang na condom.

Ayon sa newsreport kamakailan ng Super Radyo Davao, nanawagan si mayora na habang naka home quarantine ang mga mag asawa at mag partner ay huwag mag pa sobra (siyempre sa sex hihihi - author) at mag obserba ng family planning.

Natawa naman ako kasi iyong pinsan kung maganda na si Sachious ay nag comment sa Facebook sa Bisaya doon sa post ng Super Radyo:

“Bright jud ang taga Davao City sa safety first. Mayor Inday candles pud para sa mga single”.

Naintindihan kung bright iyong mga taga Davao City, pero iyong candles sa mga walang asawa hindi ko makita ang kuneksiyon sa birth control.
 Anyway, patuloy ninyo pong basahin ang sentiment ko.

Sa panayam sa akin ni T-Radio Mindanao 88.1 News FM.anchorman James Paciete sinabi ko na na ang enhanced community quarantine, police and military checkpoints, at lockdown ay nanganganak ng ibat ibang social problems sa Pilipinas.

Ito ay nagtutulak sa mga Pilipino na magnakaw, manghold up, at kung kinakailangan ay pumatay para lang makuha ang pag aari ng kapwa Filipino.

“Kaya ang tawag diyan sa batas ay Robbery Resulting to Homicide kasi ang intensiyon ay nakawan ang kapwa pero dahil umalma siya ay pinatay ng kawatan,” ani ko sa ilonggo sa aking “bunker sa Cotabato Province habang naka phone patch si James sa akin sa kanyang 4 to 5 P.M radio program sa Surallah South Cotabato.

Pero kaninang umaga pag gising ko sa malaking bahay na ang dingding ay gawa sa sulanggi (sliced bamboo), nakita ko ang isang lampooned video na kung saan ang isang radio announcer ay pinaunlakan na manawagan ang isang umiiyak na maganda at batang ginang sa kay President Rodrigo Duterte dahil sa quarantine.

“Kay Mister President ako po’y magtatanong lang. Kailan po matatapos iyon hong quarantine? Masasakit na kasi ang ang p*ki ko sa kaka *yot ng asawa ko huhuhu!”

Oo nga ano, ani ko. Hindi lang theft, robbery, at homicide ang social problems na naidudulot nitong phantom killer Corona Virus - 19 kundi ang paglubo ng population natin na na sa kasalukuyan ay nasa halos, Diyos na mahabagin, 110 million na.

Dahil na extend ng April 30, 2020 ang April 14, 2020 lifting ng lock down hindi lang itong inyong lingkod ang hindi na makakauwi sa Dagupan City ng maaga kung hinde dodoble’ or ti triple’ ang manganganak na mga ginang sa buong Pilipinas magbilang tayo mula sa start ng quarantine at lockdown noong March 16 at sa period kung saan ang babae ay mabuntis at manganganak.

***

Hindi maganda ang madami ang population. Compare natin ang Thailand at ang Philippines.

Noong 1975 halos magkapareho lang ang population natin sa kanila dahil sa high fertility rate and the same population living under poverty rate.

Ayon sa United Nations ngayong year 2020 ang Pilipinas ay may 109,581,078 na population at may year 2018 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) na U.S $330,910,000.000 (countryeconomy.com) na kung saan ay lalabas ang $3,020.00 per capita income (PCI) bawat Filipino kung ito ay e divide sa population.

Sa mga mahilig pumunta ng C.R o nagbubulakbol noong college, sa Economics 101 tinuturo po ng professor natin na itong formula na sinasabi ko ay Population divided by GDP equals PCI.

Ang Thailand ay may GDP na $504,928,000, 000 at may 69.80 million population at may PCI na $7,309.

$7,309.00 ng Thailand versus $3,020.00 ng Pilipinas ay ibig sabihin mas marami ang pera ng Thailander sa theoretical na division of wealth through PCI.

***

Remember in 1975 Thailand and the Philippines had roughly the same population, a high population growth rate, a high fertility rate, and the same number of the population living under poverty line.

But because the Thai government, just like the Marcos Administration in the 1970s, aggressively promote family controls for 35 years after 1975, the following results, according to Dr. Nibhon Debavalya, Thailand’s leading population expert, ensued:

* Thailand was able to radically reduce its population growth rate to 0.6 percent while the Philippines inched down to 2.04 percent in the period 1970-2010.

* During the period 1970-2008, Thailand’s GDP per capita grew by 4.4 percent, while the Philippines’ grew by 1.4 percent.

* By 2010, there were 93.6 million Filipinos, or over 20 million more than the 68.1 million Thais. This gap of 25.5 million is the demographic advantage enjoyed by Thailand – one that has made a vast difference in the economic performance and the quality of life of the people in the two countries.

(This resulted to more social services and agriculture subsidies in particular given by the deep pocketed Bangkok government to its population, more chances of employment from the jobs offered by the local and foreign investors – Author)

* By 2010, only 9.6 percent of Thais lived under the national poverty line while 26.4 percent of Filipinos.

READ HERE HOW IMPROVE THE THAIS' AGRICULTURE INDUSTRY

How can we uplift the standard of living of the Filipinos?

My Answer: Fight population explosion, change the foreign economic equity on the corporate ownership from 40 percent to 100 percent just like what Vietnam and Singapore had done to attract foreign investors, diversify our overseas foreign workers deployment as the dropped of the prices of oil in many states become an economic menace, and buttress the growth of our local industries like manufacturing and business outsourcing like call centers and medical transcriptionists.

On how to fight population explosion, here’s Debavalya.

“A final decisive factor was the national government’s durable commitment to a comprehensive program that systematically provided information and contraceptives, especially to the poor and in rural areas”.

He said that while non government organizations, such as Meechai’s Population and Community Development Association, were important in educating rural Thais on the different methods of family planning, it was the government that provided access to contraceptives in the grassroots.

Here’s the take of opposition stalwart Albay Congressman Edcel Lagman on the quarantine versus Convid19 and our runaway population:

He urged the national government to continue discharging its mandate of extending free condoms and other contraceptives as the Luzon lockdown will most likely be extended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Lagman, primary author of the Reproductive Health Law under Republic Act No. 10354, said as quoted by Pulitiko the level of “intimacies between couples who are locked down together break the barriers of social distancing” in the midst of the ongoing lockdown to contain the COVID-19 crisis.

READ MY BLOG:

Analysis:Why the Philippines is poor?

(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)