ALAMINOS CITY, Pangasinan—Be romantic
on your wedding day. Make it happen at the world- famous Hundred Islands located in this city for free.

This Valentine’s Day, the city government is set again to sponsor a Valentine’s Day wedding at the Lucap Wharf, the jump-off point to the scenic Hundred Islands National Park (HINP).

Reynaldo Castro, head of the Local Civil Registry (LCR) said his office welcomes would-be couples who wish to be part of this memorable event. About 100 to 150 couples from the city’s 39 barangays either to tie the knot or renew their wedding vows are expected to join.

All interested couples still have until January 31 to file their wedding applications at the LCR.

For the past two years, the Valentine’s Day wedding was held at Bolo Beach in
barangay Pandan.

With the scenic view of the HINP as a backdrop, the perfect setting and romantic ambiance at the wharf and the mammoth crowd witnessing this unforgettable affair of the hearts, the wedding couples will definitely treasure every moment of their sunset Valentine’s wedding, Mayor
Hernani Braganza said.

Braganza will again administer the wedding ceremonies for the third straight year. He, his wife Stella and the city and barangay officials will also serve as principal sponsors to the would-be brides and grooms.

The Braganza administration has institutionalized this free mass civil wedding as a humble gift to the less privileged
Alaminians who could not afford a decent, much less a dream wedding.

The initiative is also one of the many ways of reviving the old magic of the Hundred Islands and at the same time infusing love, joy, romance and sense of spirituality into the city’s pride, the mayor said.

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BUGALLON, Pangasinan, Philippines—This town, about seven kilometers away from the capital town of Lingayen, is eyeing to get national attention when it stages its Deremen Festival during its annual town fiesta celebration in November.

Mayor Rodrigo Orduña told this writer that they are now coordinating with various sectors in the town as they intend to cook the biggest inlubi, a delicacy made of deremen, also known as pinipig (glutinous rice colored black cooked with coconut milk) at the town plaza.

Deremen is a favorite Pangasinan glutinous rice delicacy available during the months of September to December. It is especially planted with the locally known macaroyo variety, harvested at a tender age, smoked and pounded with a rhythm at night using a farmer’s equipment known as lasong or taltalan.

This coming November 30, Bugallon will celebrate its annual fiesta
celebration and this year’s fest promises to be a unique and exciting one,
with the planned “ Deremen Festival”, Orduña said.

He added that they will also show different ways to cook deremen.

He said they would like to go back to history when deremen or different ways of cooking it like inlubi was the main food on the table of Pangasinenses during All Saints’ Day or All Souls’ Day on November 1 and 2 respectively for their guests to enjoy.

“Maybe we’ll just try with a small event,” the mayor said.

He said deremen is called “a labor of love” because the long process is tedious before one could have and enjoy it.

ALAMINOS CITY—Tourism in this world-famous Hundred Islands takes a new boost, twist and excitement once the planned amphibious planes take off next month to tour around tourists here.

Mayor Hernani Braganza said AirFlite Airways, a Filipino-owned company, has coordinated with him for the initial deployment of two amphibious aircrafts which are both 12- seater.

Rates are however still to be finalized soon.

Braganza said AeroFlite will conduct test flights as early as September and hopefully they will be full operational within that month as well.

“This will bring the Hundred Islands closer to destinations from all around regions 1, 3 and CAR (Cordillera Administrative Region),” he said.

He said they are also designing a concept similar to air safari. “You take the plane, you land here, visit the islands, even the remotest islands in the Philippines can be reached by this type of plane,” Braganza said.

The plane can land either by coastal or by land, he added.

“This will be a big boost to the province of Pangasinan in terms of bringing in people and investments,” he added.

“I’m very sure this will be a very unique experience,” Braganza said.

Through an agency and with coordination with the local government,, the US-made still engine turbo prop, can be chartered to bring passengers from Alaminos City to other destinations in Luzon and Visayas, said Capt. Jerome John Valera, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the company.

This means, passengers will enjoy the comfort and convenience of touring around the Hundred Islands by plane and also go to Subic or Clark or Laoag or even Boracay and Baguio City, Valera said.

Valera said,” We feel that it’s what the Philippines needs to link all the islands and the resorts”.

AeroFlite started in 1998 as a flight school based in Manila and only recently did it come up with this project to start a chartered service using this aircraft because as Valera said they came up with a list of tourist destinations and decided to start the service here because it is very close to Manila.

He said they also have plans of servicing Boracay but they still have to make arrangements with the local government unit there.

