the ASINGANIAN, no. 3

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OUR WATER SYSTEM..I could never understand why TOBOY AND Bantog have their own water system but Poblacion is still putting in a big, 25-foot pipe that would serve as the heart of their water system.The work is going on under the nose of Andres Bonifacio, right behind the Guillermo Auditorium.




The town plaza is also being beautified with funds ( so I heard ) from the Department of tourism. The gazebos and statues are newly painted, some park attendants ( euphemism for janitors?) are working on sprucing up the plaza and concrete benches are being built all around the area. Some townspeople using these benches however could not help scattering balut shells when eating this delicacy while sitting on these benches. Waste baskets were placed in the plaza too. One moment they are there, next time they are gone…

At the southwestern part of the plaza is a burger joint called BIG MACK. The spelling is correct and it does not exhibit the golden arch of its International namesake. It is manned by two lovely young ladies who sell just hot dogs, hamburgers and cold soft drinks. The burgers have only ketchup for condiments: no onions, no relish no mustard. However, business is quite brisk. Usual patrons are kids who are tired of Mom’s cooking or Moms who are too tired to do the night’s cooking.

Last May 1994, President FVRamos came to town during the Barangay Officers election. About 2:00 pm, the Presidential helicopter touched down on the school grounds of the Dupac Intermediate school aka Bnorth Central School. Then a motorcade with the Big Man himself wound towards the voting place. He casted his ballot for Rocky Diaz as Barangay Captain. As an aftermath, the next batch of voters heard about FVR’s choice and most of them voted for Rocky, so the story goes. Thus, lucky Rocky got the job.



THE CHURCH RENOVATION. The Asingan Roman Catholic church which was ravaged by a big earthquake in 1990 is now undergoing a massive facelift and construction. The sidewalls are almost finished. Every Sunday ( the regular Mass ) and Wednesday ( the Perpetual Help Novena ) is being celebrated here. But the valuables are being kept in the priest’s house ( the microphones, amps, speakers, sacred host , etc ) to be brought out before each celebration. The new Pastor for the Catholic church is Monsignor Peralta from San Carlos, Pangasinan.

Before each Mass, someone would announce a financial statement of the financial help which arrived during the week in connection with the construction. The Finance committee is headed by Judge Dario Navarro and the actual work is done by a crew led by Architect Pablo Canadido. I was informed millions of pesos more will be needed before the work will be finished. And so financial pledges are being sought from good-hearted Asinganians all over the world. President Fidel Ramos pledged 50, 000 pesos for the project.

( to be continued )