Death for drug traffickers By Ermin Garcia Jr. THE name Ferdinand Marcos has always evoked a regionalistic streak in our politicians, then and now. The “Solid North” (including Pangasinan’s 6 representatives) again manifested itself for the record most recently in the House of Representatives when it voted unanimously to adopt…

Shameful By Ermin Garcia Jr. THE (partial) veto message of City Mayor Benjie Lim was littered with venomous language directed at the sanggunian, i.e., “sinister political agenda”… “wrongfully and fictionally portraying”… “blatant ignorance” …”perverted, counterproductive and unconscionable system”… “tragically and incomprehensibly”… “tedious round of power play”…”politically-motivated malevolence, without shame”… “leadership…

Just cause for the city By Ermin Garcia Jr. I am personally gratified that the Dagupan City Council acted prudently and slashed the city annual budget as proposed by the Lim administration. The budget as passed was clearly a vote against unabated corruption in the city hall and a vote…

Erratum By Ermin Garcia Jr. HERE’S a big time erratum in the PUNCH! The PUNCH earlier reported that the Dagupan City government was discovered to have paid a local trader in overprice for some basic commodities for the city’s feeding program for malnourished kids last year.  Not true.

Tracking the “Lucky Bunch” By Ermin Garcia Jr. IT would seem that the lucky brand-new-SUV riding board members of the province are in for a rough and bumpy ride in the weeks ahead. The province’s 300% hike in property tax approved by the “Lucky Bunch” last year will certainly force…

A “class” of his own By Ermin Garcia Jr. MAYOR Benjie of Dagupan is really a “class” of his own. He tells all officials in the city to be accountable to the people but he has always refused to be accountable to the peoples’ representatives sitting as one in the…

A pseudo SOCA? By Ermin Garcia Jr. THERE is this piece of good news for Dagupenos… but still more bad news. City Mayor Benjie Lim finally agreed to present his plans formally to the city council as mandated by the local government code (LGC). Hopefully, this change of heart will…

The SOCA that never was By Ermin Garcia Jr. TWO interesting separate events were held in Dagupan City last Monday. The first one saw Mayor Benjie Lim meeting with a large select audience at the Dagupan People’s Astrodome for an opportunity to present his plans for the city till he ends…

The Ultimate Enforcer? By Ermin Garcia Jr. WHILE Guv Spines is already and understandably comfortable with his legacy as “reformist”, “art and culture czar”, “the people’s doctor”, etc., there is one that eludes him to this day. He still can’t be remembered as “The Criminals’ Nemesis” or “The Ultimate Enforcer”. I…

Trapo Politics 101 By Ermin Garcia Jr. HERE’S a letter reaction from Dagupan City Administrator Vlad Mata to our last week’s item on the scheduled State of the City Address (SOCA) being held outside of the sangguniang panglungsod’s regular session: