Narco Cops Becoming Bolder Under Marcos Admin

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

After the exit of the Duterte Administration notorious on its two-fist knuckle duster approached to illegal drug sellers, police officers have been audacious in their involvement to countless mammoth kilos of methamphetamine hydrochloride colloquially called shabu under the nascent Marcos Administration.

After the building’s Wealth and Personal Development Lending Inc. owned by Police Master Sergeant Rodolfo Mayo, Jr. in Tondo, Manila was raided by his colleagues in the Philippines Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG) in October 8, 2022 where 990 kilos of shabu worth P6.7 billion, his identification card and other incriminating belongings were seized, too.

In the hot pursuit operation that ensued on the same day, PDEG operatives confiscated from Mayo – an intelligence officer – at least two kilos of meth worth P13.6 million, a gun, a sport utility vehicle, and a Philippine National Police's identification card.

He is now in the slammer because of a non-bailable anti-illegal drug cases.

The embarrassment in the police organization did not end there after two Sergeants of the PDEG were caught in the security camera of the lending company spiriting away 42 kilos of the illegal drugs during the raid.

This prompted them to return the two bags containing the shabu by leaving them in front of the police national headquarter at Camp Crame in Quezon City.

Those giant kilos of cracks being seized in that raid were believed to be recycled to be sold again to the public by sordid cops.

The scandals did not stop there as two former chiefs of the PDEG – with the rank of General – have been mentioned on some online news as the alleged ring leader of the criminal act.

PNP Chief Director General Rodolfo Azurin, Jr. told recently a press conference at Camp Crame that an investigation was ongoing on the General supposedly involved in this gargantuan narco raid.

“Again, ongoing ang investigation natin. Ano, we have not been mentioning ang name because ang investigation natin dito we could not just accuse anybody, di ba? These officers have a career na pinaghirapan nila ang career nila that’s why very careful kami. So I really don’t know bakit may mga lumalabas na mga pangalan na sa PNP naman ay hindi pa namin na re-reach ang point na iyan”.

The top national cop’s pronouncement by not disclosing the names of the General got the goat of beleaguered and suspended Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Chief Gerald Bantag who rebuked General Azurin’s double standard by mentioning his name thrice as person of interest on the assassination of acerbic tongue broadcaster Percy Lapid. His confessed killer Joel Escorial told the police he got the order and the more than half-a-million pesos bribe from Crisanto Palana Villamor who was jailed in the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa. Villamor died mysteriously in October 18 inside the calaboose.  According to the autopsy report of Forensic Expert Dr. Raquel Fortun – his death was due to suffocation when his head was forcefully covered by a plastic bag.

***

In the natal day in October 31 of Iglesia ni Cristo’s Executvie Minister Eduardo Manalo this what I posted on my Facebook page:

 “This what makes Iglesia ni Cristo Executive Minister Ka Eduardo Manalo stands tall among the High Priests and Top Pastors of all religious sects in the Philippines: Whenever he celebrates his birthday (October 31) there is hubbub among national and local politicians who scamper to have tarps and radio, TV, and newspaper ads to ingratiate with him and his millions of his church's members. Not to mention, kumikita ang mga taga media at taga gawa ng tarps hahaha!”

We laughed how the INC instills fears to politicians who want to win and not lose the election they are to hurdle. According to some sources in the past election in my province, three district ministers of the church were sacked from their post and the church - infamous for its bloc voting - because they duped the INC’s hierarchy on its Central Temple in Quezon City. They showed there that the candidates for the governorship and the congressional were shoo-in for the victory.

It was a quid pro quo for the two politicians where they give millions of pesos for each of the district ministers in exchange of the command votes the national office in Quezon City bestow them.

Although the congressional bet they supported for the blessing of the hierarchy did not win, the church thrown them out because of taking the bribe monies. Who cares, they still laugh on their way to the bank to withdraw their huge dough.

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

The Lethal, Costly Weapons of a Cobra

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.

 

 

 

New 5-Ton Temporary Wawa Bridge to Open Nov. 7

 Only Light Vehicles Can Pass

By Mortz C. Ortigoza 

STA. BARBARA, Pangasinan – Users of the collapsed steel bridge in Barangay Wawa, Bayambang can cross it again after two weeks, according to the chief of the Department of Public Works & Highway.

A five-ton temporary bridge will be completed before or after November 7 this year to replace the portion of the 20-ton limit bridge that fell recently after a 63.5 overloaded 12 - wheeler dump truck crossed it.

