OFF-THE-AIR

The following article was published in the January 30, 2008 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

By Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon 

URDANETA CITY – To the Urdaneta City government, honoring an illustrious son was never too late. And on his 123rd birth anniversary on Jan. 18, city officials and residents gathered at a park to unveil a memorial for the late Sen. Pedro Ma. Sison, Pangasinan’s first senator.

Mayor Amadeo Perez Jr. said the one-hectare park, now known as the “Balikbayan Park,” would be renamed after Sison. A life-size bronze bust will also be erected there.

This will be the first time that a public place in Pangasinan will be named after the late senator. “Personally, I’m both sad and happy [about the memorial],” said lawyer Luis Sison, the senator’s grandson.

“[I’m] sad because it’s only now that we are coming out with a tribute for our grandfather. I’m happy because Mayor Perez gave us this opportunity to erect a memorial for Senator Sison,” he said.

Like many people in the province, Luis said he did not know much about the life of his grandfather because even in their family, they did not talk much about him. It was only when he read a book written by an uncle, Pedro Ma. Sison Jr., that he learned about the senator’s accomplishments as a public servant.

“I only learned of what he accomplished [from the book] and how his peers regarded him. In fact, [then Senate President Manuel] Quezon himself was a very close friend of Pedro Ma. Sison’s,” Luis said.

Well-known lawyer

He said his grandfather was a practicing lawyer before he joined politics. “He was very well known as a lawyer. He served indigents, those who could not afford to hire lawyers. That’s why he was a pauper,” he said.

The late senator also served in the provincial government as assistant treasurer during the American occupation.

Historian Rosario Mendoza Cortes, in her book “Pangasinan 1901-1986: A Political, Socioeconomic and Cultural History,” said Sison was first elected assemblyman in the 1912 elections, representing Pangasinan’s fourth district that included Urdaneta, his birthplace.

With the passage of the Jones Law in 1916 that created a bicameral, all-Filipino legislature, Sison ran for a Senate seat and won, making him the first senator from Pangasinan. He was reelected in 1919 and served until 1922.

Local historian Restituto Basa said Sison was one of the only two senators then who traveled to Washington D.C. to lobby for early Philippine independence. The Philippines then was an American colony following the defeat of the Spaniards.

Luis said his grandfather was among the first legislators who fought for women’s suffrage in the halls of Congress. It was only in 1937 that Filipino women were allowed to vote.

Sison town

One of the memorable legislations that the late senator sponsored was the merger of the two Spanish townships of Alava and Artacho into what is now known as Sison town (pop: 40,955) in northeastern Pangasinan.

But how the town got its name had conflicting historical accounts. According to Cortes, the town was named after Perfecto Sison, the first Pangasinan governor under the American regime.

The official websites of the provincial government (www.pangasinan.gov.ph and Sison town), however, said that when the resolution was approved by Congress, then American Governor General Leonard Wood “decreed that the fusion be made on May 1, 1918 –and the town was named Sison after its sponsor, Senator Sison.”

But according to Luis, other documents will prove that the town was named after his grandfather. He said former Vice Gov. Nancy Sison, now in her 80s, had executed an affidavit saying Sison town was named after the senator.

“When my grandfather died [on June 12, 1938], one of those who spoke in his funeral was then Pangasinan Gov. Servillano de la Cruz. And he mentioned in his speech that Sison town was named after Sen. Pedro Ma. Sison,” Luis said.

Youngest daughter

Only the late senator’s youngest daughter, Gracia Ayers, attended the Urdaneta celebration on Jan. 18. Her only living brother, Jesus, is now bedridden. The late senator had nine children.

Luis said no one among the senator’s descendants followed in his political footsteps. Three of the senator’s sons, including Sison’s father, Carlos, became lawyers. Among the grandchildren, only Luis became a lawyer.

“I’m the last lawyer in the Sison line and I don’t have a child who is a lawyer. I’m old, I’m already 65, so when I die, there’ll be no lawyer in our lineage,” Luis said.

The late senator was also Mayor Perez’s grandfather. Perez’s grandmother, Doña Trinidad Sison, was the senator’s sister.

