Sen. Imee O.K Mayor Lito’s Request for Firetruck, Patrol Car

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

STA. BARBARA, Pangasinan – Senator Imee Marcos acquiesced to intercede for the new firetruck and police patrol car from the mayor of this thriving first class town when the lawmaker visited here recently.

BURGEOUNING first class town Mayor Carlito S. Zaplan (center) joins Executive Assistant-V Rodolfo V. Barbiran Jr. (extreme left) and Executive Assistant- IV Sherwin N. Pioquinto heading to Cebu City to attend the League of the Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP).  The LMP invited the Luzon Island Cluster Conference (LICC) on August 24-26, 2023 at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Cebu City where 500 municipal mayors from Luzon have been anticipated to attend. The conference aims to forge collaboration among all Luzon local government units for greater opportunities that may lead to effective inter-governmental relations and the development of various programs, projects, and general services beneficial to their constituents.

Mayor Carlito S. Zaplan said the vehicles will be used to maintain the peace and order of this 29 villages municipality with more or less 100, 000 population.

He said the request of the firetruck and the patrol car had been first signified by his office in 1998. Marcos told the mayor to submit the twin-request through a formal letter addressed to her office in the Senate so she would act on them.

The presidential sister was here when she gave to Zaplan the financial aid from the national government after Super Typhoon Egay and Typhoon Frank  hammered the villages of this town with floods brought by their moonson rains.

Many towns like Calasiao and Binmaley in Pangasinan were recipients too of the P3,000 each per family of the 1,000 families per municipality of the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) of the Department of Social Welfare & Development (DSWD) distributed by Senator Marcos.

BIR Laws Harsher than LTO Laws

 JAIL TIME LOOMS

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

CALASIAO, Pangasinan – A top honcho of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said that violation of the tax laws committed by an errant taxpayer is harsher than those with the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

“Ganoon pero sa amin may kaso pa puweding pang makulong. Hindi lang iyon, di ba? Magbabayad ka ng tax puwede ka pa rin makulong kasi kakasuhan ka,” Revenue District Office No. 4 Chief Aldrin A. Camba disclosed to this writer when told that driving without license cost the driver of the vehicle a P10,000 fine meted by the transportation agency.

Photo is internet grabbed.

Camba cited that the BIR laws are bolder unlike with the LTO’s where it only would not renew the driver’s license if violator could not pay the fine by driving without license.

 Aileen Peteros, the head of the Land Transportation Office – San Carlos City Branch, told Northern Watch Newspaper that driving without license metes the violator a P3,000 fine only.

“Another P10,000 if the vehicle (truck, car, motorcycle or other) is unregistered and P2,000 for the accessory penalty in case the driver was found to be reckless,” she said.

LTO FINES

The other violations and their fines and penalties imposed by the LTO:

Reckless Driving (Fines: ₱2,000 To ₱10,000) (Penalties: A 6-Month License Suspension or Revocation); Driving Under the Influence of Drugs and Alcohol (Fines: ₱ 20,000 To ₱ 500,000 Penalties: Jail time of Reclusion Temporal); Not Wearing Helmets for Motorcycle Riders (Fines: ₱ 1,500 To ₱ 10,000); Vehicle Registration Violations (Fine: ₱ 5,000); Obstruction (Fine: ₱1,000);  Number Plate Not Firmly Attached  (Fine: ₱5,000); LTO Sticker Violation (Fine: ₱5,000); Tampering with License Plates (Fine: ₱5,000); Illegal Transfer or Use of Regularly Issued Motor Vehicle Plates, Tags, or Stickers (Fine: ₱ 10,000 To ₱ 12,000); Driving with Illegal, Damaged, or Substandard Parts and Accessories (Fine: ₱ 5,000 and Impoundment); Smoke Belching (Fines: ₱ 2,000 To ₱ 6,000); Other LTO Violations (₱ 1,000 To ₱ 2,000).

BIR PENALTIES AND JAIL TIME

Aside from the 25% penalty and the 20% tax interest per year, any person required under the National Internal Revenue Code or by rules and regulations promulgated there to pay any tax make a return, keep any record, or supply correct the accurate information, who willfully fails to pay such tax, make such return, keep such record, or supply correct and accurate information, or withhold or remit taxes withheld, or refund excess taxes withheld on compensation, at the time or times required by law or rules and regulations shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not less than Ten Thousand Pesos (P 10,000) and suffer imprisonment of not less than one (1) year but not more than ten (10) years in jail.

FAKE AND SMUGGLED CIGGIES

Meanwhile, Camba exhorted the taxpayers and the concerned government agencies that a cigarette pack without a documentary tax is either fake or smuggled.

