How the Pangasinan capitol building was built

Here is an interesting account of the engineer who supervised the construction of the Pangasinan capitol in Lingayen, Pangasinan. His account was published on pp. 7-11 of the October 1, 1918 issue of the Quarterly Bulletin, a publication of the Bureau of Public Works at that time.  

By SOTERO BALUYUT

(Bureau of Public Works district engineer for the provinces of Isabela, Antique, Ilocos Norte, Bulacan and Pangasinan from 1912 to 1919.)

AIM. About the year 1886, during the Spanish régime a mixed building, of wood and adobe, with iron roofing was built to house the then provincial government. This building is located in the heart of Lingayen.

Since that time the Government has changed and this Spanish-designed building has become too small for adequately housing the new provincial government under American sovereignty. In 1911, a committee composed of the provincial board and the district engineer decided to plan for the erection of a new provincial center as soon as sufficient funds were available.

PLANS. The proposed center is probably the most elaborate yet planned, and calls for a capitol, court house, executive building, jail, garage, hospital, and residences for the provincial governor and the provincial treasurer. All the buildings are to be constructed of reinforced concrete, at a cost to the province of about a million pesos.

Summers in San Nicolas

The last time I was in San Nicolas was when Nielo insisted that I join him for lunch at his place a day after the Talong Festival. So I went there, tagging along a common journalist-friend I met earlier in a coverage. I thought that having lunch with him was a good opportunity for both of us to update each other, especially now that he is running for reelection. Besides, it’s been quite a while that I have not visited him.

I found Nielo at the front yard of Manong Lito’s mansion, which was actually built at the back of Nielo’s own house. It must have been 1 p.m. when I got there. But there were still groups of people having lunch in separate tables neatly set in the yard. I would later learn that his visitors were officials from the different barangays of Villasis. Nielo would tell me that every year, after the grand fiesta parade, these officials would flock to his house and he has to serve them lunch and engage them in conversation.

Times haven’t changed, I thought. At least for Nielo. As I watched him move from one table to another, shaking hands and sometimes patting the shoulders of the people he talked to, I was immediately reminded of our adolescent years and the escapades we shared together as close friends.

The Speaker and the Bishop

Ano kaya ang ibinubulong ni Speaker Jose de Venecia kay Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz? Hmmm... baka naman nangungumpisal? Ano man ang naging usapan nila, sila lang ang nakakaalam. The speaker and the archbishop had a chance meeting during the investiture of Engr. MacArthur Samson as second president of the University of Luzon. De Venecia, a die-hard supporter of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was guest of honor during the occasion. Cruz, archbishop of the Lingayen-Dagupan archdiocese, had consistently criticized the Arroyo administration for allowing the illegal numbers game, jueteng, to grow into a multi-billion business. He had also called for the resignation of Mrs. Arroyo after the controversial "Hello Garci" tapes came out.

Kaaron Gener’s farm

The last time I was in Congressman Gener Tulagan’s farm in Rosales town was in 2003. From where we parked our ride, we had to walk then on a muddy earth dike surrounding a freshwater fishpond to reach Kaaron Gener’s bahay kubo, which was strategically built in the middle of the farm.

Last week, I had a chance to visit the farm again when I covered President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s visit to the town to hear Mass at the grotto. To my surprise, its surroundings have changed a lot that I thought I was in a resort.

From the highway, there is now an access road wide enough for light vehicles to travel on. Inside the farm, there is also now a wide parking space where visitors can safely leave their vehicles. On the way to the bahay kubo are one-room bamboo cottages that may be used by guests staying overnight. Then, there is a covered function hall, where indoor games and small seminars may be held. Beside it is a screened structure that looks like a restaurant. To top it all, there is now a swimming pool.

Biometrics

Two weeks from now, city hall employees will have to queue up before a computer terminal four times a day to time in and to time out.

This is because the city government has acquired five biometrics-based timekeeping devices that will require each employee to have one of his or her fingers scanned for the computer to register the actual time the employee arrived in or left the city hall.

Biometrics (bī´´ō-met´riks), according to Webopedia (www.webopedia.com), an online encyclopedia dedicated to computer technology, is an authentication technique that relies on a person’s measurable physical characteristics that can be automatically checked.

These physical characteristics could be the person’s face, fingerprint, hand geometry, retina, iris, signature, vein, and voice.