STO. TOMAS, Pangasinan – The Department of Tourism commended the people of Sto. Tomas for their utmost display of unity and cooperation so that their beloved town would be placed in the Guinness Book of World Records.

The commendation was extended by DOT Regional Director Martin Valera when he graced Sto. Tomas’ Corn Festival on Sunday, top feature of which was the holding of a close to five-kilometer Corn Barbecue intended to break the existing two-kilometer record won by Hermocillo, Mexico last year.

Valera said the Corn Festival was a very good occasion for the people of Sto. Tomas to show their stride and expertise in agriculture, particularly in growing corn, incidentally the top product of the town after rice.

Congratulating the people of Sto. Tomas led by Mayor Vivien Villar for their outstanding feat, Valera said DOT is encouraging such festival to show the people of the world what really the Philippines is, especially Sto. Tomas.

He hailed the organizers of the Corn Festival for highlighting corn as number one product of the town, which is also a big promotional activity for the whole town of Sto. Tomas.

“Although this was only the first one, I hope this can be continued in the succeeding years so it can be established as an event to watch,” Valera said.

He told newsmen there are lots of towns in Pangasinan and in the region are holding festivals just to promote their native products, examples of which are Dagupan which has its Bangus Festival; Villasis is Talong Festival; Alaminos City, its Festival of the Hundred Islands; Anda its Binongey Festival; and Calasiao, its Puto Festival.

He admitted that all these festivals are putting the towns, cities and province in the map. (PNA)

STO. TOMAS, Pangasinan – The Department of Tourism commended the people of Sto. Tomas for their utmost display of unity and cooperation so that their beloved town would be placed in the Guinness Book of World Records.

The commendation was extended by DOT Regional Director Martin Valera when he graced Sto. Tomas’ Corn Festival on Sunday, top feature of which was the holding of a close to five-kilometer Corn Barbecue intended to break the existing two-kilometer record won by Hermocillo, Mexico last year.

Valera said the Corn Festival was a very good occasion for the people of Sto. Tomas to show their stride and expertise in agriculture, particularly in growing corn, incidentally the top product of the town after rice. Read more

LINGAYEN – The P100 million pledge of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the establishment of an international shipping port in Sual has bolster the provincial government’s goal to become the premier province in the country, according to Provincial Administrator Rafael Baraan.

The announcement was done in yesterday’s (February 18) flag-raising ceremony at the Capitol grounds with the presence of Vice Governor Marlyn Primicias-Agabas and some members of the board. He said that the pledge was made during the recent visit of the president to Pangasinan. Read more

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – A transport chaos was expected to greet the new officials of Dagupan taking over the reins of the city government last Saturday in view of the closure that day of the privately-owned Dagupan City Holding Area, a big terminal for all passenger vehicles, from jeepneys to mini-buses and commuter vans.

A letter dated June 22, 2007 sent by the manager of Gotesco Investment, Inc., owner of the former Pantranco Terminal property on M.H. del Pilar Street here being rented by a private group to become the holding area of vehicles indicates on what is going to happen as the new administration begins its reign.

The letter signed by Joseph Aragon, manager of Gotesco Investment, Inc. informed Noel Melecio, Mel Balolong and Jesus Cañeja (now deceased) that his company is now terminating the permit issued to them effective June 30, 2007.

The letter further demanded the trio to vacate the premises after the prescribed period. Read more

DAGUPAN CITY – Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz has reiterated his desire to retire before reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75.

Already 73 years old in November this year, Cruz said he filed his retirement papers with the Vatican way back in 2001 but so far no action was made on the matter up to this time.

“I reiterated my request. I guess, Rome will soon grant my long standing request sooner,” said Cruz, former president of the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, in a talk over a radio station in Dagupan.

He said his request to retire before reaching the age of 75 stems from his desire to give way to younger priests the chance to occupy higher positions in the Catholic Church. Read more

SAN CARLOS CITY, Pangasinan – In the hinterlands of La Union where some public schools lack teachers, policemen put away their firearms in order to teach pupils how to read and write.

Police Regional Director Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoiil said he had mobilized policemen to pick up chalks and erasers and teach while at the same time providing security in far-flung municipalities of La Union.

He noticed that some schools in these areas do not have enough teachers to teach the growing number of pupils.

“We noticed that while we have policemen who are graduates of Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education, many schools in the Ilocos region do not have enough teachers to teach pupils,” he confessed.

