TENSION HIGH IN ALAMINOS

ALAMINOS CITY - Tension ran high in the coastal areas here last week due to alleged forcible takeover by the former mayor of Bolinao town and his men of properties believed to be outside the areas covered by a receivership order by the Regional Trial Court.

The owners, through their lawyer Facundo Palafox, are now bent on suing former Bolinao Mayor Jesus Celeste for trespassing or land grabbing.

Celeste, elder brother of the incumbent congressman of the first district of Pangasinan, Arthur Celeste, and Bolinao Mayor Alfonso Celeste, took over several fishponds, a salt farm and several parcels of agricultural lands on October 16 ostensibly on the strength of an order issued by Regional Trial Court Judge Jules Mejia of Alaminos City.

The order named Celeste as the receiver of 52 properties in Alaminos and other towns of Pangasinan that were subject of civil cases between heirs to deceased Josefa Rabago.
Read more

JUETENG is now making a comeback in Luzon a couple of months with a vengeance but not without a major twist in its operational structure and the determination of its finances.

According to Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, chairman of Krusada ng Bayan Laban sa Jueteng, there now exists a powerful triad (composed of members of a political family and a ranking police official) that wants to control it, dictating how much jueteng lords should fork over to it as “patong”, how much should be paid to whom.

The new arrangement has reportedly befuddled the gambling lords who used to have full control of the operations and who determine how much they want to fork over to politicians and police officers.

“Diyan nag-aaway (That’s what they are fighting over),” Cruz told local newsmen.
Read more

AT ‘TINDA’Y LABI’

THE prior agreement to pay the city government only P50 for every P300 from every exhibitor occupying a space of six square meters each in the “Tinda’y Labi” event still stands.

This was clarified by event organizers, Badminton Association of Dagupan and the Dagupan “Bangus” Jaycees, who spoke through Dennis Canto, over-all chairman of “Tinda’y Labi”.

He said this was actually the initial sharing agreement forged with the city government but it can go higher depending on the response of participants to the project.

The city council had opposed the deal citing the measly amount pegged for the income to be earned by the city.

Some city hall observers agreed with the position of the city council noting that the privilege extended the organizers for their exclusive use of the city street fronting the city hall and plaza is worth much more than P50 per trader participating in the event.
Read more

THERE appears no more hope in sight for the settlement of the long delayed P1,000 per month additional compensation allowance (adcom) for Dagupan City government employees since April this year.

City Budget Officer Ildefonso Calimlim said there is no money in the city coffers to pay employees the P8,000 due them from April to November.

Employees have been feeling dismayed, especially after having enjoyed the bonanza from January to March this year.

Adcom is provided for under an executive order signed early this year by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to boost the earnings of state workers. However, the granting of the additional compensation for employees of provincial, city and municipal governments will depend on availability of funds of these units.

Calimlim said what the city government can only afford to pay at this time is the remaining 50% of the compulsory 13th month pay and half of the P5,000 cash gift for employees. The first other half of these amounts were already released in June this year.
Read more

SUAL - A new post-high school education exam will be introduced this year, with emphasis on both academic aptitude and technical-vocational skills, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus announced here.

Lapus said the test, called the National Career Entrance Assessment (NCEA) which will be compulsory for all the 1.8 million senior high school students nationwide, will be conducted either in December or January next year.

The NCEA, however, will not serve as a pre-requisite for admission to colleges and universities, said Lapus who came here November 10 for the Adopt-A-School project of Mirant Philippines, which operates a power plant in the town.

“It will serve as a guide. They’re now guided. They’ll be misguided if they disregard it,” he said.
Read more

IS CITY HALL BIASED? - The sidewalk fronting the new bank building of the Bank of Philippine Islands branch in Dagupan City has narrowed considerably prompting sidewalk vendors who are being ejected and chased out of sidewalks and the regular pedestrians in the area to wonder if the city engineer’s office has approved the apparent encroachment of the sidewalk by the bank. - (Punchphoto by Ray Zambrano)

SEIZED ILLEGAL FIREARMS–Police Deputy Provincial Director Noli Taliño examines a cache of firearms, ammunition and a hand grenade seized by the police in simultaneous raids on two residences in sitio Soson Ongkit in Mangatarem on Wednesday.