Rest in Peace Dagupan City's Prolific Newsstand Owner

 I bumped into Ariel Mayola yesterday at SM in Dagupan City. I asked him how his first cousin Danny Mayola --the City's prolific long time newsstand owner.

Ariel said Danny - who lived in the notorious slum area's Aling - died three months ago.

"What?! Ano ang kinamatay niya?" I posed.

Ariel - a street toughie who lived too in the same slum - mimicked with his right hand feeding his mouth with food.

"Wala nang makain, Pare!"

"Paano walang makain e nagbebenta naman siya ng diyaryo saka nagpapa jueteng?".

"Magmula nang ipinagbubungkal iyang mga drainage diyan sa Fernandez Avenue, halos wala ng pumaparada na kotse para bumili ng diyaryo niya," Ariel explained.

REST IN PEACE, MANG DANNY!

(Photo credit: Philippines Daily Inquirer award winning lens man Willie Lomibao)

Why Ownership of Malico is High Stake for P’sinan, N. Vizcaya?

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

The dispute between the provinces of Pangasinan and Nueva Vizcaya on the ownership of highly elevatated mountainous village’s Malico is high stake.

The cloud kissed verdant rolling hills pine tree smelling 1,675 meters above sea level (masl) barangay is higher than the 1,470 masl of Baguio City. Malico is a threat to be at par or eclipse Baguio because of the dilemma of the latter on the vehicular traffic congestion that Mayor Benjamin Magalong and the city council proposed a series of congestion fees as high as P250 during peak hours to discourage up to 72,000 vehicle owners to use the city streets to avoid gridlocks.

THE CLOUD KISSED verdant mountain ranges of Malico in San Nicolas, Pangasinan.

Designed and built by the American colonial government to accomodate 25,000 people, the Pine City’s population grew by 366,358 (as of the 2020 census) and its narrow roads (349 kilometers in total), could only take 145,416 individuals.

ECONOMICS BENEFITS

Malico – nearer than Baguio for tourists that hail from Manila, Regions 2 and 3 – will be a draw to people and investors.

Ownership of the village nestled on the Caraballo Mountain means hosting tourists, clubs, hotels, restaurants, golf courses, parks, and other entertainment services. Not to mention the residential areas and vacation houses that would be built there.

A ten-storey hotel means revenue for the local government units (LGUs) of Malico, her mother town San Nicolas, and Pangasinan through real property tax (as the government counts the square meters per floor of the edifice) being paid yearly and the business tax the proprietor will pay annually to the village and the town.

Other taxes that the LGUs could collect are professional, amusement, exporter, retailer, contractor, and others.

Registration of the hotel and other services to Barangay Malico, Santa Fe in the second class province of Nueva Vizcaya means the three LGUs of the first class province of Pangasinan will be deprieved of these exactions.

LINCPINS FOR THE GROWTHS OF BAGUIO AND BORACAY

These taxes continue to make Baguio City and Malay (that hosts the vaunted tourists’ draw Boracay in the world) in Aklan Province as money churning LGUs in the Philippines.

In 2023, the first class town of Malay as seen on the arguments on the bill filed by Senator Imee R. Marcos to make her as a component city in the following excerpts:

-          The town collected in 2023 P62.31 billion from tourist arrivals.

-          No. 9 among all municipalities in the Philippines in terms of local revenues by collecting P365, 723, 937.

Wikepedia says:

-           Malay has one airport known as Caticlan Airport.  The runway was extended to 1,800 metres (5,900 ft) in 2016, allowing bigger aircraft like the Airbus A320 to land at the airport.

Malay is considered the strongest economy in all the municipalities in the Region and the richest municipality of Aklan in terms of income and annual budget.

Including the national tax allotment (NTA) –the successor of the internal revenue allotment (IRA), because of Boracay the town of Malay could have an annual budget of between P600 million to P700 million this year, I surmised.

TOURISTS ARE THE SPARKPLUG FOR THE GROWTH OF AN LGU

In a lunch tendered to me at SM Center Dagupan yesterday by the two top honchos of SM Supermalls that supervised the three branches in the province of Princess Urduja, Assistant Mall Manager Michelle Charlene B. Chua told me that the highest earning branches of SM Prime Holdings yearly in Central and Northern Luzon and the Cordillera is (from highest to lowest) SM City Baguio, SM City Clark, one of the two SMs in San Fernando City, Pampanga, and SM-City Rosales in Pangasinan.

