Sec. Dar to grace Urdaneta Fiesta this Sunday – So

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

URDANETA CITY – Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar will grace tomorrow (Sunday) the opening of the traditional city fiesta here, according to Urdaneta City Business Club (UCBC) President Rosendo So.

Department of Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar (third from left sitting) and pressure group Samahan ng Industriyang Agrikultura (SINAG) and Abono Party List Party Chairman Rosendo So (second from left) in a farmers related meeting.

Dar, according to Wikipidea, is a Filipino horticulturist and public servant who is the 45th Secretary of Agriculture of the Philippines. He was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte on August 5, 2019 to replace Emmanuel Piñol. Dar held the same position under President Joseph Estrada from 1998 to 1999.

President So met last Thursday business men here at the Hut Bamboo Cuisine to finalize the participation of the UCBC in the eight days' fiesta celebration is also the chairmen of the pro - business and pro - farmers pressure groups’ Samahan ng Industriyang Agrikultura (SINAG) and Abono Party List Party.

A staff of this city’s mayor Rannie Parayno said that the UCBC will join a motorcade around the city that will start at 8 Am in the national high school here.

An advisory from this city’s local government unit Facebook account announced that commuters and vehicle owners can expect heavy traffic on Sunday at 6 Am to 1 Pm in the main thoroughfares here.

The office of Mayor Parayno said that the eight days fiesta is star studded where marquee actors and actresses like Julia San Jose, Alex Gonzaga, Robi Domingo, Rayvier Cruz, Long Mejia, Ate Gay, Mark Herras, and others will entertain the residents of this burgeoning eastern Pangasinan city.

“Come and join us as we celebrate our festivity with the stars,” the office beckoned the spectators.

NEDA Endorses Cong Toff’s Magna Carta of Young Farmers

Rep. Christopher "Toff" De Venecia of Pangasinan’s 4th District was elated over NEDA’s endorsement for the immediate passage of his house bill, the Magna Carta of Young Farmers, which is aimed at recognizing, protecting, fulfilling, and promoting the well-being of young farmers, aged 15 to 35. “I strongly believe that the government should encourage young people to engage in agriculture by establishing mechanisms for the promotion and protection of their rights, given the fact that the average age of Filipino farmers is 57-59 years old,” he said.
Acknowledging the endorsement of NEDA to his bill, he said, “I thank the NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority) for lending its gravitas to this cause, and for its high-level advice to my fellow policy makers to pass the Magna Carta of Young Farmers immediately.” As the country’s premier socioeconomic planning body, NEDA is considered the authority in macroeconomic forecasting and policy, analysis and research.
During its recent briefing in Congress in line with the medium term socioeconomic blueprint, the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2017-2022, NEDA Deputy Director General Rosemarie G. Edillon has eyed at least a dozen bills, including the Magna Carta of Young Farmers as priority legislations in the last three years of the Duterte administration to boost economic growth.

P’gasinan Town Hit by "8.0 Magnitude Quake" – Ex Mayor

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

My early disappointment with the Waste to Work Project of the Sure Global of the Philippines, Inc. since its introduction in Dagupan City by its Chief Executive Officer Julia Courts Boughton to then mayor Belen T. Fernandez in 2014, I thought it was all lip service.

In the last one year of her administration, I did not hear from either Fernandez or Boughton how the project fared.

I was passionate writing and broadcasting glowing encomium and peroration about its advantages like conversion of plastic wastes into diesel and food wastes into compressed gas to solve our perennial gargantuan garbage problem.

In the last year of Mayor Fernandez, every time I mentioned about it I was rebuffed, over cup of coffee by fellow media men, who were pro Lim, that the Michigan, USA based proponent had that hao-shiao or farce project.

Devastation of property left recently by a strong temblor in Mindanao. (Photo Credit: CNN)

They told me the program was only drawing on the board exploited by the May 2019 reelectionist Mayor Fernandez for brownie points to win votes in a tough election she faced with the popular then Vice Mayor Brian Lim.

How could I argue with them since its inception in 2014 through that Memorandum of Agreement and the eventual resolution cum proposed contract passed by the Sangguniang Panglungsod (City Council) and signed on the proverbial dotted lines of the final contract by Fernandez and Boughton, the Fernandez Administration failed to tell all and sundry that it was a long daunting task before Sure Global starts it construction at the 28, 062 square meters land in Barangay Bonuan Binloc, Dagupan City.

