BIR Removes 5 Year-Validity, Autho. to Print on O.R

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

URDANETA CITY, Pangasinan – Businessmen in the Philippines would find themselves to have more ease in dealing with their clients after the government removed the five–year validity period of the permit to use (PTU) and authority to print (ATP) of the official receipt (O.R).

According to Revenue District Office No. 6 Chief Maria Bernadette Mangaoang, Republic Act 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018 removed the following clauses after President Rodrigo Duterte signed it into law in June 30, 2022:

·         The phrase “THIS INVOICE/RECEIPT SHALL BE VALID FOR 5 YEARS FROM THE DATE OF PERMIT TO USE (PTU) ON THE SYSTEM GENERATED RECEIPTS AND INVOICES" shall be omiitted”;

·         The phrase “THIS INVOICE/RECEIPTS SHALL BE VALID FOR 5 YEARS FROM THE DATE OF AUTHORITY TO PRINT (ATP) IN THE MANUAL RECEIPTS” in the manual receipts and invoices shall be omitted, and;

·         The validity date on existing and unused manual receipts and invoices shall be disregarded and still be used until fully exhausted.

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

No More Mayor’s Permit for BIR License’s Application

 

 

RDO 21-A Top Collector Among 11 RDOs in Cent. Luzon

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – One of the main reasons why the Revenue District Office No.21-A of the Bureau of Internal Revenue here topped the collection among its 10 counterpart offices in Central Luzon was anchored on the vigorous campaign of its present RDO-Chief.

“Iyong vigorous ang campaign namin sa mga taxpayers. Last filing season, we hopped from one accounting firm to another to campaign for an improved tax compliance from their client-taxpayers,” RDO No. 21 – A Chief Charmaine C. dela Torre told Northern Watch Newspaper.

NORTH PAMPANGA'S BIR CHIEF Charmain C. dela Torre (right) answers the questions of a reporter how her three towns and two cities’ revenue district office fares. It was tasked by the national government to collect almost P10 billion this year. RDO No. 21-A is one of the biggest tax offices among the 11 RDOs in Central Luzon. 

De la Torre said their district collected P5.5 billion for the first semester of 2022 which yielded an excess against cumulative goal of 15%. Versus last year’s same period, the growth rate was an overwhelming 49%, or an increase of P1.8 billion.

RDO- 21-A was tasked by the national government to collect P9.7 billion this whole year.

In the BIR’s official datum, having collected P5.5 billion from January to June this year, it made RDO21-A North Pampanga the highest collector among the 11 RDOs located all over the seven provinces in Central Luzon.

Aside from the remaining goal of P4.2 billion Dela Torre will soldier on this July to December, she wanted to buttress the P9.7 billion goal this year by another almost one billion pesos’ taxes in the new zonal valuation she can collect. The RDO Chief and staff submitted early this year the draft of the valuation to the BIR’s technical committee for approval.

“When I assumed my duty here in November I looked to the revision talaga. In a span of four months we were able to submit sa technical committee. So we are targeting by August that would take effect and that would double our collection from One-Time Transaction (ONETT). Maybe we could generate almost one billion (pesos) from one-time transaction”.

The new revenue she could chalk up would come from the deed of sale, capital gain tax, estate tax “because of the upcoming impending zonal valuation”.

 The religious Dela Torre was grateful to God Almighty on the feat her office accomplished in the first semester of this year.

“It’s a blessing it’s a grace from God,” she quipped before the end of the interview by this newspaper.

This North Pampanga’s tax office has 101 personnel where more or less 35 of them are Examiners.

Killer - Doc Concocts those Ambushes, Narco Yarns

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Filipinos were shocked yesterday’s afternoon when a medical doctor Chao-Tiao Yumol, 37, shot to death former nine years Lamitan Mayor Rosita “Rose” Furigay, her longtime aide Victor George Capistrano, and Ateneo de Manila (AdMU) security guard Jeneven Bandiala. Furigay daughter Hannah Rose ,25, and a bystander were wounded.  The daughter was hit on the head and abdomen but pronounced safe by hospital’s authorities.