I analyzed after this conversation that even Pangasinan and San Fernando have more population than Baguio City, the SM there draw more customers because it caters to the thick pocketed tourists that flux there from all over the country.

Here are my data from Wikipedia how the local government of Baguio City benefited on the high spending tourists in the summer capital of the Philippines being threatened now by Malico that the provincial lawmaking body of Pangasinan declared as the Summer Capital of Pangasinan:

-          P2, 745, 274, 171 approved 2024 budget – or an increased of 14% from the previous year.

-          The breakdown of the budget reveals a diverse set of revenue sources, with internal sources contributing P1,196,787,000,00 (44%) and external sources accounting for P1,488,487,171.00 (54%). The remaining 2% comes from the beginning balance of P60,000,000.00. The Internal Sources consist of the Tax Revenue – P760,810,000.00 (28%) and Non-Tax Revenue – P435,977,000.00 (16%)
Meanwhile, the External Sources are the city’s shares from the National Tax Allotment – P1,234,987,171.00 (45%), Economic Zones – P250,000,000.00 (9%), and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office – P3,500,000.00 (0%).

Oh by the way, allow me to digress a little. Because of the burgeouning number of SM patrons, Chua – a former band singer - told me that after SM City – La Union in San Fernando City is inaugurated this year, the top management of SM looks whether to construct another mall at San Carlos City in Pangasinan, San Jose City in Nueva Ecija, Tambac in Dagupan City, or add another third storey at the SM Center in Dagupan City because of the growing demands of customers.

HIGH STAKE, ANYONE?

Let’s go back to my first sentence above this column: Do you think my premise that the dispute between the gargantuan 3,163,190 (2020 census) populated Pangasinan and lilliputian 497,432 (2020 census) populated Nueva Vizcaya is really high stake?

Here’s Pangasinan Governor Ramon V. Guico III exhorting the folks of Malico when he visited them last July 3 (this author was there, too shievering in his jacket to the much colder than Baguio City’s weather of the controversial verdant village) for distribution of goodies and sums from his personal account and medical services from the provincial government:

“Well, will put an initial we allocated an initial P200 million for Malico,” he emphatically told them about the appropriation for social and medical services.

(Folks at the gym applauded)

“Pag-aagawin pa nila ang Malico (If Nueva Vizcaya wants to land grab Malico), P200 million uli! Ano game ba kayo?!”

(Folks at the gym applauded again)

The guys who did not applaud for sure are the LGU officials of Sta. Fe and the provincial government of Nueva Vizcaya.

Lingap ed Barangay visits Malico

 LINGAYEN, Pangasinan–“Ang Malico, hindi iiwanan ng Pangasinan yan…kahit ano pong mangyari.”

This was the assurance Governor Ramon V. Guico III made in his visit to the mountain village of San Nicolas on July 3.

 

LINGAP. Governor Ramon V. Guico III and Vice Governor Mark Ronald DG. Lambino (6^th and 8^th from left photo, respectively) brought basic assistance closer to the people of Malico through ‘LINGAP (Local Initiatives: Guidance and Assistance Program) ed Barangay.’

Guico and Vice Governor Mark Ronald DG. Lambino brought basic assistance closer to the people of Malico through ‘LINGAP (Local Initiatives: Guidance and Assistance Program) ed Barangay.’

“Itong LINGAP ed Barangay, pag-aaruga sa barangay ito,” Gov. Guico said. He likewise mentioned that the provincial government has another similar program called ‘Kumustahan: The Governor’s Visit,’ that also aims to establish closer ties to the grassroots.

Pledging more assistance to Malico, the governor cited that the provincial government will bring more equipment to the village, like a backhoe loader and a newly purchased ambulance, to assist the residents in case of landslides and emergency.

Expressing full support for the welfare of the villagers, Gov. Guico said the provincial government will allocate an amount of P200 million exclusively for Malico to fund various activities, including social and medical services for the residents.