Xmas Hoopla in Bayambang: A Boon to Hotels in P’gasinan

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

BAYAMBANG, Pangasinan – The renowned Paskuhan sa Bayambang does not only attract tens of thousands of spectators that came from in and out of this town but a boon too with hotels outside of here.

”Pinapunta po namin sa kalapit na bayan natin na bigyan ng accommodation. Alam ko ito ang kailangan ng bayan hopefully. Soon magkakaroon din kami ng malalaking hotel,” Mayor Cezar T. Quiambao said at the conference hall of the family owned Royal Mall here before the opening and launching of the country’s biggest Animated Christmas Display.

MAMMOTH crowd from various towns and cities of Pangasinan mass to the Magical World of Disneyland at the plaza of Bayambang town.

He cited that billets like gardens and inns here could not accommodate the volume of the spectators who will attend the major events like the animated display.

The Quiambao Administration’s Magical World of Disneyland is brought to this town through the spectacular Animated Christmas Display which was declared last year as the biggest in the entire country, attracting thousands of people every night right at the heart of the municipality.

Cong. Toff Nagtapos ng Pag-Aaral sa Harvard

 Maraming magandang katangian si Congressman Toff de Venecia, isa sa mga ito ang pagiging masigasig na paunlarin ang sarili, sa pamamagitan ng pag-aaral.

Ang sabi nga ng ating magulang, ang pera ay nauubos, pero ang talino, dulot ng edukasyon ay taglay natin habang-buhay.

 Makalipas ang tatlong taong pagtitiyaga, si Congressman de Venecia ay ginawaran ng Executive Certificate in Public Leadership ng isa sa pinaka-natatanging pamantasan sa buong mundo ang Harvard Kennedy School (John F. Kennedy School of Government) ng Harvard University sa Cambridge, Massachusetts.

 Narito ang pahayag ng kongresista:

Vehicles illegally park in Dagupan City despite Duterte’s order

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY – The sidewalk at Barangay Tapuac is scandalously abused by vehicle owners who wrongly parked there since time immemorial despite the mayor here crowing to the public that sidewalk obstructions here had been eradicated by 95 percent.

The area in Burgos Extension where shops like various vulcanizing services have become a magnet of vehicles like cars and motorized tricycles that avail the services there.

In his 2019 State of the Nation Address, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered Department of Interior & Local Government Secretary Eduardo M. Año to reclaim all public roads that are being used for private ends. The president added that the country loses P3.5 billion a day due to the Metro Manila traffic because of these obstructions and other traffic factors.

ILLEGAL PARKING. Motorized tricycles and even cars illegally park since time immemorial at the sidewalk of Burgos Extention in Barangay Tapuac, Dagupan City to avail the services of business establishments there. The drivers of these vehicles have been insensitive about the pedestrians who should have been using the sidewalk. Photo by Mortz C. Ortigoza

Duterte told Año also to suspend local government units’ officials who do not comply with the directive.

Memorandum Circular No. 2019-121 dated July 29, 2019 issued by Año said that “all local officials are enjoined to exercise their power essential to secure public roads which are used for private ends and in the process rid them of illegal structures and constructions”.

What sidewalk? A vegetable vendor (right) has blocked the sidewalk of the commercial center's A.B Fernandez Avenue in Dagupan City. The illegal vendor sells her commodities in broad daylight and near the city hall.

Sual gears up to become richest municipality in PH

SUAL, Pangasinan – This fast-growing town would likely pole vault to the top spot in the list of richest municipalities if the plan to put up another power plant pushes through.

According to a report released by the Commission on Audit (COA), the municipality of Sual maintained its position as the second richest municipality in the country with assets amounting to P2.037 billion.

Only Sual - among Pangasinan’s 44 municipalities – made it to COA’s top ten richest towns, besting such other first class towns as the capital town of Lingayen, Bayambang, Mangaldan, Malasiqui, Binmaley, and Calasiao.

            Among those who welcomed the news was Liga President Ramon Sabido who felt optimistic that the municipality might be able to go up even to the number one spot if the plan to put up another power plant in our town becomes a reality.

It is recalled that revenues generated from the operation of the Sual Power Plant and from the hundreds of fish cages in Sual Bay contribute to the town’s stable and strong financial performance.

“This enabled Sual to jump up from fifth class to first class municipality,” he said.