THE ILL FATED Carlos P. Romulo Bridge popularly known as Wawa Bridge (left, photo) in Bayambang, Pangasinan after it collapsed last October 20 when a 63.5 tons 12- wheeler hauling truck violated the bridge 20 tons' capacity. The big truck and a smaller hauling vehicle went with the falling panel. A Bailey bridge (right, photo) whose 13 meters and five tons capacity's similarity is being constructed now so it could be openned to light vehicles on November 7 as disclosed to Northern Watch Newspaper by the Department of Public Works & Highway.

“Hindi lang magkabagyo kahit two weeks,” disclosed to this writer by 4th District Engineering Office’s Chief Simplicio D. Gonzales.

He said the Bailey bridge arrived last Monday from the regional office of the DPWH in San Fernando City, La Union Province.

A Bailey bridge is a type of portable pre-fabricate truss bridge. It was developed in 1940–1941 by the British for military use during the Second World War and saw extensive use by British, Canadian and American military engineering units. It has the advantages of requiring no special tools or heavy equipment to assemble. The wood and steel bridge elements were small and light enough to be carried in trucks and lifted into place by hand without the use of a crane (Wikipedia)

“Nag start na siya, retrieve na lang iyong mga nahulog na (debris). Siguro magsisimula na (October 25) kini-clear lang. Andoon na ang Bailey at mga equipment”.

Workers of the DPWH and not those of a private contractor will install the temporary 13 meters link from the bank to the still passable part of the of the Carlos Romulo Bridge.

Vehicles that are not more than five tons (five thousand kilos) could pass by the temporary bridge.

He said the DPWH regional director Ronnel M. Tan recommended to the national government a total replacement of another 490-meter concrete bridge for the damaged one.

A new 490 meters’ concrete bridge could cost the national coffer half a billion pesos.

Gonzales said that every meter of the bridge is pegged at P1 million. Its cost however can exceed because of the design.

“Depende iyan sa taas. Magkakaroon iyan ng survey. Depende iyan sa taas kasi nag va-vary sa length hindi mo na agad ma determine kung magkano,” he explained to Northern Watch Newspaper.

Gonzales blamed the driver of the 63.5 tons overloaded dump truck ferrying sand and gravel as the culprit that cause a portion of the 20 tons’ capacity 1945 vintage Carlos P. Romulo Bridge or Wawa Bridge in Barangay Wawa, Bayambang, Pangasinan to collapse last October 20 with the big truck and an Elf truck that followed it.

Risks of 64 tons’ Overloaded Truck on a 20 Tons' Bridge

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

I have a one-on-one interview recently with the top honcho of the Department of Public Works & Highway who covers the town where the 490 meters long steel bridge that collapsed due to an overloaded dump truck ferrying a sand.

4th District Engineering Office’s Chief Simplicio D. Gonzales told me that he was not sanctioned when I posed to him if he was reprimanded by his superiors in the regional and national offices of the DPWH because of the tragedy at the bridge in Bayambang, Pangasinan.

Two trucks - one of them overloaded - fall  after the Carlos Romulo Bridge in Brgy. Wawa in Bayambang, Pangasinan collapsed. Photo Credit: Rappler.com

He blamed the driver of the 63.5 tons overloaded 12- wheeler dump truck as the culprit that cause a portion of the 20 tons’ capacity 1945 vintage Carlos P. Romulo Bridge or Wawa Bridge in Barangay Wawa, Bayambang, Pangasinan to fall with the big truck and an Elf truck that followed it as seen on the television.

“Alam mo ba ang overloaded niya (dump truck) ang capacity niya? 30 cubic meters equivalent to 48 tons. Buhangin niya 30 cubic meters ay equivalent sa 48 tons. Ang truck equivalent sa 15.5 tons,” he told me at his office as he juxtaposed the 63.5 tons to the vulnerable 20 tons’ capacity bridge.

He disclosed to me that he and his staff did a diligent inspection every time a fortuitous event like an earthquake hit the area:

“Nag ini-inspeksiyon kami. Walang mga indication na may mga defect kasi after ng earthquake ini-inspeksiyon iyan”.

District Engineer Gonzales was terse that the crumbled bridge was the doing of a negligent driver who drove overloaded despite the not more than 20-ton (2,000 kilos) limit.

“Oo twenty ton andoon standard namin iyan”.

Author (left, photo) and DPWH's 4th District Engineering Office’s Chief Simplicio D. Gonzales who supervises the collapsed Bayambang Bridge pose for a photo-op after the former interview him at his office in Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan.
 

Before the portion of Wawa bridge fell down, there were three bridges that fell in Catigbian town in Bohol; in Davao City; and in Majayjay town, Laguna since last year.