LINGAP ed Barangay, organized by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), held its pilot opening in Brgy. Estanza, Lingayen, in June 2024. Said program involves free medical services, a feeding program, the distribution of books to children, a basic orientation on disaster preparedness, and an orientation on cooperative formulation, among others.

Based on the record, the total number of beneficiaries who benefited from various services is as follows: Barangay Malico (174); Barangay Sta. Rosa (29); and Barangay Sta. Fe (27). Family food packs numbering 178 were also distributed.

The Provincial Hospital Management Services (PHMSO) and the Provincial Health Office were responsible for providing beneficiaries’ medical care.

The breakdown of the tally for residents served includes the following: medical consultation: 144 (38 pedia; 103 medical); total patients served for laboratory: 63; total exam done: 164; urinalysis: 41; blood sugar: 51; uric acid: 26; hemoglobin: 44; cholesterol: 2; dental extraction: 42; ECG: 65; Operation Tuli: 12.

Some 23 children were given school supplies and gift packs under the ‘Pagbibigay ng Libro at Storytelling sa mga Bata activity initiated by the Pangasinan Provincial Library.

To transform the residents into self-sufficient members of society, the Provincial Population Cooperative and Livelihood Development Office (PPCLDO) conducted an orientation about cooperative formation. Lectures dealt with the requirements of cooperative formation, documentary requirements for Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) registration, and steps and processes in CDA registration.

Meanwhile, the Vice Governor assured the residents of Malico that the activity is just the start of the many projects that the provincial government intends to undertake.

Joining the governor and vice governor during the activity were Board Members Noel Bince and Salvador Perez, Jr., San Nicolas Mayor Alicia Primicias-Enriquez, along with Vice Mayor Alvin Bravo, Malico Punong Barangay Sandi Segundo, and Pangasinan PNP led by PCol. Jeff Fanged and some department heads of the Pangasinan Provincial Government, led by Provincial Administrator Melicio F. Patague II. (Ruby F. Rayat, Photos: JP De Vera, Joey Olimpo|PIMRO)

VM Aminado Hinaharang ng COA ang Sueldo Niya

  E-REFUND NAMAN DAW SA KANYA NG CONTRACTOR NA TARGET NG COA

Ni Mortz C. Ortigoza

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – Inamin ng dating alkalde dito na kinukobra ng Commission on Audit (COA) ang buwanang sueldo nito habang hindi pa nababayaran ng contractor ang “disallowance notice” na ipinataw sa multi-storey building noong pinatayo ito noong mayor pa siya.

“Okay iyan ni process na sa central pero kinausap ko iyong contractor ibalik mo na lang iyan di na lang mag-appeal. Di na mag-appeal kasi ang pera nasa iyo. Ibalik niya bakit kasi mag appeal pa,” ani Vice Mayor Simplicio L. Rosario sa paniningil ng COA sa may ari ng Citron Builders and Supplies.

LITIGANTS. Binmaley Vice Mayor Simplicio Rosario (left foreground) gazes to his Mayor Pedro Merrera (extreme right) during the administrative case the former filed against the latter at a hearing recently held at the provincial lawmaking body in Lingayen, Pangasinan. The duo has been exchanging barbs with each other since assuming office in June 30, 2022. Both have filed criminal cases too at the Ombudsman against each other. Rosario used to be nine-year mayor of the first class coastal town.  Photo Mortz C. Ortigoza

Naglabas ang COA noong May 9, 2023 ng “Notice of Disallowance” na nagsasaad na: The administrative case cropped up after the Commission on Audit (COA) found out that the accused (then Mayor Rosario –emphasis provided by this newspaper) ordered the payment of a concrete slab on the 3^rd floor multi-purpose building of the public central school here despite being paid already by the Department of Public Works & Highway”.

“…incurring a deficiency of P4, 049, 195.58. Said amount is hereby disallowed in audit. Copy of the technical inspection report is here attached for reference,’ sulat ng COA sa kanya.

Ang Notice ay natanggap ni Mayor Pedro Merrera noong February 2, 2024 galing sa Office of the Auditor –Commission on Audit Team No. 4 in San Carlos City, Pangasinan.

