Get a coffee By Jun Velasco BARANGAY Malued in Dagupan — literally our birthplace, where we spent our memorable boyhood — was in a festive mood Sunday evening. The family of Optometry Board No. l Topnotcher Dr. Voltaire Siapno-Tada led by joyous and proud parents Ben Tada and the former…

What’s happening to our fish-rich rivers, Mrs. Molina? By Gonzalo Duque WE’RE in Las Vegas while we write this column. Our hosts, Raffy Villamil and pretty wife, Elvie, have been making our stay here very enjoyable and meaningful especially at the Palazzo Hotel, you can stretch your imagination how the…

The vanishing rice farming rituals in Ifugao By Sosimo Ma. Pablico EVEN as a considerable number of Ifugao farmers no longer believe in the rice farming rituals of their ancestors, others stubbornly insist their ethnic group must continue performing those traditional rituals, saying these are their way of life. Those…

Economic Fundamental By +Oscar V. Cruz D. D. Whenever the government wants to claim that the country is well geared for economic development or wishes to proclaim that the Philippines is in many ways over and above a given financial crisis such as the one actually taking place in the…

Machambas By Marifi Jara QUELIMANE, Mozambique–The police are doing it. Students in public schools have been and continue to be into it. A balikbayan has taken an initiative to get his former barangay involved in it. Another community is coalescing with the government for it. Vegetable gardening, that is. Or…

MILF under Kato-Bravo — terrorist group By Gerry Garcia THE government has released P2 billion and additional millions more for selected congressmen and senators, allegedly for their farm-to-market roads projects. These farm-to-market roads money, intended for countryside development, derisively touted by administration critics as “farm-to-pocket” projects, have reportedly been released…

Mayor Amadito Perez, ageless By Jun Velasco WHILE legal luminaries and practically the whole nation are in a hubbub over the Court of Appeals and the GSIS rift, we seem to have sidelined a bigger bomb that is about to blow up the archipelago to smithereens – the Mindanao crisis….

Essential medicine By +Oscar V. Cruz D. D. “Hormonal contraceptive intrauterine devices, injectibles and other reproductive health products and supplies shall be considered under the category of essential medicines and supplies which shall form part of the National Drug Formulary and the same shall be included in the purchase of…

Options for lower labor cost By Sosimo Ma. Pablico AS FERTILIZER PRICES are soaring to high heavens, thereby greatly increasing farm production costs and decreasing farm income, farmers indeed need options that could effectively minimize their expenses and, at the same time, increase their net income. Results of studies at…

Dreams from the river By Glaiza Bernadeth Pinto Young boys and girls playing at moored bancas at the side of Pantal River in Dagupan are a common sight. But for some, not equally young, the river and bancas mean more than games – it’s a means to survive. One of…