Martinez, Suriben Enmesh in Work After Named LTO-R-1 Top Honchos

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union – The new top two honchos of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) – Region -1 have worked their fingers to the bone upon assumption of their mandates here.

NEW TOP EXECS of Land Transportation Office -Region -1. Regional Director Glorioso Daniel Martinez (left, photo) and Assistant Regional Director Eric Suriben.

Regional Director Glorioso Daniel Martinez and Assistant Regional Director Eric Suriben visited the Department of Public Works and Highways Region-1 Regional Director Engr. Ronnel Tan to personally seek the technical and financial assistance from the DPWH for the identified priority infrastructure projects of LTO R-1. RD Tan expressed the willingness and commitment of DPWH R-1 in helping the LTO elevates the quality of its public service delivery with the provision of better and safer facilities for its clients and employees.

RD Martinez also presided the meeting here of the LTO’s Transportation District Officers Association of the Philippines. (TDOAP).  It tackled the issues and concerns of the day-to-day transaction of offices of the agency in Region-1. TDOAP discussed the actionable strategies for implementation and success and how it could uphold its commitment to a better LTO and public service.

ARD Suriben together with the representatives from San Fernando District Office and San Fernando Licensing Center held recently a Post Anti Red Tape Authority (ARTA) Audit Meeting to discuss the result of the on-site audit held in July 7,2023.

Suriben emphasized too that driving school instructors play a crucial role as representatives of both their driving schools and the LTO. He exhorted their cooperation in raising the quality of driver's education to ensure that driver's licenses are issued only to deserving and qualified applicants. The Assistant Director graced the mandatory re-tooling program of the instructors of driving schools in Region 1. It was conducted by lecturer Ariel Paolo Tejada. He said the instructors must undergo the program every renewal of their accreditation to ensure they stay informed of the land transportation laws, rules and regulations.

Calasiao, Mangaldan Mayors Are Better Than the One in Dagupan

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Why these two first class town mayors Kevin Roy Macanlalay of Calasiao and Bona Fe D. Parayno of Mangaldan are cut above Mayor Belen T. Fernandez of Dagupan City?

The duo despite facing a majority number of opposition’s lawmakers, still got their annual budget while Mayor Fernandez is convulsing while still groping in the dark how to solve her problem after the majority Dads in the lawmaking body slashed by P435 million her appropriation of P1.3 billion this year.

CHIEF EXECUTIVES. From left photo to clockwise: Beleaguered Dagupan City Mayor Belen T. Fernandez, Calasiao Mayor Kevin Roy Q. Macanlalay and Mangaldan Mayor Bona Fe D. Parayno.

 Mangaldan and Calasiao, that shared a boundary with Dagupan, burgeoned because of the limited swath of land for commerce in the city that force businessmen like Robinsons Mall and S&R to put shop there. They have a budget this year of more or less P450 million (Mangaldan) and P380 million (Calasiao), respectively.

Dagupan City did not get its 2023 P1.3 billion appropriations from the Sangguniang Panlungsod (legislative body) because Fernandez was bullheaded not to show all the names of the 1,900 job order employees (JOEs), barangay health workers and others to the critical opposition majority. These Dads suspect that the Mayor hide something about these workers thus they used their Power of the Purse. Notwithstanding the statute that mandates Fernandez: “The City Mayor...provide such information and data needed or requested by said sanggunian in the performance of its legislative functions” (Section 455 parag IV of the Local Government Code (LGC) of the Philippines).

The almost 200, 000 population Dagupenos are deprived of new infrastructures and social services this year after she vetoed the watered down P864.9 budget. Since the lawmakers did not act for the veto, the second class city operated in the reenacted 2022 budget as mandated by the LGC.

Despite the P1.380 billion last year’s budget, it has limitation: the law says a reenacted budget bars the Chief Executive to appropriate the hundreds of millions of pesos of the 20 percent development fund for the construction of buildings, canals to mitigate the perennial flooding to a city dubbed as Dagupond, medicines for the poor, financial aids and other. It stops her also to request for a supplemental budget in the lawmaking body, no creation of positions, new increase of salaries of the personnel and whatchamacallit.

If Fernandez would not give the names and the corresponding salaries of the JOEs and other workers (why the big fuss in not giving em’!? - Author) in the next budget hearing for the 2024 appropriation, this city goes to the dogs until her term ends on June 31, 2025.

***

If the Dagupan City mayor is polarized with the majority of the lawmakers, why Mayors Macanlalay and Parayno – snagged with the same opposition’s majority - still get the budget they wish and even spiced it with series of multi- millions of pesos’ supplemental appropriation?