Si Rosario, Municipal Accountant Teggie V. de Guzman, Municipal Treasurer Josephine F. Anchiboy, at acting Municipal Treasurer Leo V. Fernandez ay dinemanda noong 2023 nila Leon C. Castro, Jr. Douglas R. delos Angeles, Lorenzo M. Cerezo, at Julian Edgar Gregorio Javier sa Ombudsman kung saan nakitaan siya ng substantial evidence ng huli.

Ani ng kasalukuyang Vice Mayor Rosario na walang problema sa kanya na binabawasan siya ng sahod kada buwan.

“Oo, sundin natin ang utos ng CoA”.

Paliwanag niya na hindi P7 million ang sinisingil ng CoA kundi P4 million lang.

“Ito iyong sinasabi nilang seven million (pesos). Sabi nila seven million sumulat ako sa COA P4 million lang e di P4 million lang iyong disallowance so nagkaroon na parang nagka overpadding. Ngayon nag file appeal kami,” aniya sa sideline ng administrative case dito sa Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial lawmaking body) laban kay Merrera.

Ang kaso sa Ombudsman ay may pamagat na OMB I-A- September 23-6163

Ang kaso naman na dinidinig mula pa noong 2023 sa Committee on Good Government and Accountability of Public Officers, Justice and Human Rights (CGGAPOJHR) dito sa Lingayen ay complaint sa Administrative Case no. 05-2023 (For Violation of Section 60 of Republic Act 7160). Ang Section 60 ay tungkol sa pagdisiplina, pagsuspende, o pagtanggal sa isang elective official. Ang mga batayan ay Disloyalty to the Republic of the Philippines; Culpable violation of the Constitution; Dishonesty, oppression, misconduct in office, gross negligence, or dereliction of duty; Commission of any offense involving moral turpitude or an offense punishable by at least prision mayor; Abuse of authority;

Ang mga nagrereklamo sa kasong ito laban kay Merrera ay sina Vice Mayor Rosario, SBM (Sangguniang Bayan Member) Airel Z. dela Concha, SBM Joel Jose A. Carrera, SBM Urbano C. delos Angeles III, SBM Aurora Gene Z. Cagaoan, SBM Jonas B. Rosasrio, at SBM Richard I. Bautista

Sabi ni Jonas sa Northern Watch Newspaper na kinasuhan nila si Merrera dahil ayaw niyang sagutin ang mga mga tanong niya sa alkalde sa sulat bilang Liga President kung ano ang mga pinakagastusan ng kasalukuyang alkalde noong isang taon.

“Queries ko 2023 May pa no reply siya after a month.”

Aniya gusto niyang malaman para maiulat niya sa kanyang mga Kapitan kung magkano na ang nagastos ni Merrera.

Ang hiling niya kay Mayor nag-ugat sa mga sinasabi nito na puro galing sa bulsa niya ang mga tinutustos niya sa mga kailangan ng musipipyo.

Tinatanong din ng batang Rosario bakit pinagiba ang bagong gawa na lobby ng munisipyo at ayaw tanggapin ang bagong building na bigay ni noong 2^nd District Cong. Jumel Espino.

“Iyong building na bigay ni Congressman Jumel ayaw e received. Ako ang humingi noong project”.

Bukod sa administrative case na isinampa ng grupo ni Rosario sa Sangguniang Panlalawigan kay Merrera may mga criminal at administrative charges din sila na  isinampa sa alkalde sa Ombudsman.

Ang grupo ni Merrera, sa kabilang kamay, ay nagsampa din ng di mabillang na kaso na criminal at administrabo kay Rosario.

Ang panayam ng Northern Watch kay Rosario na hinaharangan ang sueldo niya ng COA ay lumabas matapos sabihin sa diyaryo na ito ng kalaban at complainant niya na si Castro – na confidant din ni Merrera.

Milyon-Milyong Peso ang Benepisyo ng mga Brgy sa Quarry

Ni Mortz C. Ortigoza

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – Umaabot nang milyon-milyon at daan-daang libong pesos kada taon ang naging bahagi ng mga barangay sa pamumuno ni Pangasinan Governor Ramon V. Guico III at Vice Governor Mark Ronald Lambino.

