There is no one else  By Ermin Garcia Jr.  
  WE are just entering two weeks of the new year and already, the hired guns riding in tandem already claimed their first victim. It doesn’t seem like the provincial government is alarmed by it all. The provincial board has not…

A report card on Pangasinan By Ermin Garcia Jr.  
  FROM a range of 1-10 (10 being the highest), my assessment of the Espino administration’s performance in 2011 is it performed creditably well with an 8. Here are some of the good things we had last year worth remembering. Topping…

Looking back  By Ermin Garcia Jr.  
  FROM where The PUNCH sits, there never was a dull moment in covering the news that matter in and around the province from day 1 of 2011. Ever mindful of how local public officials comport themselves in office, how affairs of governance are…

Geohazards? By Ermin Garcia Jr.   IT is Christmas and celebrate our Lord Jesus’ birthday, we must. But the tragedy in Northern Mindanao is much too grave to ignore, so tragic that we cannot but feel the somber mood in faraway Mindanao. Somehow, I can sense that the Christians in…

A lesson for the “Mighty 8”  By Ermin Garcia Jr.  
  THE die is cast for Lyceum Northwestern University. It will not be cowed into submission by city hall. It’s top honcho, the irrepressible Gonz Duque, he who dares to play with fire regularly with gusto, has sent the message…

When a son protests too much By Ermin Garcia Jr.   DON’T look now but at the rate Dagupan Councilor Brian Lim is adamantly opposing the sanggunian’s move to continue the investigation of the “fake” waiver scandal, the investigation will likely lead to damning, incriminating evidence at the doorsteps of…

Please believe him!  By Ermin Garcia Jr.   THE waivers are fake! It’s true. I say this because I have no reason to doubt City Administrator Vlad Mata’s claim. Indeed, the alleged waivers issued for the ritzy squatters illegally occupying premium beachfront areas in Bonuan Binloc must be bogus, because…

More “value engineering“ projects By Ermin Garcia Jr. THERE is hope for the influential and affluent to amass more illegal wealth in Dagupan City via Mayor Benjie Lim’s touted “value engineering”. The recently discovered massive land grabbing of premium beachfront at the Tondaligan Park tells us what “right connections” can…

Ethical politics  By Ermin Garcia Jr.  
  JUN V’s column item last issue on former Councilor Michael Fernandez’s thoughts on his wife’s, Councilor Maybelyn, reasons for finally refusing to join her colleagues in the final push for accountability and transparency in the city hall was revealing as it was utterly…

Mayors and cop chiefs are lying By Ermin Garcia Jr.   HERE’S a piece of news item that should embarrass the province’s mayors and police chiefs who swear to high heavens that the jai-alai off fronton betting stations are not being used as fronts for jueteng. With a little sleuthing…