The lure of Lomibao

By Al S. Mendoza

OUR LOVE affair with elections is as old as your town cemetery. That’s why when Marcos killed elections with his martial law in 1972, the people hated him. 

They didn’t show it, but deep within their hearts, they mourned the death of the holding of elections. It was as if a member of their family had died.

When Marcos was ousted by People Power in 1986, happy days are here again.

The restoration of elections was greeted with fiesta-like atmosphere, as though a long-lost son had finally come home.

The barber shops are the best gauge.  Linger around there and you will readily notice customer and kibitzer alike in animated talks about election possibilities in most times of the day.
Read more

Feel like a president of the Philippines

By Eva C. Visperas

I received an invitation from San Fabian Mayor Jaming Libunao to come for a small talk, together with Violy Ferrer of Aksyon  Radyo, Cesar Ramirez  of  the Philippine STAR, Ding Micua of the Philippines News Agency. We were to interview him a day earlier but instead he requested we come the next day.

When we arrived at the venue, there were about 15 other local newsmen there as obviously another interview was arranged by Janice Hidalgo, Mayor Jaming’s known media coordinator.

While the other group “crossed examined” a supposed surprise visitor about an alleged anomaly exposed by the mayor’s staunchest rival, I was more interested in the venue - the famous Presidential Guesthouse, now known as The San Fabian PTA Beach Resort. It was the place where former President Ferdinand Marcos stayed whenever he had the luxury of time.
Read more

Soil scientist corrects notion on organic farming

By Sosimo Ma. Pablico

CONTRARY to the claims of some sectors, there are no such things as organic rice, organic vegetable and organic fruit, according to a senior consultant of PhilRice [Philippine Rice Research Institute] who served earlier as a professor at UP Los Baños and a scientist at IRRI [International Rice Research Institute].

Dr. Cezar P. Mamaril said that what some sectors claim as organic agricultural products were actually produced with the sole application of organic materials made into fertilizer.  Inorganic fertilizers and pesticides were not applied.  However, this does not justify them to claim that their products are organic rice, organic vegetable or organic fruit.

Mamaril said that the sole application of organic fertilizer to a particular crop would not result in the production of an organic product like rice, fruit and vegetable because the plants did not absorb the organic materials for their growth and development.
Read more

Psychological incapacity

+Oscar V. Cruz D. D.

Time and again, there is talk about the annulment of marriage especially among movie personalities with failed conjugal unions. And such talk is usually accompanied with the phrase “psychological incapacity” as the usual ground for marriage annulment before the local civil courts concerned.

There are three more relevant observations that beg some clarification for proper understanding of the above realities.

Before civil law, there are two ways of doing away with a de facto marriage: one is the declaration of nullity and the other is the judgment of annulment.

Before civil law wherefore, there are also two kinds of marriages as far as their dissolution is concerned: there are null and void marriages which are open to the declarations of nullity. And there are valid but voidable which in turn is receptive of annulment.
Read more

Knowing GenVel, then and now

By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

I WAS not surprised at all when the retired PNP Deputy Director Reynaldo V. Velasco phoned me last month to confirm that the one year old planned bicycle road race will become a reality. I have known the guy since 1975— then a very young aide de camp of former Philippine Constabulary (PC) chief Fidel V. Ramos with a rank of first lieutenant—as a cycling fanatic. He was one of the reasons why the former cyclists and champions Modesto Bonzo, Samson Etrata, Pepito Calip, Edgardo Pagarigan, and my former teammates Cesar Catambay, Manuel Pucan and Teofilo Aquino, to name a few, joined the Philippine Constabulary.

Despite being a public servant as a police officer since 1971, I know he follows sports events, even until now, particularly Pangasinan’s favorite, the bicycle racing. Ask him about the former champions from Pangasinan, from Rufino Gabot in 1957 and up to Santy Barnachea this year, he knows them all. That’s GenVel-as fondly called by his friends— born and raised in Sta. Barbara, a die-hard aficionado of the two-wheeled sport.
Read more

Twining

By Emmanuelle

And we end our focus on true twin stories with this last pair:

Candy and Cindy were born of a Filipino father and an American mother, both Protestant missionaries and visiting university professors. As the case was with parents such as theirs, the twins grew up traipsing from one island to another. Once or twice a week, they would wear their required Sunday best - dress, shoes, socks and hair ribbons all in sinless white. Most days, the twins would be in faded t-shirts and pants or shorts, barefooted or shod in flip-flops, waist-length reddish-brown hair twisted in knots.

