The Ilocos Times

By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff Reporter City of Batac —With aims of improving the Bataqueños’ quality of living, the city government here is setting pro-poor programs and policies, primarily with regards to building application and other related permits. In a regular Sangguniang Panlungsod session, councilors here unanimously passed a measure that will set the city government’s thrust toward this goal. Batac councilor Lucky Rene Bunye, who moved for its approval, said the measure is based on the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) as an indicator to accurately measure poverty. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Board Resolution NO. 01 series of 2017-129 determines the poverty threshold (PT) and has set the minimum income/expenditure requirement for a family/individual to meet the basic food and non-food requirements. Section 209 of the National Building Code of the Philippines (NBCP) states that “Traditional Indigenous Family Dwellings shall

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff Reporter LAOAG CITY—Aurora Park in this city shone the brightest on the evening of December 17, 2019 as it hosted 50 local exhibitors from various parts of Region 1 in their traditional fashion wear while showcasing the best quality food and non-food products they have at hand. Running for 24 years now, the ‘Partuat ti Kailokuan’ Trade Fair continues to attract exhibitors and consumers to uplift each other for inclusive growth. For the Department of Trade and Industry which is on the frontline of conducting the annual trade fair, acting provincial director Rosario Quodala reiterated during the opening ceremony that micro, small and medium enterprises play a vital role in local employment generation and economic development. As a flagship program of the national government through the DTI’s MSME Development Plan 2017-2022, Ms. Quodala said the conduct of trade fairs provides more opportunities to small entrepreneurs and small busi

By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff Reporter Laoag City —As “active tools in achieving inclusive growth for reform and development”, the Laoag and Batac Sangguniang Panlungsod have approved their annual budgets for CY 2020: PHP928,331,364.63 and PHP736,647,586.14, respectively. The annual budget approval is in pursuant to Section 318 of Republic Act No. 7160, the Local Government Code of 1991, and Local Budget Memorandum No. 78 of the Department of Budget and Management. On December 10, 2019, the Laoag Sangguniang Panlungsod unanimously approved the budget authored by Laoag councilor Handy T. Lao, chairperson of the committee on budget and appropriations. Laoag Mayor Michael Marcos-Keon said that the budget was prepared with a thorough review and evaluation of the proposals submitted by the different offices of the city. Mr. Marcos-Keon said the city adopted the mechanism of “participatory budgeting to ensure prudent, transparent and accountable allocation and use of

The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) is encouraging micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to become familiar with the Philippine Competition Act (PCA) and go to the PCC if they believe there are violations of the law's provisions. PCC Commissioner Johannes Benjamin R. Bernabe in an October 23 forum on competition policy highlighted the importance for MSMES to be aware of what exploitative business practices can constitute the so-called "abuse of market dominance." “ K ung yung mga nakaka -deal ng mga MSMEs na maaaring malalaking kumpanya, kung kayo naman po yung supplier or intermediate user na maaaring naiipit ng malaking players sa mercado, ito naman iyong sinasabing relevant provision na kayo ang maaaring magsumbong sa PCC [If the MSMEs are dealing with big companies in the market as supplier or intermediate user and find themselves at a disadvantage, this may be the relevant provision that you can raise with the PCC]," said Mr. Bernab

By Bernardo B. Ver II Contributor Senator Ma. Imelda Josefa “Imee” R. Marcos denounced the plan of the Philippine International Trading Corporation to import rice in behalf of local fast food chains, grocery stores, and small supermarkets. Ms. Marcos expressed dismay that a government-owned corporation under the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) would prioritize imports over local produce when rice farmers nationwide have been selling their harvest at depressed prices or even at a loss. “The announcement of Secretary (Ramon) Lopez is insensitive and ill-timed. Cheaper imported rice is not worth a breakdown in the livelihood of Filipino rice farmers,” Ms. Marcos stressed. The DTI chief announced the plan to import rice for select businesses at an international rice conference in Makati earlier this month and also said that as many as 300 containers could be shipped to the country in the next few months. “Where is our conscience and what got into the heads o