MAYOR KEVIN ROY MACANLALAY

The young Mayor Macanlalay credited his constant consultations with the six opposition lawmakers and their vice mayor after they won their mandate in the May 9, 2022 election.

 “Tatawagin ko sila dito lalatagan ko sila ng plano. O tapos mag-uusap sila tapos ini-invite nila ako minsan dini-discuss namin iyong sinabi ko. “Mayor, puweding bang ganito?” “Dito na lang natin gawin ilagay ganyan ganyan” o “baka puwede na e priority natin itong project na ito parang ganoon”” Mayor Macanlalay told me in an interview held at his office.

The consultation by the Hizzoner (play of words of “his honor”) with the majority lawmakers is held regularly when the former asked their ideas.

“Hindi naman nakakasama may idea sila o sige ganoon”.

MAYOR BONA FE PARAYNO

Here’s Mayor Bona in my recent interview with her last Wednesday while we waited for Vice President Sara Duterte to grace the graduation of the public senior high school in her thriving town.

She is already for the third supplemental budget this year. She respectfully asked the solons to fund her budget against Corona Virus Disease – 19 (Covid-19) that has made a comeback.

She and Planning and Development Coordinator Mila Padilla - my co Professor then at the Lyceum Northwestern University in the 1990s – could not give the exact amount as it is still being prepared. But the Mayora quipped her rough estimate to me: “Most likely sabihin mo na lang na P5 million”.

Mayor Bona lauded the SB for their understanding on her financial needs to run the LGU.

“Kasi hindi puweding di nila alam iyan kasi sila rin binoto ng mga tao. And if sa iyo this is needed of course ako din dahil ako ang Executive ako ang nagpapalakad ng lahat alam ko kung ano ang mga kulang,” she stressed to me.

In my conversations with the duo, I did not see any identities of the JOEs and other workers being concealed before the members of the Sangguniang Bayan who vote for the budget. This stubborn nondisclosure of the names of these workers caused Dagupan City Mayor Fernandez to pay a heavy price at the expense of the welfare of her constituents.

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

It’s the U.S not the Colombians that destroyed Escobar

MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

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I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.

VP Sara Nagpasalamat Kay Mayor Bona

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

MANGALDAN, Pangasinan – Taos pusong nagpapasalamat ang Bise Presidente ng Pilipinas kay Mayor Bona Fe D. Parayno pagkatapos maimbitahan siya ng huli para maging pangunahing tagapagsalita sa pagtatapos ng mga senior students ng public high school dito na pinaka-malaki sa Region-1.

Philippines Vice President Sara Duterte -Carpio (left, photo) exhorts the 1,092 senior high school graduates of the Mangaldan National High School (MNHS) as keynote speaker. After the Vice President speaks, Mangaldan Mayor Bona Fe D. Parayno gives her inspirational message to the graduates.

“Maraming salamat po sa ating Mayora Bona Fe Parayno sa inyo pong imbitasyon sa akin Maam na dumalo sa graduation ng Mangaldan National High School dahil nabigyan po ako ng pagkakataon na makasama ang ating mga graduates sa hapon na ito at makapagbigay ng mensahe to inspire you about education in your education and the future of our country,” ani Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio sa kay Mayora at sa 1, 092 na nagtapos.

Sinabi rin ni Mayor Parayno na isang malaking karangalan ang makasaysayan na pagdalo ng ikalawang pinakamataas na opisyal ng Pilipinas sa 6^th Commencement Exercise ng Mangaldan National High School (MNHS) kung saan siya ang pangunahing bisita.

Payo ng Bise Presidente sa mga nagtapos ang importansiya ng katatagan at kakayahan  na tanggapin ang pagkabigo dahil iyan ay nagbibigay ng pagkakataon sa tagumpay.

Paliwanag nito na pinangarap niya noong sa kindergarten hanggang kolehiyo pa siya na maging isang pediatrician pero siya ay nahirapan noong maging first year student siya sa medicine. Ito ang naging dahilan na siya ay lumipat sa law school, naging abugada at nahalal bilang Bise Presidente ng Republika..

Halos walang humpay ang palakpakan at hiyawan ng mga magulang at mga graduates na basang basa noong naabutan sila ng ulan sa open basketball court ng MNHS nang sinabi ni Duterte-Carpio na siya ay magbibigay ng tig isang libong peso para may pambili ng handa sa hapag kainan sila.

“Magkano ba ang lechon manok dito sa inyo sa Mangaldan?”

“Three hundred!” sigaw ng mga magtatapos.

“P300? Ah okay. Mahal!!!

(Tawanan ang mga tao)

“Parang 210 lang ata sa Davao. Okay! Ah P300 daw ang lechon manok. Naghanda kami ng regalo para sa inyong lahat….

