Guv Pogi goes full blast for R1AA

By Leonardo Micua

 

THOUGH the Region I Athletic Association (R1AA) meet to be hosted by the Pangasinan 1 School Division was postponed to March 31 till April 7 and about to be postponed anew to a still undetermined date on account of CoViD-19 , the provincial government is still unflinching in its support to the games to be played mostly at its own Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center in Lingayen.

According to Modesto Operania, the top honcho of the Provincial Sports Development and Management Commission, Gov. Amado Espino III has granted practically all of the requests of the DepEd to make the R1AA successful.

What he had not granted is the request for the expenses and or rental of the Amusement Park, the repair of swimming pools at Saringan Sanctuary in San Carlos City as the Olympic-size swimming pool in Dagupan can be used instead.

The province is setting aside P17 million to bankroll the 25-day Sports Development Program (aka training) of athletes of Pangasinan I and II. As the host, Pangasinan I will get P9 million while Pangasinan II will get P8 million.

The P1 million extra amount for Pangasinan I is construed as the province’s contribution to the expenses to be incurred to match the P500,000 allotted by DepEd for this year’s R1AA meet.

Determined to win back the crown kept for two successive years by Dagupan City during the term of then Mayor Belen Fernandez, the provincial government is making all its athletes (Pangasinan I and II) go through a rigid 25-day training, backed by P16 million budget.

Recall that Pangasinan II dominated the R1AA meets for many years until Dagupan came around and won the games back to back in 2018 and 2019.

With full and undivided attention given to Pangasinan athletes, the governor expects either Pangasinan I and Pangasinan II to wrest the crown from Dagupan since Belen and Finnela Sim are no longer by their side.

The governor also approved the budget request of DepEd (is it from School Division Superintendent Shiela Primicias?) for the holding of a communal program with boodle fight, live streaming coverage of opening and closing programs, lunch for VIPs, etc.

Pangasinan I School division virtually accomplished its hosting and training tasks with a lot of help from the provincial government. Does this happen all the time in other provinces?

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There is something wrong with the system of waste collection in Dagupan City and Councilor Dennis Canto is calling for an inquiry in aid of legislation. He said many residents are complaining about their garbage piling up in their streets for days and remain uncollected. 

 The Waste Management Division says the uncollected garbage are the unsegregated wastes and it has adopted a strict “no segregation, no collection” policy to comply with the compromised agreement between the city and PENRO – that only residual wastes can be brought to the closed dumpsite for a limited period.

 But many residents deny the WMD’s claim, insisting their wastes are segregated.

 In his radio program over Aksyon Radyo Dagupan, my good friend Rhee Fer Hortaleza reported that uncollected garbage, placed on sacks, are strewn all around, and those complaining, he said, are growing day by day.  His partner, Ahikam Pasion quickly said this is because no one is coming to collect the wastes.

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Will the police please update us relative to their investigation into the brutal slaying of retired General Marlou Chan sometime last month in Calasiao?

A little briefing will minimize the suspicion that the Special Investigation Task Group Chan has no update on this high-profile killing of a former police provincial director of Pangasinan.

It’s a big slap on the faces of police officials in Pangasinan and the region if they cannot unlock the mystery behind this killing so an update on what they are doing is in order to assure the bereaved Chan family that justice will soon be theirs.

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