Cong. District has P1-B this Year - DPWH

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

STA. BARBARA, Pangasinan – The top brass of the Fourth District Engineering Office of the Department of Public Works & Highway based here said his office will have a One Billion Pesos infrastructure projects this year from the national government.

District Engineer Simplicio D. Gonzales told to this writer that his jurisdiction, that covers San Carlos City and the towns of Calasiao, Mapandan, Malasiqui, Sta. Barbara, and Bayambang has P1 Billion appropriation this year from the central government.

BRASS. Pangasinan Third District Representative Rosemarie "Baby" Arenas (left) and Fourth District Engineering Office District Engineer Simplicio Gonzales of the Department of Public Works & Highway.

Gonzales said that projects being funded by the allocation are drainage system, elevation of highways,and others.

He told this newspaper last year that major projects funded by the year 2020 P1.1 billion appropriation were slope protection, road widening, and others.

“Siguro ganoon na rin iyon hinde na magbabago kayang kaya nila iyon parang final na rin iyon,” he told the certainty of the One Billion Pesos as project for this year in the congressional district located in central Pangasinan.

District is represented by Congresswoman Rosemarie Arenas.

Gonzales cited the elevation of the highway in Barangay San Miguel, Calasiao funded by P17 million has been completed to thwart the flood water that submerged it.

Gonzales said that because of the rampages of the pandemic’s Corona Virus Disease -19 the implementation of several projects have been delayed for their completion dates.

“Oo naman. Earlier dapat natapos pero natigil sila. April May mga two months. Kung wala iyon marami ng natapos. Madami 2020 projects hinde natapos”.

He said the P13 million drainage system to stop if not mitigate the flooding in the poblacion area of Calasiao particularly in the peripheries of Chowking to the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s office will be completed early this year too.

The drainage problem in the burgeoning town started in 2017 when the owner of a land where a creek is located at the Judge Jose de Venecia Highway back filled it to elevate his property. The back filling however impeded the flow of the drainage water that egress to the Banaoang River. 

Gonzales said another factor that aggravated the problem there was the construction, not during his watch, of the sewerage system that was not tilting to the exit in the Banaoang River. He explained that part of the P13 million budget was the reconstruction of a more than kilometer long concrete canal system.
He told this writer last year that he would propose to the DPWH in Manila about the funding to construct another egress of water from the same drainage system that will exit at the Parongking River. 

Calasiao and the nearby Dagupan City are the catch basin of flood water in Pangasinan.

READ MY OTHER BLOG/COLUMN:

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House Extols Dagupena’s Appointment as U.S. Dep. Commissioner on Reclamation

 

A resolution was filed on Wednesday in the House of Representatives by Rep. Christopher de Venecia (Pangasinan-Fourth District) congratulating a Filipino-American woman from Dagupan City for her recent appointment as Deputy Commissioner of the United States of America’s Bureau of Reclamation.

Camille Calimlim Touton. from Barangay Tebeng in Dagupan, City, was the first Filipino-American appointed by United States President Joe Biden since taking office on January 20 this year.

The designation became historical to Dagupan City and to the Democratic Party’s Biden Administration.

The Bureau of Reclamation is a Federal Agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior which is in charge of water management and oversees dams, canals and hydroelectric plants across western United States.




Ms. Touton is the daughter of Carl Calimlim of Tebeng in Dagupan and Marlene Bangsal of Calasiao. Her grandparents are the late Camilo Calimlim, a retired U.S. Navy man; and former Tebeng Barangay Captain Juanita Calimlim, a close relative of former five-time Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.

Born in Quezon City, Ms. Touton grew up in Dagupan City and Calasiao. She and family migrated to the United States when she was yet in the grade school. In sponsoring the resolution, Rep. De Venecia said the appointment of Ms. Touton to her present position brings honor and pride not only to the people of Dagupan City but also the entire Philippines.

Aside from holding a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering, Ms. Touton finished Bachelors of Science in Communication Studies from the University of Nevada and completed her Master’s Degree in Public Policies from Georgetown University in Virginia.