Ayon kay Lambino magmula noong naisabatas ng Guico Administration ang tax ordinance na nag amend sa 11 years old na Revenue Code sa extraction, administrative fees, road maintenance, at iba pa, hindi lang tumaas nang walong tiklop ang buwis na nakoleksyon ng provincial government dito magmula noong bumaba sa pwesto si dating Gobernador Amado Espino III noong June 30, 2022.

QUARRY. A quarry operator with his equipement in one of the villages in Pangasinan.

Sa buong taon ng 2020, P12 million lamang ang nakulekta ng provincial treasurer kumpara sa P120 million magmula Enero at kalahati ng Hunyo ngayong taon, ayon sa bise gobernador noong makausap siya ng mga reporters dito.

Aniya baka mahigit P200 million ang makukulekta ng Guico Administration pagkatapos ng taon na ito.

“And we’re moving toward 18 months after the implementation (ng bagong tax ordinance sa quarry). Ang Probinsiya po ng Pangasinan nagtarget po tayo, I believed, P150 million for the year but ang collection po natin in the first five and half months ay nasa P120 million na po. If I remember for the figures of the treasury so iyang two years ago na collection na P12 million ngayon po sa isang taon anim o lima’t kalahating buwan pa lang ay times ten na po ang koleksyon. So if the projection is correct magtuloy-tuloy na ito we’re expecting at least around P200 million or even higher pag natapos na that’s the collection alone for the extraction business, etcetera”.

Dahil dito ang probinsiya, mga munisipyo at mga barangay na pinagkukunan ng quarry ay naging benepisyaryo ng ilang beses na bahagi ng pondo.

Sinabi sa kanya ng Guzon Barangay Chairman na bukod sa annual budget ng huli na P20 million kumikita pa siya sa unprogrammed budget na P2.5 million kada tatlong buwan magmula nang maisabatas ang amended quarry ordinance.

“E ngayon kung nakaka P2.5 million every quarter that translate to additional P10 million na unprogrammed budget niya. Ano po ang magagawa ng isang barangay sa sampung milyon?

Ani Lambino iyong Brgy Guzon -at ibang pang mga barangay na kumikita ng milyon at daan-daang libo kada taon ay kaya na nilang bumili o tumustos ng mga kailangan sa health services nila, emergency response vehicle, at mga pangangailangan ng mga indigents.

Aniya sa mga maliliit na mga barangay sila ay nakakakuha ng P200, 000 kada tatlong buwan o quarter o P800, 000 kada taon. Iyong halaga na iyan ay malaking bagay pandagdag sa naka programmed na yearly budget nila na P6 million at P7 million kada taon.

“Imagine po ang mga additional na programa na kaya nilang gawin at ito ay directly na napupunta sa barangay. Nakikita, malinis, transparent po ganoon din po doon sa mga munisipyo may shares na din po sila sa collection at directly din pong napupunta sa kanilang treasury”.

Ang mga cheke ng mga barangay ay pinapa-fund transfer na ng provincial treasurer.

Aniya kada quarter nagsasara ng libro ang provincial treasurer kaya every tatlong buwan din nilang kino-compute ang share hindi lang ng mga barangay kundi pati na ang mga bayan na may quarry at ang probinsiya.

Ayon sa Local Government Code, 40 percent ng buwis na nakukuha ay mapupunta sa barangay kung saan galing ang quarry, 30 percent sa bayan o siyudad kung saan ang nasabing barangay ay nasasakop, at 30 percent sa probinsiya.

Dumanas ng birth pain ang implementasyon ng batas dahil sa maraming tumututol noon.

“May mga reports din po na namantala at tinaas po ng nakakatakot ang presyo but eventually nag dive down po ito na regulate at binantayan din po natin ang mga namamantala doon sa mga overpricing,” dagdag ni Lambino.

Sinabi noon ng Mines and Geosciences Bureau ng Department of Environment and Natural Resources kay Governor Guico noong wala pa itong bagong batas na ang Pangasinan ang may pinakamababa na extraction fees sa quarry sa apat na probinsiya ng Region-1.

Kailangan din ang batas na ito dahil umaabot ng mahigit P1 billion ang nagagastos sa mga tulay at kalsada na sinisira ng mga trucks ng mga nagku-quarry pag ito ay kanilang nadadaanan.

