The Ilocos Times

How rice self-sufficiency can contribute to hunger reduction among Filipinos Rice is the staple food of Filipinos. While the Philippines is a rice producing country, demand for this agricultural product is more than the supply such that the country has to resort to importation. In fact, the nation is one of the largest importers of rice in the world, leaving it particularly vulnerable to high and volatile rice prices. Increase in the price of rice due to lack of supply therefore affects many marginalized Filipinos who subsist mainly on rice to address their hunger pangs. For the country to attain rice self-sufficiency, President Aquino declared 2013 as the National Year of Rice (NYR) through Proclamation No. 494. The Department of Agriculture (DA) leads the campaign together with the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice). DA and PhilRice are working together toward reducing poverty and hunger by focusing on producing and distributing high-quality and improved rice see

By CA Javier Science Research Specialist I, TDSTSD Looking back, Filipinos only ate brown rice until Westerners introduced the modern milling process that produced white, polished rice which soon dominated the market and eventually changed our cultural tradition on rice preference. Bringing back the tradition of eating brown rice can help achieve the government’s goal of rice self-sufficiency in the near future while addressing the country’s nutritional and health problems.  Rice is the major staple food of Filipinos, contributing about 35.7 percent of the average daily individual food intake, making it the major source of carbohydrates in the Filipino diet. White rice is the most-consumed form of rice based on the Food Consumption Data of the 7th National Nutrition Survey conducted by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (FNRI-DOST). Brown rice, however, is the form of rice that has undergone minimal milling. It is gainin

Is Senator Jinggoy Estrada aware that he resembles “Lady Macbeth” in Shakespeare’s play of 1607? Both cannot sleep. Along with 38 other officials Jinggoy has been charged before the Ombudsman for funneling P286.6 million to bogus NGOS, Jinggoy says he tosses awake in bed, fretting about “false charges” that he scammed on seven different occasions. He’s had a tough time explaining the controversy to his 7-year old daughter. He was tagged as “Jingle Bells”, then jailed in the Estrada impeachment case.  Charges were scuttled but his father, President Joseph Estrada, was nailed as guilty. Then President Gloria Macapagal -Arroyo pardoned Erap. Lady Macbeth murdered Duncan and thereafter sleepwalked night after night. She’d rub her hands of imagined bloodstains. “Out, out dammed spot, I say”.  Modern psychiatrists dub that “pathological somnambulism”. Her husband pleaded with the doctors: "Canst thou not raze...troubles of the brain/ And with some sweet oblivious antidot

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan standing as a committee of the whole passed a resolution on September 22 declaring the whole province of Ilocos Norte under a state of calamity after typhoon Odette (international name: Usagi) battered the province on Friday (September 20) and Saturday (September 21). On hand during the special session were SP members Albert Chua, Da Vinci Crisostomo, Juan Conrado Respicio, Portia Salenda, Rogelio Balbag, Joel Garcia and ex-officio members Domingo Ambrocio and Mike Hernando. Chua presided in the sessuon. The provincial government, through communications and media officer June Arvin Gudoy reported that initial damages for infrastructure and agriculture have been estimated at P22,226,547. With the declaration of a state of calamity, prices of basic commodities in the province are frozen and overpricing/profiteering and hoarding of prime commodities, medicines and petroleum products will be monitored by the Local Price Coordination Council. Granti

After the successes of Takbo Para sa Pasko , Ilocos Challenge and Hardcore Marathon , the race directors of Bad Circle Runners are again introducing another kind of challenge to runners – an ultramarathon from Ilocos Sur to Ilocos Norte. Dubbed as Ilocos S2N (Sur to Norte), this ultra-event will have an 80-kilometer distance starting from Santa, Ilocos Sur to Paoay, Ilocos Norte. It will be held on October 26-27, 2013 with two exciting categories: 80K Solo and 80K Two-Member Relay . The event—which will gun-off at exactly 10PM on October 26—will have an 18-hour cut-off. The starting line will be at the Quirino Bridge, more popularly known as Banaoang Bridge, which connects the southern and northern parts of Ilocos Sur traversing over the Abra River. The finish line will be in Paoay, Ilocos Norte—the home of the famous Paoay Church and Paoay Sand Dunes. After this event was posted on Takbo.ph and FB , the organizers from the Bad Circle Runners were surprised by the

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff Reporter September 18, 2013 Should we abolish pork barrel? Without batting an eyelash, Senator Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said having no pork is “best for everybody”. “In the interest of transparency, it would be best for everybody. We should abolish all,” said Marcos as denied any links to the pork barrel scandal rocking the nation. In a meeting with the local press on September 14, a day after his birthday bash at the Malacañang of the North, he reiterated the his signature bearing his alleged endorsement of a government corporation as the implementer of livelihood projects using P100 million of his pork barrel allocation in 2012 was forged. Sen. Bongbong Marcos celebrates the 96th birthday of their father, the late Pres. Ferdinan Marcos in Batac City on September 11, 2013 with his siblings, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos and Irene M. Araneta, and other hangers on. Photo by Alaric Yanos “ Pinag-aralan naming at mukhang palsipikado

Fr. Roy Cimagala (second from left) receives the CAMM award on September 1 in Cebu City. By Michael T. Esmino Managing Editor “ANALYSIS” writer Fr. Roy Cimagala was declared Best in Column Writing by Cebu Archdiocesan Mass Media Award (CAMMA) in ceremonies held at the SM Cinema Cebu on September 1. Cimagala principally writes for The Freeman in Cebu but also sends his columns to other newspapers in the county, including The Ilocos Times . In an interview, the priest said he considers his work as a form of apostolate of public opinion and a way of reading the signs of the times. Previously, Cimagala received this biennial award in 2005, 2009 and 2011 CAMMA editions. He is currently chaplain of Paref-Southcrest School in Cebu. He started column-writing as a hobby. According to him, he now considers it as a “very serious business with a heavy load of responsibility toward the Church and society.” Fr. Roy Cimagala