I had a chance to cover President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in La Union last Sunday. It was one of the rare assignments I would get from from the bureau. Oh well, I got the assignment only because the first person the editors asked to be there could not make it.

As I was told, I should be in San Fernando City at 4 a.m. because the President would be there at exactly 6 a.m. With Cesar Ramirez of the Philippine Star, I drove all the way to La Union using the old Nissan pick up of Aksyon Radyo Pangasinan. We arrived there at about 4:10 a.m. and most of the streets there were already barricaded and manned by policemen, leaving drivers and early morning commuters no choice but to take the detour roads off the main highway.  

The first thing I did was to look for a parking space close enough to the venue but easy for us to leave once the coverage is over. I found Jollibee as an ideal place. Then Cesar and I roamed around the city plaza to find where the media will be positioned and to look for personnel from the Philippine Information Agency to ask for accreditation. They were nowhere to be found.

As we sat on the edge of one of the concrete plant boxes adorning the well-lighted city plaza, we could hear old people’s complaints about the street closure. Because for them to reach the church to attend the first mass, they had to have a long walk. Others, who were not going to the church, had to move three or four blocks away to wait for buses or jeepneys to take them where they would want to go.

The President did not arrive as I was told. What we witnessed instead were six busloads of cadets from the Philippine Military Academy, who will give the President arrival and departure honors. Cesar and I were smiling to see those cadets rehearse in their gray jogging pants and sweatshirts. The all looked untidy and harassed and unglamorous in those outfits.

As sunrise came, still, people from the PIA were not around. We were already starving and no fastfood chain or eatery was open at that time. We settled for a scoop of taho for our breakfast.

Then, employees from the different government agencies started to pour in. Apparently, they were all required to be there to be the crowd. The PMA cadets that all vanished like thin air also returned, now in their uniforms, making them look elegant and honorable men.

When PIA personnel finally appeared, we did not get our much-needed accreditation because they said, they have already ran out of the sticker. We were, however, able to get security tags for our recorders and cameras from the Presidential Security Group.

When the President finally arrived, it was already 7:51 a.m. She was in an aqua-green pantsuit and she looked elegant during the arrival honors as she and Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. trooped the line of PMA cadets. I watched in amusement my media colleagues, especially the photographers and cameramen, as they jostled for position everytime the President moved.

After the wreath-laying and departure honors, I sighed with relief, because the coverage is already over. We can finally have our breakfast and return to Dagupan.

Another difficult Presidential coverage.

There is a heated discussion now on where to build an international airport in Pangasinan. Mayor Nani Braganza wants it in Alaminos City and has in fact gotten the approval of President Macapagal-Arroyo. But Mayor Rey Velasco wants it built in Santa Barbara, as an alternative to the Loakan Airport in Baguio and because his town is nearer the key business centers of the province. Gov. Amado Espino Jr. is instead rehabilitating the Lingayen airport. Where do you think should the Pangasinan airport be built? Just asking.

Did you know that the Communist Party of the Philippines was born in Alaminos City 39 years ago? CPP founding chair Jose Ma. Sison confirmed this in an interview.

The following story was published on the front page of the Dec. 26, 2007 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Joma Sison recalls birth of CPP in Alaminos

By Gabriel Cardinoza
Philippine Daily Inquirer

ALAMINOS CITY, Philippines–The Communist Party of the Philippines marks its 39th anniversary Wednesday, but few residents of this bustling coastal city in western Pangasinan know that the CPP was born in one of their upland barangay or villages.

Mayor Hernani Braganza, a former member of the Kabataang Makabayan, a leftist group that went underground when martial law was declared in 1972, said he learned about this fact only in 2001. He was then the agrarian reform secretary and member of the government panel engaged in peace talks with the CPP’s political arm, the National Democratic Front (NDF).

Braganza said it was CPP founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison who told him about it during a meeting in the Netherlands, where the latter has lived in self-exile since the late 1980s.

Sison, the chief political consultant of the NDF, confirmed in an e-mail to the Inquirer that it was in a “barrio” in Alaminos where the CPP “congress of reestablishment” was held on Dec. 26, 1968.