He admitted that their target market is the people from upper class who will now be enjoying “the comfort of going to destinations from shore to shore without transfers anymore”. –

DAGUPAN CITY—Five dolphins were seen along the coastal waters here the other day and two of them beached. However one died while the other was wounded but released back to the sea while the rest casually swam back.

Dr. Westly Rosario, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) center chief here, told this writer that before lunch Saturday, Emma Molina, the city agriculturist reported to him about one wounded dolphin which was kept inside an empty fish cage in Bonuan Sabangan here.

Rosario instructed his aquaculturist Rocky Ferrer who was trained about caetaceans (whales and dolphins) to look into the dolphin’s condition and to give the necessary medical aid.

After treating the bottle-nosed dolphin (Stenella longinostris), grayish in color, with whitish belly and about four feet long, it was brought back to the sea.

But based on the account of a certain Charlie Dacanay, a beachgoer, he allegedly saw five dolphins.

Later, about 5:00 p.m. Saturday, the maritime police went to the BFAR center here located in Bonuan Binloc to turn over another dolphin which had also bullet wounds. It was believed that this is part of the group of five of dolphins sighted along Bonuan area that day.

However, while Rosario was giving instructions to his men on what to do about it, the second dolphin died and was buried inside the 500 square-meter lot whales and dolphins cemetery inside the BFAR compound.

Rosario appealed to the people not to harm these sea animals especially that there are three more in the group which are believed to be swimming around the area.

Several dolphins and whales sharks have been sighted along the coastal areas here and in the towns of Binmaley, Lingayen and San Fabian. Some of them beached after being wounded with gun shots. Some were successfully treated and brought back to the sea while others died.

ALAMINOS CITY—Come to Hundred Islands National Park but strictly no eating of its giant clams.

A Taiwanese national who came here learned a hard lesson when he was apprehended by Bantay Dagat personnel for killing a giant clam (Tridacna gigas) at the Quezon Island apparently as an aphrodisiac food.

Mayor Hernani Braganza told this writer in a phone interview that Tsoa Kuang-Chih, temporarily residing at Baguio City, was arrested for violating Section 97 of the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998 (RA 8550) and the National Integrated Protected Area System Act (RA7586).

Perhaps amazed by the presence of several giant clams in the park, Tsoa could not resist harvesting one and cooked it kilawen style ( its meat sliced and mixed with vinegar, ginger, onions, pepper and salt).

Braganza said Tsoa was with a group of visitors and they had a tourist guide who warned them that such act of getting giant clams is prohibited. But when the guide left, Tsoa followed his instinct and got one giant clam. A boatman saw him and reported the incident to the authorities.

Tsoa apologized for his act and claimed he didn’t know about Philippine laws governing giant clams. But he was nonetheless fined with P40,000 or less than a thousand US dollars.

The penalty was based on the gravity of his offense along with the number of years of the giant clam multiplied with its current value appraised by city’s fish examiner and Tanggol Kalikasan, Public Interest Environment Law Office based in the city headed by Atty. Nhelie Lagura.

Braganza said the city government allows tourists to take pictures, snorkel and hold the giant clams. “But we let them (tourists) know that they just cannot poach or hunt giant clams, collect corrals and gather bonsais at our city’s protected treasure,” he said.

In mid 1990s, then President Fidel Ramos, Braganza’s uncle, initiated the giant clam seeding at the Hundred Islands.

Braganza has taken huge strides in realizing his vision of making the park the Giant Clam Garden of Asia and conservation of the city’s protein bowl.

The Giant Clam and Corral Garden near the Quezon Island is one of the main tourist attractions today at the national park.

No less than 7,000 giant clams at the Hundred Islands are currently being protected by the city government’s Bantay Dagat and the local police.

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan—Very soon, Pangasinan will carve a new name as the Festival Capital of the country with its array of festivals in many towns and cities in the province.
In Metro Manila, May 1 is a day of street protest among workers pressing for wage increase and other benefits.

But not in Pangasinan where May 1 is a day of swimming and family picnic along the province’s long stretch of beautiful beaches. Not only Pangasinenses have made it a tradition to troop to the beaches, enjoy the summer heat by swimming all day long and partaking of home-cooked food for a day of picnic at the sea during the first of May.

What used to be a simple thanksgiving for the bounties of the sea has evolved into a week-long event of trade and food fair, singing and dancing, selection of Pangasinan’s most beautiful lady. And then came the parade of Pangasinan’s festivals which draws more and more tourists.
“

Each town has its own characteristics and traditions. In a sense, we unite everybody here by putting what we have,” said Governor Victor Agbayani.