The murder ensued inside AdMU in Quezon City as its College of Law’s students - that included Hannah -  prepare for their 4 p.m commencement exercise – the first actual graduation after the pandemic wrought havoc to the lives of the Filipinos for two years.

KILLER-DOCTOR Chao-Tiao Yumol (left, photo) and victim nine years Lamitan City, Basilan Mayor Rose Furigay. Photo is internet grabbed.

Lawyer of former Mayor Furigay - whose husband Roderick is the present mayor of the southern island’s city – told reporters that Yumol had a grudge against the former lady mayor because she implemented in 2018 the cease- and- desist order of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) the closure of his infirmary clinic in Lamitan City.

After that Yumol had been decrying in the social media and done some interviews with blogger like fellow Diehard Duterte Supporters (DDS) Binibining Maharlika and reporters about his two ambushes and being treacherously hit by the alleged henchman of the Furigays in Quezon City that resulted for a surgery on his right eye and the repair of the fraction on his head as shown by his photos. He told Maharlika in February 12, 2021 that the Furigays were influential. He was on the run around the country by even using his Toyota Fortuner vehicle as his abode. The political couple allegedly raised a bounty of P5 million for his head. He accused in his social media interviews that even the judge of the Regional Trial Court in Olongapo was in cahoots with the Furigays where during his detention in a jail in Quezon City for the strings of cyber libels filed by former Mayor Rose he saw an order to transfer him to Lamitan City. He questioned this order in the Supreme Court and was awaiting its result.

He even sued Presidential Anti-Corruption Commissioner Greco Belgica in the Ombudsman for coddling the narco couple after the Commissioner entertained them for six hours in his office. He said Belgica gave him only six minutes by advising him to file the necessary criminal and administrative cases to the then mayor.

Blogger Maharlika asked him why he did not go to the popular social media and television programs of the Tulfos (Raffy, Erwin, and Ben)?

He said Erwin backtracked when he learned - through his staff who entertained Yumol - that he was being used by the opposition in Lamitan.

Cases like the one encountered by Yumol would be sensational that could be exploited to the hilt by the Tulfos. They could spike their hundreds of thousands if not millions of viewership in YouTube whose advertisements could give them financial windfall.

Why the Tulfos did not buy the narration of the Doctor? Were they a tall tale?

Yumol faces more than 70  cyber libel felonies and seven warrants of arrest from the political couple and their local government employees whom he dishonored and discredited in his social media like Facebook.

My poser here: If he was ambushed in his vehicle twice as he alleged, why he did not show photos of the bullet holes in his Fortuner at his Facebook account’s Chao-Tiao Yumol? Why he did not show police blotters like his ambuscade in Zamboanga City? Where are the witnesses - the residents of the place of the ambuscade - that could collaborate his accusation?

If the Furigays were narcotics sellers if not coddlers of drug pushers in Lamitan, why the police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) did not include them in the Drug Matrix in years 2020 to the end of the term of President Rodrigo Duterte in June 30, 2022?

The government in 2019 had gargantuan P13. 47 billion intelligence funds and mammoth snooping apparatus that could include the Furigays as protector, seller, and coddlers of narcs during the no-nonsense War on Drugs of the former president.

Was Yumol just want to get even with the political couple?

Was the killer - doctor a nutcase in case all these accusations he hurled against the political couple were contrived?

If that would be the case, his lawyer – if he was worth his salt – can plead “Insanity” and availed what the Revised Penal Code called the "circumstances which exempt a person from criminal liability:"

 “An imbecile or an insane person, unless the latter has acted during a lucid interval (Paragraph 1, Article 12).

Doctor or Doctors of Psychiatry should evaluate Yumol, as evidence in court, immediately before or during the commission of the offense/s if he was indeed insane otherwise he rots in jail and spend the maximum life sentence of not more than 40 years (Article 70 RPC) for his brazen crimes in killing cold bloodedly three people.

