By Leonardo Micua

 

ON hearing a report that circulated in the capitol that no less than DILG Director Jonathan Lausen Jr. advised Mayor Julio Parayno III to comply with his suspension, DWIZ Station Manager Orly Navarro and I rushed to Urdaneta City Wednesday afternoon to confirm the information.

We found the good mayor busy signing documents after attending to his numerous callers from the barangays.

“I am still here, doing my functions as city mayor of Urdaneta, more than one month after the unsuccessful serving of my suspension order,” he told us.

Asked about his reported encounter with the DILG director at the Justice Hall, Parayno said he politely told the official that since the election period is already on, a clearance from the Commission on Elections is needed to enforce his and Vice Mayor Jimmy Parayno’s suspension.

He is still standing fast despite being threatened with lawsuits, which he said he is willing to face. As to the possibility he might be forcefully evicted from office, he warned that he will resort to filing administrative and criminal cases against those who will dare to do it.

With a piece of corn and a bottle of water as snacks, Parayno also told us of a petition for exclusion from the voters’ list he filed against his challenger, Maan Tuazon-Guico, wife of the Pangasinan governor, before the Municipal Trial Court, which was already up for decision that day or the next.

In that petition, the mayor questioned the residency of Mrs. Guico, who claimed to be residing in two container vans measuring 3×6 meters each, located in Barangay San Vicente. Parayno refused to believe this.

At the same time, he told us that some medical equipment allotted by the Department of Health for Urdaneta was refused to be released by Fifth District Rep. Ramon Guico Jr., the governor’s father, to whom this equipment was coursed through.

He said he already sent an official representative to pick these up but Guico wanted Parayno to get the items himself.

Parayno said he will not do that because he does not want to enter the lion’s lair.

There was even a video recording of a woman who told Parayno’s representative in deriding words: “Apay nga adda kayo ditoy? Pumanaw kayo!” Translation: Why are you here? Get lost!”

“It is clear from the letter sent to us by the DOH regional office that these equipment, which I had requested from the DOH way back in 2024, can be released to me or to my representative,” Parayno said.

At the same time, he dismissed the claim of Congressman Guico that the medical equipment was bought from his own congressional allocation.

That was why he communicated with DOH Regional Director Paula Paz Sydiongco about it, and she told him to send another representative to get the equipment.

Parayno said Urdaneta has been placed by the Comelec under the yellow category for this election period not because of peace and order concerns, but because of intense political rivalry between him and Maan Guico.

According to Councilor Warren Andrada, Gov. Guico seems to have marshaled all his forces in Urdaneta to support the mayoralty bid of his wife. But this might spell a disaster for him in his own fight with come-backing Governor Pogi Espino, as Pogi will be free to roam around the province to appeal for votes.

At this juncture, 14 barangay captains are with Maan and 16 are with Parayno. The entire city council, he said, are with him.

It’s a fight between a native son and a total stranger in the city whose big edge, however, is she’s the First Lady of Pangasinan.

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The call of Fourth District Rep. Toff de Venecia for Dagupan to develop more green spaces to reduce its alarmingly high daily heat index, especially during summer, should be taken seriously by Mayor Belen Fernandez. 

 But the challenge, according to Toff, is: Where? Practically every square meter of land in Dagupan was already bought mostly for commercial purposes. 

 One solution is to require every household to plant trees in their backyard if possible. The biggest potential area is the Bonuan dumpsite, which is now being cleared and up for conversion into a tree park.

 Mayor Belen said it is unlikely that clearing will be completed this year due to the big volume of trash that has piled up for more than 60 years, but the goal to create that green space is there.

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