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff Reporter BATAC CITY—Hundreds of local and overseas job opportunities were up for grabs in Batac City job fair held November 12, 2019 at the Imelda Cultural Center. Leonavella Dadiz-Duldulao, of the Department of Labor and Employment said the faire was open to all interested individuals who are seeking their dream job. “We encouraged all job seekers to apply and have the chance to get hired on the spot,” said Ms. Dadiz. Dubbed as, “Pabilgen ni Bataqueño Para iti Sapasap a Progreso (Empowering Bataqueño for Inclusive Growth)”, the whole-day job fair was a public and private partnership program hosted by the city government of Batac led by Mayor Albert Chua. Aside from the DOLE, other national government agencies such as the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Social Security System, PhilHealth, Civil Service Commission, Department of Trade and Industry and Technical Education Services and Skills Development Authority will be

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff Reporter LAOAG CITY—Around 22 micro, small and medium entrepreneurs mostly composed of street food vendors in the province successfully underwent a two-day training on food safety and basic food hygiene on October 28-29, 2019 at the Capitol auditorium. Hosted by the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Edison Natividad, head of the Small and Medium Enterprise Office under the provincial government said the activity “aims to protect consumers and to ensure food handlers are aware of the basic know how on handling food business.” In time for the celebration of the consumer welfare month in October, the DOST continues to partner with various local government units in the province to emphasizes the importance of ensuring food safety standards for consumers. After the series of lectures, the participants also underwent a paper and pencil examination prior to giving their ce

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff Reporter LAOAG CITY—The National Food Authority based in Ilocos Norte assured rice farmers in the province it is ready to buy more rice stocks in the province. NFA provincial manager Eleonor Andres announced that they have leased three private warehouses in various parts of the province to ensure they can serve more farmers in the province. These are the Johnny B. Lao’s Warehouse in Barangay 5, Callaguip, Batac City; Wil-lys Cereal Trading Corp. Warehouse in Barangay Sta. Cecilia, San Nicolas; and the Calsada Rice mill and Palay Trading Warehouse in Barangay Libtong, Bacarra, Ilocos Norte. “We enjoin our rice farmers to sell their produce to these buying stations near them,” said Ms. Andres as she reiterated those who will sell more than 50 bags must coordinate first with the assigned team leaders in the identified buying stations to facilitate smooth transaction or contact directly the NFA office located in the city. Due to

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff Reporter LAOAG CITY—To accommodate more passengers in this northern gateway of Luzon, the Philippine Airlines (PAL) added two Laoag to manila flights per week. Previously, there were 10 PAL weekly flights. The Ilocos Norte tourism office led Aian Raquel confirmed this on as he announced “Tuesdays and Thursdays will now have additional evening flights at 8:45PM.” These additional flight schedules are effective this November until March 2020. For the information of passengers, the Manila-Laoag flights are the following:   Monday, 7:05PM; Tuesday, 11:30AM and 7:05PM; Wednesday, 7:05PM; Thursday, 11:30AM and 7:05PM; Friday, 11:30AM and 7:05PM; Saturday, 11:30AM and 7:05PM; Sunday, 11:30AM and 7:05PM. The Philippine Airlines is the only airline servicing Laoag-bound passengers after the Philippines budget airline Cebu Pacific suspended flights to Laoag on January 2017. Until now, the budget airline has not resumed flights to Laoag

  Hanson Chua, a businessman from Laoag raised an issue about payment of real property taxes on Thursday during a consultative meeting with Governor Matthew Joseph Manotoc. The consultative meeting attended by various stakeholders is meant to gather feedback and find solutions to current major problems being faced by city residents.  (Lei Adriano) By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff Reporter LAOAG CITY—Several businessmen in this city is appealing to the Laoag City government to freeze the looming real property tax hike next year. Speaking in behalf of the business sector during a consultative meeting held at the Laoag City covered court on October 10, 2019, Hanson Chua, a business owner here noted their low sales even if it is already in the “ber” months and people usually spend more in time for the upcoming Christmas celebration. “Business is hurting and it’s like a ghost month because of low sales,” said Mr. Chua citing that apart from the traffic and parking proble

