LEVEL OF COMPETITIVENESS

‘Smile to taxpayers’, Baraan urges workers

Dagupan City Administrator Rafael Baraan assailed the analysis made by the prestigious Asian Institute of Management (AIM) that the high cost of doing business in Dagupan was due to corruption.

AIM’s report, based on perception indicators it gathered from small and medium sized businessmen in the city, pointed to corruption in city hall as the main factor that contributed to Dagupan’s diminished competitiveness, placing it in poor 3lst place among the 37 small-sized cities in the Philippines.

The analysis said the demand for bribe to establish business in the city has made it costly to operate.

Baraan and other city hall officials flatly denied the perception branding it as “untrue” and “irrational” and claimed that no corruption is going on in the city.
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LINGAYEN - The flow of traffic in Dagupan City is expected to improve dramatically once the five pedestrian overpasses in different parts of the city’s downtown are constructed.

Second Highway District Engineer Rodolfo Dion said the construction of the first of the five overpasses, all to be sourced from House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.’s Countrywide Development Fund, will begin next month and will be situated near the Dagupan City National High School.

He said he already received an advice that the Department of Budget and Management is set to release the initial P3 million allotted for the first pedestrian overpass.

Expected to be completed by early February next year, the first pedestrian overpass will serve the student population studying in DCNHS, Lyceum Northwestern University, Ednas School and Dominican School.

The project is now undergoing its pre-construction stage, which includes preparations of plans and work programs before the conduct of a public bidding.

He said his office has already coordinated the implementation of the project with the city government, adding that it was the City Engineering Office that submitted the original plans for DPWH’s review and modification.

Dion said Speaker De Venecia noted that a big number of people, particularly students, are crossing the Dagupan-Binmaley road unprotected so he decided to allot a part of his CDAF for the construction of an overpass in that area.

On the Speaker’s instruction, the construction of the four other pedestrian overpasses will start once the first project is completed.
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Here’s another option for a “Deal or No-Deal” agreement between the city hall and the city council.

This time, the proposal on the table is “Rent one, Take Two” at the almost empty second floor of the Malimgas Public Market.

This was proposed as an alternative compromise by city hall to the 50 per cent discount earlier proposed by the committee on ways and means in the Sangguniang Panlungsod and     supported by the committee on market and slaughterhouse.

When asked by Councilor Alex De Venecia to elaborate on the  ‘Rent One, Take Two’ proposal, Napoleon Nazareno, Malimgas Market administrator, said the proposal calls for a businessman to lease  one stall at  the second floor of the market on a regular basis, and he can occupy one stall for free during the months of  October, November and  December only.
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ARCHBISHOP Oscar Cruz of the Lingayen-Dagupan archdiocese threw his support behind those who passed the 2006 Board Examinations for Nurses when he officiated in a prayer-rally held at the Dagupan City Plaza last Monday.

An arch critic of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Cruz wondered why all the passers are being punished, requiring them to retake the examination for the sins of only a few.

Some 500 nursing board passers, their parents and supporters joined the prayer-rally which was followed by a vigil and the lighting of candles.  

Expressing his sympathy for the board passers, Cruz appealed to Malacañang not to punish all the passers by asking them to retake the exams and instead to look for the passers who benefited from the leakage and make them retake the examinations.

 Kailan ba nangyari na pag nagkamali yung isa, paparusahan ang lahat? Saan galing yung batas na yun? Nasaan ang katuwiran? Angkatarungan?” asked Cruz.
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THE University of Luzon scored twin victories!

Its College of Criminology was granted Level III status and its basketball team and pride, the Golden Tigers, won the championship round of the 2006 PRISAA Inter-Collegiate Invitational Basketball Championship.

The UL’s first victory was in academics after the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation (PACUCOA) granted Level II status to the UL’s Criminology Program after it satisfactorily met the standard and fulfilled the requirements of the PACUCOA.

Dean Esther Vedana received the certificate for UL President Mac Arthur Samson last October 2 at the PACUCOA office in Quezon City.

Dr. Samson said the re-accreditation of the UL’s Criminology Program boosted the university’s stature as the premier college of criminology in the entire country.
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TOPNOTCHER SAYS “NO RETAKE” — Gringo San Diego, topnotcher of the 2006 Board Examination for Nurses from the University of Pangasinan, cries for justice and fair play as he denounced a decision by Malacañang requiring the successful examinees to retake the exams during a prayer-rally organized by New Nurses Alliance, Pangasinan chapter at the Dagupan City Plaza. — (Punchphoto by Butch Uka)

ANGRY NURSES —The group of nurses in Pangasinan who passed the 2006 examinations roll out their streamer protesting the decision of the government to require them to do a retake of the 2006 Licensure Examination for Nurses during their prayer-rally and vigil at the Dagupan City plaza last Sunday officiated by Archbishop Oscar Cruz of the Lingayen-Dagupan Archdiocese.–(Ray Zambrano, Butch Uka)

FINISHING TOUCHES — A laborer applies the pyroplastic center lane on the Mayombo-Caranglaan road in Dagupan City prior to the completion of the project. The road is one of three roads in the city s chosen for the P29 million asphalt overlay project being undertaken by the contractor, Oriental Construction owned by Alberto Ong. The DPWH said the asphalt overlay has a five-year warranty. -- (Punchphoto by Butch Uka)

OFFICIAL CAR FOR SHOPPING — Thanks to camera-equipped cellphones, another Punch reader caught a government-issued car with plate number SFH-255 parked inside the Nepo Mall in Dagupan City at 2:10 pm of October 11, 2006. Evidently, this government official found the government-issued car convenient for shopping. Paging the Ombudsman!

BAYAMBANG - The provincial board will begin conducting a series of public hearings in this town this Friday, October 20 on the proposed sanitary landfill to be constructed in a 33-hectare lot in barangay Dusoc here.

Provincial board members decided to conduct the hearing in the town to find out the true sentiments of the residents having been apprised of the pros and the cons in the proposed ordinance authorizing its establishment.

On the same day, they are set to conduct an ocular inspection of the site being prepared by the proponents of the project, Waste Integrated Network System Inc. (WINS Inc.), chaired by lawyer Fernando Cojuangco.

Vice Gov. Oscar Lambino, presiding officer of the provincial board said the hearing and ocular inspection is imperative because of a position paper signed by a number of residents opposing the construction of the sanitary landfill.
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