“It is time to evaluate the safety of our bridges,” Minority Floor Leader Senator Koko Pimentel exhorted after the one in Bayambang collapsed last Thursday.

The negligent if not unwary driver of the big rig could either be driving without professional license or bought illegally his license –as a common practice – to miscreant officials of the Land Transportation Office who live on sleaze.

Their shortcomings did not only cost tens if not hundreds of millions of pesos damaged government structure (a meter of a concrete bridge cost the government P1 million according to Gonzales) or their gruesome death being pinned by steel and concrete underneath.

Cruising a vehicle on a bridge needs common sense. A heavy truck driver should see first the 20-ton signage in the approach before he enters it.

When I was growing up in the middle and late 1970s in my hometown at M’lang, Cotabato Province during the Christian-Moro War, I saw how discernment guide those soldier-drivers  in shunning to cross the town's more or less 10-ton bridge with their armored personnel carriers like the American made M113A1s, 13.6 metric tons (combat load) AIFV-25 infantry vehicles, and tanks – probably the 25 tons Light M-41 Walker Bulldog tank - whenever they escorted those dozens screaming M809 Series 5-ton six-by-six (G908) U.S made trucks that carried the infantrymen for a battle somewhere in Maguindanao Province.

Those armored vehicles would descend to the bank of the river, crossed the river bed, and ascend the other low level bank with their caterpillar tread or tank tread “wheels”.

Disregarding the tonnage limit of my rustic town’s wooden bridge and crossed it would cost those behemoths and their imprudent drivers to have a free fall to their death underneath.

They were far cry salamabit to the careless driver of that big truck in Pangasinan that fell down but still fortunate that it spared its passengers in meeting San Pedro or Satan in the afterlife.

Is a reckless imprudence criminal and civil cases  resulting to millions of pesos' damage government property in the offing against the driver and his employer? That son of a gun I forgot to ask the DPWH's top honcho.

(Send comment to totomortz@yahoo.com)

Ex-Mistress Goads to Run Against Ex-Lover-Mayor

By Mortz C. Ortigoza 

Binmaley Mayor Pete Merrera and Vice Mayor Sam Rosario pent-up anger with each other came into boiling point in the former recent 100 Days Report held at the town’s evacuation center.

Affronted by the remarks of the Hizzoner that some of the projects done during Rosario’s stint as nine years’ mayor like the P11 million overpriced mobile clinic and the comparison of gasoline consumption between their term, the Veem walked out from the Ulat ng Bayan attended by town officials and their constituents.

“Nag walked out ako, sumigaw ako. Sabi ko: “magdemanda ka na lang!” kaysa sasabihin mo pa sa mga tao. Ano ang gusto niyang e proved doon parang may ginawa ako? Hindi ako mag – rereact sasabihin niyang may ginawa?” he said in a radio interview.

In my earlier interview with Merrera – who beat Rosario’s son in the recent mayorship race – he was ambivalent about the sincerity of the VM when I told him they were palsy walsy as they smilingly embraced each other in a photo-op taken by this newspaper reporter Arnel Montemayor.

We even put it as a front page photo in our Northern Watch Newspaper. I thought the cold war between the duo that originated since time immemorial was already repaired.

If the animosity of the top two politikos of the town could no longer be patched up, the casualties of these bickering would be Merrera and the 87,000 residents (2020 Census) of this first class coastal local government unit who has a present P360 million budget.

Without the support of the Veem and his almost all ally- lawmakers (called councilors) in the Sangguniang Bayan the programs and projects of Merrera will go to naught.

Imagine a town contents itself with a reenacted budget because the Dads and the Veem maneuvered not to pass a new budget with a twenty percent development fund where tens of millions of pesos of new projects are sourced out?

Making hostage the budget made me remember in 2021 and in early 2022 at Dagupan City when majority of the councilors allied with former Mayor Belen T. Fernandez procrastinated to approve the P1.38 billion budget of the second class city.

Because of that schism, the infrastructure projects of then Mayor Brian Lim early this year were prejudiced.

When Fernandez beat reelectionist Lim, the former faces a hostile Sangguniang Panlungsod (legislature) controlled by the allies of Lim who are gung-ho for retribution what the present dispensation had done to their patron.

Schism with the opposition controlled legislative body haunts Fernandez until her term ends in June 30, 2025. Poetic justice for Lim, eh?

The casualties in the power play between Merrera and Rosario and even Fernandez and the Dagupan City’ SP are their constituents who will be deprived of those projects, like school buildings, that will be stalled.