(Hiyawan at sigawan ang mga tao)

“…pambili ng inyong lechon manok, naghanda kami ng One Thousand per graduate,” sambit ng Vice President.

(Umaalingawngaw at nakakabingi na sigawan at palakpakan uli ng mga magulang, graduates at mga guro)

Dagdag ni Duterte-Carpio ang graduation ay hindi lang para sa mga nagtapos kundi para rin sa kanilang mga magulang at mga guro.

Vice President Sara Duterte graced the graduation rite of the Mangaldan National High School in Pangasinan (the biggest secondary school in Region-1) as commencement speaker last July 12, 2023. She is seen on the photos here with the top brass of the Department of Education in Pangasinan-II, Mangaldan Mayor Bona Fe Parayno and department heads and some local lawmakers, police regional and provincial commands lead by Brig. Gen. John Chua and Col. Jeff Fanged, Criminal Investigation Detection Group regional command chief Col. Noel Espinoza, Pangasinan illustrious daughter Lyn Ang and the grateful 1, 092 senior high school student graduates of the town.

Noong oras na ni Mayor Parayno na magsalita, sinang ayunan nito ang sinabi ng Bise Presidente tungkol sa hirap na dinanas ng mga magulang para sa kanilang mga anak. Ipinahayag niya ang hirap na dinanas din niya kung saan nagtapos sa Amerika ang kanyang mga anak pero hindi siya makadalo dahil sa kanyang obligasyon sa pinakamataas na tungkulin sa first class town dito.

 “You all are really resilient for being able to graduate with academic distinctions despite na pababago-bago ang mode of learning ninyo dahil sa pandemya. Ang pangarap ko po para sa inyo ay ipagpatuloy ninyo ang inyong pag-aaral. Sa mga magulang, ang pangarap ninyo para sa inyong mga anak ay pangarap ko rin,” ani Mayor Bona.

Bago dumating sila Vice President Sara, naging guest speaker na siya sa 54 graduates sa Tocok Elementary School sa San Fabian, Pangasinan kung saan namudmod siya ng android phone sa bawat isa sa mga nagtapos doon.

Siya ay lulan ng dark green Poland made Sikorsky “Black Hawk” utility helicopter ng Philippines Air Force na nanggaling pa sa isang pagtatapos ng mga public school students sa Nueva Ecija sa pareho ding araw na dumating siya sa Pangasinan.

THIS CHOPPER COST MORE THAN P1-B

BY MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

Vice President Sara Duterte used a Black Hawk Sikorsky's utility helicopter from the Philippines Air Force when she visited San Fabian and Mangaldan towns in Pangasinan last Wednesday to be the commencement speaker of the two public schools there.

The Philippines was buying 32 S-70i Black Hawk helicopters from Poland-based Sikorsky Aircraft subsidiary PZL Mielec to beef up its existing fleet of 12, the country's defence chief said early last year.

The additional 32 Black Hawks - Yes Virginia the one you saw at the movie's Black Hawk Down in Etiopia - cost the Philippines coffer by U.S $624 million or P34.3 billion or P1,072 billion each (Ganoon kamahal ang helicopter na sinakyan ni VP Sara, Virgnia!)

PHOTO CREDIT: PIA

Guv to Sue Land Grabbers at the Coast of Lingayen Gulf

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – A pugnacious Pangasinan Governor told reporters that he would sue in court the business establishments and residential owners who appropriated the shore and coast lines that snake from Lingayen, Binmaley and to San Fabian towns.

“O ito ha! Kakasuhan namin ang dapat kasuhan. Biro mo? Oo, nagpapaupo lang sila ng somebody for the purpose of bibigyan ng tax dec (declaration) tapos wala na iyon,“disclosed by Ramon Guico, III to reporters who converged recently in his office.

LAND GRABBERS. Pangasinan Governor Ramon “Monmon” Guico, III (facing camera) unloads his sentiments to the members of the fourth estate on the proliferation of illegal structures where land grabbers appropriated for themselves the foreshore and the coastline of the towns of Lingayen, Binmaley and San Fabian. PHOTO: Mortz C. Ortigoza

With the audacity of the land grabbers, he dared them to charge him in court if they think his resolved to flush them out on the land they illegally occupied have violated their Rights to Property.

“Well wala silang magagawa kahit magsampa kayo ng kaso sa korte sige lang. Ako hinahamon ko na sila”.

Guico said the countless of squatters who allocated among themselves parcels of lands in those three towns, only three individuals who lived in San Fabian have tenurial instruments.

