(The following article was published in the Feb. 1, 2008 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.)
By Gabriel Cardinoza
Northern Luzon Bureau
STO. TOMAS, PANGASINAN – If Dagupan City grilled milkfish in 2003 and Villasis town barbecued eggplants in 2005, this small eastern Pangasinan town will broil corn ears on Feb. 10 in its bid to break the Guinness World Records’ longest barbecue.
Vice Mayor Timoteo Villar III, chair of the first Corn Festival here, said his town would build a 5-kilometer barbecue along the highway to break the world record held by Hermosillo, Mexico, when it built a 1,290.4-meter barbecue on Nov. 20, 2006.
The Mexican effort toppled Dagupan’s 1,007.56-meter record set during the Bangus Festival on May 3, 2003.
“With the outpouring of support from our town mates and residents of neighboring towns, we are very confident that we will achieve our goal and that is to make Sto. Tomas get a world record,” said Mayor Vivien Villar.
The longest barbecue event will be among the highlights of the town’s centennial celebration, which began on Feb. 1. Sto. Tomas was founded on Feb. 10, 1908.
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DAGUPAN CITY — The first of five overpasses in the city is now rising and will soon be operational by mid February.
District Engineer Rodolfo Dion of the Pangasinan II Engineering District which covers the second and fourth congressional districts of the province said the overpass being constructed in front of the Dagupan City National High School along Tapuac road is about to be finished.
Next in line is another overpass to be constructed in front of the Philippine National Bank and the City Hall in A.B. Fernandez Avenue, the downtown area Three more are to be constructed in the areas of Nepo Mall in Arellano street, the old Pantranco terminal along MH Del Pilar and in front of the West Central School - St. John Cathedral along Burgos street, all particularly busy pedestrian areas.
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BAYAMBANG, PANGASINAN—The proponent of the P250-million sanitary landfill project here has started site preparation work for the facility after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources granted the project its environmental compliance certificate (ECC).
Abelardo Palad Jr., president of the Waste Integrated Network Systems (Wins) Inc., said his company is now clearing the 33-hectare site in Barangay Dusoc here of “all possible disturbances” that may hamper its construction.
The project consists initially of three cells (an excavated area where garbage will be compacted), a leachate (liquid produced from decomposing wastes) treatment plant, a material recovery facility, a composting plant, an administration building, a motor pool, a weigh bridge, a wash bay, a generator house and guard houses.
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DAGUPAN CITY — The United States Agency for International Development (Usaid) turned over disaster preparedness equipment to the eight barangays here that are recipients of the agency’s Project Promise.
The turnover of bancas and first aid supplies and equipment that include tents, life vests, transistor radio, megaphones, hard hats and flashlights to Barangays Bacayao Norte, Bacayao Sur, Lasip Chico, Mangin, Tebeng, Salisays, Lasip Grande, and Pogo Grande was held on Monday after a thanksgiving mass officiated by Rev. Father Rojohn Ramirez.
Mayor Benjamin Lim and Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez helped USAid communications specialist Kevin Donahue in turning over the items to the recipients.
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DAGUPAN City – Project PROMISE distributed various gadgets yesterday to eight pilot barangays here to enhance their disaster readiness capability.
“The provision of pilot devices will empower our barangays and equip them for any eventuality caused by hydro-meteorological hazards,” Mayor Benjamin Lim told People’s Journal.
Kevin Donahue, a USAID representative, and Lorna Victoria, vice president of the Center for Disaster Preparedness (CDP), turned over the gadgets.
Read full story in Journal Online
LINGAYEN — The rebuilt Domalandan Bridge here was inaugurated and opened again to motorists after almost six years of reconstruction work.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo led the inauguration rites. She was assisted by House Speaker Jose C. de Venecia, Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. and Lingayen Mayor Ernesto Castañeda.
Present were Second District Representative Amado Espino Jr., Pangasinan Governor Victor Agbayani, Vice Governor Oscar Lambino and Public Works Region 1 Director Fidel Ginez.
After the inauguration, Castañeda presented to the Arroyo a Municipal Council Resolution 189-2006 making her an adopted and favorite daughter of Lingayen.
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LINGAYEN, Pangasinan— President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said today the P745.5-million Domalandan Bridge here is just one of the many benefits the Filipino people are getting out of the tough economic reforms her administration implemented to rev up the economy.
In her brief message during the inauguration of the 600- meter long Domalandan Bridge linking Lingayen and Dagupan City to the western towns of Pangasinans, the President said the benefits of an improved economy are beginning to trickle down to the grassroots as part of the social payback to the people.
“This bridge (Domalandan Bridge) is for me just one of the social paybacks as a result of our efforts in improving our economy and putting our fiscal standing in order,” the President said in the Pangasinan dialect.
She said the improved economy has brought back the confidence of the international financial community on the Philippines and is now resulting to more investments and jobs for the Filipino people.
Read full story in the Office of the Press Secretary website
Two more persons drowned in separate areas of the Lingayen Gulf recently, joining the increasing number of swimmers who lost their lives there since December last year.
The latest drowning incidents occurred at the Jimenez beach in barangay Patar, Bolinao on Wednesday where the victim was identified in the police report as Cheffrey Partho, 26, of Imus, Cavite.
The other drowning victim was Tealby Pascual, 14, of barangay Matalava, Lingayen, who was carried by strong current while swimming along the Lingayen Beach last December 30.
The other drowning incidents occurred earlier in the beaches of Dagupan, Binmaley and San Fabian, all in the Lingayen Gulf.
Read full story in the Philippines News Agency website
DAGUPAN CITY – The garbage generated in this city has been drastically reduced by 80 percent, according to the city government’s waste management division.
Reginaldo Ubando, WMD chief, said that his office used to collect about 400 cubic meters of solid waste every month in 2005. But last year, he said, it collected only about 80 cubic meters a month.
“This is really a big waste reduction and it gave us big savings and allowed us to do more work,” Ubando said.
He attributed the solid waste reduction to the city’s “serious” implementation of RA 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
The law mandates, among others, waste segregation in every household; the recycling and composting of wastes in the barangay level; and the collection of residuals– wastes that cannot be recycled or composted—by the municipal or city government.
“I think is only our city that was able to implement the law on a citywide scale,” Ubando said.
As a result, he said, the city government also saved on diesel fuel for its garbage trucks and other equipment used in the operation of its controlled dumpsite in Bonuan Tondaligan here.
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DAGUPAN City – “We did it!”
This was the assessment of Dr. Jess Canto, director of Region 1 Medical Center, saying their “Oplan Paputok” campaign was successful with the help of the print and broadcast media.
Dr. Canto yesterday told People’s Journal that firecracker victims during the New Year revelry in the city was significantly lower. Only 34 persons were admitted to the R1MC compared to 51 last year.
Rolando Fernandez, R1MC chief nurse of the Surgical Department and Emergency Management staff, said aside from the 34 firecrackers blast victims, three others were wounded by improvised pillboxes and baby dynamites. Del Balano, 14, and Cristian Silot, 10, both of Mabila-o, San Fabian, Pangasinan, were hit by a pillbox explosion; and Adel Orjado, 29, of Madriaga St., Manaoag who was injured by a baby dynamite blast.
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