One pack of a cigarette has an excise tax’s stamp of P60.

“Yes iyon na iyong Sin Tax kaya nga kung may magbebenta ng mura mga P50, P60 or P70 ibig sabihin walang tax iyon. Tax ng per pakete is P60 di ba kaya ang sigarilyo P100, P120, P150”.

He said violators are sued by the tax office through Run Against Tax Evader (RATE). RATE has a fine of not less than ₱500,000 but not more than ₱10 million and penalty of six years but not more than ten years 

“So aside doon meron diyan iyong mga fake receipts. So far dito sa atin mukhang wala pa iyan. Iyong mga ghost receipts gumagamit ng (inaudible). Mahirap makipag deal sa BIR kaysa sa LTO”.

More Projects to Binmaley After 6 Dads Defect to Mayor

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza, MPA

BINMALEY, Pangasinan - The defection of the six lawmakers to the fold of the mayor here by their approval of the P71, 287, 329.85 supplemental budget snagged at the lawmaking body, shows that projects for the people here desired by the executive in the future can be easily implemented.

                                                                      DEFECTORS

The six councilors are Urbano C. delos Angeles III, Jallen F. Alipio, Rolando A. Carrera, Gericho C. Francisco, Rolando D. Ferrer and Amelito A. Sison.

BINMALEY Mayor Pedro “Pete” Merrera (2^nd from left) with some of the lawmakers of the Sangguniang Bayan.

   "I salute them dahil kahit may sama ng loob sa akin, pinakinggan nila ang taumbayan ng Binmaley. Nakita nila na taumbayan ang nagsa-suffer," Mayor Pedro “Pete” Merrera said after the six councilors deserted their former four solon allies who are supporters of Vice Mayor Simplicio Rosario and eventually approved the supplemental budget that have been stalled in the five members’ Committee on Appropriation dominated by the three of the four members of the opposition.

                                                                      P71.3 MILLION

The P71.3 million have been allocated to aid the senior citizens people with disabilities (PWDs) and individuals in crisis situation, procurement of school supplies for students, purchase of supplies and equipment for the local government unit, road concreting and construction of drainage, renovation of the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) building, offices of the mayor, municipal administrator, assessor, agriculture, social welfare and development and other.

With the new fund that many feared would be eclipsed by the barangay election ban to start on September 15 to October 30, Mayor Merrera promised his constituents in this 33 villages first class coastal town that he would double his effort to serve them especially his new collaboration with the new majority in the SB.

When Merrera assumed office here in June 30 last year, he has only one ally - councilor in the lawmaking body while the rest have been supportive with Rosario and his councilor-son Jonas.

Merrera defeated the younger Rosario in the May 9, 2022 election by a margin of 5,721 from the total votes of 51, 584 that have been divided among the four candidates. Merrera and the older Rosario – a former mayor of 15 years - are seen to clash for the mayorship in the May 2025 election.

                                                                        ACRIMONIES

The approval of the multi-millions of pesos’ special budget, however, was met with fireworks and frayed nerves from the mayor and some of the lawmakers.

In the August 18 committee hearing, Councilor Sison lambasted the majority members of the Committee on Appropriation headed by Coun. Buday Cagaoan for procrastinating on the urgency of the Mayor to pass the much needed funds.

“Andiyan po ang lahat na mga department heads na handang sumagot! Binigyan na po tayo ng mga kopya lahat. Sana po kung maaprobahan, this is the final urgency of our Mayor. Siguro sa susunod na taon paano na ang mga magulang na nakabili na ng mga school supplies? Tapos bibigyan mo na naman ng school supplies!”

                              COUN. ROSARIO LAMBASTS MERRERA, 6 DADS

The approval of the supplemental budget by the six councilors did not escape criticism from Councilor Rosario.

On the August 25 video broadcast seen at his Facebook account, he lashed-out on the six councilors for violating the legislative process by railroading it.

“Pagdating po kung mayroon silang violation – meron po. Noong August 23 na sesyon may nag motion sa committee hearing without a committee report. At ang nag motion pa is not a member of the Committee on Appropriation. Then the approval granting it was already terminated. Why the sudden motion to approve?”

He said the four minority councilors where he belonged were protecting the integrity of the lawmaking body. He pounced on the majority who abused their dominance by arbitrarily approving the P71.3 million supplemental budget.

“They are abusing the urgency (request of Mayor Merrera). Pangalawa, they are abusing their numbers the majority they abused being a member of the majority”.

He denounced too the six solons from approving the budget as “approved without thinking”.

