The Ilocos Times

By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff reporter Batac City— Officials here are seeking the permanent declaration of their Charter Day as a special non-working holiday in the city. Batac mayor Albert D. Chua said he has signed the resolution requesting Rep. Imelda R. Marcos (Ilocos Norte, 2 nd district) to file a bill at the House of Representatives declaring June 23 as Batac’s Charter Day and as a non-working holiday in the city. The Sangguniang Panlungsod here earlier unanimously approved the said resolution. Batac councilors Bernardo K. Marders, Joel R. Garcia and Mary Coleen Columbia L. Cajigal were the main sponsors of the resolution. The sponsors said Batac “deserves the declaration of its cityhood to be a non-working holiday for the people of Batac to have the chance to witness and participate in all the activities during the said celebration.” In signing the resolution, Mr. Chua said the city needs a permanent declaration of the non-working holiday so everyone ca...

THE immediate answer is to humanize and Christianize it. Politics all over the world has been at the mercy of man’s baser passions for so long that it now screams to high heavens for its humanization and Christianization. And this can only mean that it is in dire need of charity. It has to be guided by the requirements of charity, which should not be considered as some kind of drag or hindrance but rather as the perfection and fulfillment of politics. It just cannot be left alone, fully under the power of our passions, brute force and worldly forces. In fact, it can and should be a massive way of sanctification of the people. Politics ought to be pursued always in charity. It cannot be any other way, since charity is the mother of all virtues and good values. If we want justice, truth and fairness, charity has them all. If we want competence, order, discipline, etc., again charity has them. If we want objectivity, charity has it. And that’s because charity covers all our need...

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporter LAOAG CITY—Fisher folks in the coastal municipalities of Ilocos Norte will soon have fully operational Community Fish Landing Centers (CFLC) courtesy of the Department of Agriculture through the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR). Pegged at P3 million per CFLC, Arthur Valente, Fishery Regulatory Coordinator of the Provincial Agriculture Office said the construction of fish landing sites in five of the six municipalities here had already been completed while the remaining two are almost done. Meant to improve the socio-economic conditions of fisher folk communities with high poverty incidence, the recipient municipalities include the towns of Badoc, Paoay, Pasuquin, Bangui, Burgos, Pagudpud, and Laoag City. Upon completion, Mr. Valente said these will be turned over to local government units and later on to fisher folk cooperatives. The CFLCs will also house post-harvest equipment and tools that will enable fishers t...

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporter PIDDIG, Ilocos Norte—At least 120 municipal employees and elected officials of this town can be the first to claim, they are clean and free from illegal drugs. In a surprise mandatory drug testing activity held at the municipal hall, newly-elected town mayor Georgina Guillen said the result turned out all negative. Led by Ms. Guillen, she invited representatives of the Philippine National Police Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) Crime Laboratory and the Department of Health and ordered all local government employees and officials here to undergo drug testing right away. “Our municipal mayor is doing everything she can to make our town drug free. A number of drug pushers has been arrested, some are in jail already and other cases are still undergoing court proceedings,” said former town mayor Eduardo Guillen, now acting as consultant to the mayor. In Piddig, police reported more than 20 drug users who surrendered while the ...

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporter LAOAG CITY — A government doctor dismissed from government service failed to persuade the Court of Appeals that he should be reinstated after he was found guilty of leaving his post ahead of his end of duty without any replacement. In a two-page resolution signed by CA Associate Justice Francisco P. Acosta promulgated on May 18, 2016 and later received by the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte on June 3, the petition of Dr. Baldomero C. Tapia Jr. versus the Ilocos Norte government has been denied as it affirmed the October 9, 2012 decision of the Civil Service Commission. The appeal was meant to lessen his offense for neglecting a patient at the Gov. Roque B. Ablan Memorial Hospital (GRBASMH). Like an earlier resolution of the CSC, the CA favored the decision of the provincial government through a recommendation of the hospital management council dismissing Mr. Tapia from government service. Though the petitioner reiterate...

