By Ermin Garcia Jr.   IF one is not keenly watching events and activities of our provincial government and Dagupan City government, one will not know that there is a lack or absence of accountability among our elected officials periodically. Take the absence of accountability in the Capitol last week….

By Ermin Garcia Jr.   I CONTINUE to be amazed at how Mayor Belen Fernandez and her allies, on one side, and the 7epaLiFes on the other, are dealing with the long overdue passage of the P1.3 billion annual budget for Dagupan City. While Mayor Belen has not gone beyond…

By Ermin Garcia Jr.   THE release of the Department of Budget and Management’s decision finding Dagupan City’s 2023 annual budget as “inoperative in its entirety” was actually anti-climactic. That it even took DBM more than two months to make that decision is disappointing. There was simply no way for…

By Ermin Garcia Jr.   THE continued efforts of the Belen Fernandez administration pleading with the seven-man majority in the Sangguniang Panlungsod to approve the mayor’s certified urgent bills is already bordering on ludicrous if not already a sign of total helplessness on its part. It’s ludicrous because Mayor Belen…

By Ermin Garcia Jr.   AFTER both Dagupan City Mayor Belen Fernandez and Vice Mayor Bryan Kua agreed to be humiliated and their offices disgraced by the seven councilors in the majority by appearing before their committees to be made accountable, the two city officials will have more humiliating situations…

By Emin Garcia Jr.   LAST week, Sen. Alan Cayetano, who as chairman of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology, urged and reminded both the national and local governments to adopt e-governance “in pursuit of good governance.” He said all efforts to transition the country to e-governance should not…

By Ermin Garcia Jr.   YESTERDAY, May 20, our family observed the 57th death anniversary of my father who was killed by a Lingayen politician in 1966. After 5 decades, it’s understandable if people today know little or even remember who “Ermin Erfe Garcia” was. A social encounter in one…

By Ermin Garcia Jr.   ACTING-Gov. Mark Lambino was his candid self, explaining the surprise absence of the 11 board members, provincial administrator and provincial assessor and other key provincial officials whose whereabouts were unknown initially until they were tracked in USA, thanks to social media. Mr. Lambino said the…

By Ermin Garcia Jr.   PREPOSTEROUS and nonsensical is how the members of the 7 epaLiFes are seen proceeding with their attempts to still appear rational and intelligent after their series of blunders, messing up their political future. For Councilors Red Erfe-Mejia, Celia Lim, Irene Lim-Acosta, Dada Reyna-Macalanda, Alvin Coquia,…

By Ermin Garcia Jr.   THE conflicting views of the Department of Budget and Management and the Department of Interior and Local Government on the “rectifying” ordinance of the 7 epaLiFes must not be left unresolved very long. If left unresolved, the city government and its residents and the members of the…