By Leonardo Micua

 

THE report that 20 of our provincial officials were invited to the United States to attend the celebration of Philippine Independence Day with Filipino Americans and invite investors to the province looked like they have run out of valid arguments to justify their official trip, which they denied to be a junket, though it appears it is.

Firstly, their trip bankrolled by taxpayers’ money is from June 1 to 9. The Philippine Independence Day is yet on June 12 unless, Pangasinenses in the U.S. decided to advance PH Freedom Day to the first week of June, which is very unlikely.

Granting that there was an invitation given, the province of Pangasinan could have just sent only a token delegation, i.e., one or two representatives to grace that activity. Surely, the invitation did not require most members of the Sanggunian Panlalawigan and department heads to be there.

And with the respective spouses of 11 board members and nine department heads in that trip, our kabaleyans in the U.S. may have suspected the ‘official’ Pangasinenses were already leaving their homeland and invading America.

Second, we would like to hear from the honorable public officials from Pangasinan if their trip was worth the money they spent by making public how much investment pledges they generated for Pangasinan, and who were the possible investors they talked to upon their return.

They are still accountable to the people of Pangasinan and they must report their respective accomplishments even if their trip was approved by the regional office of  the DILG.

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God forbid, a shooting war in the West Philippine between the Philippines and China may break out in an instant and soon if either side will not allow calm and restraint to prevail under the present explosive situation. 

PBBM in Singapore warned that the death of a single Filipino soldier from a Chinese gun will be considered a belligerent act (translation: an act of war), in which case, the RP-US Mutual Defense Pact may be invoked. A much larger war in the horizon is possible.

Consider the West Philippine Sea drenched in blood if China’s aggression continues.

Nobody wants this to happen in our lifetime so let’s hope that the contentious issues can be resolved diplomatically without a single life sacrificed.

Among these issues is the refusal of China to honor the arbitral ruling of the international arbitral court in the Netherlands and insists on its nine-dash line claim that the UN, the Philippines and the rest of democratic world do not recognize.

Then, we stand resolute and firm against China’s illegal occupation and building of artificial islands in our exclusive economic zone in violation of the United Nations Convention of the Laws of the Seas, of which China was once a signatory. 

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Sans any fanfare, the new Dawel Bridge was opened to motorists driving heavy and light vehicles.

It replaced the old bridge spanning Dawel River which was badly weakened by a Magnitude 5 earthquake in July 2022, and was eventually declared off limits to heavy vehicles.

The old Dawel Bridge will likely be demolished soon since its both approaches were already sealed  off by the expansion of  approaches of the newly constructed bridge.

Also completely sealed by the expanded approaches of the new Dawel  Bridge, is the right of way to the so-called Daungan ed Dawel built by then-Mayor Benjie Lim, the landing place of two customized boats intended to give tourists a leisurely trip along the Dawel  River. The program didn’t last .

After the two boats were spirited away by Lim’s minions immediately after he lost the election who claimed these were privately owned by the Lim patriarch, Mayor Fernandez built three bigger boats that plied the Pantal River to Pugaro from a small landing point beside Star Plaza.

Sayang yong mga infrastructure of the Daungan ed Dawel, which I think was funded at a cost of P11 million, since it had no right of way from the Bonuan-San Fabian Road.

The old right of way sliced from a portion of the San Marino Subdivision, through the latter’s generosity, and to the southern bank of the Dawel River.

Mayor Belen Fernandez needs to find a way to restore the services of that infrastructure. And better still, build two or three boats to provide tourists a chance to see another side of Dagupan.

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