The Ilocos Times

By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff reporter Laoag City —The Philippines is set to host the Travel Blog Exchange (TBEX) on October 13-16m 2016 in Metro Manila. Expected to be featured is Ilocos Norte’s historical and cultural destinations. TBEX is the largest gathering of travel bloggers, writers, new media content creators, social media and other industry professionals attracting more than a thousand participants mainly from North America and Europe. TBEX was first introduced to Asia particularly in Bangkok, Thailand on October 15-17, 2015 and the Philippines bided for the second edition for TBEX Asia and was selected this year’s host destination.  Department of Tourism (DOT) chief operations officer Modesto Baloloy announced that TBEX will promote the tourism industries of Ilocos and Vigan globally. Mr. Baloloy said the TBEX press trip visited the province on June 6-10 wherein historical and cultural destinations in the province were visited. The event will featu

By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff reporter Batac City —A new old face. This is the best way to described newly appointed Batac jail warden J/Sr. Insp. Antonio Sapaden. Mr. Sapaden earlier served as acting jail officer in this city. He was also a former regional admin officer and deputy jail warden in Laoag City. He succeeds J/Sr. Insp. Jerry Palalay who will retire in July. Mr. Sapaden actually became the full-pledged Batac city jail warden on May 16, 2016. New female dorm and male dorm expansion With the beginning of his reign, Mr. Sapaden said the jail dormitories will be increased and expanded. He is hopeful the new female dormitory will be finished soon. The male dormitory expansion, on the other hand, is still under construction. The expansion, Mr. Sapaden explained is due to the increasing number of inmates. As of this posting, the Batac jail holds 190 inmates. Currently, the Batac jail complex has five cells for male and two cells for females.

By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff reporter Laoag City —The city government here is set to construct additional jail cells at the Laoag City Jail. Congestion has long been a problem at the said jail. Jail/Sr. Insp. Herminigildo Rivera said the city government has approved the construction of four additional cells. One cell is already being constructed. Mr. Rivera is hopeful the additional cells would ease congestion problems at the jail. He explained that one jail cell can contain 20-30 detainees. He thanked reelected Laoag mayor Chevylle V.  Fariñas for her help. Meanwhile, an inmate was released recently through the good conduct time allowance (GCTA) program. The GCTA program lessens time served for inmates. Pursuant to Section 2 and 3 of Republic Act No. 10592 (An Act Amending Articles 29, 94, 97, 98 and 99 of Act. No. 3815, as amended, otherwise known as the Revised Penal Code) and its Implementing Rules and Regulations, subject prisoner, having exemplifie

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporter LAOAG CITY—The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) plans to install additional automatic rain gauges (ARGs) in Ilocos Norte’s major river basins. ARGs collect rainfall data which aids authorities to effectively decide during typhoon emergencies. The additional ARGs would intensify data-collection around the province. DOST-Batac director Jonathan Viernes said2-in-1 automatic level system with rain gauge will be installed in most parts of the second district of Ilocos Norte. These include the towns of Solsona, Dingras, Batac, and Badoc; as well as the northern town of Bangui in the province’s first district. Automatic rain gauges have already been installed in the towns of Carasi, Nueva Era and Pasuquin. With the installation of more rain gauges, Mr. Viernes said this will help in gathering accurate rainfall data to assist the weather bureau in monitoring and forecasting. Through the ARGs, the amount of rainfall can

A Japanese professor from Tohoku University recommended the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool to rice researchers in helping farmers cope with climate change. LCA, according to Professor Masanori Sato, is a technique that enables industries to identify the resource flows (water and energy inputs), and environmental impacts (GHG emissions) associated with the provision of products and services. Researchers and decision makers will find LCA useful in giving concrete recommendations to farmers on what alternative technologies, products, processes, or services that they can use in climate change mitigation. “Nowadays, industries like farming use resources such as water and energy as inputs. The common misconception is that we tend to focus on the first and last parts of the whole farming system, without knowing that a large chunk of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions occur in the production stage. Using LCA as a tool, we can evaluate the environmental effects of

By Dominic Dela Cruz Staff reporter Batac City —Department of Education (DepEd) regional director Dr. Alma Ruby C. Torio described schoolyear 2016-17 as “historic.” The current school year marks the formal implementation of the senior high school program in the country. Ms. Torio lauded the two education heads in Laoag and Batac Cities for their active participation in the implementation of the new education program. She also expressed her delight for the orderly and peaceful opening of classes on June 13 in the province. She explained that, based on initial field reports, school children are excited to start the new school year. She also pointed out the increase in the number of enrollees. Senior high school kinks MS. Torio however admitted that some schools still do not have building for senior high school students. Some tracks are also still being studied at the DepEd regional office. Laoag City, for one, still needs additional teachers for senior high s