Calasiao Mayor Sneaks In to Senate to Lobby

                                     FROM BUSY SCHEDS

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

CALASIAO, Pangasinan – Even before attending a convention in Cebu, the mayor here sneaked in to the offices of high government officials like Senators to relay to them his project requests for their intercession in the national government.

The projects are appraised to cost P300 million.

Calasiao Mayor Kevin Roy Macanlalay speaks during the Employability Enhancement Program held recently at the 3rd Floor, Conference Room of the Municipal Hall of the town. This program was under the initiative of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and attended too by Executive Ogie Montoya of the Public Employment Service Office of the local government unit and a representative from the Provincial Office.

“Nag request tayo ng mga farm-to-market roads itong likod ng munisipyo na building, puto stalls – kung sakaling maayos ang puto stalls diyan -, farm to market (roads) sa mga barrios,” said by Mayor Kevin Roy Macanlalay.

The senators and the officials Macanlalay met at the Senate in Pasay City were Senators Ramon ‘Bong” Revilla, Alan Peter Cayetano, Jose Pimentel Ejercito Jr. (popularly known as Jinggoy Estrada), Imee Marcos, Christopher Lawrence” Bong” Go, Mark Villar and Aquilino Martin” Koko” Pimentel.

He told Senator Revilla that he could not join him here for his visit because of the conclave in Cebu City.

Revilla distributed financial assistance to one thousand of Macanlalay's constituents here. He was instead accompanied by former Mayor Mark Roy Macanlalay – the older brother of the incumbent mayor.

Mayor Macanlalay told Northern Watch Newspaper that Senator Pimentel pledged to support his project.

He said even if not all of the Senators could intercede with the national government to grant his financial request that would be still laudable if some of the projects materialize in favor of the local government here.

Macanlalay visited, too, the office of Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) Secretary Jose “Jerry” Acuzar in Diliman, Quezon City to follow up his request for 2,000 cheap prized condominiums for the people here. He met there instead Undersecretary Brian Villanueva.

He visited DHSUD for the fourth time to lobby for his pet project.

Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) through Senator Imee Marcos extended here recently at the Municipal Agriculture Multi-Purpose Hall financial Assistance to countless hard up residents of this landlocked town.

The DSWD program is dubbed as Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS).

Those who led the distribution of the financial aids were Municipal Administrator Romalyne Macanlalay, Municipal Social Welfare Development Office Head Editha Gorospe, DWSD Region-1 and the employees of the local government.

Mayors Beware: A Swindler on the Loose!

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Here’s a caveat to mayors in Pangasinan and even in the other parts of the country:

A lady chief executive of a first class town told me how she was swindled by another “mayor” when the latter told her that the governor asked him to call his counterpart that a P150 million budget for a slope protection project from the Department of Budget & Management (DBM) was being readied to be downloaded in the bank account of the town.

“Ka boses talaga ni Mayor!” the lady chief executive quipped to me.

The Hizzoner at the other end of the line told her to send the amount to a G-Cash account number he provided as treat for the two guys who relayed the message to him from the governor.

“Okay na ba Mayor iyong tig P500 o P1,000 sa bawat isa sa kanila?” the unwary lady mayor posed.

The caller told her to make it P20,000 each of the guys while she gives him (the alleged mayor) his share, too susmariosep!

The lady chief executive – who was travelling in a vehicle – asked a department chief of the local government to tell the two contractors to chip-in for the P60,000 to be given to the two guys and the Hizzoner of the 2^nd District of Pangasinan.

After the money was sent through G-Cash, the mayor became frantic because she should have check first if there was really a P150 million’s project downloaded by the DBM at her town’s public account.

When the department head checked there was none. Kaput, nada, bokya, wala, anggapo, awan, naloko na!

It was estafa at its worse where the malefactor used the skill of Willie Nepomuceno to duped the unwary lady mayor.

When the helpless department chief called again the mobile phone of the culprit the following morning, it was already deactivated.

The scammer, son of a gun, has been laughing all his way to the bank to encash the no-sweat six thousand crisped doughs.

Wo𝗿𝗹𝗱 C𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀 P𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁s 𝗻𝗴 10 𝗠𝗦𝗠𝗘 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝗮 𝗣’𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻 P𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗿𝗶 𝘀𝗮 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵

 Pinuri ng mga miyembro ng media at social media influencers ang mga produkto ng sampung Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) mula Pangasinan sa Media Launch na ginanap noong October 4, 2023 sa The Peninsula Hotel.

Pangasinan Governor Ramon V. Guico, III (top left photo) and the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) products of the huge province.

