AFTER all the months and weeks of listening to national and local officials and the Commission on Elections how prepared they were fpr the 2025 midterm elections, well, the test of the pudding is now in the eating, which began last week. However, the preparations they cited were mainly about…

THE two key cities in Pangasinan, Dagupan and Urdaneta, today share what could be said to be ‘lost causes’. In Dagupan City, the opposition in the Sangguniang Panlungsod finally restored its status as the ‘majority’ after it lost the status to the five-member minority when three of its members were…

AS we usher in the year of the Chinese Wooden Snake, many have expressed hopes that the protracted political animosities seen at the Dagupan Sangguniang Panlungsod will finally come to an end. While the five minority members (Councilors Michael Fernandez, Jigs Seen, Dennis Canto, Kap. Marcelino “Lino” Fernandez and SK…

SO much has been said and written in mainstream and social media about the obvious attempt to cover up the anomalous and irregular process in the filing of the Bicameral Conference Report. To this day, the honorable politicians in the House of Representatives have so far refused to show proof…

LINGAYEN-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas’ call on the Catholic community to do a critical evaluation of the approved 2025 national budget as recently signed by President Marcos Jr. is a bit too late in the day. Quoting him: “As your Archbishop, I admonish you to study diligently, judge critically and act…

THE signing of the country’s 2025 annual budget by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., with all his vetoed items was a big letdown to the Filipinos who turned out in an unprecedented number in 2022 to elect him with a majority vote that not even his late father, former President Ferdinand…

LAST week, The PUNCH reported the decision of the Bolinao local government to ban the manufacturing and trading of firecrackers of any make and size, making it the only the second local government to do so despite endless reports of residents being injured fatally. There is no denying that communities…

THE decision of Bolinao Mayor Alfonso Celeste to impose a total ban on firecrackers and pyrotechnics is what Pangasinan’s mayors should consider adopting in their respective towns and cities. Every year, we hear of the local police taking measures to ensure that no fatalities or injuries will be suffered by…

THOSE born in the 50s -70s celebrated Christmas as a religious activity with a Noche Buena prepared at home, midnight mass inside community churches. Christmas narrative remained on the Nativity and the birth of Jesus. Gift-giving with the magic of Santa Claus kept children’s excitement over Christmas as one of…

THE Dagupan citizenry is finally in for the good times ahead, thanks to the proactive new majority at the Sangguniang Panlungsod. Vice Mayor Bryan Kua, Majority Leader Michael Fernandez, Councilors Dennis Canto, Jigs Seen, Marcelino Fernandez and Bradley Benavidez have been working tirelessly for the past weeks, meeting in regular…