GOV. ESPINO RECEIVES GSP TRIENNIAL CITATION

AWARD FOR PROMOTING SCOUTING MOVEMENT

LINGAYEN – Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr. was recently conferred a Triennial Citation Award by the Girl Scouts of the Philippines (GSP) for helping advance the scouting objective of instilling the right values among the youth and preparing them for good citizenship and the responsibilities of adulthood and nation-building.

The award was presented to Gov. Espino by GSP officials led by National Council President Susan Locsin during the installation of the GSP Council Board Members for Triunnium 2015 to 2018 held July 10 at the President hotel here.

Locsin was assisted by Judge Maybelle D. Marinas, GSP regional chairperson, Laila Morales, GSP regional executive director, GSP Pangasinan council president Dr. Perla T. Cornel and other council members.

Espino was cited for his continuing support of GSP programs, projects and

activities, most notably the construction of the new GSP Pangasinan Council

headquarters within the sprawling Capitol grounds in Lingayen.

In his response, Gov. Espino said his administration, which places the highest

priority on youth development, is always “prepared” to lend its support in promoting

the scouting movement, especially in the task of inculcating in the young the highest

standards of morality and service, crucial elements needed in creating a strong,

responsible and patriotic citizenry.

The girl scouting movement reached Philippine shores in 1939 through famous

suffragist Josefa Llanes Escoda, first Filipina leader to complete basic scouting lessons in the United States. The GSP is the female counterpart of the Boy Scouts whose origins are traced back to as early 1907 when it was first started by Lord Baden Powell at the Crystal Palace in London.

Baden-Powell had adopted “Be Prepared” as the scouting movement’s motto, which meant “you are always in a state of readiness in mind and body to do your duty.”

Similarly, the girls scout aim is to “empower girls to help teach values such as honesty, fairness, compassion, character, siserhood, confidence and tizizenship through activities including camping, community service, learning first aid, and earning badges by acquiring practical skills.”

Girl Scouting achievements are recognized through rank advancement, its most coveted awards being the Girl Scout Bronze, Silver and Gold.

In 1994, the “Chronicle of Philanthrophy” poll showed that the Girl Scouts had ranked among the highest in the undertaking of charity work all over the world, including the Philippiness. (PIO/R. Bernardino)

GOV. ESPINO, JR CONFIDENT OF TEAM PANGASINAN’S

STRONG SHOWING IN 2015 BATANG PINOY LUZON LEG

LINGAYEN – With rigid training and proper conditioning under the watchful eyes of established sporting names and training experts provided by the provincial government, Pangasinan entries are given excellent chances to place prominently in the Batang Pinoy-Luzon Leg scheduled July 17-22 in Malolos City, Bulacan.

Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr. and other provincial officials were on hand in according Team Pangasinan, composed of 231 fifteen-year-old-and-above athletes, coaches and delegation officials, a warm send-off ceremony last July 15 at the Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center (NRSCC) gymnasium.

In an inspiring pep talk, Gov. Espino exhorted the Pangasinan young athletes to “bring back the bacon” that will equal, if not surpass, their excellent showing in Batang Pinoy competitions, Team Pangasinan having emerged second over-all runner-up in the annual meet during the past two years.

Gov. Espino rallied the young athletes to “Go for Gold” by exerting their best, saying “… it is not only for the prestige and glory of your beloved province, but more so keeping the faith, you being role models for your fellow young people as vanguards of the provincial ideal of developing strong and well-motivated citizens who will one day hold the torch in our collective duty and responsibility to nurture and advance the interests and well-being of our province and people.”

For his part, provincial sports coordinator, Modesto Operania, reminded the delegation that their provincemates place high expectations on the Pangasinan Batang Pinoy team by proving equal to the trust and confidence given them by the Pangasinan officialdom, especially Gov. Espino who had repeatedly described the young Pangasinan athletes as the “official delegates” of the province.

Over the past four years, Team Pangasinan have figured well in the Batang Pinoy competitions, their performance steadily showing a marked improvement.

Team Pangasinan had romped off with the over-all team championship in the 2012

Batang Pinoy regional/Luzon leg and placed back-to-back 2nd runner-up in 2013 (held in Iba, Zambales) and in 2014 (held in Naga City).

Team Pangasinan has climbed up the Batang Pinoy national games leader board by placing 18th in 2011, 15th in 2012, 11th in 2013 and 9th place in 2014 in over-all ranking.

