City administrator Alvin Fernandez congratulates Mrs. Membla S. Kang who romped off with the Mrs. Buntis Day 2008 beauty pageant title organized by the Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society (Foundation) Inc. at the CSI Stadia.(CIO photo by Mitz Cresencio)

DAGUPAN CITY – A motorcade, exhibits, symposium and free clinic marked the 5^th national celebration here of the “Araw ng mga Buntis” (Pregnant Women Day) as provided for in Executive Order No. 569 issued by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on March 9, 2004.

Dr. Ma. Corazon Gamilla, president of the Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society (Foundation) (POGS), led the observance which was aimed at bringing due recognition to all pregnant women who are considered as heroes in their own rights by bringing another life into the world.

Ever since Proclamation No. 569 was issued, celebrations of the National Pregnant Women Day were held earlier in various cities in the Philippines yearly.

Dagupan City Administrator welcomed POGS officers and members throughout the country who converged at the CSI Stadia and Jimmy L. Fernandez Center here for the one-day event.

He also ordered all barangay captains to fetch all pregnant women from the city’s 31 barangays to undergo free clinics undertaken by well-known obstetricians and gynecologists throughout the country. Read more

DAGUPAN CITY – The Second Highway Engineering District has assured that the ongoing upgrading of 650-meter portion of the Dagupan-Binmaley-Lingayen road in barangay Tapuac here will be completed before the rainy season.

Rodolfo Dion, second highway district engineer, said the portion of the road, which is flood-prone, is now being elevated by 70 meters.

Costing P20 million, the project will even be finished before the city’s Bangus Festival slated sometime in April this year, he said.

The Bangus Festival is expected to draw a banner crowd that will come not only from Pangasinan but also from the whole region.

A drainage system was constructed ahead of the elevation work on the road way.

With the construction work now in full blast, the roadway has been declared for one-way traffic yet till March 15 when it will be totally closed. (PNA)

SAN CARLOS CITY, Pangasinan – The family of the late Mayor Julian Resuello was extremely disappointed over the still unresolved slaying of the Resuello patriarch almost 11 months ago.

Julier Resuello, who succeeded his father as mayor of San Carlos City, said the gunman, identified as Cesar de Guzman, alias “Cabesa”, including the mastermind, are still at large despite the efforts of the Philippine National Police.

The elder Resuello was gunned down inside a jampacked auditorium on April 28 last year and died two days later at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Manila.

Police Provincial Director Isagani Nerez confirmed that operatives tasked to track down de Guzman in various parts of the country returned home empty handed.

So far, P2 million was already made available to any person who can furnish the police any information that could lead to the arrest and prosecution of the suspect.

Only Angelito Soriano, a native of Malasiqui, had so far been arrested and is now being tried for double murder and multiple frustrated murder before the Regional Trial Court.

But Cabesa is the more important one because he holds the key that could unlock the mastermind.

Nerez said the manhunt against de Guzman by elements of the Task Force Resuello is still continuing. (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

VIGAN CITY, Ilocos Sur – Ilocos Sur Governor Deogracias Victor Savellano asked the newly assumed police regional director to look into the investigation of previous violent incidents perpetrated in the province in the past.

According to the governor, he made his request to new police regional director Chief Superintendent Romeo Hilomen during the latter’s courtesy call at the provincial capitol on Thursday.

He said that the occurrence of some crimes involving firearms and deadly weapons will tarnish the image of the province, being the most peaceful local government unit (LGU) in Ilocos Region today.

“We will not tolerate the occurrence of crimes in the province because this will destroy our present image in the region as well in the country and at the same time, our different tourism and investment development programs will also be affected,” he said. Read more