By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff reporter Laoag City —The Philippines is set to host the Travel Blog Exchange (TBEX) on October 13-16m 2016 in Metro Manila. Expected to be featured is Ilocos Norte’s historical and cultural destinations. TBEX is the largest gathering of travel bloggers, writers, new media content creators, social media and other industry professionals attracting more than a thousand participants mainly from North America and Europe. TBEX was first introduced to Asia particularly in Bangkok, Thailand on October 15-17, 2015 and the Philippines bided for the second edition for TBEX Asia and was selected this year’s host destination.  Department of Tourism (DOT) chief operations officer Modesto Baloloy announced that TBEX will promote the tourism industries of Ilocos and Vigan globally. Mr. Baloloy said the TBEX press trip visited the province on June 6-10 wherein historical and cultural destinations in the province were visited. The event will f...

By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff reporter Batac City —A new old face. This is the best way to described newly appointed Batac jail warden J/Sr. Insp. Antonio Sapaden. Mr. Sapaden earlier served as acting jail officer in this city. He was also a former regional admin officer and deputy jail warden in Laoag City. He succeeds J/Sr. Insp. Jerry Palalay who will retire in July. Mr. Sapaden actually became the full-pledged Batac city jail warden on May 16, 2016. New female dorm and male dorm expansion With the beginning of his reign, Mr. Sapaden said the jail dormitories will be increased and expanded. He is hopeful the new female dormitory will be finished soon. The male dormitory expansion, on the other hand, is still under construction. The expansion, Mr. Sapaden explained is due to the increasing number of inmates. As of this posting, the Batac jail holds 190 inmates. Currently, the Batac jail complex has five cells for male and two cells for females. ...

By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff reporter Laoag City —The city government here is set to construct additional jail cells at the Laoag City Jail. Congestion has long been a problem at the said jail. Jail/Sr. Insp. Herminigildo Rivera said the city government has approved the construction of four additional cells. One cell is already being constructed. Mr. Rivera is hopeful the additional cells would ease congestion problems at the jail. He explained that one jail cell can contain 20-30 detainees. He thanked reelected Laoag mayor Chevylle V.  Fariñas for her help. Meanwhile, an inmate was released recently through the good conduct time allowance (GCTA) program. The GCTA program lessens time served for inmates. Pursuant to Section 2 and 3 of Republic Act No. 10592 (An Act Amending Articles 29, 94, 97, 98 and 99 of Act. No. 3815, as amended, otherwise known as the Revised Penal Code) and its Implementing Rules and Regulations, subject prisoner, having exempl...

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporter LAOAG CITY—The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) plans to install additional automatic rain gauges (ARGs) in Ilocos Norte’s major river basins. ARGs collect rainfall data which aids authorities to effectively decide during typhoon emergencies. The additional ARGs would intensify data-collection around the province. DOST-Batac director Jonathan Viernes said2-in-1 automatic level system with rain gauge will be installed in most parts of the second district of Ilocos Norte. These include the towns of Solsona, Dingras, Batac, and Badoc; as well as the northern town of Bangui in the province’s first district. Automatic rain gauges have already been installed in the towns of Carasi, Nueva Era and Pasuquin. With the installation of more rain gauges, Mr. Viernes said this will help in gathering accurate rainfall data to assist the weather bureau in monitoring and forecasting. Through the ARGs, the amount of rainfall can...

A Japanese professor from Tohoku University recommended the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool to rice researchers in helping farmers cope with climate change. LCA, according to Professor Masanori Sato, is a technique that enables industries to identify the resource flows (water and energy inputs), and environmental impacts (GHG emissions) associated with the provision of products and services. Researchers and decision makers will find LCA useful in giving concrete recommendations to farmers on what alternative technologies, products, processes, or services that they can use in climate change mitigation. “Nowadays, industries like farming use resources such as water and energy as inputs. The common misconception is that we tend to focus on the first and last parts of the whole farming system, without knowing that a large chunk of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions occur in the production stage. Using LCA as a tool, we can evaluate the environmental effects of...

By Dominic Dela Cruz Staff reporter Batac City —Department of Education (DepEd) regional director Dr. Alma Ruby C. Torio described schoolyear 2016-17 as “historic.” The current school year marks the formal implementation of the senior high school program in the country. Ms. Torio lauded the two education heads in Laoag and Batac Cities for their active participation in the implementation of the new education program. She also expressed her delight for the orderly and peaceful opening of classes on June 13 in the province. She explained that, based on initial field reports, school children are excited to start the new school year. She also pointed out the increase in the number of enrollees. Senior high school kinks MS. Torio however admitted that some schools still do not have building for senior high school students. Some tracks are also still being studied at the DepEd regional office. Laoag City, for one, still needs additional teachers for senior high s...