Ang mga produkto gaya ng bag na gawa sa kawayan ay itatampok sa Manila FAME na gaganapin sa World Trade Center mula October 19 hanggang October 21.

Base sa website ng World Trade Centers Association, ang Manila FAME ay inilunsad noong 1983.

"Ito ang second-longest running trade event" pagdating sa houseware, furnishings, gift items, holiday decor, at fashion accessories sa Asia-Pacific Region".

Ito ang kauna-unahang pagkakataon na lalahok ang lalawigan ng Pangasinan.

Ayon kay Governor Ramon V. Guico, III ,inaasahang ito ang magiging susi para makilala sa global market ang mga produkto ng Pangasinan kaya todo ang suportado sa proyekto ng pamahalaang panlalawigan.

Ang sampung MSME Group na kinabibilangan ng HERWIN (Herwin Buccat- Bolinao,Pangasinan), ERASTUS (Erastus Velicaria - Sto. Tomas,Pangasinan), ILO (Ma. Cherrylyn Ariaga and Ma. Cherryvie Baltazar-Laoac,Pangasinan) ALMA (Alma Andrea Lopez - Pozorrubio,Pangasinan), BLADES (Marvin Diso and Franklin De Vera - Pozorrubio, Pangasinan), RACH (Rowena Dela Cruz - Aguilar,Pangasinan), WELAB (Erlinda Medina, Macrina Villena, Novelliane Diso ,Marilyn Estrada- Binalonan, Pangasinan), Blessed Six or B6 (Adrian Gombio, Rona Roy, Mykant Surat, Dangela May Sayaboc, Adrian Gombio-Binalonan, Pangasinan), JOY (Jocelyn Perez Basista,Pangasinan) at CAWAYAN (Precious Cayaon- Bolinao,Pangasinan) ay inorganisa ni Mrs. Arlyn Guico, ina ni Gov. Guico. Siya rin ang nasa likod ng matagumpay na media launch.

Dumalo rin sa media Launch ang mga Sangguniang Panlalawigan Members sa pamumuno ni Vice Governor Mark Lambino, mga department head sa pamumuno ni Provincial Administrator Melicio Patague, II, Binalonan Mayor RG Guico IV, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority  at Department of Trade & Industry officials ng Pangasinan.

Sinaksihan din ito ni First Lady Maan Tuazon Guico at Atty. Melanie Lambino, maybahay ni Vice Gov. Lambino (Pangasinan PIO)

Macanlalay Eyes Calasiao as Lechon Capital of P’sinan

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

CALASIAO, Pangasinan – The mayor here is determined to make this first class town as the lechon (roasted pig) capital of Pangasinan.

During the lull of this year’s League of the Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) – Luzon Island Cluster Conference Mayor Kevin Roy Macanlalay attended in Cebu, he sneaked out from his colleagues by renting a car and checked out how the vaunted lechon houses in Carcar City, Cebu Province fare.

Array of lechons in Cebu.

“Carcar City’s Public Market merong space na panay lechon ang binebenta. Hilira ng lechon public, market talaga siya. Kaliwa’t kanan ang mga lechon baboy binibili na kilo o buo wala pang ganoon sa Pangasinan,” he narrated to Northern Watch Newspaper.

The first term’s Macanlalay target to put a lechon section in the public market here as inspiration to his Carcar City’s visit to be a come-on to the people in and outside of Pangasinan to patronize.

He plans to invite individual lechon sellers all over the province to relocate in this town with some forms of benefit to persuade them.

“Maraming lechonan na nakita ko dito (Pangasinan). Gawing isang lugar sila. Isa iyon sa pupuntahan ng mga turista dito,” the young mayor - who is a scion of the Macanlalay’s political family – quipped.

Cebu's lechon is one of the most iconic local dishes in the Philippines, according to Cebuinsights.com. Its crunchy exterior and chewy meat make it an ideal meal for any time of the day. Only a few places on the southern island can make the perfect, world-renowned lechon, with the City of Carcar as the top go-to spot.

Cebu and Carcar because of these roasted hogs earned the title of “Lechon Capital of the World.”

The cuisine was brought to the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era, and roast pig has a long history in Cebu. Domingo de la Cruz, it was believed, seasoned the hog with a special mixture of herbs and spices before roasting it over charcoal. This is how the first lechon in the Cebuano style was supposedly made.

Macanlalay said the roasted pigs being sold in this town like those in Barangay Buenlag can compete with those lechons in Cebu.

After big retail stores like Puregold and Robinsons Mall put shop in this burgeoning town, the membership American Shop’s S&R (Sol and Robert (Price) opened here in October 5 to cater to the customers in Northern Luzon and Tarlac Province.

