Bigger and more exciting Talong Festival

By Eva C. Visperas

Mention talong (eggplant) and Villasis town in the eastern part of Pangasinan easily comes to mind. That’s the fruit of the town’s successful first Talong Festival last year.

Next year, local folks will experience a mini Rio De Janeiro Street dancing when the town holds a bigger, more exciting and more splendid second Talong Festival in mid-January.

Mayor Nonato Abrenica said he traveled to Rio de Janeiro earlier to have a personal experience of  the great thematic festival where people from different corners of the world, clad in colorful costumes, dance with joy and freedom to the gaily tune of samba beat and drums. The Brazilian festival has become a gigantic tourist attraction.

Abrenica said elementary and high school students will be wearing unique costumes coupled with the parade of floats adorned with talong, the main crop of this town, for the grand street dancing to make the town’s celebration of its 200th year foundation next year more memorable.
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Custom service for farm mechanization gains headway

By Sosimo Ma. Pablico

Small rice farmers may not need to buy farm machines after all provided custom service for farm mechanization is available, as shown by the initial experiences in a pilot project of PhilRice (Philippine Rice Research Institute) in the  Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.

Slowly but surely, this pilot project is gaining momentum as more and more farmers in the Science City of Muñoz have started to patronize it. 

Started in June 2005, custom service for farm mechanization is being piloted in Brgy. Maragol to cater to the farmers’ farm mechanization needs - land preparation, irrigation, seeding, transplanting, weeding, spraying, harvesting, threshing, hauling, drying, storing [for emergency situation], and milling [for farmer and local consumption].

Dr. Silvestre Andales, PhilRice consultant who proposed the project, said it was patterned after the custom service provision company [CSPC] concept in Taiwan where “rice farms are as small as, if not smaller than the rice farms in the Philippines.”  The CSPC, who owns the farm equipment and machinery, provides mechanization of the different farm operations from land preparation to harvesting.
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Greed

By +Oscar V. Cruz D. D.

Greed is synonymous to insatiability. For the greedy, nothing is enough. They feel the continuous craving for more. When they have more, they want to have much more. The end is always the same; they eventually lose whatever they have—with sickness, despair, death.

The question of greed has a special relevance in our now obtaining national socio-political present. This is specifically the case of some of our greedy politicos. The immense power they exercise, the huge wealth they have, the big influence they wield—all these combined are not enough. Strange but true, they still feel deprived and depressed. Hence they feel the need to become even more powerful, wealthy and influential.

The insatiable greed for power, wealth and influence is the underlying cause of the unicameral constitutional assembly for a Charter Change. Never mind ethical norms and moral principles. Never mind the contrary feeling and voice of many sectors of society. Never mind the present and still binding constitutional provision on Charter Change.
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Meeting world champ Juan Manuel Marquez

(Last of two series)

By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

McALLEN, TEXAS - Marquez started boxing as an amateur at the age of 13. And after a sterling record of 35 wins and a single loss, he joined the pro ranks at age 19 but unfortunately lost his first bout via a disqualification to Javier Duran.

Despite that big debacle, he was not frustrated and went on to win 29 straight victories, including a convincing win over world contender Agapito Sanchez to capture the North American Boxing Organization (NABO) title.  His defense of the title seven times earned him a shot at the World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight crown on September 11, 1999. In this fight, Marquez lost a controversial 12-round decision to then unbeaten Freddie Norwood. That was his second loss.

Determined to get back in the title picture, Marquez came back with 10 consecutive triumphs including knockout victories over world challengers Remigio Molina and Robbie Pedde. This catapulted him to a second world title shot against fellow Mexican Manuel Medina for the vacant International Boxing   Federation (IBF) diadem on February 1, 2003 where he stopped Medina in seven rounds.
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Phantoms

By Emmanuelle

I am not frightened. I am very frightened.

It is a clear case of deja vu - here yesterday, here again, here tomorrow. It is not a dreadful dream. No. It is a nightmare most horrible.

The immortals have triumphed once again.