Tenurial instruments are leases, permits, agreements, joint venture or production sharing agreements, and licenses concerning the development, exploration and utilization of the country's natural resources. 

“Lahat iyon wala! Zero! Iyan lang dapat may karapatan diyan dito sa malaki na binabakurang PNP. PNP ang may ari niyan hindi kung sino mang opisyal. PNP ang may karapatan diyan!”.

The Governor will confer with Pangasinan 2^nd District Rep. Mark Cojuangco how to solve this nagging problem when asked if he would request a congressional hearing on the travesty of the public land.

“Magkakaroon. Humingi ako na pag-uusapan namin ni Congressman Mark. Ako palaban na ako dito because Lingayen is the Capital Town. Tapos binaboy nila ng ganyan. Pinagkikitaan nila ang lupa kung ano ang pinagtatayo nila”.

Guico was not deterred on the backlash to his political career because most of the land grabbers and their families are not voters of the Province of Pangasinan.

“Alisin ko kayo para ang mga kababayan ko na walang trabaho sila ang makinabang diyan”.

He wanted to replace the illegal settlers with malls of big corporations like SM and Ayala by enticing them to put shops by goading them with the tenurial instrument where they can lease the area up to 30 or 50 years.

FAMOUS entertainment and food houses in the Baywalk in Lingayen and Binmaley, Pangasinan are (from top left and clockwise): The Yellow Beach Villas, El Puerto Marina Beach Resort & Spa, Bali-Bali Beach Bar, Above Sea Level Bar and the The Yellow Beach Villas. 

“May pumapasok na income may trabaho na nag gi generate sa mga alienable and disposable (lands) diyan natin itayo ang mga pabahay para ma issuehan sila ng title. Ito wala! Walang binabayaran iyan,” he assailed those who illegally appropriated the foreshore and the coast lines there.

He could however make a compromise with the squatters where they could stay as long as they would recognize that the situs of their properties are owned by the government.

Guico wanted too to spruce up the makeshift cottages that proliferated in the areas by constructing a more attractive and conducive open park.

“E organize natin ito na maging coop may revenue pa rin e di ang coop ang makinabang shared by everybody. Hindi lang iyong iisang tao dadalawang tao. Ang ayaw na ayaw ko kasi iyong parang nangungutong “akin iyan, ito!”.

Rep. Cojuangco exhorted Guico and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial legislative body) in a letter sent last August 2022 to collaborate with him to the immediate demolition of all these illegal structures.

“It is only through our joint and immediate action that this illegal possession and blatant land grabbing of public land can be resolved,” he said.

The Baywalk particularly became famous in Lingayen and Binmaley for people who patronize the beach houses for rent and the cozy food and entertainment establishments like Tres Marias Sports Bar & Resort, The Yellow Beach Villas, Above Sea Level, Bali Bali Beach Bar, Norseman, Purok, El Puerto Marina Beach Resort & Spa and others.

VP Sara Gives P1-K to each of the 1,092 Grads in P'sinan

By Mortz Ortigoza

Maganda pala mag graduation speaker sa public elementary and secondary schools sa Pangasinan si Vice President Sara Duterte, namimigay ng android phone to each of the 54 graduates of Tococ Primary School in San Fabian and P1,000 each to the 1,092 graduates of the Mangaldan National High School (MNHS) - the biggest secondary school in Region -1.

Vice President Sara Duterte graced the graduation rite of the Mangaldan National High School in Pangasinan (the biggest secondary school in Region-1) as commencement speaker last July 12, 2023. She is seen on the photos here with the top brass of the Department of Education, Mangaldan Mayor Bona Fe Parayno and department heads and some local lawmakers, Police Regional and Provincial commands lead by Brig. Gen. John Chua and Col. Jeff Fanged, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Regional Chief Noel Espinoza and the grateful 1, 092 senior high school student graduates of the town where each of them was a recipient of the P1,000 given by the Vice President.

In the middle of her speech at the rainy afternoon that soaked the graduates who were sitting on the open court, she posed in her Cebuano accented Tagalog:

"Magkano ang lechon manok dito?"

The students and parents - where many of them are near the poverty threshold of the country - brightened up, cheered endlessly and shouted:

THREE HUNDRED ( PESOS)!

"Unsa? Veep Inday Sara asked "WHAT" vigorously in Cebuano

"THREE HUNDRED PESOS," they roared with excitement.

"O sige, meron kayo kada isa na tig P1,000 pag akyat niyo dito sa stage," she told them about the unexpected manna.

She apologized to them that she could not give a mobile phone unlike those graduates who were the earlier recipients in the nearby San Fabian.

"Pasensiya na kayo kakaunti lang kasi sila kaya tag isang libo na lang kayo".