According to Braganza, that barrio is the remote Barangay Dulacac at the tri-boundary of Alaminos and the towns of Bani and Mabini.

Full story

VILLASIS, Philippines — Presidential Chief of Staff Michael Defensor appealed to the Ombudsman on Friday to temporarily stop the suspension of local officials, who are facing various charges.

Defensor, who inaugurated the town hall here, said the implementation of suspension orders ahead of the May elections had been used by members of the opposition in criticizing the Arroyo administration.

“We do not intend to preempt the Ombudsman because it’s an independent body, but we hope they will see that we do not need these situations in the middle of an election period,” he said.

He said the suspension or dismissal of local officials had repercussions on the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Read full story in the Philippine Daily Inquirer 

DAGUPAN CITY — Mayor Ricardo Evangelista of Aguilar, Pangasinan said here today he was surprised to have learned that he was being suspended from office by the Ombudsman for a complaint against him that he did not know about.

“I was surprised. I did not know that there was a complaint against me,” Evangelista said in an interview over Aksyon Radyo here.

He said he never received any subpoena to allow him to answer the charges and he just learned about the complaint when the Department of the Interior and Local Government provincial office in Lingayen town served his supension order last Saturday.

The Ombudsman ordered the preventive suspension of Evangelista four months for alleged dishonesty and misconduct arising from his alleged irregular disbursement of the town’s special education fund.

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SAN CARLOS CITY – The Commission on Audit has cleared Mayor Julian Resuello of any wrongdoing in various city government transactions, which were enumerated in a complaint against him here.

In a report released today, the COA Legal Adjudication Office, which formed a special audit team, said the complaint of one Carlito Naval of this city was baseless because the audit team did not find any anomaly in any of the transactions.

The report was signed by Carlos Francis Santiago, team leader of the special audit team.

In his complaint, Naval said that the city government renovated the old city mayor’s office for P500,000 without the benefit of a contract; bought heavy equipment vehicles for P60 million; and built a P7-million shed inside its new public market.

He also said that the Resuello bought 24 overpriced motor vehicles, which were used by the mayor’s relatives; and received an unrecorded donation of P500,000 for the construction of a waiting shed in front of the plaza.

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LINGAYEN, PANGASINAN – Gov. Victor Agbayani has finally broken his silence on the inclusion of his name in the administration’s senatorial slate in the May elections.

In a news release, Agbayani said he is honored to be included in the slate “as this may represent acknowledgment of all the work we have done in Pangasinan.”

“[But] this needs careful study. For one, I will need to consult our leaders in the province to determine how or in what capacity they would wish me to continue to serve,” Agbayani, who is on his last term, said.

Last Sunday, Speaker Jose De Venecia, told local media practitioners in Manaoag, Pangasinan that Agbayani was among those who have been recommended by administration coalition leaders in the senatorial line up, which included Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, also a Panagsinense.

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DAGUPAN CITY – Two congressmen, a vice governor, a former police general; and the doctor-wife of the governor may slug it out in a free-for-all gubernatorial race in Pangasinan this May.

Pangasinan’s second district Rep. Amado Espino Jr. had told newsmen here he has been aiming for the gubernatorial seat, which will be vacated by Gov. Victor Agbayani, who is now on his last term.

“It’s still an option and I’ve been preparing for it,” Espino, who is now on his second term, said.

Sixth district Rep. Conrado Estrella III, despite reports he had decided to seek reelection for his last term in his district, has not “completely dropped out of the race yet.”

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URDANETA Vice Mayor Charizzma Salud Carancho and her father, Pangasinan Fifth District Board Member Emmanuel Carancho, will exchange positions in the upcoming May elections.

The elder Carancho is in his third and last term as board member and is eyeing his daughter’s current position, while the vice mayor will attempt to go back to the Provincial Board (PB) where she was once a member as sectoral representative. The younger Carancho served as president of the Philippine Councilors League (PCL)-Pangasinan chapter from 2001 to 2004.

Political observers said Chu is “a shoo-in to one of the two seats for regular board members.”

Emmanuel is confident his daughter will make it as “they have done their best to serve their constituents.”

Read full story in Sun.Star Online