The Ilocos Times

MMSU President Dr. Shirley C. Agrupis delivers her state of the university address at the Batac campus’ Teatro Ilocandia. (Photo by Marc Kevin Bituen & Roi Domingo) By Matthew C. Esmino & Jonie C. Luis  (Correspondents) City of Batac —As the leading university in the Ilocos Region, the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) has started taking bold steps to become a “University of the Future.” In her state of the university address (SOUA) during MMSU’s Convocation Program on Jan. 20, 2022, MMSU President Shirley C. Agrupis bared the university’s goal of being “crisis-proof” by fully embracing the “Fourth Industrial Revolution (FIRe) or Industry 4.0”. “FIRe shall be the new norm in all university operations in order to stay relevant and responsive amid various crises,” Agrupis said. Agrupis added that the “MMSU 4.0 Framework and Road Map” has already gained the approval of the MMSU Board of Regents—ready to create policies, programs and funds for said purpose. It is a sys

By Noralyn O. Dudt IT WAS 1898 at the Parque de   Luneta—a huge 140 acre (58 hectares)—park   overlooking the Manila Bay. Kommandant Krueger monitored the placement of the large statue of Kaiser Wilhelm II, offset from Jose Rizal's. His aides were putting up new signs. It was going to be the "Kaiser Wilhelm und Jose Rizal Stadtgarten." It had taken several days to remove the "Paseo de Luneta and Paseo Maria Cristina" signs along the way and replaced them with "Kaiser Wilhelm PrachtStrasse." From what he could see, it would be difficult to properly teach these natives proper respect for the Kaiser and to ferret out their resistance. It pained him that there was so little enthusiasm for cooperation especially after completion of a German non-aggression treaty with Japan. He has been quite certain that the Philippines would have a brighter future as a German protectorate. Vice Admiral Otto von Diederichs That's a scenario that has been going on in

  Laoag City —In his first term, Rep. Eugenio Angelo Marcos-Barba—or popularly known as AMB—authored and co-authored 535 bills and resolutions. Barba’s legislative agenda focused on the promotion of agriculture, education, youth and sports, public health, service delivery, public order and safety, transportation, environmental protection, and local governance. Of the 535 legislative measures Cong. AMB principally authored and co-authored, 28 bills have been enacted into law.   Local measures For his constituents, Barba filed local measures that would improve service delivery in the province; the promotion of Ilocano culture and tradition, eco and local tourism, local sports development and sports tourism, and local agriculture development. House Bill No. 5950 is a measure seeking to establish a TESDA Training and Assessment Center in Ilocos Norte. By establishing a TESDA training and assessment center, students and residents from low-income families and out-of-school you

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

By Joni C. Luis ( Correspondent) Pagudpud , Ilocos Norte—"Full, solid, 100 percent.” That is how Pagudpud Vice Mayor Matilde “Maja” H. Sales described her support for Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos, who is running for the congressional seat of Ilocos Norte’s first district. Sales, who is aiming a return as Pagudpud mayor, said she believes that Marcos, with his educational background and exposure in Congress, is “ripe and ready” to represent the district. She added that having him as congressman will be very beneficial for the district, especially if his father, presidential frontliner Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr., becomes the nation’s leader. “ Alam niyo naman, manipud idi , no matter what and against all odds, hindi talaga kami umaalis sa Marcos, kaya ikarigatanmi a tulungan isuna ,” said Sales who intimated that her association with the younger Marcos goes way back. Sandro himself has shared in previous media interviews that among his fondest memories grow

As journalists , we do have our own personal biases, beliefs and principles. As human beings, it is inevitable that there are just things and persons we like and don’t like. Here at The Ilocos Times , the only criterion we use for news stories is objectivity. We don’t include opinions of the news writer neither do we allow their “slants” for or against the personality involved in the news. We try to balance the issues by getting both sides’ comments and takes. There may come a time when a person concerned is not interviewed or asked about the issue he/she may be involved in; but this is mainly due to the fact that the person is unavailable or simply doesn’t want to comment. Either way, we do try our best to get their take on whatever issue they may be concerned with. Opinion pieces, on the other hand, is a totally different animal. Here, our opinion and editorial writers make their stand on issues they are tackling. On this side of journalism, the personal biases, prejudices and

By Noralyn Onto Dudt OMICRON, the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet has been drafted   by the World Health Organization as the name for the new COVID-19 variant, technically known as the B.1.1.529 variant. The Omicron variant is a reminder of what scientists and medical experts have been saying for months: COVID-19 will thrive as long as vast numbers of the global population are not vaccinated. Scientists say that Omicron is the weirdest creature they have ever encountered with 30 unruly swarm of mutations scattered on three major prongs of the spike protein that is essential to the virus ability to infect cells,   a first of its kind with so many mutations gathered in "one package." Even though some of these mutations are recognizable,   many of them are new and utterly enigmatic. That said, scientists do not want to get ahead of the facts: no one knows exactly yet how this variant behaves in real-world situations. However, should they find a high degree of immune-evas