As Deputy Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Ms. Touton’s work focuses on complicated issues on Western U.S. water policy and in formulating policies that could respond to the grave threats posed by climate change and unpredictable drought cycles. Before assuming her present post, Ms. Touton worked as professional staff members in House and Senate committees and in many other federal government positions and was one time former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and Science.

Senators, Our Students Flunk Abroad because of Poor Supports to Math, Science

 Senators Impending Review of the Mother Tongue as Culprit

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

 Senator Sherwin Gatchalian wanted a Senate review on the effectiveness of the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) because of the poor performances of Filipino students in the assessment tests on Math and Science subjects abroad.

In the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) the Philippines scored 'significantly lower' than any other country that vie in Grade- 4 Math and Science assessments, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2019 showed.

Our students only scored there 297 in mathematics subject and 249 in science subject, which were "significantly lower" than any other selected nations from all over the world that joined the competition.

The Philippines also scored the lowest among all 58 participating countries for both examinations.

Photo credit: .Cdm.org

Singapore, in that assessment, topped both in Grade 4 mathematics' subject and science's subject, 625 and 595, respectively. The South East Asian country also has the highest scores for Grade 8 in the same subjects, 616 (mathematics subject) and 608 (science subject).

Gatchalian said that those examinees averagely age 15 years old could probably not understand the medium of instructions in English in math and science because of the MTB-MLE .

He cited the dismal performance of the country’s learners in the 2018 PISA where some 94% of our participating 15-year old students speak a language or dialect at home most of the time other than the medium of instruction (that is English) used in the assessment.

“Children learn better and faster in a language that they can understand. This, in effect, boosts their self-esteem making them enjoy school more,” said Gatchalian.

Mother Tongue is Effective in Pedagogy

I argued before that the MTB-MLE is effective because of the series of scientific studies held in the 1960 to 1966 Rizal Experiment and the 1961 to 1964 Iloilo Experiment- II.

In the Rizal Experiment despite the limitations of training and materials, tests at the end of Grade 4 showed mother-tongue based teaching possessed significant strength. Receiving instruction in English, the all-English group got the highest score in language, health and science, social studies, and arithmetic computation.  But to the arithmetic problems, the all-Tagalog group (whose medium was Tagalog in Grades 1-4) obtained the highest level of achievement. In the First Language version of the tests, the three groups showed about the same proficiency levels in the reading test, but it was the all-Tagalog group that obtained the highest achievement levels in arithmetic problems, social studies, health and science.

The Iloilo Experiment II showed the literacy rate of the experimental classes in Ilonggo that the Bureau of Public Schools (precursor of the DepEd) obtained in 1965 was 75.99%. It showed a holding strength within the 1961 level of 53.28%.

The above experiment showed that the best medium of instruction to introduce Tagalog and English simultaneously in Grade 1 is Ilonggo or Hiligaynon. There is reason to believe that using the MTB-MLE helps the learning process by introducing concepts to pupils in the language they are most used to.

Senator Gatchalian Fears of MTB-MLE is Baseless

As I analyzed the premise of Senator Gatchalian I found his fear as baseless. 

If he argues that those 15 years old participants, who were cream of their classes, in math and science abroad became a fiasco on the two subjects then he was wrong there. The problem of the Filipino students were not being proficient to William Shakespeare’s language but because they were patently poor in math and science because thanks but no thanks to poor teaching and the poor materials provided by their schools to them.

These problems are endemic in the public schools in the country.

LET’S ANALYZE

Let’s analyze if indeed the MTB-MLE was the culprit that keep causing us to have these perennial Achilles Heels’ on math and science:

A pupil who entered Grades 1, 2, and 3 have the average ages of 7, 8, 9, respectively.

These age brackets are the target of the MTB-MLE, as provided by Republic Act 10533 (An Act Enhancing the Philippine Basic Education System by Strengthening its Curriculum and Increasing the Number of Years for Basic Education, Approaching Funds Therefor and for Other Purposes), because the children can easily comprehend the teaching inside the room when the mentor uses the dialect spoken by their parents and kin in their homes.