Why Prov’l Newspapers go Bankrupt?

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

While inside my car going for a dinner at the Niña's Café owned by the mayor-missus of billionaire businessman Cezar T. Quiambao of Bayambang, Pangasinan after the latter invited some reporters to have some sumptous chows there, seasoned writer the septuagenarian Rhee Fer Hortaleza told me that a long time publishing provincial weekly newspaper in Pangasinan has folded out.

A NEWSSTAND OWNER fixes her national and local newspapers she peddles at the sidewalk of Baguio City. Photo credit: Joseph Manzano

As a former publisher and the present Editor-in-Chief of the Northern Watch Newspaper I know like the palm of my hand the financial woes of weeklies in the gargantuan province: Printing cost  weekly that runs to eight to ten thousand pesos if the front and back are colored and it is 10 pages and the monthly salaries of the writers, errand boy, and the editor. This not to mention the P800 to P1,000 per week remuneration of the layout artist if the newspaper has eight to ten pages. The cost of production is miniscule if the newspaper has enough advertisement that runs from six thousand pesos to twelve thousand pesos per whole page – as it depends on the kind of pages (the cheaper inside page or the expensive back page) or either it’s black and white or colored printed. 

But with the advent of the internet that turned newspapering publication into website and blog like the vaunted Facebook Page -- where they expand their reach even to readers as far a Burkina Faso in Africa, Turkmenistan in Central Asia and Antartica whenever there are those Filipino diasporas and as near as Barangay Matictic in Norzagary, Bulacan and Barangays Lareg-lareg and Bakitiw in Malasiqui, Pangasinan for free --, traditional newspapering have been meeting their demise while the others are on their borrowed time as they bleed their publishers' pocket. Environmentalist however applauded the tragedy brought by the internet's technology because they save a lot of paper trees.

Legendary Baguio City's Newspaper Gone Under

Just this morning, I saw at Facebook that Baguio Midland Courier just announced that it would close shop on July 22 this year.

Excerpt:

“Your Baguio Midland Courier, after 77 years of unparalleled and credible publication by providing news and information that matter to the public, is ceasing its operation effective July 22, 2024,” statement signed by Gloria Antoinette M. Hamada, Publisher and Chief Operation Officer of Hamada Printers and Publishers Corporation and Baguio Midland Courier.

When I was growing up at the Philippines Military Academy in Baguio City at the early 1970’s, I saw my military father wielded a Baguio Midland Courier and a broadsheet whenever he arrived at our house from the city. When I worked at the public information office of the PMA in the late 1980’s, I bought too the Courier at one of the countless newsstands  - including the daily Sun Star Newspaper - when I trudged the Session Road after attending my Sunday's worship at the Evangelical Church at the then U.S military ran Camp John Hay.  I bought too at the U.S government leased military camp its military newspaper the colored Stars and Stripes before licking my ice cream in cone that tasted Stateside I bought at the ice cream parlor there for some U.S cents (of course convertible to the Philippines currency).

Why Provinical Newspapers Go South?

The predicament for local newspaper publishers why they go in the red not only on the expenses but because of the dearth of advertisers who absconded them by going to those online publication being patronized by the masa. But you wonder why there are still more than 20 newspapers in Pangasinan that still circulate –some at 200 copies only per week publication, susmariosep! - despite the economic malaise they are facing? Most of these weeklies are ubiquitous not on the newsstands of some of the 44 towns and four cities’ province but inside the offices of the judges of the municipal and regional trial courts.

These weeklies survived on the hefty payments of court petitioners who need to meet the legal requisite of a three-week publication of their Self-Adjudication with Deed of Donation, Extra-Judicial Settlement of Estate with Quit Claim, Deed of Extra Judicial Settlement of Real Property with Deed of Absolute Sale, Deed of Extra Judicial Settlement Among the Estate heirs of XYZ, to name a few.

 A four inches in width and six inches in length publication on a newspaper page cost more or less P20, 000 for a litigant who will pay the publisher in exchange for the latter to issue a signed Affidavit of Publication – of course notarized by a lawyer – to consummate the requirement.

