“ERMIN GARCIA (Sr.) was a symbol of what every newspaperman should aspire to be. Ermin could have come to Manila, as many journalist and writers of promise do, and made his mark in the metropolitan press. But he felt that his vocation lay a home, and it was to make happier and better the community in which he lived. And so he started the Sunday Punch, a weekly newspaper that never failed to live up to its name.” — MAX SOLIVEN, The Sunday Times, May 22, 1966.

51 years of service to Pangasinenses, CONGRATULATIONS and THANK YOU Sunday Punch!

To our government officials:
Governor Amado Espino Jr.
Vice Governor Marlyn Primicias-Agabas
Congressmen:
* 1st District - Arthur Celeste
* 2nd District - Victor Aguedo Agbayani
* 3rd District - Ma. Rachel Arenas
* 4th District - Jose de Venecia Jr.
* 5th District - Marcos Cojuangco
* 6th District - Conrado M. Estrella III
Board members:
* 1st District - Alicia Pulido, Danilo Dizon
    * 2nd District - Von Mark Mendoza, Nestor Reyes
* 3rd District - Romeo Dadacay, Angel Baniqued
* 4th District - Jeremy Agerico Rosario, Liberato Villegas
* 5th District - Charizzma Salud Carancho, Danny Uy
* 6th District - Tyrone Agabas, Alfonso Bince

The time has come to honor the man who started it all. Let us put our heads together, Pangasinenses, and make a grand gesture of appreciation for Ermin Garcia Sr. and his family in the form of his statue, a holiday on his birthday, or maybe even naming a bridge or a highway after him. Something that will define his contribution to this great province of Pangasinan.

From a Sunday Punch Kabaleyan Club Member

Eduardo Pontaoe
17 July 2007

 

 

Mr. Alex de Guzman:

Botika sa Barangay, Mr. de Guzman, is easier said than done. It could be the best project you’d ever heard. It could also be your worse nightmare.

Dr. Canto’s notion in bringing the drugstore to the barrio is “acceptable”, but how about the mechanics to dispense the drugs?

The question. Is the barrio captain qualified to handle such delicate undertaking? Is there enough personnel educated to know the pharmacology of drugs distributed?

You cannot just store drugs in such a setting manage by unqualified people who hands it out like candies in election time. It’s waste of time and tax pesos, and kills people, too, more than cure.

Dr. Jesus Canto should know better than this. We haven’t heard or read the framework how this program will work. How this program can be sustained in the future and what kind of drugs generalized, that addresses the predominant diseases in these communities, then it is questionable, its purpose is just as fuzzy like the fog at Salapingao.

And Dr. Canto’s elementary concept of the distance of the barrios to the city when the need arises, is academic. With the trikes in the thousands and boats at Salapingao and Swit readily available, the drugstores are not that far upfront.

This idea of Dr. Canto is very much copied from the medical missions mounted yearly by doctors coming from America. Pure I hope Dr. Jesus Canto and those councilors at city hall should wake up from their very . . . very . . . very early stupor and look themselves in the mirror if this is the right thing to do.

Quo vadis, Mayor Al ?

Heidi
17 July 2007

 

 

Mr. Pontaoe:

You can call your negative attacks against the governor “constructive critiques” or anything you want to call it. I still call it negative attacks because it is, nothing more and nothing less. I can also call it “paranoia”.

You want to know what he did as a congressman in the second district of Pangasinan? Go home! You can see the new roads and new school buildings, senior centers, etc… that he sponsored during his term.

The people who voted for him aren’t my friends, they are my kababayans. The same people who will vote for anybody who listens to them. I don’t speculate about important things. I know what the people go through. I have seen it, I lived in it.

I spent an amount of time in Pangasinan before the election. I know exactly where on earth I am from. I am from Pangasinan and I do speak the dialect fluently.

Sika ey? Mansasalita ka ni na Pangasinan ditad Chicago? Laka diya ed New York amigo ta iyakar taka ya man swimming diya ay ed Coney Island tapian naagew kamet na daiset ta antak masiyadon malurem ditad Chicago anggano aliwan mamaoran. Aya labat so nibagak ed sika.

Salamat!

Ms. Ric
17 July 2007

 

 

Learning another language (or dialect) can be done at any age if one is willing to learn. Studies have shown that at age twelve, learning another language can be difficult but not impossible. Elementary education should include Pangasinan and Tagalog dialects as the main form of communication.

The foundation in acquiring and being literate in any foreign language is to be fluent in one’s own language first. Introduce the English language when the kids are older, most likely in high school and in college.

Model schools where English as a Second Language can be found all over California. Hispanic children are placed in Spanish-only classrooms until they are fluent at it before they are mainstreamed in English-only classroom. Success rates of literacy are much higher.