So when they reach Grades 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 where their ages are 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, respectively, they would be using Filipino and English as medium of  instruction to their subjects.

Before they reach 15 years old, they have already accumulated five years in learning and speaking English as medium of instruction.

So where’s the problem of their proficiency in this foreign language?

Common sense dictate that these Filipino examinees in those assessments tests overseas could speak, understand, read, and comprehend the English instruction on math and science tests given to them by their proctors.

The review of the Senate on the inefficacy of the MTB-MLE vis à vis the English language will be a boondoggle to the public coffer because our Honorable Solons who could not even pass the Public Service Acts, despite being incessantly approved by the House of Representatives, to open our country to more foreign investors that generate jobs, will be wasting again valuable government resources, time, and their saliva.

There in that August Chamber every Senator from the once tough talking Police General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa to renowned legal luminary Senator Frank Drilon would have their lengthy speeches on this baseless brouhaha.

READ: 

Nabayaran Ang Mga Senators Natin?

(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)

MGA MALALAKING LABAN NA MAGANDANG PUSTAHAN

 SON: Hinde na matutuloy iyong laban ni Pacquiao at McGregor, ni knock out kahapon ni Dustin Poirier si Connor McGregor.

ME: Sino makakalaban ni Pacquiao?

SON: Iyong batang promising na American-Mexican boxer Ryan Garcia. Sino pupustahan mo doon Pa?

WIFE: Huwag ka ng pusta ng pusta diyan sa mga boxers. Sayang iyong pera, natalo ka doon sa kalaban ni Pacquiao sino ba iyon?

SON: Si Thurman. Split decision iyon pero laki talo mo doon Pa’ ano?

ME: Walang sinabi iyang Pacquiao-Garcia may mas malaking laban diyan na kikita tayo sa panalo.

SON: Sino iyon pa?

ME: Congressman Toff de Venecia versus Sec. Raul Lambino sa Pangasinan Fourth District last year pa nagsisiraan mga tao nila at namimigay ng pera, come backing mayoralty bet Belen Fernandez versus Dagupan City Mayor Brian Lim, Congressman MonMon Guico versus last term Pangasinan Governor Pogi Espino for the gubernatorial race of the 44 towns 3 cities’ province, North Cotabato Governor Nancy Catamco versus come backing governorship bet Lala Talino, Sual Mayor |Dong Calugay versus Ex-Congressman Boying Celeste for mayorship of the 5^th richest town in the Philippines, and others.

Mas malaki panalo ko dito pag dito ako pumusta kaysa sa boxing hahahaha!

D.A Aids Onion Farmers with Kelp-Based AMO Fertilizer

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

BELEAGUERED BY ARMYWORMS THAT GNAWED HUGE ONION FARMS

BAYAMBANG, Pangasinan - The Department of Agriculture frantically helps the farmers of this major onions producing town in the country with a kelp based fertilizer cum pesticide after the dreaded Fall Armyworms decimated roughly 700 hectares of their crops.

Jovy Datuin, Regional Technical Director for Research and Regulations, said in a media interview that those under siege farmers would be given a kelp based pesticides to combat the plague.

She explained the seaweed based pesticide will rejuvenate the affected onions by increasing their plants’ brix or sugar content thus starving to death the pests.

 FALL ARMYWORM (Spodoptera frugiperda) is a lepidopteran pest that feeds in large numbers on leaves and stems of more than 80 plant species, causing major damage to maize, rice, sorghum, sugarcane, onion but also to other vegetable crops and cotton. Photo Credit: Radio Dabanga)

 Upon hearing the media interview of Datuin, AMO Plant Growth Enhancer Manager Eric Acuña cited to this writer that his product is the only kelp based fertilizer that is being sold in the market in Region-1.

He said that Datuin told GMA-7 Television in October 2019 how a seaweed based fertilizer significantly increased the harvest of rice farmers in Sual, Pangasinan while they reduced their expenses.

