Romero waits COA reports on payroll scam's yarns

Mayor Romero (extreme right) joins public officials in a boodle fight 

MANGALDAN – “The problem is in the hands of the COA (Commission on Audit),” tersely declared by this town’s mayor in relation to the payroll padding brouhaha that spawned to the media recently.

Mayor Herminio Romero said that the employee at the treasurer office has been relieved already of her task to disburse funds as investigation by the COA progresses.

Blame corruption why this town is poor?

BY MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

There are only few palatial mansions (just like those owned by actors in Hollywood) in the province that I can count with my fingers.
Each of these mansions costs millions of pesos.
One of them is located in an exterior village in a very poor town.
The imposing abode is owned by a sacked treasurer because of the bursar’s differences with the incumbent mayor.
The treasurer is identified as crony of the previous mayors who were responsible for the penury of the town.
The bursar was heard to lend monies to the poor farmers for them to buy fertilizers and pesticides. My source told me that it is the same treasurer who sold these stuffs to them.
Many suspected that the funds the bursar loaned to these hapless people were sourced from the town’s coffer.
When the incumbent mayor assumed office he was able to almost double the tax collection of the sorry town in one fiscal year compared to the last year of his predecessor.

PhilHealth expects complaints on premiums’ hike

By Mortz C. Ortigoza DAGUPAN CITY – The president and chief executive officer of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth) said the corporation expected grumblings among its members on the impending premium spikes from P300 to P500. Dr. Eduardo P. Banzon said he has anticipated the uneasiness among its paying beneficiaries but said this would eventually die down after his office explains to them why the increase was necessary. “Changes have their inherent complaint. My question is: Have we explained to the members the changes? Have we explained the increase on the premium? Have we explained the benefits?” he said in Filipino. He said the hike was needed if members expected expanded benefits. He disclosed the proposed P200 additional increase to the present P300 will be implemented after the expanded benefits are already in the pipeline. The plan is for the government-owned insurance corporation to provide additional health benefits, such as maintenance medications, out-patient treatments, and illness relief fund that covers catastrophic cases like heart surgery, breast cancer, and child cancer treatment, among others. The present P300 premium paid by a member every quarter entitled him and his immediate family of 23 medical and surgical procedures.

Corruptions at the Register of Deeds

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA Are heads of the Register of Deeds in Pangasinan patently corrupt? Lately, Commissioner Kim Henares of the Bureau of Internal Revenue exposed and charged in court Atty. Cecilia L. Munar head of the Register of Deeds of Dagupan for conspiring with land seller Humberto Cason Solis and land buyer Elma de la Cruz Versoza. Henares said Solis sold to Versoza an agricultural land in Binalonan, Pangasinan for x amount that were all listed on the Certificate Authorizing Registration (CAR) issued by Revenue District Office-6 of the BIR in Urdaneta City. This transaction was covered by Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT) 89201. But one among Solis and Versoza (or their adviser) was probably born a genius. Solis sold again to Versoza another 1,282-hectare commercial land in Dagupan City using the same TCT numbers by falsifying through replacement, alteration, addition and superimposition of details on the face of the document, among others, of the CAR issued by RDO-6 to look liked it was issued by RDO-4 based in Calasiao, Pangasinan. According to the BIR the “malefactors” paid tax payments only of Capital Gains Tax and Documentary Stamp Tax for P6,000 and P1,500 to P206,000 and P31,500, respectively.

Mark Cojuangco mulls senate post

By Mortz C. Ortigoza URDANETA CITY – Former fifth district Rep. Mark Cojuangco is thinking about joining the senatorial race next year. He said in case this pushes through, he would run under the family-affiliated Nationalist People’s Coalition. Cojuangco said it was no longer necessary to coalesce with the administration party’s Liberal Party. “NPC is NPC. We are already in coalition in the House with the Noynoy Aquino’s administration, so we are supportive and collaborative,” he said. Meanwhile, the former solon still advocates nuclear power as a source of electricity in the country. He explained however that he still is waiting for the official result of the investigation of the nuclear plants –in Fukushima, Japan after they were devastated by a tsunami in March 16, 2011.

BIR-Pangasinan upbeats on good collection with credit upgrades

CALASIAO – With the optimism felt by the Central Bank Governor that the Philippines gets a BBB upgrade for the Standard & Poor, the chief of the Bureau of Internal Revenue Central Pangasinan is upbeat that collection will be bullish for her coffer this year. “Yes, we will be much better financially and economically. Mas madami ang gustong mag-invest dito,” explained by Revenue District Office-4 chief Christine Cardona. She stressed that with the looming triple B upgrade from the New York based credit watch S&P, more foreign investors will invest in the country thus it will increase employment. “Baba ang unemployment natin. Iyong buying capacity ng mga ta-o lalaki. An S&P review team has been in the country recently as part of its regular assessment on the country’s fiscal and monetary environments and overall economic fundamentals. The team met with BIR Commissioner Kim Henares regarding gains made in tax administration and revenue enhancement. Henares said that during their meeting, the S&P team called for the passage of the two revenue measures by June 30. The timely passage of the two measures would boost the country’s chance of securing a credit rating upgrade. Cardona said she is always optimistic that she can attain her goal of almost P2 billion this year. RDO-4 is the only two revenue district office in Region 1 that has attained its goal of P1, 776,721,000.00 last year by exceeding it in her collection of P1, 810,923,237.5. The other one is RDO 2 that is based in Vigan, Ilocos sur.

Resuelo: Exceeds performance despite P50 M budget slash

SAN CARLOS CITY – Despite the reduction of P50 million share of this city from the national government, Mayor Julier “Ayoy” Resuelo wants to maintain if not exceed the services as what he has done to his constituents last year. “Actually, nabawasan iyong program natin for 2012 dahil nga P50 million sa ciudad ng San Carlos City because of the 16 (new) cities na ina-probahan ng Supreme Court. So, siguro mabawasan na iyong programs natin but the services will be the same at mas lalo pa nag nating pag-i-igtingin ang services natin. Puro program and puro projects lang,” he stressed.