By Farah G. Decano THE law, Republic Act 10121, provides that each local government unit (LGU) must set aside 5 percent of its annual budget to disaster and risk reduction management projects, programs, and activities. Seventy percent of such budget should be for disaster preparedness and 30 percent for…
By Eva C. Visperas DURING the recent onslaught of Typhoon Kristine, four of us ladies working in media ventured to the Capitol area in Lingayen to observe the flooding and storm surge plus high tide and strong wind that affected the vicinity, particularly along the Baywalk. We braved the…
Storm surge, and a seawall
By Rex Catubig THE past week held us hostage in a cliffhanger situation, dreading the landfall of Typhoon Kristine, who from all accounts, is the personification of the saying: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Close on its heels, another typhoon named Leon, like a spurned lover, was on a…
My typhoon story
By Ermin Garcia Jr. NOVEMBER 1 is a date that has become sacred to our family. It is the date when our youngest sibling, Karina, died. She drowned off the Tondaligan Beach in Dagupan on November 1, 1963. Know that as our mother, Paulita, revealed she overheard Karina telling…
Remembering our Karina
By Gonzalo Duque THE typhoon season has become more calamitous. The most recent, Typhoon Kristine, has shown its devastating effect all over the country. Other typhoons are coming. Watch out, Typhoon Leon is going to roar in the coming few days. But what worries me more though is the…
Ordeal not yet over
By Leonardo Micua MY good friend Manny Zambrano, who’s based in Chicago and brother of one of our photojournalists, Ray Zambrano, is in town for a brief vacation. He called me up on October 18 to have dinner at a seafood restaurant along JdV Expressway, but I begged off…
Trying a new and different kind of leader
By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo SURPRISINGLY, the rain didn’t flood EDSA. We drove to the Bonifacio Global City (BGC) to accompany my niece Ashang for an important appointment, anticipating a little flooding, having watched videos on TikTok and FB, but the heavy rain seemed to be absorbed by the pavement…
Typhoons in our lives
By Farah G. Decano WHILE it is true that my family still experiences inundation inside our house despite the almost three feet road elevation in our village, we are thankful nevertheless to Mayor Belen T. Fernandez, the City Government of Dagupan, and the right of way donors because we…
Unhinged
By Eva C. Visperas I’VE been covering politics in Pangasinan for quite some time, witnessing the journey of — among many other personalities and families — Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrad Estrella III from his days as a congressman to the present, with his son Gilbert now eyeing the congressional…
The next generation of Estrella in politics
By Rex Catubig WHEN I see Nanang, our old-maid aunt, in the kitchen, stirring black gooey Deremen in a deep kawali perched on the wood-fired clay dalikan, I know it’s Pistay Inatey—All Saint’s Day, the highlight of Ani or harvest month—when religion and folk custom meld into one celebration. Following the belief that the spirits of…




