ELECTION PEACE SHATTERED

SAN CARLOS CITY—The supposedly festive celebration of the city fiesta last Saturday turned violent after Mayor Julian Resuello, who is running for vice mayor, was shot and critically wounded while shaking hands with his constituents inside a jampacked auditorium.

Resuello died at 7:00 A.M. Monday at the St. Luke’s Hospital in Quezon City, barely 33 hours after the incident which also killed one of his aides and wounded seven others.

The announcement was made by his son, Vice Mayor Julier Resuello, who in turn is running for mayor. The younger Resuello was also at the event when the shooting took place but was luckily unharmed.
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Is ‘Operation Talsik Joe’ on?

By Ermin Garcia Jr. 

I hope our readers will oblige us with a bit of  breast-beating this once, crowing if you may, but we in the PUNCH are absolutely on Cloud 9, exhilarated over our being adjudged last week as the country’s Best Edited Weekly Community Newspaper for this year’s version of the Philippine Press Institute’s Annual Community Press Awards!

What makes the award truly meaningful to us is the fact that it is the institute that seeks out the newspapers and the winners are eventually chosen by a board of judges composed of distinguished journalism practitioners. Unlike other journalism awards, nomination by their owners or editors is not allowed in this prestigious awards program. Instead, the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication conducts its own independent research on newspapers that are committed to uphold the journalists’ code of ethics.
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Pangasinan beaches, pre-election ‘hot spots’ on May 1

By Gerry Garcia

ROADS leading to Pangasinan’s coastal cities and towns will most probably be bursting at the seams on Tuesday, May 1 which, besides being national Labor Day, is also the start of the province’s Pista’y Dayat  (sea festival)… meaning, the beaches will be drawing massive crowds of celebrators not only from Pangasinan, but also from adjacent neighbors, like L.U., Tarlac, even Pampanga. Especially its summer-time coming in the midst of unprecedented global warming.

May 1 is also in a sense Pichay’s day as it will be a classic Tour of Pangasinan bike-fest featuring some of the nation’s cycling greats sponsored by senatorial candidate Prospero Pichay of Cotabato Sur.
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Pingcoy runs DOH like he was a candidate!

By Jun Velasco

OUR friend in the media, former publisher and senator wannabe Prospero “Butch” Pichay,  is a versatile  and hardworking member of congress, but lacks the charm that would ensnare  Ilocanos who want to be mystified like the charisma of Bung Ferdinand, the masculinity of Ping Lacson  and the oozing beauty of  Loren Legarda.

But Butch has a stick-to-it attitude and a   missionary zeal, pursuing causes that are sometimes unpopular but good   for the majority.

He is at his best in untangling the legislative rigmarole so that tough tasks are simplified and delivered with dispatch.  After an anemic campaign that started last January, Butch, according to SWS, is “the highest gainer” lately and within striking distance of the magic l2.
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Earth-moving concern

By Gonzalo Duque

YESTERDAY, an ice drop vendor at the Tondaligan Park told my driver that he was given a whooping Pl,000 and a basket of relief  goods.

Wildly pleased, the boy started running around telling the whole world about the biyaya that he received from the politicians.

Filled with tears, he cried to God that there would be more of that bonanza from heaven.

Beat that! What’s happening to our country, General?

I asked my driver to locate the boy because he would be a witness to this naked rape of democracy in our midst.

Sadly, the boy disappeared in the crowd of people trooping to the beach and he got lost in the cover of darkness. It was then evening.

Now, you see the sad turn of events this election has brought to our lives.
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President  Pacquiao

By Al S. Mendoza

I JUST SAW a streamer with the words “President Pacquiao” boldly emblazoned on it.  It was caught by the camera amid the din of Manny Pacquiao’s 8th-round knockout victory over the unbeaten Mexican Jorge Solis on April 15 in San Antonio, Texas.

Before that, the TV camera caught another streamer that read, “Congressman Pacquiao.”

The Comelec had said before the fight that using the fight to promote Pacquiao’s candidacy for congressman of the second district of South Cotabato would be against the law.

With those streamers, was Pacquiao guilty of violating the Comelec rule?
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Returning to my Alma Mater

By Eva C. Visperas

Long time no see. That’s really what it was when I recently returned to St. Louis University in Baguio City.

March 1988, I bade goodbye to this university where I obtained my Mass Communications degree. I didn’t know then when I would return.

Last April 21, I was glad to be back. This time, for the graduation of my daughter who earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology.

“Akulaw ka la amiga (You’re already old friend),” someone commented.

Ouch, I protested and retorted, “Andi, asakbay ak labat ya aloko na laki (No, it’s just that I was fooled early by a man)”, coupled with my crisp laughter.
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NSIC releases new hybrid rice variety

By Sosimo Ma. Pablico

The National Seed Industry Council (NSIC) released last week a new hybrid rice variety that is high yielding and suitable in Luzon and seven other regions in the Visayas and Mindanao.  It is recommended for transplanted culture in irrigated lowland in both dry and wet seasons. 

Bred by Bioseed Research Phils., Inc. but developed with the national Rice Varietal Improvement Group led by PhilRice (Philippine Rice Research Institute), the new variety carries the official name NSIC Rc162H or Mestizo 8.  More popularly known as BIO 401, it has good grain and good eating qualities.
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Jueteng Curse

By +Oscar V. Cruz D. D.

Up to now, the present administration has not yet learned a plain and simple lesson: Jueteng is a curse to those who promote and even protect it. The past administration learned it the hard way. The present one however refuses to learn it and it is not altogether improbable that it could eventually suffer the same sad fate as the previous one.

Time and again, the national leadership has been associated with a top jueteng lord especially on the occasion of the 2004 national elections. The senate inquiry on the jueteng plague brought this close collaboration in the open. Now, it has not yet alienated itself from the Vatican of jueteng. The truth is that jueteng is again a close accompaniment of the forthcoming 2007 midterm elections.
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Pichay, chess and cycling

By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

PROSPERO “Butch” Pichay, the president of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines, has been winning sports fans in Northern Luzon, particularly in our big province, Pangasinan. I believe it’s because he has shown a huge interest not only in chess but also in cycling, considered as one of the favorite sports of the Pangasinenses.

In fact, his friends are sponsoring a cycling event on May 1, 2007 in conjunction with the celebration of the annual sea festival, which will be dubbed as the “Pista’y Dayat Cycling Classic”. I am part of the organizing committee handling the road battle this coming Tuesday that will cover the fourth, third, second and first districts. It will be participated in by the superstars in Philippine cycling.
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