The dark gods, visible or invisible, never let up the pressure. The sharp teeth knew where to bite, to draw blood, to suck   fresh young arteries or purplish veins bulging thin with old age. The sharp crooked claws rasped as they scratched then clutched the victims in tight vise.

After this feast, the dark gods shall be immortals for many more years.

After this feast, the victims shall turn virtual slaves. There shall be no other way out for the willing ones who were lured on - in the first place - by their hungry, thirsty, greedy selves. The most basic, the most base. They climbed over each other, grimy hands grabbing, seizing the choicest cuts, chewing, stuffing juicy tidbits into mouth already spilling over. Gnawing, growling for more and bigger hacks of chunks. 

Their cumulative hunger and thirst transcend beyond nocturnal. Two evenings to two early mornings - it was an orgy held under the hypnotic spell of temptation and mutual satisfaction.  The dark of the night shielded them. At the dawning of day, the thick walls, thick glass plates, and their even thicker sunglasses kept them from melting in the naked glare of the sun. Kept them, too, from looking guiltily into the watchful eyes of the angels.
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FORMER President Fidel V. Ramos will lead outstanding Pangasinenses, including the late Fernando Poe Jr., who will be honored on December 21 during a gala dinner at the Pandango Room of Manila Hotel organized by the Kaluyagan Nen Palaris (KNP).

This was announced by KNP president Francisco Bravo, Senior Undersecretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and a native of San Nicolas town.

KNP is the newly revived civic organization of Manila-based Pangasinan businessmen and professionals.

KNP’s revival was initiated by former Agrarian Reform Minister Conrado Estrella to unite Manila-based Pangasinenses to serve once more as a catalyst for camaraderie and networking for the benefit of the province and Pangasinenses.
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THE recent tough Intel Science Fair-Region I Competition held in Candon, Ilocos Sur and participated in by young student scientists did not deter Jose Antonio R. Pastoral, a Mother Goose Special Science High School senior student, from emerging Champion in the Individual Science Investigatory Project Category. He impressed the judges with his entry entitled “The Anti-Helminthic Properties of Crassostrea Iredalei.”

With his proud coach, Mrs. Socorro O. Ringor, MGSSHS chairman of the Science Dept. and Academic Evaluation Committee, Pastoral will advance to the national competition next year. Incidentally, he is the son of Drs. Antonio and Ma. Salome Pastoral, both successful practicing doctors in Dagupan City.
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LINGAYEN - Jehovah’s Witnesses will hold the three-day 2006 “Deliverance at Hand” District Convention at the Don Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center beginning Friday December 22, 8:30 a.m.

Over 98,000 congregations have launched an intensive campaign for attendance in the district conventions that will be held simultaneously all over the world.

The campaign for attendance is prompted by the belief “that mankind sorely needs deliverance from the effects of inherited sin and its consequence, death.”

The program will examine Jesus’ role in delivering mankind and will review Bible account of deliverance.   

The Witnesses expect record turnout in Lingayen, one of the 70 to be presented by Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Philippines.

ROSE Angela Uligan, along with her royal consort, will be crowned Little Miss San Jacinto Catholic School (SJCS) on December 15, coinciding with the school’s foundation day.

The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Rufino Uligan of barangay Capaoay, San Jacinto, topped the popularity contest’s third and last canvassing held last Thursday at the SJCHS with 11,548 votes.

Trailing close with 10,068 votes was Jennifer Sta. Cruz, followed by Camille Grace Cayabyab with 7,586 votes.

Fourth placer was Clizel Joy Prejula with 4,377 votes.

BRONCHOSCOPE DONATION — Dr. Pedro Dayrit (fourth from left) turns over his donation, a bronchoscope worth P500,000, to the medical staff of Region I Medical Center led by Dr. Jesus Canto (not in photo). The machine will be used for patients suffering from respiratory ailment. Beside Dr. Dayrit is his brother-in-law, Dagupan City Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez who coordinated the donation to R1MC. — (Punchphoto by Ray Zambrano)