MAHALAGANG ANNOUNCEMENT:
By Mortz C. Ortigoza
A police brass told me that in case Pangasinan Police Office Director Colonel Redrico Maranan leave his post this month in the gargantuan province, there are three police full colonels being groomed to replace him.
“One of them is that Espinosa guy?” I posed.
“No, he was already a provincial director in CARAGA Region 13. He was brought there by his patron cops’ Brigadier General Romeo Caramat who was just whisked out from his PNP Drug Enforcement Group in Camp Crame to become a regional director,” he retorted.
Caramat, from San Jacinto, Pangasinan, is the husband of Nalsian, Calasiao Barangay Chairwoman and Liga President Mamilyn Caramat.
Caramat was my classmate at the College of Law in the University of Pangasinan.
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| GROOMED TO BE P.D. (From left) Police Colonels Noel Vallo and Neil Miro. Not in photo is Colonel Ronald Gayo. |
I saw him when he was a cadet at the Philippine Military Academy when I worked at the Public Information Office there in the late 1980s. He is a member of Class 1992 the last batch PMA produced for the Philippine Constabulary - a gendarmerie-type police force founded by the Yanks in 1901 and ended by the Philippine Congress in 1991.
Opps, I digressed to my real topic son of a gun hahaha!
My Colonel source told me those who “jockey” for the likewise most prestigious post in the four province’s Region 1 are Colonels Ronald Gayo, Noel Vallo, and the dark horse my friend Mangatarem raised but Bisayan Speaking Neil Miro.
“Who are the patrons of those three that would pluck one of them to run the cop show in the former Kingdom of Princess Urduja,” I inquired to my source who asked for anonymity.
“Gayo backers are the Espinos (the former and present governors) while the benefactors of Vallo and Miro are (Region 1 Police Regional Director) Rodolfo Santos Azurin Jr., and former police two-star general Greg Pimentel ( a friend of President Rodrigo Duterte who brought Miro to be Dagupan City’s Chief of Police when he became the RD of Region 1 in 2017.
Azurin is a member of the Makatao Class of 1989 of the Philippine Military Academy.
I know about Greg Pimentel fancy’s on Miro because the latter told me about his friendship with the former when he first met Pimentel, a member of PMA Class of 1985, when the San Quintin, Pangasinan resident was a struggling Colonel of the Highway Patrol at the Aviation Security Group where Miro was assigned.
That was during the Aquino Administration and how time flew when Duterte catapulted him to two-star general to be the top honcho of the Directorate for Intelligence and as Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency Deputy Director when he retired from the PNP.
I had a chat with Pimentel when then Pangasinan Second District Congressman Leopoldo Bataoil introduced him to me when we were waiting for the arrival of President Rodrigo Duterte in one of the five four blades’ Bell 412 Helicopters of the Presidential Security Group and the Air Force at the Port of Sual, Pangasinan.
“Greg, ito si Mortz dating taga RFC sa PMA,” Bataoil, a former police general and my superior at Tactics told the regional director.
My source said that PD Maranan, Gayo, and Vallo are mistah or classmates in Class of 1995 at the Philippine National Police Academy in Camp General Mariano N. Castañeda Silang, Cavite while Miro, a member of Class ‘97, is their underclass man.
“How about Espinosa, what was his class?
“1998,” he quipped.
“Oh he was too young to be a PD in my Southern Island Mindanao,” I said.
“No, there are provincial directors who are members of Class 2000 who are already PDs”.
He said there are no one star general as of present in PNP Class 1995, when I asked him.
“I don’t know if there are already one star in the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines),’ he added.
Talks about some PD’s stuffs:
I told him that when the lorry I rode had a stop at the other end of the 2.5 kilometers San Juanico Bridge that connects Leyte-Samar Province after I ‘absconded” last July 4 my four months locked down in Mindanao, I texted Colonel Rod Samson that I was in his turf in Western Samar.
“I am based in Tacloban City (just at the other end of the historic bridge that defied the monster killer Super Typhoon Yolanda in 2013 – MCO) I am not the PD of Samar but of Leyte,” he texted back.