As the usual case with identical twins, one would have to be their parents to distinguish Candy from Cindy at first glance. You see, aside from being too pretty, they were also too naughty and too smart. Their main source of fun and preoccupation was making people take Candy for Cindy and Cindy for Candy. They would laugh themselves silly afterwards, with the victims joining in.
Read more

TORONTO COUNCILOR PITFIELD WITH PANGASINENSES- Jane Pitfield, a councilor of Toronto City, Canada, gets together with Fernando Gubatan of San Fabian and past president of the Mabuhay Lions Club, and Joe Estrada of Calasiao during the 16th Charter Night of the Mabuhay Lions Club last November 4. Gubatan is reportedly preparing to run for mayor in San Fabian town in 2007. - (Contributed by Jojo Taduran)

PACQUIAO-MORALES RUBBERMATCH — Philboxing.com columnist Morts Ortigoza (right) and Bombo Radyo Dagupan manager Marvin Modelo will give the blow-by-blow commentary of the much-awaited boxing match between Manny Pacquiao and Eric Morales. The spectacle will be held on November 19 in Las Vegas, Nevada and will be aired live over Bombo Radyo through its 43 radio stations nationwide.

_________________________________________________________  

Submit dates of birthdays and anniversaries of friends and relatives to
sundaypunch2@yahoo.com as in below: 

Ex:
January 29, Wedding anniversary, Dop and Snow Garcia, Los Angeles, CA
May 29, Birthday, Karmina Arrogante, Dagupan City
________________________________________________________ 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

November 12 - (Dagupan City) Ma. Desiree Agustin, Nenita Pajardo

November 13 - (Dagupan City) Bert Mendoza

November 14 - (Dagupan City) Monica Aromin, Lelia Aucena; (U.S.A) Lope S. Catubig III, Maribel R. Bustria

November 15 - (Dagupan City) Rafael F. Baraan 

November 16 - (Dagupan City) Msgr. Oscar V. Cruz, Kathleen Mae de Guzman, Menchie de Vera

November 17 - (Dagupan City) Napoleon Dacasin; (Manaoag) Rowena Sandoval

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

ATTY. DOMINADOR CRUZ

(November 12, 2006)

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

IMELDA V. DELA CRUZ

(November 13, 2006-Canada)

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Brgy. Captain ROBERT CALACHAN

(November 13, 2006- Manaoag)

Ms. Ric
11 Nov 2006

Let’s not forget that China is only a fifteen-year old capitalist society. Through its 3,300 years of recorded history, through dynasties, anarchies, communism, and an attempt at being a republic, China barely opened its doors to foreign trade. The tragedy at Tiananmen Square in 1989 has a poetic justice ring to it. The Chinese government not only plowed unto its civilians, but it also plowed unto Mao’s Cultural Revolution and dogma of self-reliance. What was borne was an economic growth with no sign of slowing down. Their growth rate of 11.3% recorded earlier this year is certainly one of the highest with an inflation rate of a mere 1.3%. Their government can’t seem to approve enough business licenses to entrepreneurs, which will at some point eradicate their government-controlled workforce. Foreign banks can’t seem to stop extending bank notes and approve loans expecting a high return. And they can’t seem to open enough business schools to train their young men and women with insatiable appetite for anything westernized.

However, a change this fast is bound to have its shortcomings. This change is happening in the cities, but not in the provinces where time seemed to have stopped in its track to modernization. The disparity between the haves and the have-nots is growing just as rapid as its economy. And reports of corrupt politicians are as rampant as their thirst for anything imported. Sounds familiar? Analysts from all over the world are watching if this soaring economy, this Chinese Experiment, will land gently or with a painful thud. I hope, for the sake of those millions of children borne in defiance of the one child per couple policy – they who will invariably inherit this gargantuan economy, that they will indeed have a soft landing.