“Many of these policemen, BSEED graduates are already in the hinterlands, providing security to the people, so we thought of putting them in schools too where there are no teachers,” he said.

Thus, the program called “Pulis ko, teacher ko” where policemen would fit in as teachers in schools, where there are only few teachers while they are doing their duty of maintaining peace and order was born. Read more

SAN CARLOS CITY, Pangasinan – The Police Regional Office I (PRO1) was recently adjudged as the top performer so far among 17 police regional offices throughout the country in the implementation of guidelines for project HOPE (Honest Orderly and Peaceful Election).

Police Regional Director Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil, speaking during the program “Talakayan sa Isyung Police (TSIP) here, said PRO 1 topped in the scoreboard of the Election Monitoring Action Center (EMAC) at the PNP national headquarters as gleaned from its performance from January 14 (start of the election period) to March 1.

Bataoil said this was based on the number of checkpoint established number of raids and searches conducted on suspected criminal lairs or hideouts of criminal elements and in terms of number of loose firearms confiscated.

As of March 1, PRO 1 confiscated a total of 59 firearms in various police operations, the highest as compared to the accomplishments registered for the same period by each of the 16 other police regional offices throughout the country.

The owners of these firearms were charted in various courts with violation of the Commission on Elections gun ban, among others.

Of the number, four are high-caliber firearms, all M16 armalite rifles, recovered as a result of follow up operations in the expansion area of the communist Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan (RHB) in the hinterlands of La Union.

In that operation, the top RHB leader for Pangasinan and Zambales area, Domingo Tarectecan, and his close aide, also a ranking rebel leader, were arrested. Read more

SAN CARLOS CITY, Pangasinan – The first peace covenant to be mediated by the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Pangasinan will hopefully be among prospective local candidates here.

Mayor Julian Resuello, in a talk during the ‘Talakayan sa Isyung Pulis’ (TSIP) at the city hall here recently, said he is amenable to sign a peace pact with other candidates here, only to ease a possible election tension.

Resuello was challenged to sign a peace pact with the other prospective candidates by Police Regional Director Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil as San Carlos was listed by both the PNP and the Commission on Elections as among three areas of immediate concern (AIC) in the province.

“Let’s take it from the statement of the mayor that they will support the peace and are willing to sign a covenant with other prospective candidates just to ensure that there would be  peace during the election,” Bataoil said.

Now on his third and last term of office, Resuello will run for vice mayor in the coming election with his son, incumbent Vice Mayor Julier Resuello, gunning for the mayorship. Read more

DAGUPAN CITY – A grander and more exciting Bangus Festival awaits Bangus Festival visitors all over the world as traditional events blend with stirring new activities.

This was said by Bangus Festival executive chairman Brian Lim during the Pangasinan Tri-Media Association (Patrima), Inc. Kapihan on March 15 at Masarap Grill, Magic Club.

Since Bangus Festival is the trademark festivity of Dagupan and is awaited by many people worldwide, Lim said that Dagupeños and visitors alike deserve no less than a grand celebration even as he shelved speculations that the celebration will be tainted with political color.

Lim said that a Pigar-Pigar Festival and Street Party will be introduced as an additional attraction to the celebration and at the same time further promote the Pigar-Pigar industry in the city.

“We saw that Pigar-Pigar along Galvan is a robust business and we would like our visitors to also experience this Dagupeño delicacy,” Lim said. Read more

SAN CARLOS CITY, Pangasinan – Lawyer Gallant D. ‘Gal’ Soriano has formally declared his plan to run for the congressional seat in the Third District of Pangasinan, stressing his experience in government and training as a lawyer makes him the most qualified among the candidates for the post.

A scion of the famous Soriano clan of Pangasinan that has produced top governemtn and elected officials, Gal Soriano is currently the Deputy Commissioner of the Bureau of Customs for Revenue Collection and Monitoring.

Gal’s entry in the congressional race adds his name to a list that already includes Rachel Arenas, daughter of socialite Rosemarie ‘Baby’ Arenas, Juan Tulagan, the son of incumbent Congressman Generoso Tulagan and Bayambang Mayor Leo de Vera.

“I offer myself as a candidate for congressman in the Third District fully confident I meet the qualifications that our voters have set for themselves as far as their Representative in Congress is concerned,” Soriano declared at the media forum at Masarap Grill sponsored by the Pangasinan Tri-Media Association (Patrima). Read more