The Ilocos Times

By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff Reporter A CONFRONTATION after a near accident resulted in the death of a Laoag City jail officer. Jail Officer I Jayson Cabanatan, 30 years old, married and a resident Barangay Tabug, Batac City was gunned down at a gasoline station here in Laoag City at midnight on May 13, 2014. The Laoag City police identified the suspect as Mark Neil Racaido, of legal age and a resident of Barangay 59-B Dibua South Laoag City. Cabanatan was rushed to the Gov. Roque B. Ablan Sr. Memorial Hospital by responding police officers where he was pronounced “dead on arrival”. In their initial investigation, Laoag deputy police chief P/Chief Insp. Jonathan Papay disclosed that victim together with his companion identified as SJO1 Joel Guillermo also detailed at the Laoag City Jail were walking from the convenient store of said gasoline station when a green Mercedes Benz 100 van bearing a plate number ULK 554 which was then moving in an opposite direction

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff Reporter BATAC CITY—A proposed two-storey Cancer Institute and Hospice Center will soon rise in this city’s premiere health care provider, Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital and Medical Center (MMMH&MC). Located in a 1.5-hectare donated lot at Barangay San Pedro along the Batac-Banna road, Dr. Jose Orosa III of the MMMH&MC said that the Batac hospital continues to expand with numerous infrastructure developments and will soon house cancer patients and other patients in need of a hospice care center. Being the center for health and wellness in the region, Dr. Orosa said the proposed Cancer Institute and Hospice Care under the supervision of the MMMH&MC will certainly benefit Ilocanos in the region. Instead of going to Metro Manila for treatment, Dr. Orosa said that their constituents will save a lot of time, effort and money as health services becomes more accessible. Funded by the Department of Health, the proposed Cancer I

By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff Reporter GRASS FIRE broke out at the Laoag City sanitary landfill causing a fire that lasted for a week. This was disclosed by Laoag City assistant city engineer Fred Agpaoa as he declared that the facility is now safe. Smoke enveloped the landfill last week as the city engineering office and the city Bureau of Fire Protection scampered to put out the fire. Fire trucks from neighboring towns assisted the Laoag fire station in trying to control the blaze, which lasted for days. Based on the investigation conducted by the engineering office and the Laoag BFP, they pointed to a grass fire near the landfill as the cause of the incident. They theorized that the grass on fire was blown by wind in reaching the landfill which resulted in a bigger fire as waste residue—methane—ignited the fire. Mr. Agpaoa presumed that methane ignited the fire as this is a flammable substance. With this development, Mr. Agpaoa requested Laoag mayor Che

ILOCOS NORTE MEANS BUSINESS .  Michael Raeuber,  president of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, commends the upbeat economic mood in Ilocos Norte while sharing insights for better investment prospects. ( Herdz Yumul) By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff Reporter EIGHT representatives from the joint Foreign Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines were in Ilocos Norte on May 16 to explore Ilocos Norte’s potential for investment.  As Ilocos Norte has shown readiness to welcome foreign investment, the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) along with the American, Canadian, British, Mexico and Korean chambers of commerce has expressed interest to partner with the provincial government in terms of logistics particularly in the fields of infrastructure development and in the possible export of fresh Ilocos mangoes and dragon fruit. Michael Raeuber, ECCP president said serious talks on free trade agreement between Europe and the Philippine

By Alfredo C. Garvida, Jr. Whoever contrived the Napo-lists deserves a big salute from students of public relations and propaganda; intriguing and baffling, yet inscrutable in the context as to why these self-righteous keepers of the lists had to arrogate such moral ascendancy unto themselves to tantalize the public about the involvement of innumerable political personalities beyond the fact that the documents in their possession are neither subscribed nor signed by the purported source that was Janet Napoles herself. Just as the government was on its way to indict and prosecute the originally listed politicians, including Senators Enrile, Estrada and Revilla, people of unverified intents came out swinging in the media brandishing weightless evidence against other political figures, which thus has now muddled the issue of corruption against the aforementioned distinguished senators, and waylaid in effect the government's momentum to indict them.  Sandra Cam, an ers

“Everyone makes judgments based on race. Everyone is a little bit racist, it’s true. So everyone stop being so PC [politically correct].” —“Avenue Q” (a musical “satirizing the issues and anxieties associated with entering adulthood”). 2004 Tony Award winner. Is there anyone who is not a racist, who has not made or laughed at ethnic jokes? Filipinos are among the most racist in the world. Listen to Filipinos make jokes against the Chinese, Indians (Bombay), Japanese, even Ilocanos. Donald Sterling, owner of the basketball team Los Angeles Clippers, allegedly was “ranting and raving” against blacks. He was doing neither. He was jealous of Magic Johnson because he had a picture with his inamorata circulated on the internet. He was pleading with her:  All I ask is that you do not broadcast it on Instagram. Fairness requires that one listen to the entire conversation between Sterling and his inamorata, rather than taking words out of context, before saying things against

APART FROM the looming power crisis brought about by lack of foresight or sheer idiocy, another crisis is brewing in the horizon. In its fact sheet, UN Water stated: “With expected increases in population, by 2030, food demand is predicted to increase by 50% (70% by 2050) (Bruinsma, 2009), while energy demand from hydropower and other renewable energy resources will rise by 60% (WWAP, 2009). These issues are interconnected—increasing agricultural output, for example, will substantially increase both water and energy consumption, leading to increased competition for water between water-using sectors. “Water availability is expected to decrease in many regions. Yet future global agricultural water consumption alone is estimated to increase by ~19% by 2050, and will be even greater in the absence of any technological progress or policy intervention. “Water for irrigation and food production constitutes one of the greatest pressures on freshwater resources. Agriculture accou