“Sixty percent of the P71 million is allotted for construction projects. Ano ang purpose na urgent? Simple because of the (barangay) election? Huwag naman po. Wag ninyong gamitin ang power ninyo po para mapanalo ninyo ang manok ninyo. Mali! The process was destroyed!” he jabbed on Merrera.

WRITING ON THE WALLS

Appropriation Committee Chairwoman Cagaoan saw the writings on the wall. She said that even the committee chairmanship in the five –member committee on appropriation was threatened to be replaced by Merrera-friendly councilors.

“So pag-inalis na nila ako sa Committee on Appropriation ako lang ang papalitan doon. Maglalagay sila ng isa doon sa amin - they are on the majority. Pag majority na sila sa Committee of Appropriation ang measure asikasuhin ng Appropriation puwede na nila e discuss kahit mag object itong dalawa. Siyempre,kung sila ang majority iyon ang masusunod”.

                                                  MERRERA REBUKES COMM. MEMBERS

On the August 16 press conference called by the Mayor at his office, he rebuked the four minority solons who many supporters of the mayor thought hostage the approval of the supplemental budget:

“I addressed the Vice Mayor, this is my fourth and final urgency for a committee hearing na pinasubmit ko ngayong araw na ito. I should see to it napagtuunan na ng pansin. At alam ko sana ABC (Association of Barangay Captains) President Jonas Rosario, SK President Bautista, Councilor Buday Cagaoan and Councilor Ariel dela Concha. Sana pag-aralan ninyong mabuti ito kung kayo ay nagmamahal sa bayan. Pag hindi kayo nagmamahal sa bayan, sino kayo?! At tatanungin ko sa inyo kung ano ang pakay ninyo? Kayo ba ay talagang nagmamahal? Hayaan ninyo ang ating bayang Binmaley?”

                              PANGASINAN JOLTS BY THE WORD - WAR

Before the series of Merrera urgent requests for the august body to approve his supplemental budget, this town and the province of Pangasinan were jolted in August 9 this year when Vice Mayor Rosario screamed at the Mayor while repeatedly hitting severely the sound block with his wooden gavel at his location in the rostrum to get out from the session hall during the meeting of the SB when he appeared there to argue the much needed P71.3 million budget.

Some of the excerpts of that encounter are provided below:

 “Give us respect also. I am the Executive you give also respect. If you’re giving full (by pointing to Budget Head Jeffrey delos Angeles who was seated) sabihin niyo nanloloko!” Merrera told Rosario.

“You stopped it. I’ll be the one to ask. Jeff e admit sabihin niyo sa lahat iyan coming from his own mouth. Sabi niya baka e –revert iyan (P39 million budget for the heavy equipment’s Excavator). O! Di ko alam iyan. That’s why I am asking the Budget Officer why sinabi niya dito sa amin sa body,”Rosario retorted.

VICE MAYOR: I will not give my respect kasi nagsasalita ka e! YOU GET OUT HERE! (beating hardly the wooden gavel to the sound block). YOU GET OUT HERE!

FEMALE VOICE: Point of order!

VICE MAYOR: This is Sangguniang Bayan (inaudible), O common!

FEMALE VOICE: Point of order let's stopped it!

VICE MAYOR: You're not under us! Huwag mong ipakita na hawak mo kami dito. NO!

(Beating the wooden gavel severely to the sound block).

MAYOR: No, no, no!

VICE MAYOR: GO OUT! I tell you to go out!

In the press conference, Mayor Merrera chastised Vice Mayor Rosario when the former bad mouthed him and drove him away from the session hall.

It’s the U.S not the Colombians that destroyed Escobar

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 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.

 

P5-M to Win an S.K Presidency Thru Vote Buying

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

When an uncle told me his nephew will be running for the chairmanship of the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) (Youth Council) on the October 30, 2023 election, my retort: How much he’s going to spend in vote buying to see he wins the electoral derby?

Quite stunned about this corruption that confronts the teen, he answered that he did not expect that even the poll for the youth - composed of the candidates for the presidency and the seven members of the council - needs to shell-out sum to win the polls.

Photo credit: Modesk.org

Age requirement for a bet in the SK is not least than 18 years old and not more than 24 years old.

If the other party’s candidate for the presidency vote buy, there is a big tendency his nephew losses the election in a post that gives a P17, 000 honorarium a month, I told him.

I am talking from experience because in the previous election, a father of a candidate for the SK chairmanship had been telling some friends how he gave P200 each to many of the teenager- voters for the post.

“Pang load niyo (money for the mobile phone load),” he said while clasping the hand of the wide eyed grateful teenage voter with the envelop that contains the sum and the flyer of the candidate.

