Remembering Karina on Nov. 1 and 7 By Ermin Garcia Jr. Last November 1, our family observed the 44th death anniversary of my sister Karina, who at age 11 drowned off the Bonuan beach in Dagupan City in 1963 at high noon, and 6 days shy of her birthday. It…

Speaker JdV’s serious dilemma By Ermin Garcia Jr. Up until the end of the 13th Congress, Speaker Joe de V remained the most envied congressman around. Today, his is an image not only of an embattled political leader but one who finds himself divided between his loyalty to his President…

When? By Ermin Garcia Jr. As we were about go to the press, the news of bombing of Glorietta 2 in Makati City reached us. So by the time you read this, more developments have already been reported in the media including post-mortem assessments.             What I know for certain…

Dagupan POSO’ Erfe-Mejia must account By Ermin Garcia Jr. Finally, the truth about the mysterious towing contract that no one claims to have seen is slowly being ferreted out. It is now established that there was no contract and surprise of all surprises, there was one office that knew about…

Speaker JDV’s turn to shout ‘Back off’ By Ermin Garcia Jr. Now that the Arroyo government has decided to cancel the $329-million ZTE-National Broadband Network contract, it’s time to take a closer look at the costlier $469-million CyberEd project! The aim kuno is to link DepEd headquarters to its 204…

Killing the IRA with NBN et al. By Ermin Garcia Jr. To many, the brouhaha over Joey de Venecia’s expose on the national  broadband network (NBN) may have simply provided them some true-to-life drama for the day’s entertainment while others take the senate hearing as another waste of time as…

A “crown prince” in the making? By Ermin Garcia Jr. Up until last week, I simply could not put a face to a possible successor to Speaker Joe de V in the 4th district in 2010. Then, the image of an articulate yuppie whose unkempt long hair (Will somebody please…

Toasting Mr. Avenger and Mr. Spademan By Ermin Garcia Jr. The man of the hour inside Dagupan City government is City legal officer George Mejia. He is now in the thick of investigating the controversial acquisitions of the previous Lim administration, stumbling upon the deception and the conspiracy that accompanied…

The skeletons of the Lim administration By Ermin Garcia Jr. The exclusive PUNCH story on the surprise status of the Dagupan City government’s purchase of the MC Adore Hotel is actually just the tip of the iceberg. The Fernandez administration is showing some diligence in investigating and establishing the true…

Indicators for the resurgence of jueteng By Ermin Garcia Jr. Where there is fire, there is jueteng. Let’s stop beating around the bush, forget about the old adage referring to the smoke and the fire, and call a spade a spade. The fact is, the conflagration of moral and ethical…