***

First class town Mayor was a beneficiary of the political and financial goodwill of Big Time Politico - 1 (BTP-1).

Several months before the filing of candidacy for the May 9, 2022 election, BTP-1 and another BTP-2 from the district where the mayor lives had allegedly a quid pro quo. The mayor should forego his reelection so the kin of BTP-2 could run unopposed to get mayorship’s diadem.

The mayor opposed the entreaty of this patron and instead sought and won his reelection by beating the kin of BTP-2 in a pyrrhic victory that applied to the two mayoral antagonists – where hundreds of millions of pesos were spent for a post that gives only, susmariosep, more than a hundred pesos a month salary.

Several months after the election, BTP-2 and the kin – a former political nemesis and who lost the mayorship election – had a parley in his house.

The parley?

Both will support the mayorship candidacy of the former mistress of the sitting mayor who (the former concubine) continued to be the beneficiaries of BTP-2’s good will.

The Hizzoner – who has various mistresses – is now allied with the new governor who used to be his former patron’s BTF-1’s pet peeved.

“Kalaban mo noong mga ilang taon, ngayon magkakampi na kayo,” I quipped about the unpredictability of alliances among Filipino politicians when I heard from an informant the changing political landscape of this burgeoning town.

(Send comments to totomortz@yahoo.com)

Camba New Central P’nan BIR Boss

 

 Vinluan, Mangaoang Reassigned in La Trinidad, Kalinga Apayao

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

CALASIAO, Pangasinan – Officer-in - charge Revenue District Office Chief Aldrin A. Camba, CRO - III, is the new Bureau of Internal Revenue’s top honcho of central Pangasinan, as contained in the Revenue Travel Assignment Order (RTAO) No. 160-2022.

Camba’s predecessor RDO Chief Gil B. Vinluan, Jr., CRO – IV, is reassigned to RDO No. 9 in La Trinidad, Benguet a part of Revenue Region No. 2 – Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR).

NEW TAX HONCHOS. Revenue District Office No. 4 (Central Pangasinan) Chief Aldrin A. Camba (left photo and clockwise), RDO No. 11 (Kalinga Apayao) Chief Ma. Bernadette B. Mangaoang, and RDO No. 9 (Benguet) Chief Gil B. Vinluan.

Eastern Pangasinan RDO No. 6 Chief Ma. Bernadette B. Mangaoang, CRO – IV, is reassigned as Chief of RDO No. 11 in Tabuk, Kalinga Apayao of Revenue Region No. 2 CAR.

“The exigencies of the revenue service so requiring, the following personnel are hereby relieved of their present duties and directed to report to their new assignments as indicated hereunder,” excerpt of the order in RTA No. 160-2022 signed by BIR Commissioner Lilia Catris-Guillermo.

Camba, Vinluan, and Mangaoang are part of the eleven RDO Chiefs all over the country that were reassigned.

Camba used to be the Assistant RDO Chiefs of RDO-8 and RDO -4 in Calasiao, Pangasinan before he was whisked out to RDO No. 7 in Bangue, Abra in Octobrer 2021.

Vinluan was a former RDO Chiefs of Baguio City, Nueva Ecija, and Central Pangasinan.

Mangaoang was a former Assistant Chiefs of RDO-6 in Urdaneta City and RDO-4 in Calasiao, Pangasinan before she was promoted and assigned in RDO 17-B in Paniqui, Tarlac and RDO-6 in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan.

Camba is a resident of Baguio City but was brought up in Bani, Pangasinan.

Bataoil’s Mantra: Public Service is a Public Trust

  

First 100 Days Report

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

LINGAYEN, Pangsinan - The hard working Mayor of this capital town told his constituents in his First 100 Days Report this year that his mantra is “public service is a public trust”.

“If my first term was historic, more than anything; I would like to consider my second term as providential. There were odds, but we did beat the odds. There were so many challenges, but we hurdled all. There were several pitfalls, but we rose up higher and stronger,” excerpt of the Ulat ng Bayan of Mayor Leopold Bataoil held recently in the town’s plaza.

The former police General and ex-Congressman - who just won his reelection last May - crowed to the crowd the additional plaudits conferred to his administration as “feather in our cap”. He mentioned them as:

1. Gawad Pagkilala from the Department of Agriculture-BFAR Region 1 for the first class town's efforts toward the fishery sector;

2. Most Outstanding LGU during the Police Community Relations Month Celebration of the PNP Region 1;

3. Most Child Friendly Municipality Qualifier;

4. Special Unit Award for Most Number of Illegal Drugs Confiscated for Component Municipal Police Station in the Region not to mention as a consistent drug free municipality;

5. LCR Electronic System- Galing Pook Award Qualifier; Most Innovative Local Civil Registry Office (LCROs) in the Philippines

6. Malinis at Masaganang Karagatan (MMK) Program, Search for Outstanding Coastal Community Qualifier; and

7. Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) Finalist.