This vote buying activity – just like what the bets for the mayorship and the village chief - is a microcosm of what many parents of these children have been doing to see that their sons and daughters are catapulted to the prestigious helm of the SK to serve the youth in the village lawmaking body with up to two years’ term (before it returned to the three-year term after December 31, 2025 as ordered by the Supreme Court).

***

For the uninitiated, a winning SK President can become an ex-officio councilor of a town or a non-component city’s lawmaking body (we Pinoys called the sanggunian) as he leads those presidents of the SK in the villages. If his family have enough dough, wherewithal, datung, what-have-you, he can become an ex-officio Board Member of the provincial board.

The position as provincial lawmaker commands the same respect, emoluments, and pork barrel distribution what the regular board members' deserve.

Photo credit: Wix

The parents and politicians zealously bankroll and see their young kin wins so he or she can either becomes a councilor or a board member and “flaunt” the “Honorable” title appended before his or her name to all and sundry.

***

Here’s a narration of a grandpa who was a mayor when he used the family’s wherewithal to fund the candidacy of his grandson to the presidency of the Liga in the provincial board.

 After winning the burgeoning town’s SK poll overall federation presidency, the politician – an event that ensued almost two decades ago- wanted the grandson to become an ex-officio member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (Provincial Board).

“My family and I gave P50,000 to the mayor, P50,000 to the SK town president,” he told me their strategy to buy the loyalty and vote of the town ex-officio councilor.

“Why gave P50,000 to the mayor, it’s a waste of monies? It’s only the SK president in the Sangguniang Bayan that will vote for the provincial SK Federation President?” I posed perplexed.

The seasoned politico explained that even they bought the loyalty of the ex-officio councilor; the mayor could still influence him to vote for the rival candidate.

“Ang mayors ang nagbibigay ng projects sa each of the councilors. Puwede silang ma deprieve ng grasya pag sinuway nila si Mayor,” he insinuated about the S.O.P or cut from each of the contracts given to a loyal and submissive solon that runs to hundreds if not millions of pesos just like what members of Congress get from the pork barrel given by Malacanang Palace through the various departments.

Among the eight congressional districts' province, his kin lost on the votes of the four districts to the son of a mayor.

“Why?”

He answered that the Congressmen, the Governor, two billionaire businessmen interfere to influence the voters to elect the mayor’s son.

But unlike the village chief in a city who sued his fellow Kapitans that took his P50,000 bribe but instead vote for the candidate of a mayor for the presidency of the League of the Barangays presidency (a post that is equivalent to a regular councilor in the city council), the businessman-mayor told the chief executives and the parents that they have to retain the monies he gave.

“It’s yours. Our family maintains the principle that what we gave we don’t take it back”.

He said a day before the election they have “kidnapped” (a bastardized word for “billeted”) at their rest house the SK Presidents of the towns and cities’ where they dined and wined ‘em in a bacchanalian feast until the day of the election.

“One of our unforgettable experiences in that race was a candidate who was asked by his shrewd father to go in another province so he (the sly Dad) can bid the highest price from me and the Mayor (whose son was running for the coveted post)”.

I asked him why he was too focused on the enterprising father.

“The match was neck-and- neck. The opponent’s family got four districts while we got four, too, we don’t have to lower our guards”.

He said the rival’s father offered P100, 000 to the father of the SK prexy in that town but he would not acquiesce.

“I told the father my last offer was P200,000 that he immediately took”.

As a result of that chutzpah of my seasoned Hizzoner’s friend, his grandson won narrowly the election with a lead of three votes.

A very expensive election where his family spent roughly P5 million to a position that gave only a salary of P70,000 monthly (presently it’s more than P100, 000).

The politico credited the power of money in winning the tight cliff hanging race.

“Without it, we lost the election!”

Who said that money is not everything?

Look how an average thinking Kap bet in a city trounced out an intelligent former cabinet Secretary of the previous Philippines President: The Sec lost tremendously because he did not vote-buy instead offered his genius as a magic wand to solve the problems of the bellyaching masa. The hoi-polloi, err, the masa did not like it, they gravitated to the intellectually inferior candidate – probably a graduate of the Mababang Paaralan ng San Andres Bukid (broadcaster Sammy Llusala translated it to radioman Harold Barcelona: Low School of Saint Andrew’s Field instead of San Andres Elementary School) who could afford to give each of them in the eve of the poll a crisp P500 stamped with a smiling Ninoy and Cory Aquino from his income on his thriving business.

From P12-M, Gov. Guico Sees P200-M Yearly Quarry Income

  HITS CRITICS, PREDECESSORS

By Mortz C. Ortigoza, MPA

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – With various strategies formulated by Pangasinan Governor Ramon V. Guico, III, collection from quarry activities in the gargantuan province could reach up to P200 million a year.