As far as learning another language as an adult, immersion is the key. What better way to learn another language than to immerse oneself in the culture (literature, arts, tradition) and the language?

Ms. Ric
17 July 2007

 

 

I can’t say I’ve been “smoking Hawaiian black or snorting snow from Columbia and drinking moonshine from Mapandan”, but I guess I’m a tad more optimistic than you, Mr. Pontaoe.

Gov. Espino has sound ideas and since Pangasinenses did vote for him to be their leader the next three years, I’m willing to at least give him his 100 days to start DOING.

I guarantee you he’ll make mistakes, heck, he’s already earned a few monikers before he even entered the arena, and he will have his critics from all walks of life.

Hopefully, he will also learn from his mistakes, have enough sense to do as he says, and have enough guts to face his critics.

As far as the Pangasinan dialect, it is on its way to extinction. I’m not instigating an eradication of Ilocano dialect, far from it. What I am emphasizing, however, is a means for Pangasinenses to hear the Pangasinan dialect even on such limited occasion when they visit the Capitol.

And should everything written in English be written in Pangasinan dialect? Absolutely not!

When my home state decided to translate government paperwork such as the voter registration in so many languages, they did not translate the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or the Declaration of Independence in any language other than English. In fact they did not translate a lot of historical papers. They started small.

Again, this idea of speaking Pangasinan only in the Capitol might just be the baby steps to claiming our dialect back. It might not lead to anything huge, but at least I’m willing to give it a try and see how far he takes this cultural awareness he’s bent on addressing.

Eduardo Pontaoe
17 July 2007

 

 

Mr. Van S. de Leon:

Pangalatok: Pangasinense sira toktok. Goes the by-line that it’s derogatory . . . stereotypical . . . narrow-minded . . . aggressively intolerant.

With all our efforts to wipe it off and re-educate people this word have no place in the conversation table, there are those who maintained ignorance of the fact, this attitude is not allowed.

Lo and behold! You have a fishbone in your throat, Mr. de Leon. Jun Velasco’s arrogance in declaring to the world how he tried to promote a weekly publication - Asian Journal - in a nonchalant way, that this news copy printed in PANGALATOK country, is bigotry at its worst.

How he did it is beyond me, but if he tried to rub to everybody, he rubbed it the wrong way. He’s an illiberal guy Jun Velasco, a relic of the past . . . an anathema to this day and age . . . an archetype of what is bad in a human being. Jun Velasco is a loose cannon and a fool. It’s surprising this mistake passed the editing room. If it was done perfunctorily why it would have to happen?

Yo . . . Mr. Jeremias Andrade Carrera, here’s your PCE.

Heidi
17 July 2007

 

 

To Atty. Vincent and Annabelle Pastoral:

Congratulations! HOORAY! You two must be very proud! Annabelle, magrelax ka na amiga. You don’t have to work so hard. You know your kids can do it. They are lucky for having a wonderful mom like you. I know your other daughter will follow the footsteps of her ate.

Hope to see you guys soon! Say hello to Mr. Vincent, the only humble Atty. in the entire Dagupan.

MG
17 July 2007

 

 

RESPECT AT LEAST…

TO: EDUARDO PONTAOE -  wonder why you have so much anger with the newly elected Governor… are you a relative of the other party?

Instead of criticizing the Governor, why don’t you look forward and think what you can do good for your province.

He was elected twice as a congressman, the people of Pangasinan will not put him where he is now if he did not do a GOOD job!

Regarding the Pangasinan dialect, I think you should go back to the article (Sunday Punch) about it… the Governor was only asking the people to speak Pangasinan to communicate and not to use in Register of Deeds or rewrite a land title etc… Are you knots!

The Governor is from Bautista, Pangasinan…not Anda. Kulang ka pala sa information about the Governor.

Alex L. D Guzman
17 July 2007

 

 

I’m so happy about Botika sa Barangay and may be it’s the best project I ever heard.

I’m from Barangay Salapingao… I was raised in that small island and we don’t have that kind of facilities. Someday I will come back and serve the island.

Thanks you very much to you, Dr. Jesus Canto… especially to Councilor Farah Decano and all the councilors who supported that project.

Jess Delfin
17 July 2007

 

 

There goes the Mr. Jun Velasco, the Prolific Columnist Extraordinaire again…

While everybody is in agreement that “Pangalatok” is a derogatory to all of Pangasinenses, why in good heavens is he still using it?

I ask Mr. Ermin Garcia, Jr. to hold this columnist to his standards. Maybe flogging him in the public plaza and giving him the boot could educate him not to use that word ever again.