He said that his staff submitted too the entries for the Most Business Friendly Award of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce, and Industry; Cities and Municipalities Competitive Index; and Search for Outstanding Volunteers.

“Bago ako magtapos, sa harap ninyong lahat at ng ating mga kababayang nakasubaybay sa ating Facebook live - may I turnover to our Sangguniang Bayan Members the proposed budget of the Municipality of Lingayen for Fiscal Year 2023 amounting to P380,650,708,” he said.

Bataoil cited that the 2023 budget thrust – one of the biggest among the first class towns in Pangasinan - is anchored on the vision, mission, and core values of Lingayen that was unanimously agreed in the Executive-Legislative Agenda (ELA) - Local Development Investment Program 2023-2025. In particular, he said, it intends to reflect strategic programming and cost-effective budgeting based on the approved plans and programs which on its first year aims to strengthen socio-economic development and responsive environmental management through efficient, consistent and responsive services and high-impact projects.

“Tandaan po ninyo na ang ating serbisyo, at aking tungkulin bilang Mayor sa aking ikalawang termino ay nagsisimula pa lang. Nakatapos na tayo ng unang isang daang araw ng tapat na paninilbihan sa taumbayan”.

He disclosed that under his stewardship more projects will be accomplished, more services will be given to the residents here for the rest of his term “as the best is surely yet to come”.

The capital town, he added traverses the route toward greatness.

Ex-Mayor Camacho, Chua Indict by Omb. – Mayor Niña’s 100 Days Report

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

BAYAMBANG, Pangasinan – The Ombudsman indicted a former mayor here and a Chinese businessman for conspiracy in violating the Anti-Graft & Corrupt Practices Act as highlighted in the video posted at Facebook in the 100 Days Report of Mayor Mary Clare Phyllis “Niña” Jose-Quiambao.

“Naglabas ng ulat ang Ombudsman na desisyon noong July 27, 2022 na naglalahad at nakahanap ng probable cause laban kay former Mayor Ricardo Camacho at Willie Chua sa kanilang pagsasabwatan at paglabag sa Anti-Graft & Corrupt Practices Act”.

ULAT SA BAYAN. Bayambang Mayor Mary Clare Phyllis “Niña” Jose-Quiambao speaks before her constituents at the town's event center of her 100 Days Report upon assumption into office.

It said there that former provincial legal officer lawyer Geraldine Baniqued was fined with her three months’ salaries because of her negligence to defend the local government unit here on its case in the Bayambang Central School (BCS).

“Asahan ng bawat Bayambangueños na ilalaban ng administrasyon ang paaralang nabibilang sa bawat isa sa atin”.

The BCS located in the poblacion area was gutted by fire in a suspicious manner in the wee hour of June 2012. It included a 1912 American era building dubbed as Gabaldon – protected against destruction under the Heritage Law of the Philippines.

Former Parents Teacher Association President Filipinas Alcantara told Northern Watch Newspaper in January 30, 2016 that when he met former Department of Education Secretary Armin Luistro, the latter told her that the Gabaldon was either demolished or burned.

Mayor Jose-Quiambao highlighted in her “Ulat sa Bayan” her thrusts and accomplishments in the last 100 days after she assumed office in this 77-village’s town in June 30, 2022. They are the following:

-          Education for All Her Constituents

-          Protection of Women and Children

-          Health Benefits for Everybody

-          Improvement of the Agriculture Sector

-          Employment and Livelihood for Everybody

-          Faithful and Efficient Services of the Workers to the town’s LGU.

One of her thrusts, she cited, is to see all the school age constituents educated through the generosity of the Kasama Kita sa Barangay Foundation, Inc. (KKBFI) and Nina’s Care Foundation (NCF). 21,000 umbrellas have been given to elementary and high school students to protect them during the rainy days.

She donates all her monthly salaries to the local school board that gives fund to the schools here.

The Quiambao Administration opened this October a municipal museum.

“Ito lang ang maipakita sa publiko ang makita na kasaysayan, kuwento, at kultura ng ating bayan,” Mayor Jose-Quiambao disclosed about the town that was once declared by President Emilio Aguinaldo as the 5th Capital of the Revolutionary Philippine Republic.