“Before, the target for quarry is only P12 million a year for the entire province. We have more than exceeded that several hundred times over. I think we are close to as of the last time, two weeks ago it’s already P94-million already and I think we could hit more than a hundred or even 200 million a year out of the quarry. We just have to have the political will to stop all the illegal quarry operators because a lot of them do not have permits,” he said.

EFFICIENT QUARRY ACTIVITIES. Pangasinan Governor Ramon V. Guico, III (2^nd from left) and UNLA LA Corporation President Raul G. delos Santos (extreme left) signed documents for their collaboration to provide the local government with a software to efficiently monitor the activities of the businessmen and the personnel of the provincial government on the quarry activities, gathering of correct data on them, identification and monitoring of the hauling trucks and analysis of the data related to the operations. The signing of the proverbial dotted lines ensued in August 23 at the Urduja House Ceremonial Hall of the Capitol Compound in Lingayen, Pangasinan.

The leap on the collection of the mineral activities was due on the new law that the provincial lawmaking body passed where it saw a more aggressive stance and an increase on the taxes and fees of the extraction of the sand, gravel and other minerals from public lands by businessmen. Guico cited last August 23 this year the collaboration of the provincial government and the UNLA LA Corporation through the signing in the Urduja House Ceremonial Hall of the documents with the Corporation's president Raul G. delos Santos.

UNLA LA will provide the local government with a software to monitor the activities of the businessmen and the personnel of the provincial government, gathering of correct data, identification and monitoring of the hauling trucks and analysis of the data related to the quarry operations.

In the July 10 interview with reporters held at the Governor’s Office in the Capitol, Guico lashed out to his critics about how the hike of the hauling of the minerals burdened the end users. He blamed, too, the anemic corruption ridden collection of his predecessors compared to what he is collecting now.

“Sa quarry malaki na ang revenue natin. Alam ninyo ang diperensiya nito andaming bumabatikos sa quarry. Unang una, lahat ng sinisingil diyan pumapasok sa probinsiya. Ano ang problema ninyo? Noong araw saan pinapapasok iyan?”

When a national newspaper female reporter interjected: “Sa bulsa!”

Guico reacted why these critics have been complaining.

“Tama lang itong ginagawa natin sa probinsiya. Ang kikitain ng quarry pampagawa natin ng mga bahay ng mahihirap. O ano ang problema ninyo doon? Gusto ninyo kasi malaki kita ninyo iilan lang kayo! Di ba?” a jabbed to his predecessors.

Guico blamed the business establishments who sell to the consumers an inflated prices of quarry products. The app of the UNLA LA, he said, will significantly change the skewed trading practices.

“Meron kaming app na ilalagay hopefully maaprubahan ng Sangguniang (Panlalawigan) para nagpadeliver ka lang ng quarry – parang Grab!,” the first term governor quipped.

According to the provincial treasurer’s office, the collection in the quarry activities from January 1 to August 2023 reached P97 million. The amount is more than 600 percent higher than the P15.52 million quarry taxes and fines collected on the same period last year.

Mangaldan Job Fair Offers Hundreds of Jobs Here, Abroad

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

MANGALDAN, Pangasinan - Hundreds of jobs abroad and in the country are available in the job fair to be held here on Friday at the Macario Ydia Development Center (MYDC), according to the office of Mayor Bona Fe D. Parayno and the Public Employment Service Office (PESO).

Applicants are instructed to prepare their resume or bio data, ballpen and other supporting documents. Application time will open at 8:00 Am to 5:00 Pm on the same day.

 Chief Administrative Officer / Human Resources Management Officer/ PESO Manager Designate Helen A. Aquino advises the applicants to see that the requirements her office and companies wanted to see are complete to expedite the process of hiring.  

Mayor Parayno desires that the numbers of unemployed in this central Pangasinan town decline so they can support and strengthen the state of their families.

Mayor J.R Hails SK Members

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

BASISTA, Pangasinan  - Basista Mayor Jolly “J.R” Resuello lauds the council members of the Samahang Kabataan in their awarding ceremony at Barangay Bayoyong in this central Pangasinan town.

Basista Mayor J.R Resuello (extreme left) shakes the hands of the members of the Samahang Kabataan in his town.

“Ang inyong lingkod ay lubos na nagpapasalamat at bumabati sa ating SK Chairperson Avegail Rosal at SK Council sa isang napaka matagumpay na okasyon para sa ating mga kabataan. Ito ang SK Night Awarding Ceremony,” the young Mayor told the young people where many of them will be running for reelection  in the October 30 barangay and SK poll.

