Bishops not in sync with Pope Francis By Ermin Garcia Jr. WOE is the couple that has long planned on a meaningful wedding ceremony in the Catholic Church this year! The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines dashed those plans when it decided that any declaration of love and affection…
Millions now suffer from illegal drug trade By Ermin Garcia Jr. THE Standard newspaper’s own recent survey (1,500 respondents nationwide) conducted by resident researcher Junie Laylo, revealed that the third biggest problem in the country is “Drug addiction/Illegal Drugs.” It followed “Poverty” and “Corruption” (the biggest problem) and has overtaken…
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Overtime pay – for staff or councilors? By Ermin Garcia Jr. THERE is more than meets the eye in the demand of Dagupan Councilors Red Erfe-Mejia and Alfie Fernandez to make the city hall cough up another P270,000 in addition to the P1,600,000 already paid out as overtime pay…
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Local pols’ dilemma over Du30 By Ermin Garcia Jr. THE not-totally unexpected filing of candidacy of Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte reportedly sent a number of politicos initially into a tizzy. Suddenly they saw a sure winner, a game changer! But how do they cut off from their original…
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A cause for serious worry By Ermin Garcia Jr. OUR last issue’s headline was about Dagupan Police chief P/Superintendent Christopher Abrahano’s frank assessment of the drug situation in the city. Dagupeños are aware that the drug syndicates operating out of Barangays Bonuan Binloc, Bonuan Gueset and Pantal but little…
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Unheralded police chiefs By Ermin Garcia Jr. LET me share an email I received in connection with our editorial last November 15 issue titled: “The complacent 44 police chiefs” A “Joey Mejia” wrote me: “My question is: if 4 newspapers are awarded as being top ‘newspapers’ …does that mean that…
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Illegal drugs are burning homes By Ermin Garcia Jr. DAGUPAN City Police Chief Christopher Abrahano may be on target and up to expectation in the city’s campaign vs. illegal drugs but as we listen to residents bewail and bemoan how families were being broken up by illegal drug trafficking in…
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What’s VM Brian Lim up to? By Ermin Garcia Jr. TWO weeks ago, the PUNCH carried the headline: “DAGUPAN FINALLY OKS FISH PEN BAN.” And naturally, I thought the city government finally has the lethal weapon to finally stop what appeared to be another proliferation of fish pens in Dagupan’s…
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Business as usual for Binloc Gang By Ermin Garcia Jr. DAGUPAN made big news last week when combined elements of the Dagupan City Police, provincial PNP, PDEA, LTO, naval Intel, Regional Intel Unit raided a drug den in Barangay Bonuan Binloc. A number of young female suspects, not your usual…