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By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporter PIDDIG, Ilocos Norte—Visitors and local residents here now have a free access to the internet following the rollout of Wi-Fi zone here. The Piddig government, in the process, has become of the first local government units in Ilocos Norte to have its own dedicated server that offers free and better connectivity to their constituents and visitors. The Wi-Fi zone is currently limited to the Piddig plaza. Since last month, Piddig residents and visitors are given free internet access at the area. Students do research work in the said area while others connect to their family members abroad. From the current 2 megabits per second (Mbps) speed, Piddig officials say they plan to upgrade this to 5 Mbps. The faster speed would allow more users as well as to expand its Wi-Fi coverage. People at the Piddig municipal hall can also access the free Wi-Fi. The Piddig government also plans to centralize the Wi-Fi operation to cut cost on ...

By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff reporter Dingras , Ilocos Norte—The locos Norte Electric Cooperative (INEC) conducted its 42 nd Annual General Membership Assembly (AGMA) meetings in three sites in Ilocos Norte—Batac City, Bacarra and Dingras. The AGMA events were held May 22, 28 and June 4, respectively. National Electrification Administration (NEA) public affairs office department manager Dir. Judith T. Alvarez served as guest of honor and speaker in Batac; NEA Legal Services V Atty. Ricardo C. Orias Jr. in Bacarra; and NEA Deputy Administrator for Legal Services Atty. Rossan SJ. Rosero-Lee in Dingras. INEC general manager Felino Herbert Agdigos said the AGMA aims to inform all member-consumers about INEC’s accomplishments for the past year and to present plans and programs for the coming year. Mr. Agdigos announced that as of May 2016, INEC has a total of 153,503 house connections with 141,891 member-consumers. Aside from the Dingras main office, INEC also h...

By Dominic dela Cruz Staff reporter Laoag City —As the rainy season officially starts, the City Engineering and Community Affairs Offices here have stepped up efforts to clear drainage canals around the city. Acting City engineer Roy Tomas said his office have begun clearing main drainage canals in the city. During their operations, he said drainage canals around the city are still being used as garbage dumps. He stressed that this situation clogs canals, thus flooding occurs when strong rains hit the city. Mr. Tomas appealed to all barangay officials in the city to help and cooperate with the clearing operation to speed up the process. Community affairs officer Bernardino Rodillas said they have informed barangay chairpersons in the city about the need for their help in clearing drainage canals. Meanwhile, reelected Laoag Mayor Chevylle V. Fariñas has also instructed the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council for the pre-disaster proposed budget...

We commend Mr. Faivo Bartolome of the Ilocos Norte Sports Development Council (INSDC) for posting “No Smoking” signs inside the Marcos Stadium. But there are some individuals who are seriously pushing for the establishment of “Smoking Areas” in the stadium. To the INSDC: Please, junk this move!   To ensure strict implementation of the “No Smoking Policy”, there must be roving guards during peak hours in the stadium. Per our observation, more people are using the sports facilities in the said place from 5 P.M. to 8 P.M. During these hours, “guard visibility” is needed to deter smokers from doing their thing. Why do we hate smoking? Read the following material from the American Lung Association. There are approximately 600 ingredients in cigarettes. When burned, they create more than 7,000 chemicals. At least 69 of these chemicals are known to cause cancer, and many are poisonous. Many of these chemicals are found in consumer products, but these products have warnin...

Publication Notice R.A. 10172 NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC CCE-52-2016 R.A. 10172                                                                     June 7, 2016           In compliance with the publication requirement and pursuant to OCRG Memorandum Circular No. 2013-1 Guidelines in the Implementation of the Administrative Order No. 1 Series of 2012 (IRR on R.A. 10172) Notice is hereby served to the public that FREZNEL RAMORAN has filed with this Office, a petition for correction of entry in sex from FEMALE to MALE in the certificate of live birth of FREZNEL RAMORAN at Vintar, Ilocos Norte and whose pare...