“Tumaas po ang ani nila and saka iyong cost bumaba siya,” declared to GMA-7 regional television by Dr. Datuin, who was then the chief Science Research Specialist of the D.A in Region-1, after a farm trial there of AMO Plant Growth Enhancer.

Datuin said that despite the farmers not using insecticide, the Department found out that the root development and yield of the palay hike.

Acuña, a former congressman and a lawyer, told this newspaper about the efficacy of his product when he and the then Sual Mayor Roberto Arcinue piloted it there in a countless of hectares

In Bayambang town there are 1,500 hectares being planted with mostly red onions while almost 100 hectares are utilized for white onions.

After the army worms devastated many onions here the price of the red varieties spiked this month from P40 to P45 a kilo in farm gate price.

BROCHURE – The brochure of AMO Plant Growth Enhancer panned by the camera of GMA-7 regional television when it reported in Sual, Pangasinan how AMO strengthened the root development of the palay, thickening of rice straw, vigorous and sturdier rice plant, and yield a buffer harvest.

Farmers here said the Armyworms wrought havoc to their products in the last week of December 2020 while they were still recovering from bulb rot and onion twister which are common diseases affecting onion’s bulbs.

These pests  landed at the plants in nigh time and breed in grassy patches there. A female worm could lay up to 1,000 eggs that could turn into a million worms. Then they suck the sap from onion leaves that kill the plants.

Each of the beleaguered farmers here spent P400,000 for farm inputs and pesticides every hectare to drive away the Armyworms. The expenses, the farmers said, more than doubled their normal expenses of less than P200,000 in a hectare.

READ RELATED ARTICLE: 

D.A Exec. Certifies How Seaweed Fertilizer Spikes Palay Harvest

Bona Confident Mangaldan Mayor will Suspend a Village Chief- Ally

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

MANGALDAN – The former mayor of this first class town is confident that Mayor Marilyn Lambino will implement the preventive suspension order meted by the Sangguniang Bayan (Legislature) against a village chief and her political ally.

“Well sa akin naman siguro now the mayor probably will know the law na ministerial ang trabaho niya. (It) means as good as wala ng ganito kasi alam niya dito sa preventive suspension na binigay ng SB,” declared by former Mayor Bona Fe D. Parayno to media men after the session of the hearing of the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) here last January 14, 2021.

In an ex-parte motion of Parayno, the SB members decided to suspend for 60 days Barangay Poblacion Chairman Melinda “Tonette” Morillo because she flagrantly collected fees from businessmen who applied for business permits despite her Barangay Ordinance No. 42, Series of 2014 was nullified by the SB in year 2014.

MAYORALTY RIVALS former Mangaldan Mayor Bona Fe D. Parayno (left) and incumbent Mayor Marilyn Lambino.

Except with an abstention vote of Councilor Rolly Abalos, the President of the Liga ng mga Barangays, all of the members of the SB voted for the Resolution.

But the implementation of Mayor Lambino was held in abeyance after Morillo submitted to the August chamber her Counter-Affidavit on December 14, 2020 and Parayno’s Reply Affidavit on January 14, 2021.

The preventive suspension of  Morillo did not push through after she told the SB that she will be answering the Reply-Affidavit of Parayno through her Rejoinder- Affidavit.

Morillo did not attend the January 14 session but Vice Mayor Pedro Surdilla rescheduled another session to January 29 after Morillo sent her Rejoinder up to January 18, 2021.

The quarrel of the former mayor and Morillo started in December 2014 when the former, an incumbent mayor then, order the detention of the latter who was a Kagawad and her Barangay Chairman Dr. Joselito "Jojo" Quinto, now a member of the SB, when the duo violated the 60 days preventive suspension Parayno given to them.

Their preventive suspension ensued after they billed businessmen with hefty fees on clearances where the SB imposed to them a Grave Misconduct Case.

READ: MANGALDAN COPS THROW KAP, COUNCIL WOMAN IN JAIL

Morillo and Quinto were even charged in Decembere 22, 2014 at the Office of the Provincial Prosecution in Dagupan City with Illegal Exaction but it was dismissed in April 30, 2019 for lack of jurisdiction by the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor based in Burgos, Pangasinan.

