The Ilocos Times

Ilocos Norte governor Imee R. Marcos with regional law enforcement officers (Photo by Alaric Yanos). By Edison Justin Deus PGIN-CMO Laoag City —The Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) and the Provincial Anti- Drug Abuse Council (PADAC) declared the towns of Marcos and Carasi as “drug-free” and endorsed 84.75% of 513 drug-affected barangays in Ilocos Norte as “drug-cleared” in their yearend report and joint meeting on December 22, 2017, at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Session Hall in this city. Other agenda of the meeting included reports on peace and order, the insurgency situation update, the transition into federal government, and purpose of the PPOC. Ilocos Norte governor and PPOC chairperson Ma. Imelda Josefa “Imee” R. Marcos congratulated the Ilocos Norte police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for the tremendous drop in crimes against persons and crimes against property, and for their remarkable Oplan Tokhang, which registered a high nu

THE DIFFERENT  branches of Philippine National Bank in Ilocos Norte hold their annual outreach project at the A. P. Santos Elementary School in Laoag City. (Aceyork Guerrero) The different branches of Philippine National Bank (PNB) in Ilocos Norte recently held an outreach project for the 120 special education (SPED) pupils of A. P. Santos Elementary School in Laoag City. The beneficiaries were pupils who are visually impaired, hearing impaired, autistic and children with intellectual deficiency from the different parts of the province. The PNB officers and employees gave the pupils special headsets, manipulative toys, art materials, grooming kits and other gifts. Snacks and games were also prepared for them. The said charitable activity is an annual project of PNB Laoag-J. P. Rizal, PNB Laoag-Castro, PNB Pasuquin, PNB Batac and PNB Laoag City Cash and Clearing Center, Dr. Christine D. Alipio, principal of A. P. Santos Elementary School, expressed her gratitude

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporter LAOAG CITY—When 9-year old Fevie Zaereel “Angel” Bagcal joined a group of police officers in a friendly race on early December 10, 2017, she thought she is just trying to exercise her muscles and joints. Little did the gold medal taekwondo prodigy of Shamrock Elementary School in this city knew that she is also running for the benefit of children like her. Dubbed as the first fun run activity of the Association of Police Officers via Lateral Entry (APOLE) in Ilocos Norte, the event aims to cultivate unity and camaraderie among its members, and to raise some funds for its charity programs. The group encouraged civilians to also join the activity in support of the charity programs of the Ilocos Norte police force such as gift-giving to the needy and feeding school children. Pegged at a registration fee ranging from PHP250 to PHP450 for the 3K (kilometer), 5K, 10K and 21K categories, organizers said they will use the proceeds

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporter LAOAG CITY—Following the successful implementation of the Producers to Consumers (P2C) program of the local governments of Ilocos Norte and Quezon City, both parties expect to renew a memorandum of agreement benefiting both parties early next year. Edison Natividad, head of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Office of the Provincial Capitol confirmed as he reported the Ilocos Norte government has allocated an amount for the purchase of a hauler truck to transport the province’s food and agricultural products directly to the Quezon City market. He said they already allocated the amount under the province’s 20 percent development fund. Running for almost a year now, the P2C program of Ilocos Norte and Quezon City has generated a huge following of around 7,000 Quezon City Hall employees as regular customers and some outsiders who has discovered the regular trade fair at the Quezon City Hall. Aimed to provide better economic opport

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) recently distributed 24 Australian brahman to three agrarian reform beneficiaries organizations (ARBO) in Ilocos Norte. DAR gave eight cattle each to the Camanga Upland Farmers Cooperative of Badoc, Mumulaan Multipurpose Cooperative of Paoay and the Pasaleng Irrigators Association of Pagudpud. Provincial agrarian reform program officer II Vic M. Ines said they gave cattle as grant to the ARBO for their cattle fattening program. “We aim to help the ARBOs increase their income,” said Mr. Ines. Last year, DAR also gave eight cattle to a cooperative in Tanap, Burgos. *** The MMSU Graduate School Supreme Student Council (GSSSC), in cooperation with the Bad Circle Runners, will hold an outreach project in West Riverside, Laoag City this month. More than 200 beneficiaries will receive rice, noodles, canned goods and other grocery items. The group will also treat them with a Christmas party filled with fun and games Recen

By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff reporter Laoag City — Handy Tagatac Lao, a businessperson here who became a councilor, is among the 80 persons named as the Philippines’ Empowered Men and Women of the Year for 2017. Best Magazine publisher Richard Hiñola organized the said award. It focuses on people who made a “great impact in the lives of the people and their community making them more responsible, empowered and productive individual to society”. The awardees come from the business sector, show business, modelling, law, fashion designer, beauty queens, medicine and other fields who are now successful in life. Among the other awardees include Philippine actresses Vilma Santos, Aiko Melendez, Ara Mina and Gladys Reyes; film director Maryo J. Delos Reyes; Mr. International 2014 Neil Perez; models Imelda Pechera and Wilbert Tolentino; program host Ahwel Paz; entertainment reporters Mario Dumaual and Lhar Santiago; Mr. Gay World 2017 John Raspado; beauty blogger Norm

By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff reporter Batac city —The city government here will acquire an additional fire truck next year. Batac mayor Albert D. Chua made this announcement. He reasoned that the two fire trucks currently used by the Batac Bureau of Fire Protection are both 30 years in service. He added that it was during the time of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos when the fire department acquired those trucks. He also stated that it is the Batac government who is shouldering the repair and maintenance funding of the trucks. “ Ken uray man daan dagitoy ket at least operational da pay laeng, ” Mr. Chua said. Under the 2018 budget of the city, the mayor said they included the purchase of the fire truck on top of the city government’s financial assistance to the local BFP. The assistance becomes gasoline allowances and other operating expenses for the BFP. He added that the BFP also needs to work closely with the Batac Water District about the fire hyd