Father Soc’s moral howitzer By Ermin Garcia Jr. AS I recalled the recent mischiefs of the provincial board members, i.e., threatening retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz to declare him persona non grata and advocating the entry of Small Town Lottery in Pangasinan, a popular Christmas ditty for kids came to mind…

Criminal cronyism By Ermin Garcia Jr. THE tactical plan of Dagupan City Police chief Romeo Caramat to increase police visibility particularly at night is serving the city well. The apprehension of four workers of 888 Dagupan Properties Inc.  dumping filling materials at the illegal reclamation site along Calmay River, albeit temporary, close…

Making a liar out of Guv Spines By Ermin Garcia Jr. THE wild rumor from the grapevine last week is the impending return of jueteng in the province this week, barely a month after Guv Spines declared in the Senate that he will never allow jueteng to operate and flourish…

Two-headed monster By Ermin Garcia Jr. REPORTS reaching the PUNCH indicate that we’ve just seen the most expensive and very divisive barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections yet in the province. And if Comelec will remain what it is today, an impotent constitutional body, in the next decade then we are…

My deep secret By Ermin Garcia Jr. LET’S dwell on my deep secret for later.  Meanwhile… The province of Laguna is known to be one of the major hotbeds of jueteng. And to the credit of the provincial leadership, jueteng has come to a halt. “So what?” you say! What…

Training for future corruption By Ermin Garcia Jr. WHEN I wrote about sentiments of many quarters in the national government (including P-Noy) wanting to abolish the Sangguniang Kabaataan, the only adverse reaction I received naturally came from some presidents of SK chapters. That hardly surprised me since their perks and…

Plotting the return of jueteng By Ermin Garcia Jr. BOARD Member Alfie Bince recently suggested to his colleagues that Small Town Lottery (STL) be allowed to operate in the province to replace jueteng and ostensibly to provide livelihood for the hundreds of kubradores who are without jobs today as a…

Jueteng, the new “old hot potato” By Ermin Garcia Jr. WE first saw how the honorable members of the provincial board dishonored themselves by castigating and declaring retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz persona non grata in a manifesto under the pretext of expressing support for Guv Spines who was tagged as…

Sucking up to Guv Spines By Ermin Garcia Jr. PATHETIC. Self-serving. Embarrassing. These summed up the reaction of many who were incredulous on hearing about the manifesto signed by members of the provincial board effectively sucking up to Guv Spines while declaring former Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz persona non grata.

Guv proved jueteng can be licked By Ermin Garcia Jr. GUV Spines ordered. The police director complied.  And the jueteng lords scampered. It was as easy as 1-2-3 and the seemingly indestructible jueteng, like the New York’s Twin Towers, came tumbling down in the province.