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

Paniqui, Tarlac Murders, My Lai Massacre: Shockers to Humanity

MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

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I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials's idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.

P’nan Guv Hits Espinos’ Lawyer; Endorses Bataoil

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza 

BAYAMBANG – Pangasinan Governor Ramon “Mon-Mon” Guico, III told members of the legislative bodies of the five municipalities and a city in the 3^rd Congressional District of the province that he was to interfere that an ally and lawyer of his political nemesis former governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. could not be elected in the League of the Vice Mayors of the Philippines – Pangasinan Chapter (LVMP-PC).

“Basta papayagan na lang namin na siya ang mamuno ng Vice Mayors League? Ano naman po ang hitsura namin? Hindi namin pinaglaban ang aming imahi at ang aming dignity,” the Governor said on Laoac Vice Mayor Nelson Gayo as seen on the video sent to this newspaper by its columnist Arnel Montemayor.

NEW POLITICAL ALLIES Pangasinan Governor Ramon “Mon-Mon” Guico, III (left) and capital town’s Lingayen Mayor Leopoldo Bataoil. The former police three-star general is the presidential bet of the new governor for the election in August of the League of Mayors of the Philippines – Pangasinan Chapter (LMP-PC).

“Sabi ko kailangan maki-alam kami”.

Guico narrated his gripes to the councilors on Gayo when the latter wrote letters to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial legislative body) not to issue an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) and approved a Resolution from his flagship project’s special economic zone (SEZ) that could generate tens of thousands of jobs in his former congressional district in eastern Pangasinan.

“So nagtayo po ako sa aking bayan ng Binalonan ng twenty six hectares at nadala ko ang Sumitomo pero Oposisyon sumulat sa Sangguniang Panlalawigan at sumulat sa DENR na huwag bigyan ng ECC huwag bigyan ng kung ano ano pa. At sabi sa Sanggunian huwag bigyan ng permit that to be granted by the province. Sino po ang sumulat ngayon? Si Vice Mayor Nelson Gayo ng Laoac”.

The Governor reminded the lawmakers of the 3rd District that while he beat by more than 188,000 lead votes the then six years sitting Governor Amado “Pogi” Espino, III, Gayo joined the press conference of the defeated governor’s father and namesake who told the public that Guico’s party cheated his son.

Even then acting President Gayo’s LVMP-PC media liaison Renato “Atong” Remogat did not escape the ire of the Governor.

He called Remogat as pesky in the LVMP-PC election now headed by Mangaldan Vice Mayor Mark Stephen Mejia.

“Pero nanggugulo iyang guwapong diyaryong media niya Atong Remogat ba iyon? Iyong makinis iyong mukha nangingi-alam nanggugulo ulit iyong gustong magkapera nanggugulo,” Guico ridiculed the bronzed skin and potholes' face Remogat that brought guffaw among the crowd.

Remogat earlier bylined two news articles in this newspaper titled: VM Gayo Bats more VMLP Advocacies and Ex-Guv Espino, P’nan Dads Support Perez for PCL Election.

Mestiso iyon hahaha!” he chuckled on his sarcasm to the reporter before the attendees and other guests like his special adviser Cezar T. Quiambao and Congressmen Art Celeste and Mark Cojuangco.

MEANWHILE, Governor Guico will support the reelection bid of Lingayen Mayor Leopoldo Bataoil for the presidency of the League of Mayors of the Philippines – Pangasinan Chapter (LMP-PC), he told members of the legislative bodies of the municipalities of the towns of Calasiao, Mapandan, Sta. Barbara, Malasiqui, and Bayambang and the city of San Carlos in Pangasinan.

Guico said that in the last election Bataoil showed fairness in allowing his party to do their campaign sorties in the capital town.

“Unang una last election hindi naman po siya hostile fair and square lang. Alam ni Congressman Mark (Cojuangco). Sports lang professional".

He wanted Bataoil to win the presidency of the LMP-PC in the election in August this year.