Mangaldan 3rd Most Competitive on Resiliency Cat. in Ph

 P’SINENSES SHOULD BE PROUD OF

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

MANGALDAN, Pangasinan – This central Pangasinan town garnered the third Most Competitive Municipality-Resiliency Category for the first and second class towns all over the country.

Resiliency is the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness (online dictionary).

AWARD. Mayor Bona Fe D. Parayno (3rd from left) receives the award as the Third Most Competitive Municipality-Resiliency Category for the first and second class towns all over the country. The National Competitive Council granted the town the plaudit for hurdling its Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI) in a ceremony held recently at the Fiesta Pavillon Hall of the Manila Hotel in Ermita, Manila.

“Isa na namang tagumpay ang ating inaalay ang para sa bayan at sa mga kababayan pinagsisilbihan namin. Napakasarap tumangap ng award para sa Mangaldan kaya naman magsisilbi itong inspirasyon sa ating lahat upang mas mapabuti pa natin ang pagbibigay natin ng serbisyung matibay at (inaudible) sa taong bayan,” Mayor Bona Fe D. Parayno told the guests and officials of National Competitive Council after she received the award held last September 28 at the Fiesta Pavillon Hall of the Manila Hotel in Ermita, Manila.

This town hurdled with flying colors the Council's Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI) 

There are 1, 489 municipalities in the Philippines where 323 are first class towns. The Department of Finance classified this town as first class and one of the highest grossing on revenue yearly among the 44 municipalities in Pangasinan.

 The rankings of Cities and Municipalities were based on the sum of their scores on four Pillars: Economic Dynamism, Government Efficiency, Infrastructure, Resiliency, and Innovation. Provincial rankings are based on population and income weighted average of the overall scores of cities and municipalities under a province.

 The CMCI is an annual ranking of Philippine cities and municipalities developed by the National Competitiveness Council through the Regional Competitiveness Committees (RCCs) with the assistance of the United States Agency for International Development.

When Parayno won the 2013 mayoralty race against vice mayor Bernardo “Berex” Abalos and until she bowed down from office in June 30, 2019, this central Pangasinan town swasbuckled on the limelight as it became a recipient of various national government conferment. These plaudits were four Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) awards. 

The fifth SGLG grant came in 2022 when she returned again in the mayorship here after defeating former Mayor Marilyn Lambino. Parayno expects her sixth SGLG award after the assessment by the national government in September this year.

Other grants the Parayno Administration received were as first place among LGUs in Pangasinan in the 2022 SubayBAYANI Awards, Gawad Kalasag Seal of Excellence and Child-Friendly Municipality awardee. The Municipality Social Welfare and Development (MSWD) has been recognized for attaining the Level 2 – Functional Status during the conduct of Service Delivery Capacity Assessment for calendar year 2022.

This town’s Civil Registrar became an Outstanding Local Civil Registry in the Medium Category thus becoming the first Recipient of PhilSys Birth Registration Assistance in Region 1.

Her administration became a bronze awardee of how she managed and implemented the Human Resource Management System under the enhanced Program to Institutionalize Meritocracy and Excellence in Human Resource Management (PRIME-HRM) in the national level.

 “In health, we are 3^rd Placer in the Search for Best Performing LGU Voluntary Blood Service Program. We were also awarded as Lead Developer of Quality and Responsive Local Investment Plan for Health and Annual Operational Plan,” she said in one of her functions here.

Dagupan Mayor Criminally Liable in case She Spends the P1.3-B

By Mortz C. Ortigoza, MPA

With the absence of a qualified majority that needed the presence of all the members of the lawmaking body of Dagupan City vis-à-vis the requirement of votation in the passing of an appropriation ordinance  quoted in a final decision by the Supreme Court, Dagupan Mayor Belen T. Fernandez will be in a legal bind in case she spends the P1.3 billion 2023 budget.

The jurisprudence is the Municipality of Corella, Represented by Mayor Jose Nicanor D. Tocmo, Petitioner, Vs. Philkonstrak Development Corporation and Vito Rapal, Respondents (G.R. No. 218663. February 28, 2022).

A jovial Dagupan City Mayor Belen T. Fernandez (3rd from right) and her five allies' legislators in the lawmaking body of Dagupan City partaking their food. Internet grabbed from the Mayor's Facebook Page. 

 Mayor Fernandez will be facing the Anti-Graft & Corrupt Practices Act in case she started to spend the mammoth amount railroaded by her allies in the legislative body.