Those who had established their own festival were invited to join the parade held in front of the Capitol Building here on May 1. On that day, thousands of Pangasinenses and those living in nearby provinces came and enjoyed the merriment as they watched street dancers gaily dance to the beat of the drums under the scorching summer heat, clad in colorful costumes and depict through their dance steps how their own festival came into existence.

Pandan Festival

Through the initiative of Mapandan Mayor Jose Ferdinand Calimlim, Pandan Festival highlights the unique product of the town, pandan (screw pine) from which its town’s name was derived from.

The first Pandan Festival in 2003 showcased the town’s agricultural wealth, a celebration of its people’s industry and diligence as well as a commemoration of the town history.
In 2004, Pandan Festival traced legends highlighting the origin and various uses of the pandan plant. Last year, the celebration focused on the status of the town as a community and the origin of its barangays.

This year, it featured its traditions and cultures as well as a one-of-a kind cookfest that exotic ingredients like frogs, bats, monitor lizard, among others.
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DAGUPAN CITY—About half a million people are expected to converge here for the staging of the world- renowned Kalutan ed Dagupan (Grill in Dagupan) that has made this city a Guinness World Record holder for longest barbeque
on April 30 at 5:30 p.m.

This is the culminating activity of the Bangus Festival, now on its fifth year, according to Councilor Nick Aquino, this year’s Bangus Festival chairman. Aquino said the Kalutan promises to be the ultimate party where people from all walks of life can watch various well known performers along A.B. Fernandez Avenue, the city’s main thoroughfare while they grill the tastiest bangus (milkfish) in the world.

There will be 12 concert stages to be set up to accommodate a host of celebrities and popular bands to perform during the affair.

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SAN CARLOS CITY, Pangasinan—This city keeps its lead as the top mango producer in Pangasinan for the last 15 years and shows its supremacy through the holding of another year of the Mango/Bamboo Festival set this April 29.

Mayor Julian Resuello told local newsmen that San Carlenians have mastered the mango industry and in fact the skilled workers in mango farming including capitalists go to 13 other provinces in the country to share their skills and earn money by taking care of other mango farms in Cagayan Valley, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Ecija, Zambales, Bataan, Pampanga, Tarlac, Ilocos Sur,
Ilocos Norte, among others.

“We have very sweet mangoes here perhaps due to our soil,” Resuello said. The city is known for its sweet carabao mangoes. Describing mango growing as “very profitable”, Resuello said each kilo of three pieces of green mangoes sells at P21 while ripe mangoes are priced at P40 a kilo.
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ALAMINOS CITY—Tourism takes a big boom here as the city mayor reported a 70 percent increase of tourist arrivals in the world-famous Hundred Islands National Park (HINP).

Mayor Hernani Braganza told local reporters that 30 percent of the increase was contributed by foreign tourists and 40 percent by local tourists.

He said that their target tourist arrival this year is 250,000 which is a jump by 150 percent from their last year’s aim.

The entrance fee in going to the islands is pegged at P20 per person, the cheapest in the entire country, Braganza said.

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DAGUPAN CITY—About 4,000 delegates of the Private Schools Athletic Association (PRISAA) National Games will experience the fun and excitement of the Kalutan ed Dagupan (Grill in Dagupan) that made this city a world record holder when they themselves will grill bangus (milkfish) in a repeat of the world famous grill tonight (Wednesday, Feb. at the city plaza.

Lawyer Gonzalo Duque, president of PRISAA and regional president of said sports organization in region 1 who spearheads this week-long sports competition in Pangasinan, said this will be a once-in-a-lifetime treat for the athletes and the first time that a national event staged in this premier province will themselves take part of the bangus grill.

“I am really happy that God has been guiding us and letting us have a lot of experience in terms of how we prepared the games and the hosting,” Duque, also the president of Lyceum Northwestern University based here, said.

Pangasinan is lucky to host the event after PRISAA’s 53 years in existence. President Gloria Arroyo graced the opening ceremonies Monday at the Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center in the capital town of Lingayen.

“It (the hosting) will project us as a gracious host,” Duque added

The bangus grill will be courtesy of Dagupan City government with each delegate provided free with one-half bangus, one hotdog and one barbeque.

Each of the 16 regions will be given about three grills which they can use to cook their food.

The party starts at 6:00 p.m. and about 2,000 pieces of delicious bangus, the world-famous product here, will be grilled.

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