The burgeoning first class town continues to give free health services to ease the economic woes felt by her constituents. They are free medical consultations, laboratory, diagnostic services, anti-rabies vaccines for animals, barangay treatments, new born and child services, family planning, information and education campaign caravan, tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus(HIV) counselling, and many more.

The Quiambao-Sabangan (Vice Mayor Ian Camille C. Sabangan) Administration remains vigilant against the lurking danger of the Covid-19. It continues to disinfect public places here, the implementation of the no-face-mask – no-entry policy, continuation of the Covid-19 inoculations, distribution of grocery packs and Covid-19 kits to those who found positive with the pandemic through the reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. 

“Linggo-linggo minu-monitor ng ecological solid waste ang mga clean-up drives. Bali-bali sa wikang Pangasinan ay maganda. Para maging malinis, maaliwalas ang bayan sa pamamagitan ng pagkakaisa tungo sa ligtas at maayos na pamayanan,” she said about her Bali-Bali Bayambang’s program.

For the safety of the students, the Quiambao Administration gave countless gallons of alcohol and thermal scanners to the various schools here for the use of their students and teachers.

 On the protection of women and children, she cited her Abong na Aro (House of Love) where those who need help can find refuge, her programs on the welfare of the children, mayor’s action center, celebration of the Bayambang Youth Day, teenage pregnancy summit, Linggo ng Wika, to name a few.

She mentioned too the continues cooperation of her administration with the police to advance the welfare of the women and children like cases of harassment and rape against them.

Bayambang's Sangguniang Bayan (lawmaking body) Secretary Joel Camacho raises the august body's mace to start the session and the 100 Days Report of Mayor Nina Jose-Quiambao. 

The leadership of the LGU wants to make the agriculture sector here modern so it can expedite in uplifting the poor stocks of the farmers here.

“Una na riyan ang pagawa ng kalsada papuntang palengke upang mapabilis ang transportasyon. Napakalaking proyekto ang Pantol-to-San Gabriel farm-to-market-road na pormal nating sinulong noong Hulyo”.

She mentioned too the E-Agro.

Quiambao’s predecessor and husband former Mayor Cezar Quiambao told in a summit before that he was hell bent to see that comes year 2028 the monthly income of each of the families of the 129,011 populated (PSA 2020) central Pangasinan town will be P10,000.

He said the system financially backed by a venture of the public- private-partnership will lend money with miniscule interest to P50,000 or more to a farmer who tends a hectare of the corn, rice, or onion farm every four months from the time of planting and harvesting.

The E-Agro Economic System has four components’ Activity/Labor & Service, Land Preparation, Planting, and Fertilization (Labor) that could uplift the economics welfare of the downtrodden peasant.

 To buttress the livelihood of the people, Mayor Jose-Quiambao introduced the goat dairy project, the vaccination of 800 domestic animals owned by her constituents here, and the continuation of the dredging operation to reinvigorate the inland fisheries in some villages here.

The LGU desires that every Bayambangueño could be employed. One of the drives was the two job fairs where jobseekers here attended. The Quiambao Administration coordinates with the Department of Labor & Employment to assist the town on her endeavor.

“Bukod sa pagpunta ng treasury office sa mga barangay, naghanda na rin ng information materials tulad ng video upang mahikayat ang mamayan na magbayad ng kanilang buwis sa pamahalaan,” the video of the 100 Days Report highlighted the importance of paying religiously the taxes owed by the people here to the LGU so the latter can sustain the projects and programs for the general welfare here.

RDO No. 21A- North Pampanga Top 5 in Nat’l Collection

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Out of the 132 revenue district offices (RDOs) of the Bureau of Internal Revenue nationwide, 13 RDOs hurdled their collection target by at least 20 percent in August this year.

RDO No. 21A Chief Charmaine Caday-Dela Torre

RDO 21-A –Angeles City, North Pampanga ranked fifth.

RDO 21A is under the stewardship of RDO Chief Charmaine Caday-Dela Torre.

The top 10 highest collectors are RDO No. 34 in Paco-Pandacan; 2) RDO No. 95 in Jolo, Sulu; 3) RDO No. 81 in Cebu City North; 4) RDO No. 14 in Bayombong; 5) RDO No. 21A in Angeles City; 6) RDO No. 21C in Clark Free Zone; 7) RDO No. 54B in Kawit; 8) RDO No. 86 in Borongan City; 9) RDO No. 51 in Pasay City; 10) RDO 126 Regular LT Audit Division 3.

For the cumulative period from July to August, 16 RDOs surpassed their collection by at least 20 percent. RDO 21A Angeles City - North Pampanga ranked nine.