He said the guest of honors on this event was Pangasinan 2^nd District Board Member Haidee Pacheco, Liga ng mga Barangay President and ex–oficio Sangguniang Bayan member Giovanni Bugarin and former SK Chairperson Limar Cruz

ANALYSIS: War Not Imminent on U.S vs China in PH, TW Seas

  

AS LONG AS MALACCA DILEMMA LURKS

By Mortz C. Ortigoza, MPA

The fear of the Filipinos and the Taiwanese that war with the saber rattling Mainland China could happen anytime soon in their seas and land is misguided.

As long as China could not solve the Malacca Strait’s choke point dilemma where her seaborne import from the Middle East like the 10 million barrels (2019 data) per day crude oil passes to fuel her economy, the still growing People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) would not gamble to have a shooting war with the blue water navy of the United States of America.

The U.S is a military treaty ally of the Philippines through the 1951 Mutual Defense Pact and a closed ally of Taiwan. 

Forty percent of the world trade goes through that strait to China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and other countries. Eighty percent of these nations use oil tankers to enter the Malacca. They used too the same route to export their products in the world.

The Strait is a narrow stretches of water 500 miles long and 40 to 155 miles wide, between the Malay Peninsula to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest and connecting the Andaman Sea and the South China Sea.

A blockade of the Quad or Asia’s NATO composed of Australia, India, Japan and the United States in the ingress of the Strait would see the collapse of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) where Xi Jinping is the Secretary General as the hundreds of millions of Chinese lose their jobs and starves.

But the Chinese have been burning their midnight oil to solve this military conundrum through the following factors below.

                        THE DJIBOUTI PORT, CPEC AND CMEC FACTORS

We concerned spectators should learn about the Djibouti Port, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) factors amidst the brouhahas on the incessant audacious encroachments of the Chinese government and militia ships in our islands and shoals in the West Philippines Sea (renamed from the South China Sea to suit the Philippines interest) and the looming cloud of war in the Taiwan Strait.

Since time immemorial the Chinese wanted to avoid the choke point of the Malacca and the adjacent Sunda, Lombok and Makasar Straits. They know that incase war breaks between them and the U.S, they would surely lose the war despite blocking too somewhere in the South China Sea and East China Sea the tankers and other commercial ships bound to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea.

As what an excerpt on China Maritime Report No. 13: The Origins of "Near Seas Defense and Far Seas Protection" authored by Jennifer Rice and Erik Robb, says: “…some Chinese strategists argue that the U.S. “rebalance” to Asia renders Near Seas Defense inadequate. To these observers, the rebalance concept’s requirements to deploy 60 percent of U.S. naval and air forces to Asia and strengthen its regional alliances demonstrate that Washington’s approach to China is one of containment and encirclement”.

                                                   DJIBOUTI PORT

Since March 2016, the Chinese has been building the US$590 million naval base in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. The facility is to significantly increase Beijing's power projection in there and the Indian Ocean as well as the PLAN's blue water capabilities. The base is strategically situated at the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait that separates the Gulf of Aden from the Red Sea and guards the approaches to the Suez Canal. The Chinese facility is run by the Chinese-operated Port of Doraleh to the west of Djibouti City.

This base will counter the strong presence of the American navy in these areas and a counter-measure to the choke point in Malacca Strait.

                          CHINA-PAKISTAN ECONOMIC CORRIDOR (CPEC)

In April 20, 2015, the Sinos created the U.S $64 billion and still growing CPEC.  It is a 3, 000 km sea-and-land infrastructure network project undertaken in Pakistan by China. The development of a deep water port at Gwadar, Pakistan in Arabian Sea and a well - build road and rail line from this port to Xinjiang Province in western China would be a shortcut for boosting the trade between Europe and China. For the Pakistan government, the effect of this mammoth Chinese investment overcomes the country's electricity shortfall, increase its infrastructural development and modernize their transportation networks as they shift from an agricultural based economic structure to industrialization. Despite the U.S military and economic aids to Pakistan (almost U.S$ 8 billion in the past decade), the latter becomes closer to China where the Bejing  provides mammoth economic loans and huge military hardware to her military that faces a bigger Indian army. Besides, the military and commercial facilities dubbed as the String of Pearls by the Chinese like in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to surround India – mutual nemesis of China and Pakistan – divides militarily the attention of India to Pakistan.

