Amelia P. Mencias, “Miss Dagupan of 1958″. Taken from The SUNDAY PUNCH archive of Dec. 21, 1958.

MOBILE SHABU LAB — Police Regional Director Leopoldo Bataoil (left ) presents to media the plastic containers, drums, bottles and other paraphernalia for manufacturing shabu seized by the police from an abandoned mobile laboratory in Anapao, Burgos sometime in September. With him are Police Provincial Director Senior Supt. Alan Purisima and members of the PNP Crime Laboratory and the Provincial Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group. – (Ray Zambrano)

REMEMBERING OUR DEAD SEA CREATURES– In preparation for All Saints’ Day on November 1, a worker of the National Fisheries Technology Development Center in Bonuan Binloc cleans the grave of a dead turtle entombed in the first known fish cemetery in the country. — (Ray Zambrano)

BISKEGS HONORARY MEMBER —First Gentleman Mike Arroyo (third from right) acknowledges the acclamation by Biskeg na Pangasinan, a provincial political party, to be its first and only honorary member. Thirty five mayors and three board members including Dagupan City Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez were present during their fellowship meeting held at the Heritage Hotel in Pasay City last October 24. Standing around Arroyo are (from left) Mapandan Mayor Jose Ferdinand Calimlim, Usec for Local Governance Antonio Villar Jr., Bayambang Mayor Leocadio De Vera Jr., Malasiqui Mayor Alfonso Soriano, Vice Gov. Oscar Lambino and Calasiao Mayor Roy Macanlalay.

DRUG SYNDICATE CHANGES TACTIC

LINGAYEN - There is a mobile shabu laboratory moving from place to place in Pangasinan, if not in the entire Region 1.

This was the assessment of Chief Supt. Leopoldo Bataoil, the new Philippine National Police (PNP) Regional Director, who ordered all units in the region to be vigilant as the mobile shabu laboratory reportedly stops and operates anywhere in the region to manufacture and supply shabu.

This was what happened in Burgos town in September when the illegal drug syndicate managed to manufacture a certain volume of shabu under the very noses of lawmen in Pangasinan.

Shabu is the popular street name for methamphetamine, hydrochloride, an illegal substance.
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THE Chinese government, through its ambassador to the Philippines, has pledged to finance a feasibility study for the construction of a pipeline system that will serve as a flood control and water supply structure for the rampaging waters from the mountains of San Roque Dam in San Manuel.

House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. told local newsmen last week that Chinese ambassador to the Philippines Li Jun Jin made the commitment during a weekend tour of Pangasinan.

“All we have to do is build a pipeline and by gravity, bring the water downwards to the central plains of Pangasinan,” de Venecia explained the proposed project.

“Imagine, from the destructiveness of these waters, to a flood control system, and finally the conversion of this water for our drinking water use,” he added.
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LINGAYEN — Watch out “kotong” cops, your happy days are over.

This was the strong warning sent out by the newly-installed director of the Philippine National Police Region 1 office, Chief Supt. Leopoldo Bataoil.

“Never under my watch. That’s one thing I emphasized to them. Never should anyone of my boys in Region 1 be involved in kotong or hulidap operation,” Bataoil told local newsmen here Thursday after making a courtesy call to Governor Victor Agbayani.

He encouraged the affected sectors to report all illegal activities of the police in the region directly to him at his mobile number 0917-8979563.
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BE warned giving alms to street beggars.

      The warning was issued by the City Social Welfare Office (CSWO) which has vowed to address the proliferation of street beggars in the city even as she called on the residents to refrain from giving alms.

      “Both the giver and the receiver are liable of charges in violation of  RA 1564, better  known as the Anti Mendicancy Law of the Philippines,” said CSWO officer Elsa Santillan in a  telephone interview with PUNCH Monday.

       Santillan said her office will be closely coordinating with higher authorities on a plan to keep the beggars off the city’s main thoroughfares since they pose danger not just to themselves but to motorists as well.
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MALASIQUI - The Provincial Board is adopting a very cautious stance over the controversial sanitary landfill project being proposed in the town of Bayambang.

This was conveyed by Vice Governor Oscar Lambino, the board’s presiding officer, and indicated that a very careful study is needed in view of the strong opposition against the proposed multi-million project.

Bayambang municipal council’s Resolution 127 granting permit to private firm Waste Integrated Network Systems Corporation to construct, operate and develop an integrated waste management facility in barangay Dusoc in that town, has been submitted to the Provincial Board for approval.

Meanwhile, board member Alicia Pulido, chairman of the committee on environment, echoed Lambino’s stand saying there will be no rush in the approval of the resolution as they do not want the people of Bayambang to have problems later on.
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AS anticipated, Dagupan’s Sanggunian Panlungsod (SP) questioned on Monday the P18-million increase in the city’s proposed P375-million budget for 2007, which was submitted by the mayor’s office the previous week.

The council raised doubts as to where the funding will be sourced considering no new ordinances for enhancing revenue collection were passed this year.

City treasurer Romelita Alcantara, appearing before the SP’s weekly meeting, defended the    proposed budget saying the local government is confident about a higher tax collection next year with the implementation of the 25% tax rate increase approved in 2005 and through intensified collection efforts.

Alcantara noted that the tax rate increase was not immediately implemented this year.
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