The Ilocos Times

The following is an open letter penned by Ofelia A. Laguardia addressed to Dept. of Migrant Workers Sec. Susan Ople pleading for her help in the case her husband, Manual P. Laguardia Sr., which has now dragged on for three years. “WHEN THE Dept.   of Migrant Workers was created by the Marcos Administration, my husband and I—among the multitude of Filipinos beset with problems overseas—saw a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. “My husband, Manual P. Laguardia Sr. worked in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia as civil engineer for 37 years and yours truly as educator for 20 years. We both retired three years ago and I was able to return to our beloved Philippines; but my poor husband was left behind wallowing in sickness and despair because his passport was confiscated by his employer in Saudi Arabia for reasons we could not fully comprehend. “Our separation led us both to fits of depression and helplessness as since then, we were both unemployed and that our savings was being depleted fas

[Conclusion] By Noralyn Dudt The second part of this series on   Democracy   focused on the success of northern European countries with Lutheran backgrounds and homogenous populations (Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany) in achieving the ideals of democracy.   As the previous discussion   may have inadvertently given the impression   that having   a Lutheran background is the only way to succeed in achieving democratic goals, let me point out those countries that do not have a Lutheran majority but also rated high. Canada whose population is almost as diverse as the United States is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. Canada has been very welcoming to immigrants and values multiculturalism. There are services designed to help new immigrants find housing and jobs, improve their language skills that are funded both nationally and locally. Canada ranks high in the EIU democracy rating. So why was Canada ranked higher than the United States? Is it because its universa

( First of a series ) By Noralyn Dudt “DEMOCRACY is messy, and it's hard. It's never easy,” is a famous Kennedy quote. If you prefer that everything should be controlled and organized, democracy would never be your choice of government. It's not neat, it is messy, it is hard. That's because it involves everyone who wants to participate. And all participants are human beings with brains and emotions, and robots these mortals   are not.   Some are new, some are experienced, some are rational, some are emotional. As a result, anything can happen. Democracy is neither a neat process nor a pretty one. But surely it can be lively. "Of the people, by the people, for the people," was how the late U.S. President Abraham Lincoln described how democracy works. A lofty concept it was,   and still is. I ponder the word and it looks almost “menacing” because one wonders how it could be attained by human beings who can be irrational,   emotional, and inexperienced. Hum

  BBM's INSPIRATION. President-in-waiting Ferdinand Marcos Jr. visits the grave of his father former President Ferdinand E. Marcos on Tuesday (May 10), a day after the national elections that show him winning by more than 16 million votes over his nearest rival. The young Marcos is grateful to the Filipino people for giving him the landslide victory and to his father who  have  been his inspiration throughout his life and taught him the value and meaning of true leadership. (Photo: BBM Media Bureau) By Noralyn Dudt Ferdinand Marcos Jr. the newly-sworn in president of the Philippines won the presidency by a landslide. To some people in the United States, countries in Western Europe, and Japan, this is difficult to imagine as the only "news" they have been receiving from the mainstream media and social media have been that of a dictator, Imelda's shoe collection, and martial law. To the majority of Filipinos, especially to those 31 million voters who voted for him, F

By Noralyn Onto Dudt The END of the pandemic is not yet upon us, and with variants making their rounds, it looks like it may never end.   However,   as   the latest research holds promise and has the scientific community looking up, we can greet the New Year in good spirits. The COVID-19 emergency has unleashed an unprecedented surge of innovation and collaboration in research. Just as the virus started spreading   around the globe about two years ago,   scientists around the world   became more adept at rapid response,   sharing genetic sequences and clinical data at the speed of light, enabling more discovery. Although the first wave of vaccines showed their   limitations, they have performed magnificently. Millions and millions of the world population are fully vaccinated, and an enormous amount of suffering and death has been averted. However, vaccine efficacy does wane, facilitating the need for boosters as one   variant after another threatens to upend any progress that has

The recent events that unfolded in the last two years should give us pause to rethink the criteria we use in voting for our public officials. Anyone can become mayor or a governor, or a president even, but not everyone can become an efficient and effective crisis manager when once-in-a-century catastrophe and tragedy befall us. The COVID pandemic has unmasked and uncovered what we really are in a crisis situation. And although some did their best with whatever they had, there are others who failed epically--and miserably. As such, it was their constituents who suffered most. Here in Laoag City, the response and the pandemic rose and fell, and as much as much was promised, to call whatever promised was realized an   under-delivery is a tragedy in itself. The full lockdown of whole barangays without the subsequent and sufficient help and aid, became more troubling for those who were caught in the middle; forbidden to go to work but without any ample government relief in any way or f

Ni Leonardo Rosqueta Agonoy POLITIKA!   Adu a tattao wenno umili ti ulawenna. Politiko, naruayda. Iti kaaduda, matikawka no asinoda ti pudno a butosamto. No pudno nga isuda ti makatulongto ti ilulung-aw ti panagbiag ti tunggal maysa. Pangenpangen. Saggaysadanto manen nga umay manumtubalay. Mamerienda ken mainum ti balonda nga iyawat kadagiti botante. Kasla aso ken pusa met ti idiar, kababalin dagiti agsusupangil. Begbegento met ti media dagita nga isyu ti politika. Kasano itan?   Di met ammon no asino ti patiem ti sasawen ti tunggal maysa. Ngamin, kaarig met dagiti politiko ti upa a manok - kutak-a-kutak a di met maka-itlog! Anian sa itan?  Ti met gayam agtutunggali nga isyu ti politika ti wagas a panaglatak ti kinaasino ti tunggal politiko!  In short , awan ti maidumduma ti kinaasino dagitoy. Maymaysa ti burikda!  Burik ti buaya!  Kasla alinta pay ti kaarigda!  Kunatayo a puera de los buenos? Kakailian. Masaotayo laeng ditoy iti kinabuklis, kinagamrud ti kaaduanna a politikota

