Wrong again By Ermin Garcia Jr. THERE goes the young promising Hon. Brian Lim again, this time with his left foot in his mouth. After joining his father-mayor Benjie in a chorus labeling his colleagues in the council as a bunch of do-nothing lazy bums for refusing to be their…

Councilor Brian’s mom vents I AM yielding my space this week to the thoughts of Celia Lim nee Chua, a dear friend in our teen years and now the ultimate politician’s wife to Mayor Benjie Lim and doting mother to Councilor Brian Lim. First of all, I cannot but admire her…

Another “Impossible Mission” By Ermin Garcia Jr. HERE’S a seemingly “impossible mission” that only Guv Spines can take on. (After all, he is the only one who tried and is now succeeding in clearing and cleaning the province’s main rivers and tributaries not only to protect the environment but to…

Guv Spines stopped jueteng By Ermin Garcia Jr. HOLD your breath but the campaign against jueteng in the province appears to be holding. The cynic in me randomly checked with sources if, indeed, jueteng has found greener pastures in other provinces and the responses I got were the same – …

Hubris By Ermin Garcia Jr. THE smoldering enmity between Dagupan city hall and the city council has turned from bad to worse.  Blame it on the propensity of Mayor Benjie Lim to push the envelope too far in his evident desire to show who’s boss in the city. From where…

Preparing history today for tomorrow By Ermin Garcia Jr. THE provincial board made history the other week by creating the Pangasinan Historical and Cultural Commission. And it couldn’t have made a better choice with PUNCH columnist Gonz Duque as its recommended first chairman/executive director. It was Gonz (and his committee)…

Remembering the Christmas past By Ermin Garcia Jr. AS I am certain many baby-boomers like me often reminisce the “good old days” during Christmas holidays, allow me to trigger some memories of their own with mine. When I was in grade school in the mid 50s, Christmas vacation in Dagupan…

Wanted: Statesmen By Ermin Garcia Jr. WHAT’S happening to us? First, we hear of provincial police directors ignoring the authority of the provincial board.  Now, we have a mayor deliberately violating protocol by not inviting the governor to an event in his town being graced by the President.  Then it…

Absence of basic courtesy By Ermin Garcia Jr. SOMETHING appears to be very wrong with the education of our police officials. I recall the justified rage felt by then members of the provincial board when then provincial police chief PD Smiley Barba continued to snub the board’s invitations for months….

The tale of the “fugitive” By Ermin Garcia Jr. WHAT’S going to happen to Senator Ping Lacson? After surviving the series of desperate attempts in the past to malign his person picturing him as a druglord, kidnapper, murderer, dollar hoarder who allegedly owned several mansions in the US and had…