‘It is our humble opinion that the complainant’s proper remedy is to file a Declaratory Relief (Rule 63 of the Revised Rules of Court) with the Regional Trial Court questioning the validity of Ordinance No. 1, Series of 2014 of the Sangguniang Barangay of Poblacion, Mangaldan,” penned by Public Prosecutor II Alona J. Cale-Esberto and approved by Provincial Prosecutor Abraham L. Ramos.

The respondents' lawyer  Joseph Emmanuel Cera, a member of the SB, ordered Morillo and Quinto in December 3, 2014 to take their post at the barangay hall even without finishing the 60 days preventive suspension meted by the mayor

Parayno was defeated by Mayor Lambino in the May 16, 2019 election.

The salient excerpts of Parayno complaint against Morillo:

“The Sangguniang Bayan of Mangaldan had issued Sangguniang Bayan Resolution No. 2015-20, recalling Resolution no. 2015-07 and declaring Barangay Resolution no. 42, S of 2014l null and void”

“Barangay Poblacion in Mangaldan, Pangasinan, through Punong Barangay Melinda Paragas Morillo, continues to collect fees as Barangay Business Clearance as shown by the following receipts stated below, copies of which are hereto attached and made an integral part hereof”.

Some of the issued receipts named to Parayno were dated March 27, 2019, May 17, 2019, and August 3, 2020 with each of them amounted to P500.

Excerpt of Morillo’a Verified- Counter Affidavit against Parayno: “While it is true that Barangay Ordinance No. 11, series of 2019 has been disapproved by the Sangguniang Bayan in its Resolution No. 2020-12. Barangay Council reconsideration and submitted a reduced barangay fees. In its Resolution No. 2020-149, the Sangguniang Bayan likewise denied the said motion. On July 15, Barangay Ordinance, hence, Ordinance 13, series of 2020 was submitted to the Office of Sangguniang Bayan for review and received on July 21, 2020”.

“Section 57 (b) clearly stated that “If the Sangguniang Panlungsod or Sanggunian Bayan as the case may be, fails to ‘take action” on Barangay Ordinances within thirty days from receipts thereof, the same shall be deemed approved. “Despite the lapse of the prescriptive period of thirty days from July 21, 2020 for review, the Sangguniang Bayan failed to take legislative action on the barangay ordinance, hence, the barangay ordinance shall have deemed approved”.

Excerpt of Parayno’s Reply Affidavit says “It is clear therefore that from February 13, 2015 up to September 25, 2020, when the alleged Ordinance No. 13, Series of 2020 was implemented, there was no law for the collection of fees for Barangay Business Clearance in Barangay Poblacion, Mangaldanl, Pangasinan”.

“Respondent’s arrogance and boldness, therefore, in continuing with the collection of said fees despite the absence of any law to the detriment and prejudice of the business people of Poblacion, clearly amounts to Grave Misconduct”.

The SB should be re-voting—on January 29, 2021 as based on the Rejoinder-Affidavit.

Political kibitzers keenly observe how Mayor Lambino would do on the acid test if she will suspend a political ally.

A publisher of a newspaper, who asked for anonymity, said that the members of the SB will capitulate in favor of Morrillo in case the office of the mayor pressures them.

Parayno is seen to reclaim her post from Lambino in the May 2022 mayorship race.

A huge number of pro – Fourth District Congressman Christopher de Venecia reporters covered the January 14 SB session.

Either Lambino’s husband Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) Adminisitrator and Presidential Adviser on Northern Luzon Secretary Raul Lambino or son Pangasinan Vice Governor Mark Lambino is seen to challenge De Venecia’s reelection in the 2022 poll.

Parayno and De Venecia are political allies.

Media supporters of the De Venecias that include former Speaker Joe and former Congresswomen Gina de Venecias and Lambinos through their trolls have been mudslinging each other since August last year.