                              CHINA-MYANMAR ECONOMIC CORRIDOR

In 2013 the Chinese has been building the CMEC. It is a number of infrastructure projects that connect Myanmar (former Burma) and China. It is an economic corridor of the vaunted Belt and Road Initiative of the Sinos. CMEC calls for building road and rail transportation from Yunnan Province in China through Muse and Mandalay of the seaport city's Kyaukpyu in Rakhine State. The transportation route follows gas and oil pipelines built in 2013 and 2017. A port and Special Economic Zone is planned at Khaukphyu. The largest construction project along the areas is the 431-kilometre (268 miles) Muse-Mandalay Railway, a project estimated to cost US$9 billion. The newly built railway would connect the Chinese railway network at Ruili, Yunnan Province.

                              THE DISPENSABILITY OF THE MALACCA STRAIT

As you see the maps I provided on this article, the completion of the CMEC, CPEC and the port in Djibouti could solve the Malacca Dilemma – coined by China President Hu Jintao at a CCP economic work conference in 2003 - and could further emboldened the Sinos to assert their claim on Taiwan and the islands and shoals like the Ayungin where an armed dilapidated rusty “ghost” war ship of Philippines Navy is nestled.

The United States’ Energy Information Agency estimates that the South China Sea holds about 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 11 billion barrels of oil in proved and probable reserves.

                                 WAR FLASH POINT: STRAIT OF HORMUZ

In case war with the U.S and China ensue, the flashpoint will be in the Strait of Hormuz where the Chinese tankers use it as route get most of their crude –supplies in Saudi Arabia and in the Indian Ocean where warships, submarines and naval drones of the US and India – a bitter enemy of China because the latter annexed some of her territories in Depsang Plains and Arunachal Pradesh - surreptitiously wait to ambush these tankers including their PLAN escort warships. In this war, the Malacca Strait’s choke point is already non-strategical because the Chinese have already established their bases in Djibouti, Myanmar, Pakistan and other countries like Maldives and Somalia.

With these relocation of routes protected by these facilities cum bases, the desire of the Sinos to invade Taiwan and encroach more islands and shoals on its Nine Dash – Line heightens. 

(Author is a Professor of Political Science in the Philippines and has a Master in Public Administration (MPA). He has been an Op-Ed Writer for more than two decades. He can be contacted at totomortz@yahoo.com).

Korte: Tunay na Panalo si Rosario vs. Ching

By Mortz C. Ortigoza 

MANAOAG, Pangasinan – Kumampi ang Hukom ng Regional Trial Court (RTC) sa Urdaneta City kay Mayor Jeremy Agerico B. Rosario sa “massive fraud at serious anomalies” na poll protest ng karibal nito noong May 9, 2022 mayoral election.

Sa apat na pahina na ruling na isinulat at inilabas ni Judge Edna Lou C. Ibe-Pulmano, kanyang ibinasura ang protesta ni mayoral candidate at dating vice mayor Domiciano Z. Ching kay Rosario.

ELECTION PROTEST'S LITIGANTS:  Manaoag Mayor Jeremy Agerico B. Rosario (left) and mayoral election prostestant former Vice Mayor Domiciano Z. Ching.

“Masayang balita, kabalikat! Nagdesisyon na po ang korte ukol sa legalidad ng ating pagkapanalo noong eleksiyon. Maraming salamat sa Diyos at sa inyong suporta, pang-unawa at pasensiya sa buong prosesong ito mula noong umpisa. Patuloy po tayo na magkaisa at samahan ninyo po akong tahakin ang ating kinabukasan bilang inyong Punong Bayan na may tapat na hangarin at buong pusong pagsisilbi sa ating bayan. Mabuhay ang ating mahal na pinagpalang Bayan ng Manaoag!,” sinabi ni Rosario sa post niya sa Facebook.

Noong nakaraang eleksyon nakakuha ng 16, 117 votes o 40.45 percent ang naka upo ngayong alkalde habang si Ching naman ay may 15, 961 votes or 40.05 percent na boto. Ang una ay may lamang na 156 votes.

Ang dalawa pang magkatungali sa parehas na posisyon ay si Ramon Bautista, Jr. at Mariano Soriano nakakuha ng 19.28%, 0.22%, ayon sa pagkakabangit.

Ani Judge Ibe-Pulmano na hindi nakakuha ng matibay na boto sa protesta sa 15 clustered of the 75 clustered precincts  si Ching na dapat meron siyang makuhang 20 percent na bagong natuklasang mga  boto.

Tinukoy ni Judge ang Section 4 ng Administrative Memorandum No. 10-4-1 na inihayag ng Supreme Court sa pagkapanalo ni Rosario.

