AS we were about to end our presswork last week, a huge news breaker reached our news desk – the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency discovered a seeming ordinary residential house that turned out to be the packaging and distribution center of more than 300 kilos of shabu with a staggering…
OVER the past months, many communities in low-lying areas in Pangasinan, particularly in Dagupan City, that were usually safe from flooding suddenly find themselves having to cope with knee-deep flooding during torrential rains aggravated by high tide. These occurrences can no longer pooh-poohed as unusual and out of the ordinary…
Negative impact of climate change
PHILIPPINE Drug Enforcement Agency recently confirmed that only 941 barangays (83%) out of 1,136 in Pangasinan have been declared “drug-cleared” since the drug war launched by the Duterte administration. There are still 195 barangays that remain to be cleared. Still the number does not include the number of the drug-cleared…
Unfinished drug war
THE July 27’s magnitude 5 earthquake that shook many parts of Pangasinan should be viewed as a grim reminder that the province remains very vulnerable to deadly earthquakes like the magnitude 7.6 tremblor that left Dagupan City in ruins in July 16, 1990. In fact, as Governor Ramon Guico III…
The Department of Disaster Resiliency is for us
THE province’s new set of mayors are expected to put their best foot forward in the first 100 Days after being given the mandate to serve for three years, mostly on the basis of the campaign promises. Their credibility and integrity are at stake if they fail to show that…
The first 100 Days and SONA
THE current data on the COVID-19 pandemic in Pangasinan is not at all alarming, not yet. However, given the nature of the coronavirus, the level of infection can still be murderous if it is not given the 24/7 attention it deserves. The sudden surge of the virus infection in China,…
Missing: The COVID-19 health agenda
ERMIN Erfe Garcia founded your Sunday PUNCH on July 5, 1956. He wanted a pocket-size newspaper (tabloid size papers were unknown then) that’d be easier for readers to handle. Today, aside from the changes in the paper’s physical dimension and page formats over time, your PUNCH has not digressed nor…
Your Sunday PUNCH at 66
GIVEN the vision of the province’s new governor, Ramon Guico III, who heralded doable plans to boost economic development of Pangasinan, it’d do well for mayors of our towns and cities to align their vision as well with his. The Guico agenda may be ambitious but definitely doable if given…
The Guico agenda
STARTING next week, our communities will be watching how our newly reelected and elected provincial and local officials will conduct themselves in the next 100 days. Here are some barometers uppermost in our local communities’ minds. Firstly, while it is safe to assume that the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic…
Post pandemic ‘First 100-days’ of local governance
IF there is one legacy that the Espino III administration will long be remembered for in its last term, it’d be the effective management not only of the COVID-19 pandemic but the upgrading of the services of provincial hospitals that provided quality health care for the poorest. Governor Amado Espino…