READ MY BLOG/COLUMN:

How Mayor, Guv, Solon Steal to Fund Their Election

(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)

Half-a-Billion Pesos Needed to Win this Cong. Post

                                A MERE P300,000 MONTHLY PAYING JOB

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Several media practitioners including those who do public relation jobs with politicians and government high brass from a Cabinet Secretary, Congressmen, and Mayors once in a while visit me at the house for at tête-à-tête and get my political anal-lists, er, analysis particularly, over bottle of beers or brewed coffee from McDonald how their benefactors fare.

When one of them appeared at the gate of our house, I blurted out: 

"Oh talo kayo sa troll wars, inaaraw araw kayo ng kalaban habang dalawang buwan na kayo na tahimik!"

He pooh poohed my observation. He said his boss knows witht he pesky trolls. 

"Watch as election period comes near,' he sheepishly smiled.

After exchanging notes about some politicians who are real friends of media men, those who just use us, and how media men use them too hahaha in my mammoth province where some reporters’ loyalty depend on how a pulitiko dangles the weight of the gold, electoral equations in some congressional districts and Dagupan City, fellow reporters who reel on the economic repercussion of the pandemic, and Cyber Libel Law, he asked me:

DOES MY PATRON HAS A CHANCE TO DEFEAT IN THE COMING ELECTION A RE-ELECTIVE CONGRESSMAN?

WHEREWITHAL. Hundreds of millions of pesos being prepared for vote buying in the Philippines to win a congressional post that gives almost P300 Thousand a month pay in a three years term.

I told him as long as the people of the District can be bought just like in some cities and towns in the Philippines, he has a chance to win a three hundred thousand pesos monthly legally paying job but it would be a Pyrrhic victory because the opponent has the wherewithal too to buy votes to ingratiate with the voters.

“Kung hindi nabibili ang mga botante talo kayo gaya sa padamihan ng reporters talo kayo ngayon hahaha galante sila sa mga reporters nila’

Pyrrhic victory to the tricycle drivers, kargadors, and the pedestrians who sneak peek in this Op-Ed article, means a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat..

“Mga ilan ang botante ng Distrito?’ I asked him.

“More or less 350, 000”.

"Kung kukuha kayo ng 80 percent for vote buying ilan iyan?"

“280,000!”

Pero mag ti three waves kayo a month before the election panghimagas, mamigay kayo ng P300 , magkano iyan?

“P84 Million!”

“A week before the election P500, the night before election sa pakurong P1,000 magkano lahat ng gagastusin niya sa vote buying kasama na iyong unang P300 per voter?”

We both mentally calculated but he beat me as a fast drawer in the counting game, the guy according to his father a Magna cum laude, while I got pathetically ‘pasang awa” 76% and 78% in high school and college Math sanamagan!

“Its P504 million o mahigit kalahating bilyon pesos!” he said.

Kung six years na Congressman ang kalaban ninyo, may naipon siyang 10 % sa S.O.P, euphemism of a cut for election purposes from contractors in a billion pesos average’s government projects a year in his District, magkano ang ipon niya pambili ng boto?

We both mentally calculated again how much and this time I beat him because I was counting ten percent of one billion and it was so easy hahahaha!

“P600 million! 10% of P1 billion is P100 million multiplied by six years or two - term of a solon that’s P600 million baby,” as I quaffed my Red Horse Beer”.

I told him his patron’s opponent is no fluke because he is a sitting Congressman.

I added that those who will benefit in the coming election are the screaming vote- for- sale bakya crowd that composed the bulk of the electorates.

“Babaha na naman ng pera at masaya na naman pati mga tindera dahil madami ang pera ng mga bayarang masa,” I told him poetically just like when I composed the Ilonggo folk -rock song’’s Nang Potang that went viral in Facebook especially in Mindanao that rhyme about the three whores that 'de-Virginized" many teenagers in my town there:

Tulad ni: Manang Potang, Potang Pootang!

Tulad ni: Pintay Pintay sa kamaisan sang panulay

Tulad ni Mora Mora Abdul Aunor sa idalom sang tulay

READ MY OTHER BLOG/COLUMN:

FILIPINO SENATORS FOR SALE

(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)