“The pilot clustered protested precincts which shall not be less than and nearest to twenty percent (20%) of the total number of protested precincts that will best the merits of the protest shall be the subject of an initial recount of the ballots. The initial recount in the protest is intended to determine if there is a substantial recovery wherein the protestant is able to recover at least 20% of the overall vote lead of the protestee through the appreciation of ballots and other submitted election documents. Based on the above determination, the court may dismiss the protest, without further proceedings, if no substantial recovery could be established from the pilot clustered protested precincts. However, if substantial recovery could be established by the protestant from the pilot clustered protested precincts the recount of the ballots shall proceed,” ani ng korte matapos bilangin muli ang mga boto ng magkaribal na nakitaan lamang ng dagdag na tig dalawang boto si Ching at Rosario.

“Granting that the claimed ballots for the protestant will be appreciated in his favor, this will be an additional 13 votes,” ani Judge.

Sa pagbasura sa protesta, sinabi ng RTC na pag isinama ang dalawang bagong boto at ang 13 na ibang bagong boto ni Ching lahat ay 15 botos lamang.

“This number, however, still fell short of the 31 votes needed for substantial recovery contemplated by law to proceed with the revision of the remaining protested precincts,” sinabi ni Judge.

Masaya si Rosario sa mabilis na desisyon ng korte at sinabing mai-talaga na niya ang kanyang enerhiya at oras sa kanyang nasasakupan at sa bayan.

Any revision proceeding ng dalawa ay nagsimula noong May 31, 2023.

“This (ruling) only confirms the integrity and veracity of the automated elections conducted last May 2022 as declared by the election’s watchdog like NAMFREL and the Comelec,” ani Rosario, isang medical doctor.

Hinikayat ng Punong Bayan ang mga taga pilgrimage town na magkaisa para makamit ang sukdulang pag-unlad dito. Umaasa din si Rosario na maibalik ang dating malapit na pagsasamahan nila ni Ching dahil ninong siya ng isang anak nito.

Binmaley Mayor Chides Comm. Members on Delaying P71-M Projects

 IN HIGH DUDGEON. Binmaley Mayor Pete Merrera (extreme left) calls a press conference again and rebukes the Committee on Appropriation headed by Councilor Buday Cagaoan in their procrastination to approve the P71 million supplemental budget badly needed by the local government unit and its constituents.

Despite the support of the six councilors - who are mostly allied with Merrera's nemesis Vice Mayor Sam Rosario - who feared the backlash on their political career in the 2025 election by the angy Binmalaneans, the Committee on Appropriation despite its few numbers seems to hostage the budget being requested by Merrera. The Mayor is anxious that the inaction of Councilor Cagaoan and collegues would prejudice the budget because of the election ban on projects on September 15 to October 30 this year as imposed by Commission on Election on the October 30 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Election.

The ban is on the release, disbursement, or expenditure of public funds for social welfare projects, construction of public works, and delivery of materials for public works.

PHOTO AND TEXTS: MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

Prov’l Dad Wants San Carlos City’s RoD Covers 3rd District

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – A provincial lawmaker in Pangasinan sponsored a Resolution that the Register of Deeds (RoD) in San Carlos City covers the one city and five towns' 3rd District.

It was titled: Requesting the Secretary of the Department of Justice Through the Land Registration Authority to Include All the Other Five Municipalities of the 3^rd District of Pangasinan in the Jurisdiction of the Register of Deeds of the City of San Carlos. 

The building of the Land Registration Authority in Lingayen, Pangasinan. 
Wikimapia.org

3rd District Board Member Vici Ventanilla said in case the Land Registration Authority (LRA) and the Department of Justice approved the sentiment of the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial lawmaking body), the RoD of Lingayen will be unburdened as it covers the towns of Calasiao, Mapandan, Sta. Barbara, Malasiqui and Bayambang in the 3^rd District of the province.

“And on the side of San Carlos City na mag materialize ito siyempre dadami ang tao therefore ang economy mag bu-boast ang San Carlos,” said by BM Ventanilla who hailed on this 86 villages’ city.

He emulated the decision of 5^th District BM Nicholi Jan Louie Sison who requested and had been granted by the LRA to have the towns of Alcala, Bautista, Binalonan, Laoac, Pozorrubio, Santo Tomas, Sison and Villasis breakaway from the RoD of Lingayen and be under the RoD of Urdaneta City.

“Burden din sa kanila sa eastern part (of the province) na masyadong pagkalayo-layo dito pa sila pupunta sa Lingayen. Therefore, e ki-cater na ng RoD iyong mga ibang bayan diyan at least”.

BM Ventanilla has been convincing the RoD of Dagupan City to lobby in the LRA to enlarge the latter jurisdiction by taking from the RoD of Lingayen the towns of Mangaldan, San Fabian, San Jacinto and Manaoag.

Presence, Appearance Matter in Winning Election

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