Rice, please!

It could not have happened at a worse time.

The reported withdrawal of funding support by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) from the proposed P2.5 billion irrigation component of the San Roque Multi-Purpose Dam project comes as a major blow in light of the pressing and thorny rice crisis.

The irrigation component, which involves a re-regulating pond that will divert used water from the dam into the fields, can serve at least 70,000 hectares of land not just in eastern and central Pangasinan, but also in the neighboring provinces of Nueva Ecija and Tarlac. That would translate to tons of additional rice supply, perhaps more than enough for local demand.
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Worth celebrating

It was a festive week for the province with the celebration of the annual Pista’y Dayatand the holding of the major events for the month-long Bangus Festival in Dagupan, Pangasinan’s main business center.

People flocked to the streets and beaches for the  parties, many participated in sporting events and other competitions, tiangges and food stalls were crowded, and the fiesta spirit was very much in the air notwithstanding the rains that weather forecasters have earlier warned will be falling even during the dry season this year.
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The rice battle

The rice crisis at the local level — here in Pangasinan which is one of the major rice producing provinces in the country — has now come to a face-off.

On one side of the battlefield is the government, represented by the National Bureau of Investigation and the National Food Authority. On the opposite side are the rice millers and traders who maintain the warehouses where the Filipino staple food is stocked.

The fight between the two groups can be summed up by the accompanying word war: “inspection” vs. “raid”.
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One Pangasinan

HUWAG maging dayuhan sa sariling bayan.

This is an old local adage that in a nutshell captures what Governor Amado Espino Jr. is sending out to Pangasinenses when he made the call for locals to travel and discover their own province.

Given that times are hard at the moment, what with prices of basic goods such as food and fuel continuously rising; traveling could very well soon be a luxury that majority of Pangasinenses cannot afford.
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Real crisis, no real solutions

Looking at the numbers being pronounced by various officials on the farm output plus volume of supply that are available on stock and being shipped in from Vietnam through Poro Point in neighboring La Union, we can rest easy that there won’t be any rice sup-ply problem here in Pangasinan, and the whole of the Ilocos Region for that matter.

We  can almost  believe  that  photos  and images on television of  people in the capital Metro Manila and elsewhere lining up under the scorching heat of the intense summer sun to avail of their limited (i.e. two kilos per person, excluding children below 15 years old) supply is not happening and unlikely to happen hereabouts.
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Truth and Courage

PANGASINENSES had a glimpse of the thoughts and the character of Senate’s latest star whistle-blower Atty. Jun Lozada, courtesy of Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz.

            People across the province came to listen to the man who quoted CHED chair Romulo Neri as having directed him to “moderate their greed” and who described President Arroyo to him as “evil”.  Many came to see the man in the flesh, he who dared to speak the truth and dared the gods of Philippine politics to prove he lied.

            While most came to the prayer rally out of admiration, still others were simply curious about the demeanor of Lozada who’s been able not only to withstand the pressures and threats to his life but managed to sustain his decision to stand up and be counted in the fight and crusade against corruption.
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Crack down on crime

THE recent kidnapping of Roland Z. Villegas, chairman of barangay Anonang in San Fabian, a former Liga ng mga Barangay president and defeated mayoralty candidate, adds to the now increasing list of unresolved crimes involving prominent personalities in the province.

Two daughters of a Chinese businessman from San Jacinto were kidnapped four months ago and they were returned safely only after the father agreed to pay the abductors’ ransom demand and without getting the police involved.

Almost one year ago, San Carlos Mayor Julian Resuello, then running as vice mayor as he had already reached the maximum third term, was gunned down in the midst of his town’s fiesta celebration. One of Resuello’s bodyguards, Eulogio Martinez, died along with him in the gunfire that also wounded several others, including civilians.
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Story of hope

Death is the one sure thing.

And it is precisely this certainty that Jesus Christ triumphed over in His resurrection based on the Catholic faith.

Which is why Easter Sunday, the day Christ conquered death, is actually the core of Catholicism more than Christmas, the celebration of the birth of the Savior. While Christmas is a tale of promise, Easter Sunday is the fulfillment of that promise, a story of definite hope.

And hope is something that our country desperately needs at this time.
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Pooled Editorial

Perpetuating jueteng

IN late August last year, no less than Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr., then still House Speaker, for the first time ever in his long political career asked the provincial force of the Philippine National Police to put a stop to jueteng, that illegal numbers game that has plagued Philippine society even longer than the congressman’s term in public service.

At the inauguration of the new police station in San Jacinto, among the audience of De Venecia were top police officials: Chief Supt. Francisco Llamas representing then PNP Chief Director General Oscar Calderon; Chief Supt. Leopoldo Bataoil, then Police Regional Director; and Senior Supt. Isagani Nerez, then and still is serving as police provincial director.
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Rich and Famous

Pangasinan’s western coast is one of the province’s most beautiful and economically valuable natural resources. The shoreline stretches for more than 100 kilometers from the Dasol Bay to the Lingayen Gulf and links a dozen municipalities including Infanta, Dasol, Burgos, Agno, Bani, Bolinao, Anda, Sual, Labrador, Mangaldan, San Fabian and Lingayen, the capital town, plus the cities of Alaminos, home of the Hundred Islands National Park, and Dagupan, considered as the province’s commercial center.
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