My source told me that my bilas Director for Intelligence (D.I) Major General Mariel Magaway (PMA 1986) interceded for Samson’s assignment there. Magaway was the RD of the Visayan Region for a while and was replaced by my College of Law’s Classmate Brig. General Ferdinand Divina, a son of Tayug, Pangasinan – who is now the acting chief of the D.I after Magaway figured in a chopper crash with then Chief PNP Chief General Archie Francisco Gamboa and two other generals in Laguna last March 5.
“I should be the PD too of one of the provinces there (Region 8) through the intervention of Sir Mariel. But the following day he was involved in that crash. Malas ko talaga!” he deplored.
I asked him what happened why the Chief of Police (COP) of Dagupan City, the most prestigious post in the 44 towns and 4 cities’ Pangasinan had been “yanked out” and replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Luis Munar Ventura Jr. - a non-PNPYer.
My source explained that it’s normal for a new regional police director like P/Brig. Gen.Azurin PRO1 director to bring his “Bata’ or Man Friday whenever he is assigned in his new Tour of Duty.
Lt. Colonel Abubakar Mangelen Jr. he told me was the protegee of then but now retired RD Brig. Gen. Joel Orduna.
“I found Lt. Colonel Mangelen Jr. intelligent and charismatic. He came from the same region where I was brought up when my military father was assigned in Maguindanao and Cotabato,” I declared.
Mangelen, my source said, is presently assigned at the PPO while he prepares for his schooling.
READ:
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| Senator Grace Poe |
OTHERWISE THEY FACE PENALTIES
By Mortz C. Ortigoza
Those traders who are into digital transactions but are not registered with the Bureau of Internal Revenue are given an extension to register up to the end of this month.
“The deadline for the registration of those into digital transaction discussed under RMC No. 60. 2020 which extention was only up to August 30 this year,” Region-1 Regional Head of the Taxpayer Assistance Unit Chief Lee Caday quoted Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 92-2020 signed by BIR Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay.
He said that Commissioner Dulay saw a surge of registrants in various revenue district offices that wanted to beat the deadline.
RMC No. 60-2020, titled as “Obligations of Persons Conducting Business Transactions Through Any Forms of Electronic Media, and Notice to Unregistered Businesses”, meant to give notice to all the people doing business and earning income in any manner or form, specifically for those who are into digital transactions- E-commerce. These do not only include partner sellers or merchants, but also the stakeholders involved such as the payment gateways, delivery channels, internet service providers, and other facilitators.
Caday said that those who will beat the September 30 extension will not be penalized as imposed by law to those late registrants.
He said those who will be found later doing business without complying with the registration and update requirement and those who failed to seek past due taxes shall be imposed with the applicable penalties under the National Internal Revenue Code, the laws, and rules and regulations.
The newly-registered business entities, including existing registrants are advised to comply with the provisions of the Tax Code and other applicable tax revenue issuance, particularly on the following:
Issuance of registered Sales Invoice or Official Receipt for every sale of goods and services
Keep a registered Books of Accounts and other accounting records of business transactions
Withholding of taxes (if applicable)
Filing of required tax returns
Payment of correct tax dues on time
MAAYOS NA WORKING ENVIRONMENT SA MGA ARTISTA
By Cong. Christopher "Toff" de Venecia
Ngayong 18th Congress at sa gitna ng pandemya, tayo ay patuloy na nakakatutok sa kapakanan ng mga manggagawa at pagsuporta sa creative industries sa pamamagitan ng Arts, Culture, and Creative Industries Bloc (ACCIB) sa Kongreso.
Ilan sa mga creative industries na ating sinusuportahan ay ang indutriyang malapit sa aking puso at lalo na sa aking pamilya, ang mga local na industriya ng pelikula, telebisyon, musika, at libro.