The governor recalled that after he was elected the governor of the forty-four towns and three cities’ province, Bataoil met him and showed his master plan of his 32 villages’ town.

When the presidency of the LMP was discussed on that meeting, Bataoil, a former police three –star general, retorted to the provincial chief executive he would not decline the offer to retain his post in the League.

“First instance nag usap kami (Bataoil). Pinakita niya ang master plan ng Lingayen. Sabi niya: “Hindi ko naman hinihingi pero hindi ko naman kayo (tatangihan),” on the acquiescence of the Mayor to head again the LMP in the gargantuan province.

No Defections of Pro-Espino Mayors to Guico – Veems

A Mere Get-Together

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY, Pangasinan – Two pro – Amado Espino, Jr. former mayors who are now vice mayors denied that they and the chief executives defected to the camp of the new Pangasinan governor when they were seen socializing with him at a provincial government owned hotel in Lingayen.

“Hindi. Pinatawag lang kami. Pro –Espino pa rin kami,” San Fabian Vice Mayor Constante “Danny” Agbayani told this writer in the sideline of the election of the Vice Mayors League – Pangasinan Chapter held last Tuesday at the function hall of Jeck's Restaurant here.

POLITICAL NEMESIS Pangasinan Governor Ramon "Mon-Mon" Guico, III (left photo) and former Congressman Amado T. Espino, Jr.

Binmaley Vice Mayor Sam Rosario told reporters in a huddle that the countless incumbent mayors and vice mayors of Pangasinan acquiesced to the invitation of Governor Ramon “Monmon” Guico, III for a get-together.

“He talked about the forthcoming elections of the Vice Mayors League, Councilors League, and the Mayors League,” he said about the agenda of the meeting.

The seasoned nine years Mayor said there was no attempt on the side of the Governor to proselytize the Espino’s mayors to abandon the former governor.

Among the 47 city and municipal mayors in Pangasinan, majority of the chief executives came from the political party of Espino and his former governor son and namesake. Guico, a former Congressman of the 5th District, defeated the latter in the May 9, 2022 election.

In a consensus initiated by Guico, Mayors League of the Philippines –Pangasinan Chapter President Lingayen Mayor Leopoldo Bataoil retained his post through the unanimous nod of the 39 mayors who were there.

Guico introduced to his guests in that Capitol Resort Hotel meeting his presidential candidate for the Vice Mayors League-Pangasinan Chapter (VML-PC) and Philippines Councilors League –Pangasinan Chapter (PCL-PC).

Mangaldan Vice Mayor Mark Stephen Mejia ran unopposed here last Tuesday when Espino loyalist and acting VML-PC Loaac Vice Mayor Nelson Gayo backtracked upon learning that the Governor was hell bent to support Mejia.

Despite former Governor Espino pledged of support to San Manuel Councilor Antonio "Honeyboy" Perez in his bid for the presidency of the PCL-PC, Guico brought Perez rival’s Alaminos City Councilor Arthur “Junjun” Celeste, Jr. who spoke last July 16 before the Pangasinan mayors and vice mayors held in that coastal hotel.

Another source, who asked in condition of anonymity, told Northern Watch Newspaper that before the 39 mayors left the meeting they met one-on-one the governor and his allies in a room. He did not disclose what transpired there.

Guico was seen in that get together- with his Team Aguila’s allies’ Department of Agrarian Reform Sec. Conrad Estrella, III, Congressmen Art Celeste (1^st District), Mark Cojuangco (2^nd District), and Ramon “Monching” Guico, II (5^th District).

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

Billionaire-Mayor Explains How Aguila Defeated the Espinos

MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

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I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials's idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.

Did Pro-Espinos’ Mayors Defect to Gov. Guico?

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

 Several days ago, reporter Atong Remogat sent me in my e-mail two news articles he bylined to be published in Northern Watch Newspaper (NWN). They were titled VM Gayo Bats more VMLP Advocacies and Ex-Guv Espino, P’nan Dads Support Perez for PCL Election.

