the ASINGANIAN #4

The Birth of Two Papers

During this year 1994, Asingan became the birthplace of two provincial newspapers, THE TRIBUNE and PANGASINAN NEWSLINE.

In the beginning, there was only THE TRIBUNE, published by a Mr. H------, a foreigner from California. For its staff, the paper had Nonong Necessito, Francisco Malala and Sammy Curameng . Then according to Nonong, the publisher started to get greedy and dishonest with the funds. A break up eventually came. Nonong, Francisco and Sammy put out their own paper THE PANGASINAN NEWSLINE ( or PN for short ). With guts, hard work and self reliance, the first issue of the PN came out.




FRANCISCO MALALA and NONONG NECESSITO in a 1994 photo..


Last April 20, 1994, the PN still going strong, celebrated its first anniversary. The TRIBUNE is still being published. And the publisher married a young Asingan girl. Inspite of his unpopularity with certain Asingan circles, he is still in town..


On November 1994, a big celebration will be held in Bantog. Why Bantog, not Poblacion? I asked. I was told Bantog has its own Parish Church now. Thus the people here do not have to go to town anymore for religious services. And besides, the St. Louis Bertrand church is under renovation. Thus, Bantog was at that time girding for the big, prestigious event which would be attended by pilgrims and devotees from all other towns of Pangasinan. A glossy Invitation Program would be printed for the event. The last Cristo Rey celebration as I remember was last held in Asingan last 1948, under the administration of Fr. Jose Macaraeg.

Asingan as I saw it, has never been so busy providing for the needs of its townspeople. Majority of the populace are farmers and the rest are providing the needs of the population especially the younger children. Thus various schools, (Montessoris) bakeries, restaurants, gift shops and mini grocery stores and other kinds of services have mushroomed all over town. And let us not forget the various OFWs who are sending their hard earned dollars for their loved ones left behind.

I came upon Fidel Agsalud ( his Mom is Flaviana Agsalud, a school nurse when I was still in my Elementary years). Fidel runs a bicycle repair shop in front of his house in Calaoagan.

“Hey, I thought you are in the USA!” I said.

“I am”, he said with the usual smile.. “United States of Asingan.

“I am running this repair shop because if you do not work here, you will starve to death.”

Well the situation is the same in many places all over the globe, especially the Philippines which have no Unemployment Insurance program. This government program provides some money to the insured worker in case he loses his job.

The street where Fidel lives is now a very busy area. Thus we have his bicycle shop, then a sari sari store in the ground floor of the stately house owned by Don Doroy. Then we have the Farmacia Antonio. My mother in law ( Miguela Hufana, the mother of Miguelita ) once boarded here when she studied at the Asingan Institute ( now the Rizal Academy ). During the ‘30s, there were only two high schools in Pangasinan. The Asingan Institute and the high school in Lingayen.

The late Titong Arzadon converted his agricultural land in Dumakit into a subdivision. He started selling the lots for very low prices, so some Asinganians, especially those in Aragaag or Sta. Ana, the constantly flooded areas in town started buying a place for their new houses. With the help of town mates abroad, big houses started to be built in this part of town. Other places in the barrios followed this “mansion” building spree. Now it is said that there are more beautiful houses in the barrios than in the Poblacion.

Some vendors have also started organizing themselves into one powerful union. I met Alex Casimiro and he told me one time all the vendors staged a strike against the raising of taxes imposed by the municipality. All vendors, he said did not come to the market so the place was as lifeless as a cemetery for a couple o days.

According to Alex, the strike was successful because they got what they wanted. Now the Association has some money deposited in a bank outside of Asingan where a member could obtain a loan which he/she needs to expand business..



Another photo circa 1994 showing Miggie Costes, Remy Manuel and Esther Lomboy taken in Crystal Glades Resort established in Ariston near Sta. Ana...