(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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Posted on December 29th, 2007 by The Radioman |
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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.
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.
Read full story in Philippine Information Agency website
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.
Read full story in Philippine Daily Inquirer
A GERMAN national, now a long-time resident of Dagupan, is lending his hand in promoting the Philippines in his own country, hoping to entice German and European investors and tourists.
The good thing is Professor Manfred Ollik of Kassel City in Germany is doing this for free, just for his love of the Philippines, which he now calls his second home.
Ollik is a Knight Commander of Rizal in Germany, who now lives in Bonuan Gueset Centro in Dagupan. He said he has an endearing love for the Philippines and will do everything he can to improve its image in Germany and Europe.
Read full story in Philippine Information Agency website
After years of neglect, Dagupan’s most treasured heritage site – the Home Economics building at the West Central Elementary School – will soon be restored to its old glory.
The building was used as headquarters by American Gen. Douglas MacArthur after he landed in Pangasinan with Allied Forces on Jan. 9, 1945, to eventually liberate the Philippines from Japanese occupation during World War II.
Now its wooden beams are termite-eaten, and the building itself has sunk several inches into ground because of the July 1990 earthquake. Dagupan City Mayor Benjamin Lim said the need to restore the building has become urgent and necessary. “This is an important heritage site so we are making sure that this is protected,” he said.
Read full story in Philippine Daily Inquirer
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.
Read full story in the Sun.Star Online
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
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 — Every first day of January, it has been the tradition of residents of barangay Pogo Grande, this city, to meet the new year with a bang — and a big bang it is!
Dubbed as “Balon Kaaguan” (New Noon), residents donate and gather up unsold firecrackers and hang then up along the main barangay road. This snaking away of firecrackers is lit at the strike of 12 noon of January 1 with all the excitement of a fiesta.
More than a hundred meters of small and large firecrackers put together to build the longest Judas’ belt estimated to cost more than P100,000 never fails to draw people from all over the city to witness the event.
Read full story in the Philippine Information Agency website
