The Ilocos Times

Officials and department heads of San Isidro, Davao Del Sur headed by Mayor Arnel H. Sitoy receive a plaque of appreciation from Laoag Mayor Chevylle V. Fariñas. The San Isidro officials visited Laoag in a Lakbay Aral on March 19, 2015. (Doms dela Cruz)

By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff reporter San Nicolas , Ilocos Norte—Of the 50 Dept. of Public Works and Highways’ engineering districts nationwide that were authorized to approve detailed engineering design, as-staked and as-built plans, Ilocos Norte’s DPWH 2 nd Engineering District is the lone district in Region I that has been granted.    DPWH Department Order No. 41 states that this is in line with the decentralization of the government in order to provide for more effective and expeditious implementation of projects. Based on the result of the assessment conducted by the Bureau of Design on the design capability of the DPWH field offices, the limits of the delegated authority of the district engineers of the district offices to approve detailed engineering, as-staked and as-built plans with respect to the locally-funded infrastructure projects within their respective districts were increased to P50 million. The district offices include CAR with 4, NCR (1), Regio

Publication Notice R.A. 10172 Republic of the Philippines Local Civil Registry Office Province of Ilocos Norte Municipality of Paoay NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC CCE-0025-2015          R.A. 10172                                                                               May 7, 2015             In compliance with the publication requirement and pursuant to OCRG Memorandum Circular No. 2013-1 Guidelines in the Implementation of the Administrative Order No. 1 Series of 2012 (IRR on R.A. 10172) Notice is hereby served to the public that SUSAN BACUD DE GRACIA has filed with this Office a petition for correction of entry in the sex of child (LCRO copy) from “MALE” to “FEMALE”; and the change of first name from “JESSIE” to “SUSAN” in the Certificate of Live Birth of JESSIE ALMAZAN BACUD at Paoay, Ilocos Norte and whose parents are Marcelina Almazan and Modesto Bacud.             Any person adversely affected by said petition may file his written opposition with this Office not

Looking at the lessons from the European Union’s (EU) financial woes seems timely as member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) anticipate deeper regional economic integration with the ASEAN Economy Community.  As EU and Greek leaders struggle with negotiations over finalizing Greek reforms, a seminar was organized by state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) on April 23, featuring Prof. Lino Briguglio of the University of Malta. Briguglio discussed the impact of the EU debt crisis and the Greek conundrum on ASEAN regional and individual economies. Mr. Briguglio believes, for the most part, that the EU crisis does not have grave implications for ASEAN economies.  The region and its member-states, according to an Asian Development Bank paper he cited, “have the capacity to remain stable in the event that the prolonged crisis in the Eurozone should evolve into another global economic meltdown.” In particular, Mr. Briguglio is

IN the course of a conversation, a friend asked me these questions: “What then is reality? How do we get in touch with it? You mean, we are not yet fully in touch with reality?” Difficult questions, of course. To answer them would require a lot of explanation. These were raised because we were talking about faith and the creative will of God, full of love and wisdom, mercy and compassion, that in the end contains the whole scope of reality in all its objectivity and complexity.   It ’ s in that will that everything is known at once. This is the case of God himself.   But in our case, it would be that faith and the creative will of God that would enable to know the part of reality that we ought to know at the moment, or as it should be known. And most important is that it is in that faith and in that divine will that we get to know things in relation to their ultimate and absolute end, which is what in the end matters. Our real concern is how to engage and relate ourselves

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 acc