Even the more or less 300 teachers of the MNHS were told that each of them would receive the blue crisp bill with composite portraits of Jose Abad Santos, Josefa Llanes Escoda and Vicente Lim - not those photos of the three guys on TVJ on Channel 5 TV as described by other writers (then that Philippines currency would be a counterfiet, hahaha!)

P1,092,000.00 SANS THE 54 ANDROID PHONES

Sanamagan! That"s how much in the more than a million pesos for the early Christmas in the 2028 Presidential Election? I asked myself

1,092 indebted high school students plus 300 wide eyed teachers multiply by P1,000 equal to a staggering P1,392,000!

Where did VP Sara get this lots of money?

Since the time of her immediate predecessor Vice President Leni Robredo, the VP Office since time immemorial has not seen a budget of

P530 million — P30 million of which will be with Inday Sara concurrent capacity as the Education Secretary — in confidential funds this year after the Congress passed the P5.3-trillion national spending program for this year.

FEAR OF COUP OR BBM JUST INDEBTED WITH SARA?

The pretty German mestisa got this mammoth dough probably because President Bongbong Marcos got cold chills that the VP's Dad was the Darling of the military and the cops after he gave them the biggest spike on their monthly pay during his six years stint as Prexy.

What cold chills?

It's the cold chills where Daddy Digong Duterte could call his Generals who call the cavalry and launch a putsch to the nascent BBM Administration.

Or was it because the grateful President Marcos wanted to spoil Inday because she sacrificed her presidential ambition last year by running instead in tandem with him thus the latter won the top elected post in the Pinoyland?

You can speculate my dear Readers.

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

It’s the U.S not the Colombians that destroyed Escobar

MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

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I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials' idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.

Mayor Merrera Hits VM Rosario on P4-M Overpayment to Contractor

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

BINMALEY, Pangasinan – The Mayor here assailed his immediate predecessor for the P4, 049, 195.58 excessively paid from the public coffer despite the third slab of the Multi-Purpose Building had already been paid by the Department of Public Works & Highway (DPWH) when it was already constructed earlier.

POLITICAL NEMESIS. Binmaley Mayor Pete Merrera (left, photo) and Vice Mayor Sammy Rosario.

“Yes, ang third slab binayaran na ng DPWH bakit nagkaroon pa ng other bidding sa pinaka third portion na excluded na iyong slab, samantala ang istimasyon nila iyong poste, iyong bubong saka iyong mga division sa last floor. Exclude mo na iyong slab nabayaran ng DPWH iyon e. E bakit kailangan pa e estimate pa ng municipal engineer pero utos ng mayor”,” Mayor Pedro A. Merrera told mediamen how then Mayor Simplicio Rosario and Municipal Engineer Leo Fernandez approved the offer of the contractor to build the controversial fourth floor of the public edifice.

After the three-storey building had been completed by Citron Builders and Supplies, DPWH told the officials of the local government unit (LGU) here during the administration of Rosario – who is the present vice mayor -  that the rooftop and the walls from the third slab would be funded by national government.

But then Mayor Rosario told the public works department that the local government unit (LGU) would finance instead the construction above the third slab by the same contractor.

Page 1 of the Notice of Disallowance from the Commision on Audit

“Ang ginagawa niya (Rosario): hindi kami na lang ang gagawa doon sa third floor hangang doon sa bubong,” Merrera said.

In May 9, 2023 Mayor Merrera received a Notice of Disallowance from the Office of the Auditor –Commission on Audit Team No. 4 in San Carlos City, Pangasinan.

“Result of technical inspection revealed that the concrete slab for the third floor was included in the contract but had already been undertaken by the Department of Public Works and Highways 2^nd District Engineering Office, Lingayen Pangasinan as part of the phase– I implementation, thereby, 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,” excerpt of the eight pages’ letter that determined Rosario and OIC- Municipal Engineer Fernandez as liable for the overpayment.

Merrera was told by the COA to direct Rosario and Fernandez to settle immediately the multi million pesos’ liability within six months from the receipt of the letter otherwise it becomes final and executory as prescribed under Sections 48 and 51 of Presidential Decree No. 1445 (Government Auditing Code of the Philippines).

The Notice of Disallowance was signed by State Auditor V Harizel A. Ibasan and OIC- Supervising Auditor Evangeline R. Picar.

Page 2 of the Notice of Disallowance from the Commision on Audit

When asked if he (Merrera) would file an anti-graft case against his predecessor, he answered in the negative as his office is still gathering documents on the P4, 049, 195.58 over payment.

“Wala pa. Inayos pa ang mga papeles dito,” he quipped.