These more than 20 weeklies – whose news items are less interesting because they’re mostly taken gratis from government propaganda offices -  agreed to get their publication from the office of the executive judge through raffles or a pro rata distribution among themselves. The problem however if there are few legal publications to be distributed and the publisher needs to pay the printing press, the reporters (but most of them in the province are not paid at all because they use the paper for P.R with politicians in a quid pro quo for some sums), and the layout artist, these give headache to the owners where some of them have closed shops even some decades ago. Those who survived until now are the publishers who owned the printing press. Some of them even owned five newspapers fronted by their dummies. A few of them told me that despite being recipient of countless of publications from the court the revenues are still not profitable enough.

“Pang prestige at power projection na lang para sa akin na malaman ng community at mga pulitiko na meron akong newspaper,” a publisher told me once. She could tap her writers and columnists to attack a government official she thinks crossed her path.

Was this foresight similar to the Taipans who bought the Philippines Daily Inquirer and the Philippines Star from their previous publishers who saw that the venture was no longer profitable?

She said that her less profitable newspaper business is offset by the other lucrative printing jobs like books and magazines contracted with her by the public - particularly the Department of Education - and private sectors.

Why Other Newspapers Survive?

Other traditional Pangasinan newspapers – like my Northern Watch Newspaper – avoided extinction because some folks – like those big time politico and trader - funded if not bought them to perpetuate their interest. My 2007 founded newspaper was funded by Abono Partylist where two of us columnists and our editor were hired as consultant and later as monthly paid workers – it means we have monthly remuneration that made us an envy of writers in other newspapers who turned green eyed upon discovering that even the payments from the court petitioners - that were tens of thousands of pesos monthly - we divide them among ourselves.  The Party even paid the printing cost of Northern Watch to advance its agenda by distributing the Watch to folks all over the province for free. The downside, however, nobody dared to buy our newspaper because it usually bannered the conceited news of Abono and they were like plague to serious readers. Our financial heydays since 2010 ended in 2020 when the lethal pandemic Corona Virus 19  ripped off the economy that our patron dropped us like hot potato.

Luckily, my businesswoman friend bought it from us in late 2020 seeing the profit she could get as Northern Watch is certified by the courts – through my tireless efforts before - to join raffles and bill the litigants who were ordered by the court to publish their concern at our paper.

“Bahala ka nang maglagay ng mga news mo diyan,” she exhorted me thus those fiery and screaming headlines being carried by the Watch that you folks could read on my blog in advance as newspaper take three days from layout, completion of the printing job, and landing at the newsstands. Publication at my three personal blogs took only some minutes for posting for all and sundry to read after I drafted my column and my reporters submit their news reports.

Online Publications get the Ads

I was amused more than a month ago when the public relation officer of SM Supermalls haggled with me for the price I billed for her principal’s regular advertisement cum P.R news not on the newspaper I edit but on its popular online version – that I still owned.

“Pero Sir lagyan niyo rin ng isang news ng SM ang newspaper niyo every week. Ang ex-deal namin kumain na lang kayo ng libre sa lahat ng stores ng SM dito sa central and northern Luzon pag andoon ako,” she said.

“Okay!” I retorted for the free meal and the compensation on the ads at my blog.

So my poser for everybody, who said that newspapering business is dead for the pocket and the tummy?

72 Bagong Trabaho sa Sta. Barbara

 

Ni Mortz C. Ortigoza 

Sa inisyatiba ni Sta. Barbara Mayor Carlito S. Zaplan, isinagawa ang deployment orientation ng local government unit (LGU) para sa 72 Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES) beneficiaries sa Conference Room ng Sta. Barbara Town Hall kamakailan.

Kumatawan kay Mayor Zaplan sa oryentasyon ng mga 72 na benepisaryo ay si Municipal Administrator Benigno L. Cruz. Layunin ng nasabing orientation na magabayan ang mga SPES workers sa kanilang magiging trabaho bilang office staff, barangay staff, at LGU survey enumerators sa loob ng 22 na araw.

Sa tulong ng Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), nagkaroon ng 31 LGU-DOLE shared funding SPES beneficiaries at 41 LGU fully funded SPES beneficiaries. Ang layunin ng gobyerno dito ay upang mabigyan ng "summer job" ang ilang kabataan bilang tulong sa kanilang pag-aaral.