The Ilocos Times

Photo by Dulce Valenzuela Ilocos Norte provincial treasurer and BLGF local representative Josephine P. Calajate (middle) leads the inspection of documents at the office of former Laoag City treasurer Elena Asuncion to help in the investigation of the missing PHP85.4 million from the city government’s coffers while city treasurer Diomedes Gayban (standing left) and other city hall employees look on. (Photo by Dulce Valenzuela) By Dominic B. dela Cruz ( Staff Reporter) Laoag City —After five years of being padlocked and off-limits to everyone, the Commission on Audit (COA) and the Department of Finance (DOF)-Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) have approved the re-opening of the padlocked City Treasurer’s Office (CTO) on June 22, 2021. Laoag Vice Mayor Vicentito M. Lazo said the opening of the sealed office was approved and signed by the local COA and BLGF representatives in response to the twin resolutions passed by the Sangguniang Panlungsod addressed to the COA and the DOF f

By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff Reporter Solsona , Ilocos Norte--The municipal government here has realized its dream to have a new evacuation center, and at the same serve as quarantine facility, as they held a groundbreaking ceremony for the project on June 30, 2021 at the project site, Brgy. Santiago, this municipality. Solsona Mayor Joseph De Lara said the project was in response to his request to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) main office thru DPWH Region I Director Rommel Tan on October 2019.    De Lara believes the project “will be of great help especially in this time of pandemic as it will serve as a quarantine facility and evacuation center in case of calamities”. The one-storey building will sit in a lot with a total land area of 1,450 square meters; the lot is owned by the provincial government and municipal government of Solsona, and is the municipality’s counterpart for the project. The Ilocos Times learned that the project has a total cos

U.S. Air Force personnel unload weapons and equipment off a KC-10 Extender at Clark Air Base. Manila —Joint United States Military Assistance Group-Philippines (JUSMAG-P) officials delivered PHP183 million (US$3.8 million) worth of weapons and equipment to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) at Clark Air Base on June 21, 2021. The delivery, funded by both Philippine national funds and US grant assistance, included nine M3P .50 caliber heavy machine guns, 10 mortar tubes and other equipment.   The delivery is intended to enhance the AFP’s counterterrorism and maritime security capabilities. U.S. Army Lt. Col. Brian Bosse, ground programs chief with the Joint U.S. Military Assistance Group – Philippines, shows Philippine Air Force Lt. Col. Mark Anthony Madumma, contract management for international logistics officer with OJ4, GHQ, AFP, a newly delivered tactical helmet at Clark Air Base. “The United States will continue to support the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ capacity b

Manila—PLDT Enterprise, the B2B arm of the largest integrated telecommunications company in the Philippines, stressed the need for the adaption of creative education technologies that would better promote student engagement in eLearning. During PLDT Enterprise’s eNDUSTRY Online Forum for eLearning, PLDT Enterprise Assistant Vice President and Corporate Relationship Management Head for Academe & FMCG Dick Perez said that while eLearning has been the top educational trend for the past year, it still requires continuous innovation for a more effective learning experience for the students. “In eLearning, learners are just soaked in knowledge through viewing or reading content. The competition in the education industry now lies on which school have the more interesting and engaging digital platform,” he said. Perez said that gamification, or the application of gaming principles in non-game contexts, could help keep learners engaged in online learning despite numerous distraction

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

Family Picture of Nemesio Ventura Pedro and Juana Alcaraz Lorenzo in Laoag, Ilocos Norte, Philippines in 1945. (From left) parents Juana and Nemesio, Fernando, the 4th and youngest child, Esperanza, 3rd child, standing: Jose, the 2nd child and his wife Marciana Victoriano, Isaac the eldest child and his wife Mizue Teresa Baba. By Leticia Pedro Cagayat Nemesio Ventura Pedro was the acclaimed “Pioneer Music Man of Laoag”. He was a gifted musician. He was the original composer of the Ilocano zarzuela. This was inspired by the Spanish zarzuela which is a theatrical play that alternates between spoken and sung scene. One of his favorite compositions was “Anching”, dedicated to his dearest daughter Esperanza. He was a versatile band master. He was the founder of the Modernista Band. It is the first and the longest existing band in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte. He was the conductor of the choir of St. William Church in Laoag for many years. He taught music, solfeo to young folks at his hou

By Noralyn Onto Dudt COLLABORATION is one of those terms with both positive and negative meanings.   Unfortunately, a younger me used to associate the word only with mischief as in "collaborating with the enemy" in time of war; or collaborating with someone to cheat the system; or to do harm to others.   And then about four decades ago when I was tasked to edit scientific reports for publication in journals, I came to recognize and appreciate its positive meaning:   The Action of Working with Someone to Produce or Create something.   When a research scientist writes a paper explaining the result of an experiment for publication in a scientific journal, he or she cites his references—those past experiments that he/she tried to replicate or ones that had similar theories but also went beyond or diverged into other direction for other goals. For example, a theory might be: "if patients with metabolic syndrome have dysregulation of cellular lipid metabolism, could it be be