By Ermin Garcia Jr.   WE should be alarmed that our families will now be at the mercy of drug syndicates. Our politicians know they can weaponize the ICC, so PH, after Duterte, will never see another president that will dare launch a drug war to protect our families from…

By Ermin Garcia Jr.   FORMER Dagupan Mayor Brian Lim, also a former vice mayor, filed his candidacy for vice mayor and as presiding officer of the Sangguniang Panlungsod in this year’s local elections. Admittedly, I have no recollection of his performance as vice mayor and SP presiding officer of…

By Ermin Garcia Jr.   AFTER failing to block the passage of Dagupan City’s 2025 annual budget and the supplemental budgets that went it, now comes the opposition’s ploy to stall action on any activities that will boost the Belen administration’s unliserbisyo. In fact, the life of obstructionism continues to…

By Ermin Garcia Jr.   THE PUNCH feels it is its duty to support Comelec’s call to candidates to comply with its rules on vote-buying and mounting of legal-sized posters even knowing that its scare tactics no longer work on the candidates and their supporters. Not only do the candidates…

By Ermin Garcia Jr.   WHAT started as a political move to give a voice to marginalized sectors has turned out to be not only the country’s biggest highway robbery but also the biggest joke on the electorate. The system uses marginalized sectors as a front, disguised with motherhood statements,…

By Ermin Garcia Jr.   NOW that the question of whether Vice President Sara Duterte will be impeached or not has been resolved with the submission of the fourth impeachment complaint to the Senate, the table is now turned on the congressmen on how they voted. First, it should be…

By Ermin Garcia Jr.   THE Guico-Parayno feud is turning out to be like the wild forest fire that hit Los Angeles recently. The bush fire was started by Guv Mon-mon Guico and it has since spread like a wild fire and no one can predict how and where it…

By Ermin Garcia Jr.   AGAIN! If you think the 7 epaLiFes have run out of abnormal precepts of how Dagupan should be governed, think again, because they have new views based on their position as the majority at the Dagupan sanggunian! After suffering serious major setbacks in their efforts,…

By Ermin Garcia Jr.   AT the third edition of “Punching Duo” (myself and Punch columnist Gonz Duque) podcast with Dagupan City Mayor Belen Fernandez as guest, we heard her sum up her accomplishments despite serious challenges from the opposition from 2022 to 2024, in what I believe is her…

By Ermin Garcia Jr.   THERE must be incidents in the early youths of the 7 epaLiFes, namely, Councilors Red Erfe-Mejia, Alfie Fernandez and Irene Lim-Acosta that traumatized them about their self-esteem and self-importance. I say this because they didn’t waste time to lead the rest of their uniformed barkada,…