Export stakeholders have included processed food and beverages and other food products among the focus export targets owing to their bright prospects. These food goods, along with electronics products and information technology-business process outsourcing (IT-BPO), "are already part of the array of goods and services seen to contribute to realizing the overall targets for 2022", according to the Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) 2018-2022. "If processed food and beverages, and other food products in general, are to be focused exports targets, the path to hitting it big is arduous though promising," it noted. The Plan said the country has comparative advantages in tropical-resource based products into different forms, such as fresh, canned, dried, processed and semi-processed, among others. To gain greater market foothold, it said the country should exploit consumer changes from product differentiation to catering to packaging, safety, nut

It is time to amend the Foreign Investments Act of 1991 and ease restrictions on foreign direct investments (FDIs) in order to attract more multinational enterprises to the country.  Senator Ma. Imelda Josefa “Imee” R. Marcos asserted this as public hearings by the Senate Economic Affairs Committee which she chairs began on September 23, 2019. Three bills seeking to liberalize foreign investments were on tap including her own Senate Bill 1024.  “We need more start-ups that can generate hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs locally and multinational corporations are the biggest sources of jobs in the country and elsewhere," the senator said.  "The current law needs an update considering that it has not kept up with the rise of online business and the evolution of modern business practices,” Ms. Marcos added.  With Southeast Asia seeing FDI growth in digital infrastructure, data centers and e-commerce, the Marcos bill seeks to include online businesses

  MMSU President Shirley C. Agrupis (seated, center) and PEZA Director General Charito B. Plaza (seated, right) sign the memorandum of understanding for the establishment of the Economic Zone Institute in Region I which will help promote export-oriented investments and increase productivity and income in the countryside. (Photo courtesy of MMSU-OP) By Reynaldo E. Andres Contributor BATAC City —The Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) in this city and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) have agreed to establish a Special Economic Zone Institute in Region I, which will help promote export-oriented investments and increase productivity and income in the countryside. A memorandum of understanding was formally signed on September 25, 2019 at the Bonifacio Global City in Metro Manila between MMSU President Shirley C. Agrupis and PEZA Director General Charito B. Plaza. Dr. Agrupis said MMSU is the only state university in the Ilocos region which shall ser

Multi-sectoral meeting to revitalized tobacco industry in Ilocos Norte. (Lei Adriano) By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff Reporter LAOAG CITY—Bright prospects looms ahead for tobacco-producing municipalities in the province as a multi-national tobacco company assured local government units and farmers to give their all-out support from beginning to end should they decide to closely work with them in revitalizing the tobacco industry here. In a multi-sectoral meeting attended by mayors, policy makers, farmers, private tobacco buyers and personnel of the National Tobacco Administration and other concerned national government agencies at the Capitol session hall, Winston Uy, president of the Universal Leaf Philippines, Inc. expressed commitment to give their all-out support to tobacco growers in the Ilocos region. “We are committed to work with you. So, we are asking your help to reintroduce tobacco growing as a livelihood. We will be there until the end,” said Mr. Uy cit

Amidst inclement weather whipped up by typhoon Jenny, residents of Paoay, Ilocos Norte participated in the "Negosyo sa Barangay" launching in Brgy. Veronica, Paoay, Ilocos Norte. The program aims to develop people in underserved communities to become successful entrepreneurs. (Photo grab from DTI-Ilocos Norte Facebook Page) By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff Reporter Paoay, Ilocos Norte —The Dept. of Trade and Industry launched the second “Negosyo sa Barangay” for the province at the Paoay Civic Center in this town. The launch attracted at least 350 budding and would-be entrepreneurs from this town’s different barangays. Amidst inclement weather, DTI acting provincial director Rosario Quodala said the huge number of participants shows how resilient the Ilocanos are. “A few days ago, everyone was disquieted, bowing to the roaring floodwaters. But today, they came because they don’t stay down and their hope and faith never cease,” said Ms. Quodala after