Mark: Report good side of MNR widening

by Virgilio Sar. Maganes

DAGUPAN CITY- Former 5th District Rep. Mark O. Cojuangco appealed to the group of media practitioners in Pangasinan to write also the brighter side of the Manila North Road widening project and not focus on the sentiments of the environmentalist groups and the provincial government on the cutting of trees.
Cojuangco’s appeal was made during a news conference at the Star Plaza Hotel here last September 10. He said what are almost written about in local newspapers and aired over radio stations were on the cutting of trees and not the benefits that can be derived from the project.

” I know that you need sensationalized news stories like what Father (Robert) Reyes done to dramatize his opposition on tree cutting by praying at the foot of a tree. My concern is for you also to inform the people why the project is being pursued and for the trees to be cut,” Cojuangco said.

He scored the provincial government for forging an agreement with the local officers of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and some environmentalist groups saying the signatories do not have the personalities to represent the department or agencies they belong to.
“That document is questionable. It is a ‘toilet paper’. The signatories (DENR and DPWH) are not even of the rank of regional directors, assistant secretaries, undersecretaries or secretaries of the departments. MNR widening is a national project. DENR should have not even participated on that. It is the one that issued the permit for the cutting of trees. Are they saying their decision is wrong? I think it was not a wrong decision,” he said.

Pangasinan reporter faces online libel

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

MANGALDAN , Pangasinan – This could be the first cyber crime law case in Pangasinan, if not in the country, against a media man.
Ronnel de Vera, columnist and reporter of Sunday Report, has been charged by the principal of the Mangaldan National High School (MNHS) with libel and cyber crime laws “for confederating and cooperating with three personnel of MNHS in imputing malicious charges and sowing dishonor to him.”
Rosalino T. Agpalo said Melissa D. De Guia, Priscilla G. Caberto, and Salvador Emuslan circulated middle of this year in the MNHS the libelous and defamatory article titled “The Journey Is Over for the Fattest & Greediest Crocodile in Mangaldan” printed on a coupon bond paper alluding to him as a certain “Lolong (crocodile)”, an educator with degrees in Ed. D and Ll.B.
Agpalo said the respondents committed several malicious and criminal acts against him that circulated in the papers by accusing him “ including, but not limited to, corruption, theft, bribery, malversation and illegal conversation of funds, attempted rape, acts of lasciviousness, and usurpation of authority”.
He said it was Caberto and Emuslan who circulated the poison articles written by De Guia while de Vera posted a copy of it at social network Face Book.
Agpalo said De Vera also published in his FaceBook account for the public to see an alleged vicious open letter purportedly addressed to the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) Officer and the Department of Environment & National Resources in Dagupan City. In that online article the respondents again claimed that “Lolong” has committed “corruption by unlawfully cutting some trees at the mini forest of the school and bringing them to his house. Excerpts of that article in the vernacular:

MAGANES: Tree cutting along MNR, a bane or boon?

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is in a quandary as to where the road widening project along the Manila North Road (MNR) will go. After the expiration of the permit issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on the cutting of trees last February this year, environmentalist groups and the provincial government are moving heaven and earth for the project not to push through.

The remaining almost 800 trees to be cut in Binalonan, Pozorrubio and Sison are subject of protests from environmentalist groups with the backing of the provincial government. However, former 5th District Rep. Mark O. Cojuangco is on the frontline in pushing for its completion. DENR has not put its hands yet on the issue. This is the same agency that granted the permit on the cutting of trees to give way to the road widening project, but seems to be sleeping on its job. Are the officials of DENR subservient to the protestations of the environmentalist groups? Are the environmentalist groups fully sincere on what they are fighting for- to preserve the environment?

The MNR road widening is a national project that underwent feasibility study. The government for sure had in its mind the safety of the people when the project was conceptualized and ready for implementation. Why is it that with only the voices of the environmentalists, the cutting of trees will not be continued? Why is it that the provincial government that was silent for years came into the picture in the guise of protecting the environment? Isn’t it appalling that environmental issues flooded the province just after Cojuangco announced his gubernatorial bid?
Cojuangco was not the one who issued the permit for the trees to be cut. It’s DENR’s turf and yet the provincial government as well as the environmentalists seemed to be pointing at him as the “culprit” of tree cutting activities. Cojuangco was one those who believed that the road widening project along MNR will provide greater benefits of the people in the 5th District of Pangasinan.

That same belief was echoed by the municipal/city officials of Rosales, Villasis, Urdaneta City, Binalonan, Pozorrubio and Sison when the Sangguniang Bayans/Panlungsod issued a resolution supporting the road widening project. 5th District Rep. Kimi S. Cojuangco of the House of Representatives is also supportive of the project. Isn’t Kimi the real representative of the people of 5th District in Congress?
It’s disheartening to note that MNR road widening project is being politicized. Back in 2010 when the cutting of trees was still being lobbied for permit, the provincial government under Governor Amado T. Espino Jr. did not take a stand against the planned activity. The board members in the 5th District were also aware of the project until such time that the cutting of trees and road widening was implemented. They are now opposing the cutting of the remaining trees because of pressures of the environmentalist groups.
These environmentalist groups did not oppose the illegal cutting of trees in the Mangatarem forest areas for the Pangasinan-Zambales roadline and the black sand mining in Lingayen coastal areas. Their action at present is a very clear issue of politics and not of protecting the environment. They could have decried the trees being cut in Mangatarem forests and the excavation of black sand in Lingayen where residents in the affected barangays protested.
Why not these provincial officials and environmentalists look into the benefits to be derived from the road widening project? Even with the presence of the Tarlac-Pangasinan- La Union Expressway (TPLEX), traffic congestion along MNR will not be solved. MNR is the main road artery going to business centers in Pangasinan especially in the 5th and 6th districts. The road widening project to make it a four-lane highway will provide easier mobility for businessmen and people thus reducing the costs on fuel for transport facilities. The TPLEX will be used for motorists going north of Manila with no intention to drop by in municipalities along the MNR.

Days of bad guys numbered – PNP

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

CAMP BGEN OSCAR M FLORENDO – With ongoing reforms like the Performance Governance System – Integrated Transformation Program (PGS-ITP) of the Philippine National Police, the days of criminals in the country are numbered.

POLICE TRANSFORMATION. Senior Superintendent Marlou C. Chan, Chief of the PNP Directorial Staff in Police Region l Office-1, instructs the members of the Technical Working Group’s panel he heads on how to evaluate a police chief on Performance Governance System – Integrated Transformation Program. The program is under the behest of the United Nation’s Millennium Challenge Corporation. Columnist Mortz C. Ortigoza (4th from left) of the Northern Watch Newspaper was one of the panel members.

Senior Superintendent Marlou C. Chan, chief of the Directorial Staff of the Police Regional Office-1, said t the PGS-ITP gives the PNP in a town, city, or province a quota of not less than three percent of confiscated loose firearms.
“If you can not do it with a search warrant, you can confiscate it by other modes like Oplan Sita (Operation Check-Up), checkpoints, Oplan Bakal (Operation Firearms), police response, and others,” he told recently Chief Inspector Rex Infante, Chief of Police of Mangatarem, Pangasinan and his staff when they underwent an evaluation on the initiative part of the PGS-ITP.
The police intelligence, according to Chan, plays a major role on apprehending those who possess illegal firearm and confiscate their weapons.