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| COURTESY CALL of Philippine National Police Region 1 Director PBGEN Rodulfo Santos Azurin Jr.at the residence of Pangasinan Fourth District Rep. Christopher de Venecia in Brgy Bonuan Binloc, Dagupan City. Azurin was accompanied by Pangasinan Provincial Director PCOL Redrico A. Maranan, Acting Chief of Police of Dagupan City Police Station PLTCOL Luis M. Ventura Jr., Acting Chief of Police of San Fabian Municipal Police Station PCPT Hermilita L. Guitering, and Acting Chief of Police of San Jacinto PMAJ Edgar Allan G. Serquiña. |
Kaya isinusulong natin sa Kongreso ang pagpasa ng Eddie Garcia Bill o Creative Workers Bill at Freelance Protection Bill na may layong gawing maayos ang pamantayan ng working environment at bigyan ng kaukulang proteksyon ang mga manggagawa na nasa harap man o likod ng kamera.
Maraming Salamat kay Ms. Rica Arevalo at sa Manila Bulletin para sa inyong feature!
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Ang agrikultura ay isa sa mga adbokasiyang malapit sa aking puso.
Simula pa noong 17th Congress, inihain na natin ang Magna Carta for Young Farmers at ngayong 18th Congress, ito ay pumasa na sa committee level as consolidated kasama ng iba pang mga bills bilang Young Farmers and Fisherfolk Challenge Bill.
Samahan niyo ako ngayong Huwebes ng 9AM sa webinar ng Philippine Legislators' Committee on Population and Development para alamin ang mga salient provisions ng batas na ito.
By Mortz C. Ortigoza
Many folks in the gargantuan Province of Pangasinan don’t have any iota of knowledge as dictated by their olfactory system how the King of Fruits’ durian smell when it permeates the thin air.
When my two sons ventured to haul this pungent and thorn-covered rind stuff and other Mindanao’s fruits (This yokel went back to the “unprofitable’ pen pushing, er keyboards pounding profession, his loved of his life after guiding them the nuances of getting the stocks in the Southern Island) and bringing ‘em here in the Kingdom of Princess Urduja through a lorry and plane, they are immediately besieged by the presence of high purchasing middle class of the Northern Luzon’s province every time they opened, of course with presence of the missus Miles, the temporary fruit stall in front of McDonald – Tapuac in Dagupan City.
Strategical location to snare the human traffic, eh?
Customers who regularly patronized our weekly crates full of the export variety Puyat Durians, Malaysian variety D-101 durians, Arancillo, and Thailand variety’s Chanee were Pangasinan Fifth District Congressman Ramon “Mon-Mon” Guico, III, former Police Three-Star General, Ex Nine-Year Congressman, and incumbent Capital Town Lingayen Mayor Pol Bataoil, San Manuel, Pangasinan former mayor and present Vice Mayor Alain Jerico Perez, renowned lawyer and Mangaldan Councilor Joseph Emmanuel Cera, and other members of the “Illustrado Class” as what my Davao City based classmate Resty Pancho quipped upon seeing these privileged class acquiesced to my request to have a photo ops with either them or my two kids carrying the prickly thorns fruits that if not handled property can hurt some skins.
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FANATICS. Durian “zealots” (from upper photo clockwise) Presidential Adviser for Northern Luzon and Cagayan Special Economic Zone (CEZA) Administrator and Secretary Raul Lambino and author showing to all and sundry the Davao durians, marangs, and other Mindanao fruits, San Manuel former mayor and incumbent Vice Mayor Jerico Perez with author’s kids Nico and Jigger, Capital Town Lingayen Mayor Leopoldo Bataoil, and Pangasinan Fifth District Congressman Ramon “Mon-Mon” Guico.
Did I hear somebody scream the name of Solicitor General Jose Calida? Hahahaha!
“Pag mag train ka doon sa Maguindanao pag panahon ng durian everybody eats durian. Kami naman na mga taga Luzon tikim tikim kami. Then eventually nagustuhan na namin. First tikim parang alanganin pag na accustomed na ang taste bud mo and iyong smell para bagang naano na siya its just a delicacy na na condition ka and later on you crave for it,’ Bataoil, who was a three-star police general, told this writer his first encounter of the cultivar whose full-bodied creamy and mild sweet-tasting flesh can be addictive, when he was first assigned in Parang, Maguindanao.