Excerpts of the Supreme Court ruling:

“…Moreover, it might interest you to know that DILG Central Office had the occasion to opine, under DILG Opinion No. 103 S 2001 dated December 18, 2001, that the Local Government Code of 1991 does not expressly prescribe for a specific voting requirement for the passage of an appropriation ordinance. Hence, the general rule on the passage of an ordinance should be made to apply. The pertinent provision on the matter is Article 107 (g) of the Rules and Regulations Implementing R.A. 7160 x x x.61 (Emphasis supplied)”

“…However, the Court finds the construction of the DILG clearly erroneous.

The term "appropriation," as defined under Section 306, Title V of the Local Government Code "refers to an authorization made by ordinance, directing the payment of goods and services from local government funds under specified conditions or for specific purposes."

Juxtaposing this definition with the exception in Article 107(g) of the IRR of the Local Government Code, that "any ordinance x x x authorizing or directing the payment of money x x x, shall require the affirmative vote of a majority of all the sanggunian members," it is express and clear that an "appropriation ordinance" is one such ordinance contemplated in the exception.

The definition of the term "appropriation" in the Local Government Code is clear: [i]t is an authorization made by an ordinance that directs the payment of money. The exception to the general rule of the prescribed voting requirement in the IRR of the Local Government Code is clear: an ordinance that directs or authorizes the payment of money needs a quorum of all the sanggunian members, not only of those sanggunian members present.

The Court, thus, holds that the DILG Opinion is erroneous, and the CIAC and CA wrongfully applied the same to their Decisions”. 

This after her five councilors allies duped the four of the seven majority dads to pass the supplemental budgets of Barangays Salisay and Tebeng by promising their counterpart to adjourn the session thereafter. But they exploied the gullibility of the four lawmakers (the three of their companions were abroad) by ramming in the session and approving the controversial more than a billion pesos’ budget. It was not approved since January this year because Mayor Fernandez would not divulge to the majority the names of the job orders employees that contradicted to the mandate the Local Government Code.

The Majority suspected that the Chief Executive of the coastal city was hiding something from them.

The mandate of the Code says: The City Mayor...provide such information and data needed or requested by said sanggunian in the performance of its legislative functions Section 455 paragraph IV).

                                                     ***

We the political spectators in Pangasinan wait for the temporary restraining order and the preliminary injunction to be filed in the Regional Trial Court of Dagupan City by the majority of dads lead by Councilors Dada Reyna and Red Erfe-Mejia.

Let’s watch how the court deal with this brouhaha in the acrimonious bangus city.

                                   QUARRELING POLICE GENERALS

When I asked a retired police Lt. General bakit nag aaway ang dalawang Generals ng Philippines National Police. Ito ang sagot niya sa akin:

“Mga asawa nila mga anak milyonaryo magkapatid pa,” he said.

“Bakit naging anak milyonaryo, ano ang negosyo ng mga magulang ng mga asawa nila?” I posed.

Anak sila ng dating Comptroller ng PNP (Philippines National Police).

The comptroller is a powerful position in either the police or military because it oversees all accounting including accounts receivable, payroll and loan transactions.

***

Can you remember Armed Forces of the Philippines military comptroller Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia?

He was sentenced by the Sandiganbayan to a definite prison term of 18 years and four months at the National Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa.

Garcia allegedly amassed at least PHP300 million from 1993 until he left the service in 2004.

Smarting Maj. Dads can Ask for TRO, Injunction vs Dag. Mayor

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza, MPA

Many members of the majority of the lawmaking body of Dagupan City were duped big time by the minority – five of em’ while four of the majority – pass the controversial P1.3 billion 2023 budget.

DUPED. At the top photo are the all smiling and victorious members of the minority lawmakers and their patron Dagupan City Mayor Belen T. Fernandez (sitting and signing the controversial already passed 2023 appropriation ordinance) in the Office of the Mayor. Photo below are the duped bellyaching members of the majority members of the opposition in the lawmaking body of the coastal city. 

“Ang laman lang po ng agenda kahapon dalawang resolution lang po iyong resolution ukol ito sa supplemental budget ng Barangay Salisay at Barangay Tebeng. Iyon lang po ang laman kahapon. Kaya po kami nag zoom kahapon ay alam po namin na napakabilis ang sesyun dapat kahapon. Pero ang nangyari po ito po ang ginawa ng minority nakita nila ang pagkakataon at sinamantala nila na kulang  ang numero ng majority…,” beleaguered Councilor Red Erfe-Mejia narrated to Radyo Pangasinan (DWJE 88.1 FM Radio) Serbisyo Paborito’s hosts Joseph Bacani and RJ Jimenez last Wednesday how the minority made him and his three colleagues gullible and stupid on the Tuesday’s session of the Sangguniang Panlungsod. Councilors Alfie Fernandez, Celia Lim at Irene Lim-Acosta have been on leave of absence and abroad.