 

Major Generals Acorda, Estomo groom as Next PNP Chief

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

In the birthday bash recently of a retired police major general in the posh Valle Verde in Pasig City, I met some Colonels and senior officers of the Directorate for Intelligence (D.I) led by their chief Major General Benjie Acorda (PMA Class 1991). When my sister-in-law Liza Magaway – the Missus of Police retired Major Gen. Mariel Magaway (former chief of D.I and PMA Class 1986) – introduced him to me, I told Gen. Acorda that he was still a cadet when I worked at the public information office and at the tactics office of the Philippine Military Academy in the late 1980s. We recalled how cadets where dichotomized during the most devastating but failed coup d' tat dubbed as the December 1, 1989 Putsch against President Cory Aquino by the group led by Army cashiered Colonel Gringo Honasan and General Edgardo Abenina of the Reform Armed Forces Movement (RAM) and the Marcos Loyalists led by retired General Jose Ma. Zumel – a Rightist whose Leftist brother is Commie’s National Democratic Front of the Philippines Chair Antonio Zumel.

BRASS. Philippine National Police's Directorate for Intelligence (D.I) Chief Major General Benjie Acorda (PMA '91) (left of photo) and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Chief Maj. Gen. Jonnel Estomo (PMA '92).

“Where were you during that coup?” I asked the white tee clad but ramrod straight General as I remembered then PMA Superintendent Army General Boy Enrile was given a huge sent off and a warmed acrimonious welcome by workers of the Academy in Barangay Kias, Baguio City after he persuaded the beleaguered Scout Rangers headed by their chief then Army Captain Danny Lim ( West Point alumnus) to come out in their redoubts in those skyscrapers in Makati City after they holed in there to fight to the death the encircling government troopers led by AFP Chief of Staff Renato de Villa.

The tide of the putsch changed its course after President Aquino – at the behest of his Cabinet members like Defense Sec. Fidel Ramos – called by phone the White House which was under President George W.H Bush.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Colin Powel – a black American four –star Army General who came from the ROTC and not that college near the Hudson River called USMA or West Point – recalled on his 643 pages’ book with Joseph E. Persico titled My American Journey - I bought then at Book Sale - narrated how he and Admiral Huntington Hardisty instead decided to instruct US F-4- III pilots to take off from Clark Air Base in Pampanga and buzz the air base captured by the putschists in a manner that demonstrated "extreme hostile intent" with further instructions to shoot down any planes like those T-28 Trojans - we called in Cotabato in the 1970s and 1980s as Tora-Tora – and the rockets guided Sikorsky utility helicopters  that did takeoff.

“Nasa rebelde kami noong panahon,’ General Acorda told me recalling those challenging times in 1989 when he was still a cadet at the PMA.

***

While quaffing Johnny Walker's booze and chewing those delectable General Santos City sliced raw tunas mixed with Wasabi and Kikkoman with some officers, I heard that General Acorda was being groomed as the heir apparent of PNP Chief Rodolfo Azurin who will retire on April 23, 2023 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age but still a young mark of 56.

 “There are three of them being groomed to be the next PNP Chief. General Acorda, (Major) General Jonnel Estomo (PMA ‘92), and Major General Ronald Lee (PMA ‘92). It’s between Acorda and Estomo since Lee is still young”.

Estomo and Lee – a former provincial director of Pangasinan – are the chiefs of the National Capital Region and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

The Lethal, Costly Weapons of a Cobra

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.

LGUs Face Billions of Pesos Slashed Budget Next Year

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Local government units (LGUs) in the provinces, cities, towns, and villages will suffer a reduced budget of tens if not hundreds of millions of pesos on their national tax allotment (NAT).

NAT’s precursor is the internal revenue allotment as provided by law that funnel a huge chunk of funds in most of the LGUs in the Philippines.

Photo credit: Google.com

“Ang province (of Pangasinan) baba ng almost P900 million province P4 billion noon,” said by newly elected Manaoag Mayor Jeremy Agerico Rosario by comparing the P4 billion budget of Pangasinan this year and her impending slash budget next year.

Before his mayoral mandate started in June 30 this year, Rosario was a seasoned provincial legislature of the forty-four towns and three cities LGUs of Pangasinan.

If the appropriation budget of P4 billion would be reenacted next year by the administration of Pangasinan Governor Ramon Guico, III, the same NAT this year could not be given by the national government next year.

The Local Government Code of the Philippines cited that the LGUs shall have a share in the national internal revenue taxes based on the collection of the third fiscal year preceding the current fiscal year as follows:… (c) On the third year and thereafter, forty percent (40%).