On the Pangasinan Councilor’s League and its prexy candidate’s San Manuel Councilor Honeyboy Perez, one of its excerpts said:

FLIRTING WITH THE ENEMY. Pro-former Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. mayors and allies seen today at a photo op with Pangasinan Governor Ramon "Mon-Mon" Guico, III and Congressmen Art Celeste, Mark Cojuangco, and Monching Guico in the provincial government owned Capitol Resort Hotel in Lingayen, Pangasinan. The gathering of 42 of the 47 local government units' chief executives in Pangasinan was about their support for the candidacy of  Alaminos City Councilor Arthur “Junjun” Celeste, Jr for the presidency of the Philippine Councilors League (PCL) - Pangasinan Chapter. Electoral victory of the son of 1st District Cong. Art Celeste means additional ex-officio Board Member among the four regular elected minority lawmakers of Guico in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

“Yet the Perez camp have leaned on the support of former Pangasinan Governor and incumbent Abante Pangasinan-Ilocano Partylist Chairman Amado T. Espino, Jr. It was learned that Espino has already endorsed Antonio “Honeyboy” Perez during the meeting of all the allies of the former congressman Espino in a gathering recently.   Present during the meeting were the majority of the re-elected and newly elected mayors, vice mayors and the district’s board members.  Political pundits are seeing that the contest in the councilors' league will be competitive between the two camps since both have the power, influence, and money”.

***

Yesterday while inside the car of NWN Columnist Arnel Montemayor with nom de plume’s Munting Isko, I told him and former Provincial Information Office Chief Ruel Camba – the present Editor of Capitol Post  - that the camp of Pangasinan Governor Monmon Guico will be enmeshed in ingratiating by winning the hearts and minds of the councilors of the forty four towns and three cities and see their favored ex-officio Board Member catapulted to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial legislative body) – adding to their minority four regular elected BM.  

Arnel whom I called “Prof” told me too about Atong’s grief on the chances of his patron’s Laoac Vice Mayor and Lawyer Nelson V. Gayo  versus neophyte Mangaldan Vice Mayor  and Surgeon Mark Stephen Mejia to clinch the presidency of the Vice Mayors' League Pangasinan (VMLP). He said Atong deplored the “interference” of the Capitol in favor of Mejia.

I was amused that an innocuous less powerful position of a vice mayor can be shaken by the powers that be.

The VML has no kamandag in the power play between Guico and the Espinos unlike those honchos in the mayors' league who command warm bodies cum large voters.

Damn, being a Veem is titular post and a spare tire where its occupant only waits for a permanent vacancy or inability to occur in the office of the Mayor.

The vice mayors are not real power – just like the vice governor that has no “kingdom” like the mayor -  as seen recently how the lawmakers of the Sangguniang Panglungsod (legislative body) of Cagayan de Oro City rebuffed and humiliated before the social media and national television's Vice Mayor Jocelyn Rodriguez because of her ignorance in the parliamentary rules.

“Madam chair, you are not the city council; we are the city council – we can overrule you! You have to rule on the point of order; you cannot just ignore that! You are not the vice mayor here; you are the presiding officer here! The presiding officer is different from the vice mayor – remember that! You are not the queen here!” seasoned Councilor Edgar Cabanla hollered to the Veem.

This after VM Rodriguez - sister of Cagayan de Oro Cong. Rufus Rodriguez - snarled to Councilor Roger Abaday who stood to raise a point of order to “Sit down. You are not recognized. Sit down!”.

Salamabit! I thought those that are ordered to "sit down" are those trained foreign pet dogs some of us are taking care of, hahaha! 

A Vice Mayor or a Vice Governor is a nobody to a vocal, intelligent, and intrepid councilor or board member of the opposition.

 Did the allies of former Governors Amado T. Espino, Jr. and his son and namesake defect to the fold of Pangasinan Governor Guico?

