LINGAYEN, Pangasinan - With only its railings being completed, the P700 million Domalandan bridge will be fully completed December 23 this year, according to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

DPWH Regional Director Fidel Ginez said with only the middle span of the bridge put under the curing stage, the 700-meter bridge spanning across the Limahong channel in Lingayen can now be walked on by pedestrian traffic.

Ginez who recently inspected the project, said the bridge is still close for vehicular traffic but he advised motorists to wait a little, as eventually, it will soon be opened. Read more

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan - Gov. Victor E. Agbayani renewed his call on the provincial police command to intensify its campaign against illegal gambling, particularly jueteng.

The governor said he has directed Senior Supt. Alan Purisima, provincial police director, to stop jueteng operation in the province.

Gov. Agbayani said he received reports that the illegal numbers game has been revived in some towns.

“I’m told that there are areas that are backsliding, so we have to re-double our efforts in order to preserve the gains that we have achieved so far (against jueteng),” the governor said.

For several weeks, jueteng was grounded to a  halt in the province where the number one anti-jueteng crusader, Archbishop Oscar Cruz of the Lingayen-Dagupan archdiocese, is based. Read more

DAGUPAN CITY - The presence of many shopping malls in Pangasinan is a big boon to the province’s consumers, according to the Department of Trade and Industry.

Marjurie Loresco, an offiical of the DTI, said the malls are checking at each other’s prices to ensure that they will not be offering much higher prices for their goods than their competitors.

Speaking on Thursday before the Kapihan ed Dagupan sponsored by the Pangasinan Tri-Media Association (PATRIMA), Loresco said this augurs well for the welfare of the consumers as the lower prices of goods the better for them.

She said consumers are really looking for places where they can buygoods at lower prices so mall owners are constantly watching each other’s prices, to make sure that the cost given them by manufacturers  is right.

She said the malls sometimes give discounts depending on the volume of goods that consumers buy from them. Read more

DAGUPAN CITY - Officials have not lost hope that business will soon perk up in the two-year old Malimgas Public Market, tagged as the most modern public market ever built yet in Northern Luzon.

Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez said the city council is about to conduct a committee hearing to gauge the sentiment of the public if he proposed 50 per cent discount for the stallholdes in the second floor of the market will result in 100 per cent occupancy.

The incentive is only good for the months of October till December or because October has arleady started, the offers might start in November till December.

To date, the second floor of the market, which is air-conditioned and serviced by a functional escalator system, is only less than 40 per cent occupied. Read more

BINMALEY, Pangasinan - The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) has confirmed that the proposed Agno River Irrigation Project (ARIP) is one of the priority projects to be built by the Arryo administration in order to create a strong agro-industrial economy.

This was disclosed on Saturday by NIA Administrator Arturo Lomibao when he opened a calling center for relatives of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) under his own Project Compassion, the 10th of its kind in Pangasinan, except those in Legaspi and Davao. Read more

DAGUPAN CITY - Some 58,000 scholarships were allocated by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo throughout the country to enable the youth to enroll in technical-vocational courses that will earn them jobs right after graduation and a chance to finish college in a shorter period of time.

This was revealed by Technical Education Skills Development Authority Director General Augusto Syjuco who spearheaded a Career Caravan that arrived in Dagupan on Thursday.

Each scholar is entitled to P5,000, he said, as he announced that the scholarships are already valid during the second semester of the school year this October, during summer or at the start of the new school year, 2007-2008. Read more

DAGUPAN CITY - Revenue Region No. 1 based in Calasiao town registered the highest percentage in collection over all other regions of the country based on its collection of taxes from January to September this year.

Bureau of Internal Revenue Regional Director Alfredo Balicanta, Jr. said Region I chalked up the highest percentage rate of increase in collection at 50.12 per cent over and above its target goal for the period of P3.366 billion. Read more

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan - Governor Victor E. Agbayani is pushing the completion of various housing projects as part of his administration’s thrust to provide decent and affordable shelters among low-income families.

“We should intensify efforts to provide socialized housing units to employees, market vendors, drivers, policemen and those belongingto marginalized sectors of the community,” Agbayani said.

Engr. Alvin L. Bigay, head of the Pangasinan Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Office, disclosed that construction of 300 housing units under the Maniboc Socialized Housing Project will soon start. Read more

DAGUPAN CITY - Dagupan City’s competitiveness and performance continue to improve over the years based on the overall rating given by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Policy Center during their roadshow presentation on the city’s state of competitiveness on October 5.

Out of the ten most competitive small-sized cities, Dagupan scored the highest in quality of human resources and infrastructure, ranking first and third respectively.

From a 5.80 rating in 2003, the AIM team said that the city has increased its level of competitiveness to a 6.25 rating based on their 2005 Philippine Cities Competitiveness Ranking Project (PCCRP). Read more

DAGUPAN CITY - Mayor Benjamin S. Lim reprimanded on September 14 the 11 regular employees of the cleanliness campaign task force (CCTF) who were found guilty of frequent unauthorized absences.

Lim issued a stern warning to the 11 employees that a repetition of similar acts “will be dealt with more severely.” Lim’s action was made following an investigation by a committee headed by city legal officer Geraldine Baniqued. Read more