The local young athletes will vie for dominance in Arnis, Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Futzal, Boxing, Chess, Cycling, Karatedo, Lawn Tennis, Sepak Takraw, Swimming, Taekwondo, Table Tennis, Volleyball, Basketball (3/3) and Wrestling.

/Mark Gerry Naval Oblanca

Indian company to plow in another

Php 675 M to expand seed complex

By Abe P. Belena

ROSALES, Pangasinan– An Indian agri-business firm announced today it is expanding the seed processing complex it has built here and is ready to plow in another US $ 15 million (Php 675 M) in the next five years.

The new investment will be on top of its $10 million (Php 450 M) initial investment Prasad Seeds Philippines, Inc. has shoveled into a corn seed processing facility that formally opened for operations on a five-hectare lot in Barangay Salvacion close to the border of Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija.

The announcement was made by Karumanchi Prasad, chairman and managing director of India-based Prasad Seeds and his strategic consultant , former Agriculture Secretary William Dar, in separate interviews at the tail-end of the complex’s inaugural rites.

Prasad said that the new investment will focus on processing quality palay seeds not just for the local market but also for export to other countries. The initial investment is a facility that dries, sorts out, classify, fumigate and package hybrid corn seeds produced by Syngerta in Binalonan and other eastern Pangasinan towns.

India, a SouthAsia country with 1.2 billion consumers, is one of the newest partners in the Asean plus five economic community that started pulling down all trade and investment barriers this year.

In his speech earlier in the day, the Indian investor projected that Pangasinan will become the seed capital of the Philippines and the country is capable of becoming the quality seed hub of the Asia-Pacific region if all stakeholders work together towards that end.

Prasad Seeds is the third seed company based in Pangasinan, coming behind Syngerta based in the town of Binalonan and East-West Seed based in the town of Tayug.

Syngerta is a multinational company whose Asian operations are headquartered in Singapore while East-West is one of the largest hybrid vegetable seed grower and distributor in the country.

Former DA Secretary Dar said that Pangasinan was chosen as the operations base of Prasad because it has wide and fertile agricultural lands that can sustain economies of scale in quality seed production which can later be expanded to neighboring Tarlac and Nueva Ecija.

Speaking for Governor Amado T. Espino, senior provincial board member Alfonso Bince said that with board member Ranjit Ramos-Shahani they will co-author and shepherd to passage a provincial ordinance granting a five-year exemption from real estate taxes to the pioneering seed processing complex.

SP Enacts Law on Unsafe Acts of Bus Drivers

LINGAYEN – The Sangguniang Panlalawigan has enacted an ordinance prohibiting and penalizing the unsafe and obstructive acts of bus drivers and inspectors during routine inspection and checking of passenger tickets while their buses are in transit along the national highway in Pangasinan.

Provincial Ordinance No. 27-2015 saw its approval during the SP’s regular session held on July 13.

Board Member Raul Sison who authored the resolution stressed the need for the regulatory measure to protect the lives and limbs of people from probable danger when traveling.

Sison said the ordinance also seeks to prevent unreasonable delay of other road users, particularly in Pangasinan, as he noted the common practice of two bus drivers who habitually stop their transport vehicles on opposite directions in the middle of the road to accommodate alighting and boarding inspectors, causing undue inconvenience.

Persons covered under the ordinance include all drivers and inspectors of common carriers, particularly buses, plying the roads within the province.

Violators will be fined P1, 000 each (driver or inspector) for first offense, P2, 000 for 2^nd offenders and P5, 000 and imprisonment of not more than 30 days, or both after due notice and hearing for 3^rd offenders.

A second ordinance, Provincial Ordinance No. 26-2015 was also enacted during the same session which provides for the policies and fees of the Carotid Duplex Scan procedure at the Pangasinan Provincial Hospital (PPH) in San Carlos City. The ordinance amends Provincial Tax Ordinance No. 1-2012, imposing fees for the use of the equipment.

The ordinance, authored by BM Napoleon Fontelera, calls for the use of the Carotid Duplex Scan equipment at the Heart Station of the PPH by a vascular medicine consultant who is a Board Certified Cardiologist, together with a trained vascular technician as required by the Philippine Society of Vascular Medicine.

Fees and charges will cost out-patients and in-patients the amount of P2, 800 and a reader’s fee of P1, 000. Charity and indigent patients who are excluded from paying the reader’s fee will be charged a lesser amount of P2, 500 which will likewise be charged under the Philhealth program.

