The Ilocos Times

A new eggplant whose gene has been modified to resist a most destructive worm is environment-friendly, scientists said. It's the Bacillus thuriengensis (Bt) eggplant, a gene-modified crop that contains the Bt bacterium that is toxic to the fruit and shoot borer worm, a major pest that can destroy over half of the eggplant crop.   The Bt eggplant's resistance to the worm is expected to lessen the spraying by farmers of pesticides that kill the worm. A Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) study concludes that Bt eggplant reduces pesticides use by 48 percent. It raises a farmer’s income by about P50,000 per hectare as production costs are cut by 16 percent. Much of that would be due to the decreased use of pesticides and the manpower and time to spray pesticides. Over- and mis-application of pesticides to control the eggplant fruit and shoot borer is harmful to humans and to the environment. In contrast, the Bt protein found in Bt eggplant does not

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THE ILOCOS Surian Association of Hawaii (ISAH) is a non-profit umbrella group of all organizations from the Province of Ilocos Sur. Its goal is to perpetuate the Filipino culture in the State of Hawaii and provide invaluable community service here in Hawaii and in Ilocos Sur. One of its annual program is the “President Elpidio Rivera Quirino Award” (PERQ Award), a biennial event that recognizes outstanding Filipinos who come from Ilocos Sur, and who have called Hawaii their home, for their excellence and accomplishments in their field of expertise, as well as civic mindedness and sustaining service to the community-at-large. It was inspired by the sixth president of the Republic of the Philippines, Elpidio Quirino, a native of Vigan. He was a barrio schoolteacher, an orator, a debater, a painter, a constitutionalist, a statesman, and a lawmaker.  Currently, ISAH is in the process of vetting qualified nominees for the “President Elpidio Rivera Quirino Award 2015”. Winners in

Power grid operator and transmission service provider National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) assured the public that, as a corporate entity, it strictly complies with the provisions of the prevailing laws and regulations regarding the implementation of its projects. “We recognize that social acceptability and compliance with environmental regulations and other legal requirements are critical in implementing our projects,” stated NGCP president and CEO Henry Sy, Jr. “Internally, we have strict guidelines in place for the conduct of project presentations for Planning and Engineering transmission projects. With the communities’ welfare in mind, we have been doing these project presentations to disseminate information to the affected barangays and other stakeholders,” Mr. Sy added. NGCP was accused of failing to secure the endorsement of the local government unit (LGU) for one of its projects, particularly the San Esteban-Laoag 230-kiloVolt (kV) transmission line proje

By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff reporter Laoag City —The police in this city apprehended a tricycle driver on Jan. 11, 2015 in a buy-bust operation. The suspect, identified as Wilfred Julian of Brgy. 6 this city was nabbed in the said operation at Brgy. 46 (Bengcag). The police confiscated three small heat-sealed plastic sachet containing suspected shabu as well as the marked money used for the operation. A case was immediately filed against Mr. Julian at the Laoag City Prosecutor’s Office. Laoag police chief P/Supt. Jeffrey T. Gorospe disclosed that they have confirmation that at least six tricycle drivers in the city are allegedly selling illegal drugs. In line with this, Mr. Gorospe warned officers of the different tricycle association in the city during a meeting with them recently. The police chief revealed that some of the suspected illegal drug pushers cum tricycle drivers lied low but others, like Mr. Julian, just continued on, resulting in his arre

( Third of a series ) NABILEG nga impluensia ti pugon ni Hidalgo iti Bannawag. "Inspirado da Mario A. Albalos, Amado I. Yoro ken Francisco T. Ponce nga agsurat iti Bannawag kadagitoy a panawenda idiay Hawaii. Daniw, sarita, salaysay, damag ken dadduma pay. agsasallupang dagiti pasangpeten ti Bannawag a sinuratda, banag a makapasayaat ti Bannawag. Madlaw, maymaysa ti misionda: ti agsurat." [Ban. Hulio 4, 1977]   [Kadagita a panawen, binangonmi ti Aloha Saluyot Club - Innuram - innadal, panagsisinnukat ti pampanunot ken idea. Kameng: Mario Albalos, Francisco Ponce, Rhuddy Castro, Felipe Abinsay, Jr., Elias Yoro, Mel Gonzales, Amado Yoro, sa simmaruno a timmipon da Andrea Baptista, Carlo Laforga. Nakasurat amin dagitoy malaksid kada Rhuddy, Elias, idinto a nakamaysa ni Abinsay iti saritana a "Pamadpadasan", ngem nagballigi ketdi iti politika iti Hawaii. [Nakanobela da Amado, Mario, Francis, Andrea] Ti Aloha Saluyot ket kasla maysa a ramay ti Gumil Hawaii,

Longest ‘boodle fight’ chain set By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff reporter Laoag City— The city government is preparing for grand fiesta celebration this year as 2015 also marks the city’s golden foundation anniversary on June 19. Laoag Mayor Chevylle V. Fariñas announced that she started convening different committees for the fiesta which she said would serve as a prelude for the June 19 charter day celebrations. To achieve this, she has instructed the fiesta committees to prepare events that is connected with the golden foundation anniversary. She added that some of the events may well continue until June 19. Ms. Fariñas admitted though that it would be harder to prepare this year’s fiesta as they want it to be a grand celebration with unique activities. She also disclosed that the city government would also aim to break a world record during the fiesta celebration. She said the activity they have selected would be the longest boodle fight chain in histo