They were tricked if not swindled by their cunning Svengali minority counterparts who made them believed - line hook and sinker - that they just deliberate the budget of the two villages of Dagupan City and adjourned early.

The minority dads are now the butt of ridicules from the camp of their bête noire Mayor Belen Fernandez who rejoiced last September 28 after she signed the 2023 appropriation ordinance. Because it was consummated, she would be implementing the salary increase of the personnel of the local government unit, retirement benefits, loyalty pay, additional funds for the 2,500 scholars, repairs of roads and drainage, elevation of roads, procurement of medicines, firetruck and dump trucks.

THE MINORITY COULD BE LIKENED TO THE AFGHAN MUSLIMS

What the minority had done to the majority is worse than rape if one asks Army Warrant Officer and Investigator Paul Brenner (John Travolta) in the flick’s the General’s Daughter where Army Captain Elisabeth Campbell (Leslie Stefanson) was found dead.

 “I once asked (Colonel) Moore (James Woods) what's worse than rape. Now I know. BETRAYAL,” Sgt. Brenner said after Capt. Campbell’s father General Joseph Campbell chose silence to protect the majority of the cadets of the West Point where some of its members gang-rape her in exchanged of another star rank promotion from the Army.

The majority lawmakers in the Bangus City could be likened, too, on what happened to Soviet soldiers in the Muslim dominated country’s Afghanistan the former subjugated from December 24, 1979 to February 15, 1989.

In the true story war movie’s 9^th Company, a paratrooper Soviet Comrade Captain instructed his wet behind the ears soldiers to be sent to that hell-hole’s Afghanistan:

   “Muslim will never desecrate his house with blood. That means once you enter their village you are their guest. To kill a guest, even if he's an infidel, is "haram (forbidden)". Therefore, remember... as long as you're in the village, you are safe. But once you exit over the village's border...the very host who drank tea with you five minutes ago...may shoot you in the back just as well. Because to kill an infidel is an act of glory.

Son of a gun! To paraphrase it for the contemporary brouhaha in Dagupan City: TO DUPE THE MAJORITY IS AN ACT OF GLORY sez the Minority in their Afghan/Muslim liked demeanor.

SIMPLE MAJORITY VS QUALIFIED MAJORITY

The pronouncement of Councilor Mejia to radio commentators on his radio stations hopping that the minority illegally passed the budget because it needed a vote of ALL the members of the august body (we call it: Qualified Majority) and not a Simple Majority (where those who create a quorum of more than half of the 13 members (including the vice mayor) of the august body – just like in the Tuesday session) was wrong. It was already opined in 2019 by Department of Interior & Local Government Undersecretary Marivel C. Sacendoncillo on the question of Lukban, Quezon Mayor Celso Oliver Dator how many votes are needed to pass an appropriation ordinance.

Here’s what I wrote last Thursday on my blog:

Sacendoncillo, explained to Mayor Dator that what is being referred to under Article 107 2nd sentence of paragraph (of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Local Government Code of 1991 which require the approval of a QUALIFIED MAJORITY VOTE is an ordinance or resolution (specific appropriation) authorizing or directing the payment of money or creating a liability”. Sabi pa niya na ang Appropriation Ordinance at ang Ordinance directing the payment of money or creating liability ay iba basi sa nilalaman ng Section 55 (b) ng Code na kung saan ay ni mention ang dalawa kasama ang ipinasang Appropriation Ordinance. Hindi kasali ang Appropriation Ordinance sa QUALIFIED MAJORITY VOTE na sinasabi sa Article 107 2nd sentence of paragraph (of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the LGC. 

“In view of the above-cited DILG Opinion, this Department is of the position that the required vote to pass an (appropriation) ordinance is only SIMPLE MAJORITY (emphasis by this writer),” she cited.

FILE A TRO, INJUNCTION

If Mejia et al. wanted to vindicate themselves on the humiliation their gullibility cost them dearly, they go to the Regional Trial Court and file a temporary restraining order and injunction of violation of the law on Qualified Majority.

Who knows the Judge sided with them and throws to the bin the argument of Undersecretary Sacendoncillo.

As what a General Santos City Councilor told his opposing colleague who waved a DILG opinion: “That’s nothing unless the Supreme Court has decided on the matter”.