By Leonardo Micua

 

URDANETA Mayor Julio Parayno III was suspended again, not by the provincial capitol this time but through an order from Malacañang. His cousin, Vice Mayor Jimmy Parayno, was also suspended along with him. I don’t think politics has anything to do with their suspension, but certainly it is being exploited to the hilt by their opponents.

The case was filed by a former barangay captain of San Vicente, Michael Brian Perez, who was allegedly ousted by the two from his seat as Liga ng Barangay president and as ex-officio member of the Urdaneta City council.

Michael Brian is the son of former City Mayor Amadeo Perez IV and nephew of Fifth District Board Member Chinky Perez-Tababa, who is running for vice mayor of Urdaneta in May.

The Perezes formerly lorded over Urdaneta for many years before the Paraynos took over.

Aggrieved by his unceremonious ouster, Michael Brian filed cases for grave misconduct and grave abuse of authority against the Paraynos before the Office of the President in 2022.

The two Paraynos are suspended for one year (or six months for each of the two cases filed against them) starting January 7, 2025. Those in charge now are their political allies.

No. 1 Councilor Franco del Prado is acting mayor, and No. 2 Councilor Warren Andrada automatically succeeded as acting vice mayor,

Del Prado is up against reelectionist Ramon Guico Jr., father of incumbent Gov. Ramon Guico III, whose wife, Maan Tuazon -Guico is running for mayor against suspended Mayor Parayno.

Incidentally, the battlecry of Parayno supporters and of most Urdanetans today is “Urdaneta is for Urdanetans,” which means that they will not allow an outsider to rule their city.

At the inauguration of a newly built museum at city hall in the morning of January 8, Mayor Parayno was seen among the milling crowd, no longer as the city executive but as an ordinary citizen. When asked to comment about his suspension, he declined, citing the advice of his lawyer.

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The long unsettled issue as to where on the beaches of Pangasinan General Douglas MacArthur and his troops actually landed when they began the liberation of Luzon from the invading Japanese Army, was finally settled based on records of the MacArthur Memorial in Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.A.

James Zobel, archivist of the MacArthur Memorial, confirmed that General MacArthur announced his fulfillment of his “I shall return” promise to the Luzonians when he landed in Bonuan, Dagupan City in the afternoon of January 9, 1945. His flagship, Boise, docked in Bonuan Blue Beach at 2:00 in the afternoon. Then, he disembarked and waded ashore.

Recall that before the confirmation by the official archivist of the MacArthur Memorial, the actual landing place of the American general who spearheaded the liberation of Luzon from the enemy spiked an unending controversy among Lingayen, Dagupan and San Fabian, which all claimed the honor as the landing place of MacArthur.

The late Pangasinan historian Restituto Basa obtained a photograph of Karl Maidans, official photographer of MacArthur, showing Mac Arthur walking with his aides along the sand dunes that were teeming with cantaromas plant, which were then in abundance in Bonuan.

The 80th anniversary of landing of General MacArthur was celebrated at Tondaligan Park in Bonuan, the exact place where the American general landed on the afternoon of January 9, 1945.  

Spearheaded by Mayor Belen Fernandez, the celebration outlined an ambitious plan to build a replica of the landing scene in Bonuan at a cost of P60 million, to be funded by Senator Grace Poe. 

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In Lingayen, the 80th year anniversary of Mac Arthur landing was held at the beach as the Pangasinan Veterans Memorial Park built by past governors was done away by Governor Ramon Guico III to give way to the construction of what he called a first of its kind reflective pool.

January 9 is supposed to be Pangasinan Veterans Day in Pangasinan. But World War II and Korean War veterans and their kin are not at all happy because the place where they used to converge to reminisce their sacrifice so that the Filipinos can become free is now gone forever.

They said that if FVR is still alive today, he would not have let the incumbent provincial administration tear down to bits the Pangasinan Veterans Memorial Park he helped build during his time as President and before that, as secretary of national defense and chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

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