Just this afternoon Columnist Montemayor sent a video in my Messenger with several dozens of mostly male individuals posing for photo op with Guico, Congressmen Art Celeste, Mark Cojuangco, and Monching Guico, and Vice Governor Mark Lambino at the provincial government owned Capitol Resort Hotel.

I was jolted on my seat when I saw pro Espinos’ Hizzoners Dong Calugay of Sual, Lito Zaplan of Sta. Barbara, J.R Resuello of Basista, Ernesto Acain of Labrador, Ming Rosario of Manaoag, and many more as seen on the photos I posted to complement this opinion article.

 The Prof told me the 39 Mayors pledged their support to the candidacy for the PCL of Congressman Celeste’s scion Alaminos City Councilor Arthur “Junjun” Celeste, Jr.

 Does the present gathering signal that the loyalists of the Espinos abandoned them?

What about the majority members of the provincial board who are pro-Espinos? Have the powers that be succeeded too in “proselytizing” them to defect to their side?

In the last May 9 election, only four of the lawmakers of Guico won while eight of the BMs ticket of then Governor Pogi Espino became victorious.

With the Federation Presidents of the Barangays and Samahang Kabataan (SK) still loyal to the Espinos that will be ten BMs that can wreck havoc to the programs of Governor Guico that need their imprimatur in the August body in the next three years.

These ten BMs can make or unmake the Guv.

PANGASINAN’S LUMINARIES pose for prosperity for the Pangasinan Councilor’s League (PCL) incoming election. From (L-R). Re-elected 6^th District Board Member Salvador “Dong” Perez, Former San Manuel Mayor, San Manuel Vice Mayor Salvador M. Perez, Former Pangasinan Governor, 5^th District and now Abante Pangasinan-Ilocano Partylist Chairman Amado T. Espino, Jr., Councilor Honeyboy Perez, and re-elected San Manuel Mayor Kenneth Perez. (Text and photo: Renato "Atong" Remogat)  

The best example for political spectators to comprehend the nuances this op-ed article's espouses is to learn how a majority opposition councilors in Dagupan City paralyzed then Mayor Brian Lim and his administration when the pro former Mayor Belen T. Fernandez lawmakers did not approve the 2022 P1.380 billion city budget.

Lim could not even chalk up a compromise with these Dads because they were well taken care (tens of millions of pesos’ wink wink?) by the billionaire Belen Fernandez.

That schism orchestrated by Fernandez marginalized Lim and saw him bludgeoned in the ballot boxes by the shrewd former mayor.

Can the Espinos sustain the cohesion of the majority of the Board Members loyal to them just like what the chutzpah of Fernandez?  

Ex-Guv Espino, P’nan Dads Support Perez for PCL Election

By Renato “Atong” V. Remogat

LINGAYEN – While the Pangasinan Councilor’s League election is fast approaching, both camps of the political families' Perezes and Celestes of the gargantuan Pangasinan province are now consolidating their forces.

PANGASINAN’S LUMINARIES pose for prosperity for the Pangasinan Councilor’s League (PCL)  incoming election. From (L-R). Re-elected 6^th District Board Member Salvador “Dong” Perez, Former San Manuel Mayor, San Manuel Vice Mayor Salvador M. Perez, Former Pangasinan Governor, 5^th District and now Abante Pangasinan-Ilocano Partylist Chairman Amado T. Espino, Jr., Councilor Honeyboy Perez, and re-elected San Manuel Mayor Kenneth Perez.  

                It was known that the Celestes have already started calling up re-elected and newly elected members of the council.

                Yet the Perez camp have leaned on the support of former Pangasinan Governor and incumbent Abante Pangasinan-Ilocano Partylist Chairman Amado T. Espino, Jr.

                It was learned that Espino has already endorsed Antonio “Honeyboy” Perez during the meeting of all the allies of the former congressman Espino  in a gathering recently.

                Present during the meeting were the majority of the re-elected and newly elected mayors, vice mayors and the district’s board members.

                Political pundits are seeing that the contest in the councilors' league will be competitive between the two camps since both have the power, influence, and money.

