Let’s welcome the Year of the Dog

By Iluminado Varela Jr.

The new year is known as the Year of the Dog.

Although highly regarded in the Orient or East, the dog gets unkind words and insults from the Westerners who say the dog is man’s best friend.

The English language has colorful but cruel words and thoughts for the dog – the 11th of the 12 animal in the Chinese lunar sign.

What does the West say when he wants a fellow man to deteriorate or degenerate? “Go to the dogs.” A low and contemptible fellow is “a dog.” A wretched existence is a “dog’s life.” “Dog days” are hot and uncomfortable days.

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Lawmen uproot P47 million worth of marijuana plants in Ilocos Sur

SUGPON, Ilocos Sur — A total of 168,000 fully-grown marijuana plants and 70,000 seedlings
worth P46.4 million million were uprooted by lawmen in the mountainous tri-boundaries of Ilocos Sur, La Union and Benguet.

Ilocos Sur Police Director Sr. Supt. George Regis said on Wednesday said the 5.5-hectare marijuana plantation in sitios Bekes, Nagawa and Nacneng were reportedly tilled by Santos Alakdis and his brother Pedro.

Judge inhibits self from hearing case vs accused in slay of fellow judge

TAYUG, Pangasinan — A judge of the Regional Trial Court here has inhibited himself from hearing the case against the two accused in the brutal murder of his fellow judge sometime in September last year.

However, Judge Ulysses Raciles Butuyan of RTC Branch 51 said his order dismissing the case against the two accused, Elmer Cabiles and Jornald Vargas, last Nov. 30 for lack of probable cause, still stands.

The case against the two accused involved the slaying of Pasay City Judge Estrellita Paas,61, in her home in
Natividad, Pangasinan sometime in September.

Holdup men take P800,000 from bank employees

VILLASIS, Pangasinan — Holdup men struck early Tuesday morning along an isolated portion of a provincial road in barangay Unzad here and robbed two bank employees of more than P800,000.

Chief Inspector Jimmy Agtarap, chief of police of Villasis, identified those held up as Alfredo Fernandez, 47, inspector/appraiser of the Rural Bank of Malasiqui, Villasis branch; and Teodulfo Gamboa, 24, bank clerk.