By Leonardo Micua   BASED on copies of some official records sent to me being a journalist, it is clear as a morning day to say that some corrupt people in government who exploited the COVID-19 pandemic were laughing all the way to the bank. One example were the 1,242…

By Leonardo Micua   AS clear as day, Dagupan’s annual city budget and its integral plans as well as the Annual Investment Plan, all for Calendar Year 2023, will not be passed before the March 31, 2023  deadline. The seven-man majority in the Sangguniang Panlungsod appears to be in no…

By Leonardo Micua   FROM where I sit, I view the incident in Bayambang where a woman onion farmer, who testified in the senate hearing and cried harassment when the police visited her not once but eight times, as an eye-opener . From what I gathered, the issue started when…

By Leonardo Micua INQUIRER.net reported on Friday (before our deadline) that the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chaired by Senator Francis Tolentino has recommended the filing of criminal charges against at least eight former and current officials of the Department of Education and of the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget…

By Leonardo Micua    NOT until DILG Provincial Director Virgilio Sison paid an unscheduled visit at the Dagupan Sangguniang Panlungsod on January 10 did we know that it’s only Dagupan, among all local government units in Region 1, that does not yet have an approved annual budget for 2023 till…

By Leonardo Micua   LAST week, Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. stunned the rank and file of the Philippine National Police when he challenged all bigwigs, from full colonel to general, to tender their courtesy resignation amid speculations that a few of them are involved in illegal…

By Leonardo Micua   THIS week, permit me to reprint the my good friend and The Punch’s news correspondents in USA, Tocayo Leonardo J. Galvez ‘s post on his Facebook account. Mr. Galvez used to write for The Punch till he decided to migrate in the Land of Milk and…

By Leonardo Micua   DURING the first midnight mass this Yuletide season at Saint John the Evangelist Cathedral last December 16, many were touched by the homily of Archbishop Socrates Villegas who intoned  “Ang lahat ay may katapusan” (All will have its end). If you ask me, that was pregnant…

By Leonardo Micua     I was taken aback and offended when I heard City Secretary Ryan Ravanzo, whom I bumped into at the River Grove on JdV Expressway, Wednesday night, tell other local media that I was already banned from attending and covering (via zoom) all proceedings in the Sangguniang Panlungsod.   But when I called up Ryan Friday morning before I could…

By Leonardo Micua   COMEDIAN   Roderick Paulate was meted 62 years for hiring ghost employees in his office when he was Quezon City councilor in 2010, who cannot be traced if they existed or not. Note that Paulate was found guilty by the Sandiganbayan to have committed one count of…