According to the Department of Budget and Management, due to the drop in tax revenues collected by the government in 2020 at the onset of the Corona Virus Disease - 19 pandemic local governments’ share in the proposed 2023 national budget will be reduced to P820.3 billion,
A local budget memorandum issued by the DBM said  that LGUs share from all tax collections in 2020, which was the basis of their 2023 national tax allotment (NTA), included P665.8 billion from the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) tax take two years ago; P154.4 billion from the Bureau of Customs’ collections of import duties and other taxes, and; P32.6 million in national taxes collected by other agencies.

When divided to all local government units, the country’s 82 provinces will have an NTA share of P188.7 billion, which they will divide among themselves; the 146 cities, also P188.7 billion; the 1,488 municipalities, P278.9 billion; notwithstanding the P164.1 billion to be subdivided among the 41,935 villages or barangays nationwide.

Next year’s NTA will be below the record P959.04 billion in this year’s P5.02-trillion national budget—the first annual appropriation that implemented the Supreme Court’s Mandanas-Garcia ruling. LGUs’ 2022 NTA was based on all tax collections in 2019.

Binmaley Mayor Pete Merrera deplored to this writer that its present P350 million appropriation budget will be reduced by P44 million next year.

The P350 million budget of the 33 barangays’ LGU is one of the highest budgeted town among the first class municipalities in the province.

“Baba kami ng P40 million for 2023 budget,” the mayor of the pilgrims’ first class town Manaoag cited.

Rosario said that presently his burgeoning town has a budget of P268 million.

DPWH's New Buildings in P’gasinan

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

The Department of Public Works and Highway have completed isolation facilities in various parts of Pangasinan.

The DPWH regional office in San Fernando City, La Union announced the consummation of the following facilities:

TOP BRASS. Department of Public Works & Highway Region -1 Director Ronnel M. Tan (left of photo) and DPWH 4th District Engineering Office District Engineer Simplicio D. Gonzales. 

The OPAG Building in Sta. Barbara. The quarantine facilities cubicle is managed by the Region-1 Task Force and Provincial Government of Pangasinan.

The Multi-Purpose Hall, Balayang in Alaminos City. It is a quarantine facilities cubicle managed by Region-1 Task Force and the local government unit (LGU) of Alaminos City.

The Pangasinan Provincial Police Office (PPO) male and female PNCO barracks in Camp General Antonio O. Sison, Libsong West in Lingayen.

The Eastern Pangasinan Hospital in Tayug. It is managed by the provincial government of Pangasinan.

The Regional Evacuation Center converted as health care facilities in response to Covid-19 pandemic. They are located at Brgy. Tangcarang, Alaminos City, Brgy. Poblacion East, Calasiao, Brgy. Poblacion, Dasol, and Brgy. Pugaro, Manaoag. They are managed by their respective LGUs.

The DPWH standard one storey health care facility container van at Brgy. Bonuan Binloc, Dagupan City. It is managed by LGU of Dagupan City.

DPWH Region-1 and the 4th District Engineering Office District in Pangasinan are under the stewardship of Director Ronnel Tan, and District Engineer Simplicio Gonzales, respectively. 

Kilalanin Si Eddie at si Patti

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

I wrote on my column several years ago about a Philippines Congressman who was a Korean.

“Korean? Paano naging Korean iyan e kilala ko iyan puro Filipino ang mga magulang,” I emphatically told a broadcaster.

He told me that the solon was unabashedly corrupt: Every time there was a contractor who would offer his service to his more or less one billion pesos allocation of projects yearly from the national government he would ask a poser: “Magkano Korean”. A play of words of "magkano ako riyan' as his cut to the project.

I thought many elective officials in the Philippines are Koreans but I was mistaken when I met the other day a contractor, a mayor, and a vice mayor of a town.

I learned that aside from a Korean, the Philippines coffer is being raided by miscreants and scoundrels like “Eddie” and “Patti”.

Here’s what ensued that I finally learned to know these two first names:

A contractor offers his service to the Hizzoner and the female Veem.

“Paano si Eddie, Mr. Contractor pag na finalized natin itong kontrata?” the mayor asked.

“Sino po si Eddie, Mayor?

“E di ako (Play of words of Eddie!” the hizzoner bellowed.

“Ay oo nga pala, okay na iyong 20 percent niyo Mayor”.

“Paano naman si Patti? the VM asked.

“Sino po si Patti? Iyong jazz singer na si Patti Austin?”

“Hindi. Patti ibig sabihin “Pati Ako!”

“Ay oo nga pala, meron kayo diyan Vice,” the contractor said embarrassed.