BLACK PROPAGANDA BLAMED

China funding eyed instead

URDANETA CITY—It’s goodbye finally to the proposed P2.5 billion re-regulating pond below the San Roque Multi-Purpose Project in San Manuel after the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) had a change of heart.

National Irrigation Administration (NIA) Regional Director John Celeste confirmed that JBIC withdrew its funding support for the project earlier set to be implemented by NIA.

Celeste said JBIC’s decision was largely a result of the black propaganda waged in Japan and through the internet by original oppositors to the dam who sought the withdrawal of the loan due to the unsolved slaying of farmer- leader Jose Doton, president of the Tignay Dagiti Mannalon a Mangwayawaya ti Agno (TIMMAWA) about two years ago.
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Open sesame!

This was the call made last week by members of the Dagupan City council who, like the rest of the citizenry in the city, have become excited yet anxious over the continued delay in the opening of the Dawel-Pantal-Lucao Road to the vehicular traffic.

Councilor Jose Netu Tamayo, in a privilege speech, sought an explanation from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) why the new road has not yet been opened despite the completion of the bridge-road project.
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THIS year’s Bangus Festival scored the highest in visitor arrivals and boosted revenues of big and small business establishments in the city.

Dagupan Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, who chaired the executive committee for the celebration, said the business sector reported brisk sales and increased revenues for the duration of the festival period.

Most establishments cooperated and offered discounts to make the ‘Great Dagupan Day Sale’ a truly shoppers’ holiday.
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Senator Rodolfo Biazon, who visited Umingan town on May 2, said he is initiating a Senate inquiry on the delay of the construction of the irrigation component of the San Roque Multi-Purpose Dam.

“I’m going to ask irrigators why San Roque Dam has not delivered the irrigation component,” Biazon said.

The irrigation component, he said, is a crucial factor in seeking to increase rice production in the province by providing water to 83,000 hectares of farmlands.
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POZORRUBIO—The University of Luzon is opening a new campus here in June, offering the usual regular college courses and DepEd’s pet project of a ladderized education.

UL officials said evening and weekend classes for graduate and post-graduate courses may also be introduced later.

The Samson-Reyna clan, majority stockholders of the university, had already made their mark in the history of this town when, in an unprecedented move, UL Vice-President for Academic Affairs, and also Director of the Mother Goose Special School System, Inc. Mrs. Aurora Samson-Reyna opened a campus in June last year, the first that is not located within a city.
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UL IN POZORRUBIO—(Upper photo) Dr. Azucena Elegado, dean of the University of Luzon Graduate Studies, consults with Pozorrubio educators and parents regarding the planned 2008 courses and subject offerings of UL Pozorrubio Extension, which will open in the town in June. Other participants present in the consultative meeting were (Lower photo) Dr. Rolando Amansec, DepEd District Supervisor Pozorrubio II, Webmaster Gin Quezada and the town’s elementary and high school principals.

LINGAYEN–The fiesta fever is on.

So how about one for celebrating bagoong and bucayo?

A festival revolution continues to catch fire in Pangasinan after the very successful staging of the Dagupan Bangus Festival and the Puto Festival in Calasiao.

Refusing to be left out, capital town Lingayen is now planning to hold its ‘Bagoong and Bucayo Festival’ during its fiesta celebration in January next year.
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SMILE OF SUCCESS—Dagupan City Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez is all smiles as she speaks to members of the local media in a press conference, which coincided with the celebration of her birthday, for an assessment of the recently concluded Bangus Festival in Dagupan. (Punchphoto by Cesar S. Ramirez)

TOP CROWD-DRAWER, TOURIST ATTRACTION

Bigger prizes vowed

ALTHOUGH rained out, there’s no doubt that the “Festivals of the North” held at the city plaza will return next year as one of the top features and crowd drawers of the Dagupan Bangus Festival 2009.

Mayor Alipio Fernandez and Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, chair of the Dagupan Bangus Festival 2008 executive committee, said after mesmerizing the crowd no end on April 26, the ‘Festivals of the North’ will return next year, promising more and bigger surprises.
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ROSALES–Rice millers in Pangasinan offered to sell to the government 200,000 bags of rice at discounted prices starting for the month of May.

The group made the offer during a dialogue last week with Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap at the latter’s office in Manila.

Rosendo So, president of the Eastern Pangasinan Rice Millers Association, said the rice millers agreed to sell rice at P1,600 per 50-kilo bag, which is lower by P880 per bag than the imported rice from Thailand and Vietnam.
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