Ni Leonardo Rosqueta Agonoy MANGRUGRUGIN ti binnara,pinnalapal, pinniltak iti lubong ti politika. Idi punganay ti puon ti historia iti kasta a pakasaritaan ti politika ditoy Filipinas. Iti agdama, maituloy latta ti saan a nasayaat a kababalin dagiti politikotayo a dangdanggayan dagiti adda iti likudan dagiti politiko. Nasaknap, nangruna iti agdama a panawen, ti panagsaknap ti fake news ken nadumaduma a kita ti panagpipinnadakes dagiti politikotayo. Am-amang pay a segsegpen ti sangapagilian iti panagbalbaliw koma metten ti di nasayaat nga ugalitayo, kakailian. Iti biang ti nasional ti pangarigantayo laengen, kakailian. Ub-uboren, palpalapalendan ti narnuoyan iti bunga, isu dayta ti sigud a Senador Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. Permi ita ti panangpadpadakes dagiti kontra-Marcos. Panggep pay ketdi ti nadunaduma a grupo a pa-disqualify ti COC ni BBM gapu kadagiti kaso a bibiagen manen dagiti mabuteng iti posible a panagsubli ti Marcos idiay Malacanang. Banag a saan la idandaneng t

By Noralyn Onto Dudt "Is it ever going to end?" This has been the central question of late. Obsessively pondering covid's endgame can be dangerous to your mental   health. Pandemics do end as history tells us. But many pandemics become endemic, meaning they morph into something that is no longer an emergency, but rather an annoyance, an ugly even painful fact of life that people simply learn to cope with, like the flu or common cold. Malaria, a mosquito-borne life-threatening   disease is still around but curable.   In 1980 the World Health Organization triumphantly declared that due to aggressive global vaccination programs, the dreaded disease smallpox had been eradicated. With several Corona variants that have been popping up, the question is when and how do we get to that point. Some of the world's most prominent epidemiologists and public health experts say we are already there. "The emergency phase of the disease is over," said a well-known prof

  By Noralyn Onto Dudt "To educate the Filipinos and to uplift and Christianize them,” was what Pres. William McKinley announced in an interview by James Rusling of "The Christian Advocate" for annexing the Philippines in 1898. Quite ironic indeed as the people of the Philippines had been Christian for about three centuries before McKinley and his supporters got the idea. Free access to modern public education was made possible through the Spanish enactment of the Spanish Education Decree of Dec 20, 1863 by Queen Isabella II. And although public education—the kind that we are familiar with—was not yet in place, the Jesuits and the Dominican Orders had built parochial schools all over the archipelago. The University of Santo Tomas in Manila, a pontifical university was founded in 1611, about a decade before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts. For all its bad and harsh beginnings, American tutelage had its good points.   The "sentimental impe

Currently circulating online are photos comparing the food packages being distributed by Ilocos Norte's two cities. Laoag provides "ayuda" to some 70% of families in the city while Batac caters to all families residing within its boundaries, with no exception, registered voters or not. The food package being distributed by Laoag, photos show, also pales in comparison to that of Batac in terms of quantity and, many say, even in quality. Moreover, one of the two cities is faster by a mile in distributing goods, and it is not Laoag. Laoag Mayor Michael Keon, since last year, has been uncomfortable—bordering on allergic—being compared to his Batac counterpart. The other city has a smaller population, he says, and it has fewer barangays, which is why it can give more and distribute faster. Going by this logic, all other municipalities that have been outdoing Laoag owe their success and good work mainly to their smaller populace. Going by the same logic, LGUs with larger p

By Noralyn O. Dudt The "what ifs" have been visiting me lately, especially this past year when we were "forever" home, in lockdown with the Corona. It is a lingering mental preoccupation, making me pause, thinking what could have been, what would have been had an event happened or not. "What if...." In 2004, Phil and I received an invitation from the Embassy of Japan to a reception commemorating the 150 th anniversary of Japan ending her seclusion from the world. Japan had been in lockdown for 200 years when the American Commodore Matthew Perry, his staff and troops sailed into Tokyo Bay and asked to be presented to the emperor. It was an audacious move, especially at the time when there were no back-ups and no airpower support for the "just in case" moments.   Barging in on Japan in 1854 with so many unknowns, crossing the vast Pacific would have been quite an adventure (read: dangerous). But somehow, the commodore must have felt very conf

By   Noralyn Onto Dudt A year has passed since most of the world populace was told to stay in place; to stay put or they may end up "killing" each other. A year of uncertainty, a year of wearing masks, a year of physical distancing, a year of not visiting parents, grandparents and friends. A year of no touching and no hugging each other. It has been a year that had almost all of us gripped with fear as we watched others become critically ill and were rushed to fill hospital beds. As the kings and queens of centuries past, with their "coronas" (crowns) on their heads, wielding power that put fear into their subjects’ hearts, the coronavirus has been wielding its power and our hearts have been terrified.   And with this fear gripping us, the way we carry on with our lives has been changed forever. As the virus was proving to be so deadly and with so many people dying, businesses collapsing, and people losing their jobs, the government of the United States went into