ON BUILDING PERMIT ISSUE

MetroState Development Corp. is finally fighting back.

The company has filed a case against the city government over the refusal of City Engineer Virginia Rosario to issue a building permit for the P84-million project in the former Magsaysay Park, a prime Dagupan property located just across the city hall.

The complaint, filed before the Regional Trial Court and now under Judge Rolando Mislang of Branch 42, seeks, among other things, to get a writ of mandamus, an order from the court which will compel Rosario to issue the permit.

MetroState, through a contract with former Mayor Benjamin Lim, started the construction of the project even before it could secure the building permit from the city engineer’s office.
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ANOTHER try for the presidency by House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. in 2010?

Why not, if you ask former Constitutional Convention Delegate Luis Catubig.

Catubig believes that De Venecia has more experience compared to other presidentiables and has the needed skills to manage the affairs of the country.

A long-time ally of De Venecia, Catubig said the house speaker has already done much for the country during his long political career.

De Venecia, who ran for president in 1998 but lost to Joseph Estrada, is now on his third and last term as congressman of the 4th District and concurrently on his fifth term as speaker.
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The Dagupan police scored big this week in their campaign against illegal drugs as 16 drug pushers were arrested in separate raids in just one day.

In recognition of this accomplishment, the city council passed a resolution on Tuesday commending the new officer-in-charge of the Dagupan Police, Supt. Dionisio Borromeo, and his men for a job well done.

Councilors Luis Samson Jr. and Danilo Torio, chairman and vice chairman, respectively of the city council’s committee on peace and order, filed the resolution and supported by Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, who is set to be appointed by Mayor Alipio Fernandez, Jr. as executive director of the City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (CADAC).

Borromeo assumed his post only on two weeks ago.
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Rafael L. Oriel, Jr.
26 Aug 2007

 

 

Ms. Ric, what I learned in the news today reminds me something from your previous posting.

You said, “There are children in Pangasinan whose classroom is so uninhabitable that they had to move the class outdoor. This school (Alcala’s Macayo Elem.) wasn’t ravaged by the current series of storms, but rather a left over aftermath of previous storms the previous year. One would think this would make it to the local, provincial, or national government’s priority for funding, but I guess this project, along with others like it, is not ambitious enough.”

Apparently, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. revealed yesterday that a total of P9 billion has been spent for calamity assistance to rehabilitate damaged property and public works in provinces hit by four powerful typhoons last year.

It was said that P8 billion was sourced from the Calamity Assistance and Relief Efforts funds and the balance of P1 billion was taken from the regular Calamity Fund.

According to the report, Andaya also disclosed that the calamity fund for 2008 would be increased by 100 percent from P1 billion this year to P2 billion. He said, “The doubling of funds for relief and rehabilitation of disaster-stricken areas is meant to enable agencies to quickly help victims of natural and manmade calamities and repair damaged public works”.

There you go Ms. Ric, contrary to what you think, it appears that calamity assistance was given priority for funding. It’s anybody’s guess why the classrooms of Alcala’s Macayo Elementary School ravaged by powerful typhoon last year were still uninhabitable today.

It will be very interesting to know what is happening here. If the said elementary school is included in the P9 billion calamity assistance fund, the elementary children should not be holding their classes outdoor by now.

Ferdinand L. Rafael
26 Aug 2007

 

 

Dr. Eric Jose Perez, Aro ko yan sa GAUF, PVO-Olopan. Believe ako diyan.

Mabuhay ka, Dr. Perez!

CALASIAO—Raul Sison, a municipal councilor of Urbiztondo, has been elected president of the Philippine Councilors’ League (PCL) Pangasinan chapter in a tight race Tuesday.

As PCL head, Sison will become a board member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan as a sectoral representative in an ex-officio capacity effective September.

He said he will do his best to become “a true voice of the councilors in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan”.

SISON

Sison, now on his fifth term as councilor, received 243 votes, beating Pozorrubio Councilor Dennis Uy, with 202 votes, and Basista Councilor Orlando de Guzman, three votes.

“We fought an honorable fight,” Sison said in a press conference Wednesday here.
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THE city government is seeking to restore one of its major tourism programs, the ‘Pawil Dagupan’.

Councilor Jose Netu Tamayo, chair of the committee on tourism, broached the   proposal before the city council Thursday. 

Tamayo wants the ‘Pawil Dagupan’ program restored this year and in 2008 to encourage overseas Dagupenos to come home in December for the yuletide season which coincides with the city fiesta.

“It is the auspicious time to revive ‘Pawil Dagupan’, which was a major tourism program during the first term of office of Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. in 1992,” said Tamayo.

“It should be re-launched as a dynamic tourism program now that Mayor Fernandez is back in the saddle, along with Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez,” he added.
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SAN CARLOS CITY–It was one rare occasion when the clergy and politicians took their disagreements to a direct confrontation. And without a doubt, it was the clergy who stayed on top and “lambasted” city officials here, though not through the pulpit, but in a fun-filled basketball match.

The game, a diplomatic coup whipped up by Mayor Julier Resuello, had all the players and spectators standing on their feet, heckling while still some prayed, and enjoyed the “confrontation” at the St. Charles Academy gym last August 13, 2007.

The priests of the Lingayen-Dagupan archdioceses thrashed the city officials, composed of Mayor Resuello, Vice Mayor Joseres Resuello and the city councilors, 84-49.
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At least one Dagupeño dies every week from tuberculosis (TB), a curable ailment.

To address this situation, Councilor Jesus Canto has called on the city’s private medical practitioners to refer indigent patients afflicted with TB to the government’s Directly Observed Treatment Short course (DOTS), which offers free treatment.

The DOTS was established in line with the local government’s thrust to make the city TB-free by the year 2015. Canto formalized the request to the Pangasinan Medical Society through a resolution approved by the city council Monday.

Canto, himself a physician and once served as head of the Region 1 Medical Center in Dagupan, said  TB ranks as the sixth leading cause of mortality and morbidity in Dagupan City.
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The Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) is disappointed at the repeated low turnout of blood donors in the province during their annual blood-letting program.

Florame Magalong, PNRC Pangasinan chapter administrator, described Pangasinan as being one of the most populated provinces in the country but with a 10% participation rate.

In an interview with The PUNCH, Magalong said this is a let down especially in light of the high demand for blood in the province.

Magalong said there are only six bags of blood available at their office, hence, Pangasinenses end up being referred to other PNRC chapters like Baguio City, or in chapters in La Union, Nueva Ecija and Tarlac, or the national blood center in Manila.
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