He narrated to me his adventures in Mindanao as a young alumnus of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1976 and as Philippine Constabulary’s Second Lieutenant prowling the jungles and the boondocks to kill warriors of the Moro National Liberation Front in Maguindanao and the elusive hit and run guerrillas of the commies’ New People’s Army in the provinces of Davao, Agusan, and Surigao.
“Noong 1976 pag graduate namin sa PMA dinala kami sa Cotabato ang unit namin ay 54th Ranger PC Batallion. Lahat kami nag-graduate PMA na 1976 na Easy Group ginawang platoon leaders iyan dalawang batallion 57th at saka 54th PC Ranger Batallion. At saka meron pang isa ang PC Brigade noong araw. Tatlong lugar iyang pinagdalhan sa amin mga combat battalion ng mga PC/INP.”
His first deployment in 1976 as training officer of the new PC recruits in Parang, Maguindanao where he trained these newly recruited infantry units of the Constabulary (a gendarmerie-type police force founded by the Yanks in 1901 and ended by the Philippine Congress in 1991) and minted them to be a “killing machine” versus the bad guys operating on these provinces I mentioned recently.
“During a lull in the operation against the MNLF I told my men not to spend their siesta under a durian tree because the falling lethal sharp thorns of the fruits would kill them instead of the bullet of the enemy,” he once told reporters during the Mindanao First Fruit Festival held at the Capital town September last year.
Geez, as a teenage growing up in the Promised Land (as dubbed by U.S tutelage’s Common Wealth Government under the Flips, er, Filipinos' President Manuel Quezon) I remember a saying in Indonesian, ketiban durian runtuh, which means "getting hit by a durian",
I learned later that there is a Bald Durian, susmariosep, growing in Davao and Malaysia where it is spineless and could be safe to the soldiers of then Lieutenant Bataoil to have their nap under its tree. The Malaysians and those in Borneo, an Island just below my place in Mindanao, called the Bald Durian as “Durian Botak”.
Nope baby, they ain’t the slang word of Takbo or Run (reverse of Butak) coined by Manileños.
The former Congressman said that his family except the youngest daughter loves to eat the “exotic fruit” considered as one of the most expensive fruits in the world.
“My wife and kids eats durian except one. Camela when she was small I bought her along sa Cotabato City kasi and that time she was only about three to 15 years old nag stay kami doon she ate durian. During her younger days nasanay siya doon. Ngayon iyong pangalawa ko she never liked durian,” Bataoil, who was a former Metro District Commander of Cotabato City recalled his assignment in the war torn Mindanao particularly in the province known as Kutawato where I spent 16 years of my life after we migrated from PMA, Baguio City to join my military father reassignment there in the middle of the 1970s.
When he texted me via Facebook’s Messenger to buy the export variety Puyat Davao and Malaysian D-101 in August this year, this writer could still remember the longing of the nostril-and taste bud of the general when he first encountered the fruit during his first assignment in Mindanao.
"I'm craving for them, Mortz," he quipped.
"I could not blame you General sir. You were once a favorite son of Cotabato, Maguindanao, and Agusan Provinces when you were a young graduate of the PMA," I retorted as I asked Galman and Abbie, our two salesmen at our Davao Fruits Stand to prepare the species scientifically called durio.
The Javanese in Indonesia believe durian to have aphrodisiac qualities or one that stimulates sexual desire.
When some radio commentators visited me at the house and quaffed my Jack Daniels while they make pulutan (finger food) the butter liked creamy durian pulps and bitter-sweet Davao mangosteen, media men Atong Remogat, a descendant of Sultan Durio of Borneo, and Ruel Camba argued emphatically that the prickly rind fruit is an aphrodisiac.
To pacify them I quoted a Java, Indonesia axiom: Durian jatuh sarung naik (Durian falls and the sarong comes up).
Sarong (we called in Cotabato as Malong) by the way is a large tube or length of fabric, often wrapped around the waist of a man or a woman who either wear or not an underwear there.
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(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)
| Bureau of Internal Revenue District Officer No. 3 Chief Charmaine de la Torre |
