STARTING THE YEAR WRONG. Old habits are hard to break. Our honorable board members in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan were obviously still on vacation mode when they had their first regular session for 2016 last January 11. It was a Monday and was supposed to be the first working day for…

APPLAUSE FOR SSS-DAGUPAN. I was impressed. I visited the new Social Security System (SSS) office at the Eastgate along A.B. Fernandez Ave. East, Dagupan City twice last week and there were no more long queues under the sun for SSS members. Instead, I found them comfortably waiting inside a spacious…

NO SURRENDER. NO RETREAT. The city of Dagupan greets the New Year with no approved budget. This is not new. The same situation happened last year when approval of the budget took the city council sometime to approve it, forcing the city to operate on a reenacted budget initially for a few weeks. Now that…

SP EMPLOYEES IN HOT WATER. Those involved in the questionable overtime pay issue in Dagupan may be in trouble. We read an item in the PDI that the Office of the Ombudsman has approved the indictment for graft of Leonardo Leria, vice mayor of Mac Arthur, Leyte and three other employees of…

THUMBS UP FOR DFA BAGUIO! Unknown to many, passport processing at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) office in SM Baguio is as quick and easy as A B C. A journalist told me how she found this out after she went to Robinsons Mall in Calasiao town which has…

HAIL THE SUBTITUTES –That yarn spread by the malicious rumor mill that former Mayor Benjie Lim will stage a surprise by substituting his wife Celia as Nacionalista Party candidate for mayor in Dagupan did not take place. The Dec. 10 deadline allowed by law to effect substitution of candidates lapsed with no shadow of Lim…

A LOST CAUSE — I, too, grieve for the massacre of trees along the Manila North Road (MNR) as one of those trees that were felled was a mango tree planted by my late father some 45 years ago or so ago in front of our house in Villasis.  When…

WISE POLICY. “No invitation, no entry.”  This is the policy, or is it an order to his staff, of Sual Mayor Roberto Arcinue regarding media coverage of important events happening in his town. Someone whispered to me that even for interviews, a newsman should, preferably, have prior appointment with the…

THROW AWAY THAT MONKEY WRENCH. Minority Councilor Red Erfe-Mejia wants another public hearing on the proposed Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, a request he already made before and which his colleagues in the majority readily granted. I don’t see why the majority in the Dagupan city council should grant his second request since the issues were…

THE RAP FOR DELAYED SALARIES. A college instructor in a government institution sent this corner a text message seeking help. The message said their salary had been delayed for a month already in their various campuses. “We do not know why and what’s going on?,” the text sender said. “And…