Punchline
Save the Lingayen Gulf
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
OUR last week’s issue dwelt on what Pangasinan could possibly gain from the long coastline of Pangasinan. I even dared dream of “The Magical Coastline of Pangasinan” citing God’s gift to our province and our people – the long shoreline outlined by fine beach sand, from San Fabian to Bolinao.
It’s a dream we could have for future generations to enjoy but we need to work for this. Hard work has to start today, not tomorrow, i.e., tackling the degeneration of San Fabian beach.Well, It didn’t take long for our Rod Ibasan and other concerned Dagupeños to call my attention to the unresolved and worsening problem of pollution that impacts on the Lingayen Gulf, referring to the decades-old channeling of human wastes from the Dagupan District Jail to the Lingayen Gulf! There can be no “Magical Coastline” for as long as the sanitation facilities inside the District Jail are not corrected, and the jail remains where it is.
So, perish the thought, I was told by some.
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SUMMIT OF 9. The stench originating from the pipes exiting to the Lingayen Gulf has become almost unbearable to residents and visitors some 100 meters away. How can it not be? Imagine the volume of human wastes from over 700 inmates and BJMP personnel being flushed out daily!
While Dagupan is a chartered city and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology is a national agency, the problem posed by the Dagupan District Jail cannot but be a serious concern of the provincial government as well. It is the Capitol government that has overall responsibility for the preservation and protection of the Lingayen Gulf!
A summit on the daily pollution and destruction of the Lingayen Gulf has, therefore, become imperative.
It behooves upon Guv Spines, Mayor Belen Fernandez, DENR Sec. Ramon Paje, BJMP Chief Diony Mamaril, Fourth District Rep. Gina de Venecia, Mangaldan Mayor Bonafe Parayno, San Jacinto Mayor Robert De Vera, Manaoag Mayor Kim Amador and San Fabian Mayor Constante Agbayani to sit around a table and decide on solutions, putting their minds together and putting where “their” money ((government resources) mouths are.
And I recommend that the meeting be held inside the conference room of the Dagupan District Jail, with windows open (with no air conditioning unit turned on), and meals to be served near the pipes where the wastes flow out to the beach.
The agenda? How to stop polluting the Lingayen Gulf before it’s too late and where to relocate the overly congested small District Jail, and finally how to source the funds for the solutions.
If the environmental crisis is not averted in time, history will remember that this generation had nine personalities who could have done something but failed to do anything.
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KAPITAN IS THE KEY. Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, being a product of local government management, shares Dangerous Drugs Board Chairman (and The PUNCH’s Deretsahan columnist) Antonio Villar Jr.’s view that an effective campaign to rid a community of illegal drug traffickers can only be had with the active participation of the Anti-Drugs Advisory Councils, particularly in the barangay level.
Indeed, there can be no better eyes and ears that can help in the fight vs. illegal drugs than those that are glued to the barangays’ affairs.
Every drug pusher has both an addict in the barangay in his pocket and a prospective addict in the barangay in his list. In other words, the identities and activities of the drug personalities can only be validated by the barangays’ eyes and ears.
So it’d be interesting to know what all the barangay kapitans of known drug ‘hot spots’ in Pangasinan tell their police chief sand vice-versa, why it’s always “business as usual” in his/her barangay.
By the way, reading the letter of Mr. Bernie Ballesteros to The PUNCH, describing what happened to former Fiscal Johnny Siapno, (Read our Punch Forum), the merciless battering inflicted on him could have only been done by someone high on drugs. It is simply impossible that no one in the barangay knew who mugged Mr. Siapno, but nobody is talking.
What a pathetic community.
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FICTITIOUS FB ACCOUNTS. Incidentally, our Tita Roces who has since earned a strong following of her own among PUNCH readers, told me that some readers have expressed their concerns about the postings in “her Facebook account.” That made me laugh.
First of all, our Tita Roces (there are other “Tita Roceses” in FB) does not have a Facebook account, that I know for certain. The FB account that perhaps some have seen with The PUNCH masthead posted in it is a fictitious account that was obviously set up to discredit our Tita Roces to the gullible.
The PUNCH also had its share of malicious attacks via a fictitious FB account. But thankfully, our paper’s proven integrity over the decades was all it took to make the fictitious FB account expose it for what it was… a cheap, moronic squid tactic.
So to our detractors who’ve decided to make a career out of discrediting us and everyone in our editorial staff, just do your worst and we’ll continue to do our best!
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GRACE’S CIVIC INTEGRITY. The issue of citizenship against Senator Grace Poe will eventually be resolved initially by the Electoral Tribunal, then with finality by the Supreme Court.
Similar cases were filed against Fernando Poe Jr., Jesse Robredo and yes, Pia Cayetano and Alan Peter Cayetano. In all cases, the determination of place of birth was the core of the issue and in all cases, the Filipino citizenship of the four were validated and upheld.
But a naughty VP Binay supporter has a different view of the case of Ms. Poe.
He said nobody should really begrudge Ms. Poe for being a foundling but something is very wrong when someone chooses to renounce a citizenship just to elect another citizenship for convenience. That’s what Senator Grace did, he said.
She renounced her Filipino citizenship to become an American citizen when she decided to reside in the USA. Obviously, he said her Filipino citizenship then meant nothing to her and because it prevented her from enjoying the rights and privileges of an American citizen.
Then when she came back to the Philippines pick up the pieces of the political gains of FPJ, she decided to renounce her American citizenship, and applied again for Pinoy citizenship.
The question about Senator Grace, he said is beyond the legal documents questioning her qualification to run for President. Instead, it is her civic integrity that is really the issue. She renounced being a Filipino citizen once…and once is enough.
Hmmm…so ok.
(For your comments and reactions, please email to: punch.sunday@gmail.com)
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