The Ilocos Times

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff Reporter Owing to the snail-paced and highly suspicious turn of events on the multiple charges filed against  four Chinese nationals arrested with explosives, a  Sangguniang Panlalawigan member has asked his colleagues to take a closer look at the case pending the passage of an ordinance institutionalizing the creation of the provincial anti-private armed group council (PAGC). The institutionalization of the anti-private armed groups ordinance under the Ilocos Norte government aims to identify and prosecute private armed groups and individuals, guns-for-hire, and other organized crime groups—to include the said four foreign nationals nabbed at a checkpoint in Pasuquin on   May 28   for carrying unlicensed firearms and explosives. The unlicensed guns seized from Dennis Co, Dang Hoi Yin, Lui Xin and Lei Guang Feng  are sophisticated and high-powered weapons prompting local authorities to surmise that the suspects might have been engaged in i

‘Bring your own bag’ By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff Reporter GOING SHOPPING? Bring your own bag. This will soon be the new fad in Laoag City after Laoag Mayor Chevylle V. Fariñas announced that the city government would begin implementation of City Ordinance No. 2012-045. The said ordinance regulates the use of plastic bags and other plastic materials as secondary packaging and bans the use of styrofoam in the city. According to the mayor, this is the city’s contribution in protecting the environment and helping maintain ecological balance. Laoag councilor Joseph Tamayo, author of the ordinance, lauded the mayor’s move to implement the local law. He said this would mitigate the impact of the excessive use of hazardous wastes that often result in environmental degradation, flooding, sanitation problems and climate change. Tamayo, who chairs the council’s committee on environmental protection, said that based on scientific research, plastic and other items m

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff Reporter September 13, 2013 Sarrat , Ilocos Norte—The familiar sight of uniformed men and women wearing red shirts with bold letters “FIRM” or Friends of Imelda Romualdez Marcos seems to be thinning every year as they occupy street corners of Ilocos Norte every 11 th   of September to commemorate the birthday of the late strongman Ferdinand E. Marcos. Taking time out from his fishing livelihood, Janito Lasotan, 64, together with more than 300 barangay coordinators of FIRM from Leyte travelled by bus to Ilocos Norte to join the Marcos family celebrate his 96 th   birthday. “Since childhood and now that I am 64, I will forever be grateful to him [Marcos] because of his projects such as fishing livelihood which has nurtured my family over the years,” Lasotan said saying it is his first time to attend the Marcos Day celebration as they were invited by their national coordinators from Manila. While hundreds join protests in Metro Manila, Ilo