The Ilocos Times

By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff reporter Laoag City— The city government here is eyeing to put up at least 50 more core shelters for typhoon “Lando” (Koppu) victims here. To realize this, the Sangguniang Panlungsod passed a resolution authorizing Laoag mayor Chevylle V. Fariñas to represent the city in a memorandum of agreement with the Dept. of Social Work and Development for the core shelter project. The DSWD will be represented by regional director Marcelo Nicomedes Castillo. Laoag councilor Shirley Ong-Sin, main sponsor of the resolution, pointed out that the proposed project will be a partnership between the Laoag government and the DSWD regional field office I. The proposed project is still in line with rehabilitation efforts for the damages caused by “Lando”, which hit the city in October 2015. Mrs. Sin said the proposed project will feature 50 core shelter units. It has a projected cost of P160,000—or P8,000 per unit; and it will be placed on the resettleme

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporter LAOAG CITY—Owing to a change of leadership, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan here renewed its call for the concerned authorities of Apayao to resolve the boundary dispute between the two provinces. The said issue has divided Sitio Bucarot residents. Sitio Bucarot is located in Adams, Ilocos Norte In a draft resolution unanimously passed by the board, SP member Vicentito “Toto” M. Lazo, who sponsored the resolution, hopes that the new set of Apayao Sangguniang Panlalawigan members will honor Ilocos Norte’s call for a joint session at the soonest possible time.  On April 21, 2014, the same resolution was adopted and approved by the Ilocos Norte board, however, the Apayao board did not reciprocate.  According to Mr. Lazo, the long-standing boundary dispute between Ilocos Norte and Apayao over Sitio Bucarot have fueled a stalemate between the two provinces; hence, the need to resolve this through amicable or legal means to avoid unwa

Dr. Norma Respicio talks on textiles and inabel on October 7 at the seminar. ( Alaric Yanos) By Jennifer T. Pambid PGIN-CMO With Ilocos Norte emerging as a top tourist destination in the country, the provincial government in cooperation with the Department of Tourism (DOT) offered a 21-day tour-guiding seminar and accreditation for aspiring professional tour guides. The seminar started on October 4, 2016 at the Taoid museum activity area in Laoag City with at least 25 participants from all around the province. Ilocos Norte tourism officer Aian Raquel said that “the training is focused on the technical aspects of tour-guiding and hospitality and there are content-specific lectures (on) Ilocos Norte as a (tourist) destination.” Upon completion of the workshop, participants will be accredited by the DOT as professional tour guides and will have opportunity to earn higher pay than the ordinary guides. “This is an opportunity for our interested tour guides, an

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) increased the allowable amount for overseas Filipino workers (OFW) for the replacement and/or exchange of new design series (NDS) banknotes in their possession that could not be physically exchanged from January 1, 201 6 to December 31, 2o16. From P10,000, the BSP increased the threshold to P50,000 following the Monetary Board’s approval on September 8,2016. Those who would avail of this however need to register their NDS banknote holdings at https://orbs.bsp.gov.ph  starting 1 October 2016 to 31 December 2016. The overseas Filipinos will have one year from their registration date to present their original passport and printed confirmation notice to any BSP office for the processing of the NDS exchange. Filipinos deployed to countries experiencing geopolitical crisis during the registration period (i.e., 1 October 2016 to 31 December 2016) who may not be able to register their NDS banknote holdings need only to present their original p

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporter VINTAR, Ilocos Norte—A rural health facility in the remote Brgy. Tamdagan, this town is being eyed for conversion as a drug rehabilitation center of the province. Dr. Juanito Chua, Provincial Health Management Council executive consultant confirmed this   as he reported that Department of Health (DOH) representatives already visited the facility to check what needs to be done for its conversion. Upon recommendation of the DOH, Mr. Chua said all existing health facilities all throughout the country which are underutilized can be converted as a drug rehabilitation center to serve former drug dependents who surrendered to the Philippine National Police (PNP) recently.  “We are just waiting for funding from PAGCOR [Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.]. They [DOH representatives] already measured the rooms in preparation for its masterplan,” Mr. Chua revealed. The Tamdagan hospital used to be an infirmary hospital manned by a re

  Ilocos Norte library staff prepares the magazines for distribution. (Alaric Yanos) By Jennifer T. Pambid PGIN-CMO The Provincial Library (Information Hub) of Ilocos Norte is set to distribute thousands of copies of popular magazines in different schools and municipal libraries in the province. More than 40,000 issues of magazine donations were received by the Provincial I-hub from the Emerald Headway Distributors, Inc. through its “Support a Library Program.” Librarian-in-charge Matilde Nery said the effort was an initiative of Ilocos Norte Governor ma. Imelda Josefa “Imee” R. Marcos, in cooperation with the said company. “We received more than 40,000 copies of popular magazines including Reader’s Digest, People’s Asia, and StarTalk and many other entertainment magazines,” Nery said. She added that they are planning to distribute the materials during the conduct of Capitol Express in every municipality. The Provincial I-hub has been actively promot

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