PPH DIALYSIS CENTER AGAIN OPERATIONAL. The Pangasinan Provincial Hospital, on instructions from Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr., has promptly restored to full operation the Mayor Julian Resuello Dialysis Center in San Carlos City. Photo shows Board Member Generoso Tulagan, Jr., Provincial Health Officer (PHO) Anna Ma. Theresa and PPH Chief Policarpio R. Manuel were on hand when the dialysis center was reopened recently to needy patients. / J. Tamayo

P’SINAN NURSES IN TOP 21 LICENSURE EXAMS. One of the largest contingents of successful Pangasinan passers in the history of the Nursing Licensure Exams (NLE) given annually by the Philippine Regulatory Commission (PRC) proudly recounted their successes in a happy meeting with Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr. at the Capitol recently. The top 2015 NLE passers are graduates of the University of Pangasinan-PHINMA./T.Quimson

Indian firm builds P45- M

corn processing plant in Pangasinan

An Indian company is set to formally open on July 15 a US$10 million corn processing plant it has built on a five hectare lot in Salvacion, Rosales, Pangasinan.

The formal opening of the completed project was announced by Exequiel Magsaysay, corporate secretary of the Prasad Seeds Philippines, Inc., a subsidiary of the Indian multinational agri-business company, Prasad Seeds.

In peso term, the investment would be equivalent to Php 450 million by the latest exchange rate. It was the single biggest foreign investment in this Northern Luzon province in recent years.

The last foreign investment before this was sank into the San Roque Multipurpose Dam Project in the town of San Manuel, a facility that generates cheap electricity as well as irrigation water to a wide swat of agricultural lands in Pangasinan and two nearby provinces.

“Prasad Seeds, a global company headquartered in Hyderabad, India is expanding this year worldwide starting in the Philippines,” Magsaysay announced in a letter sent to newsmen invited to witness the opening of the investment project.

Prasad Seeds Philippines is initially providing tolling services such as sorting, grading, processing and packaging corn seeds for another global seed company, Syngenta, Magsaysay added.

Prasad Seeds Philippines is committed in supporting the goal of the Department of Agriculture and the province of Pangasinan at making the province the seed capital of the Philippines, Magsaysay further said.

Two big seed companies are already based in the province.

In the long term, the company aspires to help convert the Philippines as the seed hub of Asia.

Pasyar Pangasinan Held

LINGAYEN- Another group of Lakbay Aral participants from Calasiao expressed their appreciation to Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr. and the whole of the provincial government for having the opportunity to have a glimpse of the various transformations done by the present administration to give the province a new and improved face.

The senior citizens of Barangay Ambuetel in Calasiao and some members of their families were the recent visitors who were treated to a tour of the Capitol complex and some tourist sceneries of Pangasinan last July 6 through the “Pasyar Pangasinan” program of the provincial government, which aims to showcase the beauty of the province and the beautiful transformation done by the present administration.

Vice Governor Jose Ferdinand Calimlim, Jr. who led other members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan in welcoming the 168 senior citizens of Barangay Ambuetel at the Sison Auditorium here said that Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr., and the provincial government are happy over the appreciation expressed by the group on the various developmental undertaking and achievements by the province since the Espino administration took over in 2007.

Calimlim said the eight-year administration of Gov. Espino has taught Pangasinenses to give importance to their place of origin, their history and culture and become proud of themselves as Pangasinenses.

Speaking on behalf of Gov. Espino, VG Calimlim thanked the people of Barangay Ambuetel especially the senior citizens for playing inspiration that gave them, as officials of the province, the determination to exert their best efforts in bringing about development.

Meanwhile, Board Member Amado “Pogi” I. Espino III, also urged the citizenry of Calasiao especially the senior citizens that they have a role to play and a big help of inculcating into the youth’s minds the nobility and sincerity of the present administration’s ambition to make the youth give importance to our heritage.

The young Espino told the elders that they are a living testimony who can relay to the youth what happened during the past and compare it to the present.

BM Espino, told the older visitors that they are the province’s instruments in teaching the future generation to love their native land and promote it as well, as he urged everyone to unite and work for a common goal, that is, to provide a better future for the next generation.

“Magsama-sama tayo sa pangangalaga ng mga susunod na henerasyon para sa kanilang magandang kinabukasan,” said BM Espino who is also the Liga ng mga Barangay president.   /ADV