                In a telephone interview with the former San Manuel Mayor, Vice Mayor Salvador “Badong” Perez, told this Writer in the vernacular with his baritone voice: “Iyong laban namin ng mga Celeste ay sa pulitika lang, hindi naman sana masisira yong samahan namin bilang magkaka-ibigan dahil pulitika lang yan”.

                Number one newly elected councilor Antonio “Honeyboy” Perez is the fifth son of former Mayor Perez while his rival Councilor Arthur Celeste, Jr. is the son of 1^st District Congressman Arthur Celeste.

                Whoever will win in the PCL election will be catapulted to be the ex-officio member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial legislative body) representing the councilors’ in the forty four towns and three cities’ Pangasinan.

 

Coco Martin Look–Alike Won by Landslide Vs. Siting VM, Ex-VM

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – A less moneyed vice mayoralty candidate in this capital town buried with massive votes a sitting vice mayor and a former vice mayor here because of his being a doppelganger of the country’s most sought actor Coco Martin of the top-rating television drama series’ FPJ Ang Probinsyano.

LOOK-ALIKE. Lingayen Vice Mayor Dexter Malicdem (left) who is dubbed as the dead ringer of TV King actor Coco Martin and Mayor Leopoldo Bataoil pose for posterity near the town hall. Malicdem won in a landslide votes in the May election against then incumbent Vice Mayor Juday Vargas and former Vice Mayor Nephtalie Pasiliao with 22, 148 and 18, 514 margin, respectively. 

“Probinsiyano kami diya! Probinsiyano kami diya! Probinsiyano kami diya! (We are for the Probinsiyano here! We are for Probinsiyano here! We are for Probinsiyano here!),” chants paraphrased by public relation man Arnel Montemayor in the office of the mayor of the supporters of this town’s newly elected Vice Mayor Mac Dexter Malicdem every time he went to do a stump to most of the 32 villages here months before the May 9, 2022 election.

Martin alias the intrepid Kardo Dalisay is the King of Philippines’ boob tube.

“Kardo Dalisay ako, Sir! (I’m Kardo Dalisay, Sir!)” gamely quipped to Montemayor and this writer by Malicdem about Martin's role in the television series when the duo visited him at the office of the mayor for his acting role as the chief executive after Mayor Leopoldo Bataoil went to South Korea.

The 31 years old still single Malicdem told Northern Watch Newspaper that he is not a product of a political family since no one among his ascendants has experience with politics in the past.

He is a registered nurse who worked momentarily at the Regional-1 Medical Center in Dagupan City before he resigned and took his Bachelor of Science in Optometry at the Lyceum Northwestern University in Dagupan City.

Leading star Coco Martin in "Ang Probinsyano" | Photo Credit: Instagram/ Mr.Cocomartin

The courteous soft spoken vice mayor disclosed that when he ran for the Sangguniang Bayan (legislative assembly) in the May 9, 2016 he won the No. 2 slot of the eight members body.

In the May 13, 2019 poll he was catapulted to the No. 1 post among the eight members’ S.B.

In the May 9, 2022 electoral derby he “bludgeoned” the incumbent Vice Mayor Juday Vargas and former Vice Mayor Nephtalie Pasiliao with 22, 148 and  18, 514 lead votes, respectively.

In that poll Malicdem, Pasilao, and Vargas garnered 33, 679, 15, 514, 11, 531 total votes, respectively.

 

 

San Fabian Mayora Continues Programs of Predecessor-Hubby

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

SAN FABIAN, Pangasinan – The new lady mayor here will continue the programs and projects initiated by her husband and predecessor.

Former Mayor Constante “Danny” Agbayani said that incumbent Mayor Marlyn Espino - Agbayani will carry on the scholarship given by the previous administration to college students and constituents, those unfinished infrastructures, and other projects he started.

Mayor Marlyn Espino - Agbayani

“Tatapusin iyong infrastructure na hindi natin nagawa. Susundan niya pa rin iyong mga ginawa ko. Priority pa rin iyong mga scholarship”.

