Pangasinan governor bares state of provincial government

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – The present state of the provincial government was outlined on Monday by Governor Amado Espino, Jr., possibly in order to justify the seeking of P950M letter of credit for the province with Land Bank of the Philippines.

In his speech before the provincial board, read by Provincial Administrator Rafael Baraan, Espino mentioned some of the mega projects he intend to build for the next two years which, he added, “will enable Pangasinan to move forward.”

These include a commercial airport in Lingayen, a commercial seaport in Sual, fish landing facilities, fish processing plants, mango processing plants, food terminals, storage facilities and silos/warehouses for rice, onion and corn and others.

Espino’s speech was apart from his State of the Province Address (SOPA) which he earlier delivered in front of the provincial capitol sometime in January this year.

In his speech, Espino presented photographs of infrastructures owned by the provincial government now in advanced state of deterioration and urgently needing renovation and rehabilitation.

These include some of the existing buildings in the provincial capitol complex, the provincial nursery, different agri-demo centers, district hospitals and others which are now all in state of deterioration.

The provincial capitol, the Finance Building as well as the Lingayen Resort Hotel are now all undergoing total rehabilitation since Espino took over the helm of the province.

Although Espino did not categorically state on where the funding of these will come from, Bince suspects this might have something to do with a draft resolution filed before the provincial board seeking to give the governor the authority to negotiate a letter of credit of P950 million with the Land Bank of the Philippines. Read more

DAGUPAN CITY – Transport operators in Dagupan and Pangasinan did not participate in the strike launched by their counterparts in Metro Manila on Tuesday.

This was revealed by Bennie Aquino, president of the Alliance of United Transport Organization Province-wide (AutoPro) in a talk to newsmen.

AutoPro, the biggest transport organization in Pangasinan, has about 3,000 members whose units are all entering Dagupan City even if these are from other towns in Pangasinan.

Aquino said they did not discuss to join the strike whatsoever nor held a meeting for tha purpose because they understood that the strike was only for Metro Manila.

However, he said, they will participate if there is going to be a nationwide strike soon for them to air their concern, foremost of which is the rising cost of fuel.

He said the ticketing system implemented in the city are hurting most jeepney drivers.

The transport strike in Metro Manila on Monday was called off before noon following talks by the leaders of the strikers and officials of the Department of Transportation and Communication. (PNA)

DAGUPAN CITY – Congressman Jose de Venecia, Jr. of the fourth district of Pangasinan, has defended the Joint Seismic Marine Undertaking (JSMU) on the Spratlys among the Philippines, China and Vietnam signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the Philippines.

“The agreement was very good and I could praise President Arroyo for that,” De Venecia said in a talk to newsmen shortly after the groundbreaking rites on the proposed Capilla San Juan de Evangelista here.

But he added that Arroyo and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo must reveal all the signed documents regarding the Spratlys before the people.

“All these documents should be revealed to the Filipino people,” De Venecia told newsmen.

He said that he is in favor of this agreement because it is now about time to convert the Spratlys in the South China Sea into a zone of peace and development, instead of a zone for war.

He said this will avoid war over the Spratlys between China and the Philippines and between China and Vietnam. 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

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

VILLASIS, Pangasinan - The town of Villasis just north of the Agno river, is expected to assume a significant role in further shoring up the tremendous opportunities in the North Luzon Agri-business Quadrangle super region.

Sitting on 6,500 hectares of fertile land, most of which are agricultural, Villasis carved a name through the sweat and tears of its 60,000 inhabitant, being the vegetable bowl if not the ‘pinakbet’ capital of the province of Pangasinan.

Municipal Mayor Nonato Abrenica, responsible for turning around the economy of his town, said farmers of Villasis produce eggplants (salanum melongena), the chief condiment of the ‘pinakbet’, a favorite Ilocano dish. Read more

SANTA, Ilocos Sur - Tobacco farmers are now earning extra income by supplying the needs of the National Tobacco Administration-owned PGMA Multiline Food Processsing Plant here.

The first batc of tobacco farmers who ventured into hog production and turned their pigs over to the food processing plant received their first cash payments on Thursday.

Nestor Casela, deputy adminstrator of the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) handed the individual checks to the farmers, who he said, earned net incomes ranging from P1,500 to P2,000 per hog.

The first batch of swine raisers turned in a total of 28 hogs. All these are from Barangay Malammin in San Juan, and San Pablo in Narvacan. Read more

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo inaugurated Saturday the newly-completed Domalandan bridge in Lingayen costing more than P700 million.

The bridge, a vital span between eastern and western Pangasinan across the Limahong channel that empties its water into the Lingayen Gulf, measures more than 600 meters and is one of the longest bridges in Pangasinan.

The new bridge replaced an old structure that was destroyed by a big flood in 1999 during the administration of former President Joseph Estrada.

However,  construction of the new bridge started only in 2001 when President Arroyo took over the funding coming from part of the yearly budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways. Read more

by D. Alibutud

THE Philippines is on the road paved with brown gold: cocoa

Although a minor player at the moment, the potential for the Philippines is attractive: as much as $150 million a year from cocoa exports.

Because local production is a meager 6,000 metric tons, foreign-sourced cocoa fill confectionary vats to produce local chocolates and other products about 30,000 MT of coca beans imported yearly.

But with the support of the United States Department of Agriculture (usda), 10,000 hectares of cocoa farms are about to be planted in Apayao and Kalinga, Cagayan, Quirino and Isabela. Read more

BAGUIO CITY - Many students around the world consider an American education as the way to a better job back home. This doesn’t seem to be the case with Filipinos.

Philippine nationals enrolled in US colleges and universities for the school year 2005-06 rose by 6.4% to 3,758 over the previous school year. But they are the fewest among Asians.

Only about 0.3 % of college students from the Philippines - or between 5,500 and 6,000 - study overseas.

About six out of 10 go to the United States, the rest study in Britain, Australia, Japan and Germany, according to the Institute of International Education (IIE) in its annual report “Open Doors 2006″.

Thailand, which has the biggest number of Southeast Asia, has more national studying in the US, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and even Vietnam have more students than there are Filipinos studying in the US.

Higher education is the fifth largest service sector earner in the United States, according to the US Department of Commerce. Read more