Guico Files Uniform Min. Wage Bill

SOLONS WANT RTWPB REVOKES

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

A Pangasinan congressman filed a bill that will revoke the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board (RTWPB) and instead replace it with a general minimum wage daily rate all over the country.
Fifth District Representative Ramon V. Guico, III blames the traffic congestion and the swelling numbers of informal settlers in the National Capital Region because of the superior minimum wage rate offered by companies there compared to the other regions in the country that have varied daily rates.
“Our countrymen are after the higher daily wage thus the influx of migration to the metropolis,” the lawmaker, who was co-sponsored by Cagayan Third District Rep. Joseph Lara, said.
Because of the proposed bill on the equity of the wages, Guico explained that Filipino workers will feel they are given self- importance by the government because of their contribution to the national and local economy.

Pangasinan Fifth District Rep. Ramon "Mon-Mon" Guico, III

It is high time, Guico continued, that a general minimum wage law will be implemented. He and Lara said their bill was a response to Senator  Christopher “Bong” Go exhortation to the Filipinos of the Balik-Probinsiya-Program (Return to the Province Program) to decongest the national capital of its burgeoning numbers of workers.

Suits Loom Vs Those Who Duped The DSWD

NO WARNING, SAP RECIPIENTS SHOULD RETURN SUM ASAP

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

M’LANG, Cotabato – A criminal case will be filed without any warning against those who fooled the government by receiving the amount from the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) of the Department of Social Welfare & Development.

According to this first class town mayor Russel M. Abonado and municipal treasurer Gail Vergara - Untal recipients who were not qualified would be sued with criminal case.

Untal said there will be criminal consequences for those economically well-off individuals who deceived the government by accepting the P5,000 financial aid.

“The regional office of the DSWD will be filing a case against those disqualified who did not return the money,” she stressed.

HONEST. Emergency cash recipient Francisco Rico, Jr. of Barangay Dugong, M'lang in Cotabato Province returns to the town treasurer Gail Vergara-Untal the P5,000. 00 he received from the Department of Social Welfare & Development. The first class town mayor Russel Abonado (center) watches with pride the honesty of his constituent.

Abonado, a lawyer, exhorted the recipients to return the sum as dictated by their conscinece because they are not qualified.

“Well my guideline kasi ang DSWD it is not within the municipality to accept the guidelines. Ang sa atin we have to abide with the guidelines by the DWSD.

Businessman Francisco Rico, Jr. sought the advice of this writer upon learning that his name had been marked for probable investigation and suit by the regional personnel of the DSWD.

Snake Oil Merchant And The Kid's Odorous Infected Ear

By Mortz  C. Ortigoza

Every time I saw people converged at the town plaza nearby my billet, I immediately garbed myself with sneakers, cargo short pants, a polo shirt, and my Ray Ban and jumped off from the door, and hanged there to watch old faces while barangay officials particularly of the huge Poblacion A distributed the P5,000 Social Amelioration Program of the Department of Social Welfare & Development to each of the selected household members of the great unwashed.

Thanks but no thanks to the more than a month lockdown versus the dreaded Corona Virus Disease-19.

VENTRILOQUIST and his dummy. Up to the 1980s many puppeteers in the Philippines double as snake oil merchant where they have magic shows in the town specially during market days. Photo Credit: mamemimommy.com

“Ano ang inyo nga apelyido (what’s your surname)?” I posed a question to a 50 year’s old balding guy who mingled while I was exchanging pleasantries with Mr. Alan Ardon and a Mr. Suscano, fellow alumni at a protestant college when we cut our teeth there academically in the 1980s.

“Mr. ABCD from (Sitio) Baluarte,” he said.

“Ano mo si Mr. XYZ? Classmate ko siya”

“Paka-isa ko (He is my cousin).

He nodded when I told him that he used to be part of the “Ido-ido (conspirators) led by gambling racket leader whose sleight of hands could change instantly the content of one of the three caps of the lapad (cooking oil bottle).

 The leader could deftly hid the ipil ipil seed inside his thumb nail and inserted it in one of three caps to deceive the bettor who thought it was already in Cap-1 when it was stealthily transferred to Cap-3.

Unwitting bettor from far flung villages, lured and fooled by the countless Ido-ido, during the Saturday market day of M’lang would bet their peso or five peso bill to Crown-1 motivated by those conspirator-bettors who immediately bet their money to the game of chance.

Because of “band wagon” effect, a peasant who sold his harvest in the market found himself holding the empty proverbial basket, er, wallet and crying helplessly, son of a gun, because of the shenanigan done by the fraudsters.

I wonder why President and Dictator President Ferdinand E. Marcos’ 1978 edict Presidential Decree No. 1602 (Stiffer Penalties On Illegal Gambling) was not implemented during that time?

That game of chance ensued in the late 1970s to middle of 1980s and held between the century old acacia tree and stalls owned by Mr. Panisal and Mr. Alcalde - a World War -2 retired Master Sergeant.  

***

“May ara pa ba atong mga gabaligya sang mga lana-lana para sa may mga balati-an kag may mga dala sila nga mga man-og, Kiko-Kiko (puppet) nga naga hambal, kag ga magic? (Do snake oil salesmen (meaning quack or charlatan) still come to town and sell their all- curing medicine, brought various sizes of snakes, puppet that speak, and do magic tricks)?

