Official protection of drugs in Dagupan By Ermin Garcia Jr.   THERE has been an unchecked and protected illegal drug trade that proliferated in Dagupan City over the past months.  How so?  There is official protection of illegal drug trade in the city. The two successive raids of two drug…

New Normal Enforcers, not contact-tracers, needed By Ermin Garcia Jr.     WHETHER our national government defeats the COVID-19 with a vaccine in time or not, the transition to the new normal is inevitable. And the burden to make the transition smoothly rests with local governments. The fact is, new…

No travel pass, no entry By Ermin Garcia Jr.   QUITE a number of Pangasinan residents caught staying out of the province during the Enhanced Community Quarantine suddenly found themselves stranded at the province’s borders when they attempted to return home since the General Community Quarantine was declared. Why? They…

PPE racket of hospitals, clinics By Ermin Garcia Jr.   WHY have a number of hospitals and clinics in Pangasinan started charging their patients the costs of PPEs used by their medical staff? This charge is without legal basis, unfair to patients and clearly a business malpractice. My friend Rex…

A hero newspaperman is a dead newspaperman By Ermin Garcia Jr.   ON May 20, Wednesday, our PUNCH family will observe the 54th death anniversary of my father, Ermin Garcia (EG), our founder-editor-publisher (1955-1966)! It was on May 20, 1966 when a politician, then Councilor Martin Soriano of Lingayen went…

Dangerous mindset By Ermin Garcia Jr.   OVER the past week, it was not difficult to see the relax mood of residents in Pangasinan, particularly in Dagupan City, notwithstanding the continued implementation of the Enhanced Community Quarantine in the province. With people freely moving around barangays and commercial areas, one…

Senior citizens, beware By Ermin Garcia Jr.   EARLY last week, there has been a howl of protests on social media ranged against the new guideline issued by the IATF, a seeming ironclad rule for senior citizens not to leave their homes when the General Community Quarantine goes into effect…

Our hair as freedom issue By Ermin Garcia Jr.   I was watching a video clip about the protest marches in USA over President Trump’s lockdown order.  I was dumbfounded listening to some of the protesters’ arguments with which to bash their president. Some acknowledged the fact that COVID-19 is,…

Hoping against hope By Ermin Garcia Jr.   REVIEWING how things developed in the country over the past week, my hopes for a zero-COVID-19 by end of April were dashed. Seeing pictures of people and motorists in Metro Manila, the epicenter of COVID-19 in Luzon, clearly ignoring and defying government’s…

All-out (proactive) war vs. COVID-19 needed By Ermin Garcia Jr.    THE` objective of the extension of the Enhanced Community Quarantine in Luzon till April 30 is to finally establish with certainty that the contagion of COVID-19 will be stopped. Indeed, the whole exercise for the 45-day lockdown would come…