The former Chief Executive said each of the scholars here in the tertiary level of education receives every week an allowance.

“Depende kasi limang libo may allowance sila. P1,000 every weekend”.

The Agbayanis have given too financial assistance of P25,000 from the embalming to the internment of the dead of the bereaved family here.

One of the major infrastructure projects constructed when former Mayor Agbayani – who is now the incumbent Vice Mayor – was the more than a hundred of millions of pesos’ modern public market located along the highway in Barangay Cayangan here.

The giant infrastructure, the former mayor said, is in preparation for the San Miguel Corporation’s P50 billion agro-industrial and tourism industry which could generate more than 3,000 workers.

“O di saan sila kakain kung walang Jollibee?” Agbayani posed then to this newspaper after political detractors here opposed the construction of the market.

He said another project the agriculture building was already completed during his mayoral stint.

How Lucky Me! and Pancit Canton Gradually Kill Consumers

                   By Mortz C. Ortigoza

With European Union countries’ Ireland, France, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, The Netherlands, Croatia, Greenland, Faeroe Islands, and Malta banning Lucky Me! instant noodles and Pancit Canton manufactured in Thailand because of their poisonous content that gradually kill the consumers, I wonder what has the Food and Drug Administration of the Philippines (formerly the Bureau of Food and Drugs) has been doing on the dried noodles that are the favorite staple of the poor in the country?

The governments of the E.U countries prohibited their people to consume Pancit Canton’s beef noodle soup, original, chili, kalamansi, and chilimansi because they contained ethylene oxide in the food's spice mix.

If these European countries stopped their people to consume these products, what has the FDA been doing to stave off the Pinoys from these two noodle brands?

The food regulatory body has known to have issues of incompetency with rogue producers in the past.

I remembered before about those buko juice commercially distributed all over the country allegedly mixed with formalin to stay fresh.

I remembered too those candies and other food products imported from China that contain formaldehyde.

Formaldehyde is a chemical used for the production of polymers and other compounds. It is used to in glues for the manufacturing wood products and embalming solutions. Formaldehyde is a toxin, allergen and carcinogen, and is restricted or banned in many countries due to its detrimental effects.

With the continued sale in the country of these noodle and pancit by Lucky Me!, I pity the great unwashed in the Philippines who survived their daily struggle in life through these cheap products as their daily three if not two square meals.

These food stuffs were the favorite survival food among Filipino poor who could not afford to buy rice during the early months of the pandemic’s lockdown in 2020.  Lucky Me! And Pancit Canton products were the items that quickly disappeared from grocery shelves, forcing the Department of Trade and Industry to control its purchase.

Ethylene oxide is a chemical to protect plants and often used as a preservative to keep products fresh. Several countries allow its use but the European Parliament and European Commission have banned it since 2020.

The brouhaha in Europe started on June 23 this year when Germany notified the European Commission’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) that chemical was found in the “spice mix” from instant noodle which was imported by The Netherlands.

France’s General Directorate for Food and Malta’s Environmental Health Directorate said four Lucky Me! noodle variants were found to be non-compliant with the use of “pesticide” on food.

“Although the consumption of the contaminated product does not pose an acute risk to health, there may be health issues if there is continued consumption of ethylene oxide over a long period of time. Therefore, exposure to this substance needs to be minimized,” the Food Safety Authority of Ireland said.

Salamabit, have you read the words above “there may be health issues if there is continued consumption of ethylene oxide’?

The Flips in this Flipland have been eating Lucky Me! and Pancit Canton since they were a child.

They even coined a joke whenever somebody accomplished something: “Mag pa Canton ka naman (Treat us with Canton)”.

 It is a play of words bordering on the sexual term’s cantot (sex). The unwary Filipinos susmariosep do not have an idea that the Canton being fed to them by the celebrant was already their one-way ticket to hell if they have not signed their one-way ticket to heaven.

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

Shield Law Does not Protect Radio Announcers on Libel

MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

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I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials's idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.