Misters Ardon and Suscano told me that those snake oil merchants seldom come anymore to town.

“Indi ko gid ina sila malimtan. Bago mag pa guwa sila ka magkal o mag patindog ka talom ka espada sa ila nga dila ma kurit ang manugbulong sang circle nga ang mga tawo hindi magsulod. Sa sobra ka excited ko may okasyon nga naka sulod ako sa circle, gin butang niya dayon ang man-og sa box kag kuha-on ang iya microphone kag hambalan niya ako pamaagi sa iya nga dako nga loudspeaker: “To’ kamusta na ang imo nga bulaho nga ginbutangan ta ka lana maayo na? Nahuya-an gid ako sadto amo ina pag may kurit asta karon wala ako ga sulod kay na trauma ako nga may bulaho ako e hindi man ato tood (I could not forget those snake oil peddlers. Before they start the show by baring to all and sundry the phyton and the sword exhibit at their tongues they used a stick to draw a circle for the people not to enter inside. Because of over zealousness, there was an incident that I stepped inside the circle. When he saw me, he put immediately inside the box the snake, took the microphone and told me through a loudspeaker: “Boy, how was your foul smelling ear discharge that I cured using the oil? Was it healed already? I felt embarrassed that every time I saw a circle I dreaded to enter it. How can that guy tell me I have a “bulaho” when it was not true?)

(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) 

Man Who Puts Order in the Mayor's Office

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – Many callers have been surprised in the orderly corporate liked transformation of the office of the mayor here.

Thanks to the stringent enforcement of Gerald Gutierrez, the special assistant to Mayor Leopoldo Bataoil, who controlled the influx of indigents, solicitors, village chiefs, and others inside the office of the first class capital town's chief executive.

They have to queue or sit outside before their names are called by Gutierrez’s staff for them to confer with the mayor or Gutierrez.

He  used to be a 28-year bank manager before he was whisked by Bataoil to be his special assistant in taming the hoi polloi who massed to enter the office of the mayor.

GATE KEEPER. Special Assistant Gerald Gutierrez (left photo) the “sheriff” who puts order in the office of Lingayen, Pangasinan Mayor Leopoldo Bataoil (right photo). The latter is an alumnus of the Philippine Military Academy as seen on his class bull ring. Bataoil is a member of PMA Class of 1976.

During the 27 years reign of then mayors Jonas and Josefina  “Iday” Castaneda, people of various persuasions “shoved and jostled” for a seat inside the mayor’s office and compete again to have a seat in front of the table of the mayor.

Cong. Toff namigay ng food packs sa barangay frontliners

Ngayong extended ang Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ), extended din ang serbisyo ng mga frontliners, kaya naman, extended din ang pamimigay ng tulong ni Congressman Toff de Venecia. 

 

Mula noong Lunes, ay namigay na ng food packs ang tanggapan ng kongresista sa mga frontliners ng 140 barangay ng Quatro Distrito.

Ang food packs na ito ay naglalaman ng canned goods, noodles at powdered milk.

 

Ilan sa mga tumulong kay Congressman De Venecia sa adhikaing ito ang Pilipinong May Puso Foundation at ang PAGCOR.

Exec cites how former colleagues became BIR bigwigs

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

CALASIAO, Pangasinan - An executive of the regional office of the Bureau of Internal Revenue recalled how officials assigned in the Ilocos Region have gone to places because of merits.

Client Support Unit Chief Lee Caday said that former BIR Region -1 Regional Director Arnel Guballa is now ensconced as Deputy Commissioner for Operation at the national office of the tax agency in Quezon City.

Deputy Commissioner for Operation Arnel Guballa

Guballa became famous on his stint in Manila as tax fraud’s buster.

He is the father of the bureau’s lethal tax law Run After Tax Evader (RATE).

At the aged of 45, he was not only the youngest regional director, but had been known to file the most tax evasion cases in the annals of the BIR.

“I was the one who introduced that when I was the chief of the National Investigation Division,” he told this writer.

 

BIR BRASS. (Clockwise above photo left) Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa,  Assistant Commissioner Tess Dizon, Chief Large Taxpayers Audit Division Christine Cardona, and Assistant Commissioner for Internal Revenue Beverly Milo.

According to Caday, the renovated and world class Revenue District Office-4 here has more spaces to offer to clients and personnel than its old building before, thanks to the intercession of Guballa – a Certified Public Accountant and a lawyer.

He said the prime office of the BIR in Region 1 looks like an airport lounge.

In 2014, under his leadership of revenue Region 1, the office ranked first out of 19 revenue regions in terms of performance scorecard of the Department of Finance. It ranked first on taxpayer satisfaction and compliance, as well as in improved assistance, compliance and enforcement processes.

When Rodrigo Duterte became president in June 30, 2016, BIR Commissioner Caesar Dulay appointed Guballa to be his deputy commissioner for operation. A ranked considered primus inter pares among the deputy commissioners of the tax agency.

Assistant Commissioner Tess Dizon

During the 2017 stint of Dizon in Region-1 she advised her RDOs to classify the tax payers based on their incomes.

When asked about her prognosis on the economy of the largest province in Region-1 she said:

“Oo naman it’s growing even doon sa regional GDP (Gross Domestic Product) natin growing naman talaga ang Pangasinan. But siguro we have to classify the (inaudible) taxpayers to pay their taxes based on their incomes”.