The Ilocos Times

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporter LAOAG CITY—As the nation commemorated the September 21, 1972 Martial Law declaration during the time of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos, some Ilocano activists mostly composed of farmers, fishermen, youth and human rights advocates from various parts of the province convened a forum today inside the Iglesia Filipina Independiente Church in this city. During the time of martial law, even the residents of Ilocos Norte were not spared from the terror that it brought. For 54-year old Antonino Pugyao of Brgy. Cacafean in Marcos, Ilocos Norte and incumbent president of the Solidarity of Peasants Against Exploitation (STOP-Exploitation) in Ilocos Norte, he said his dark memories about human rights abuses during the time of martial law still lingers in his mind. “We were forced to evacuate our land, the military burned our house, my cousin was killed and some of my barrio mates went missing during the time of Martial Law,” Mr. Pugy

GLEDCO board chair Enrico Aurelio (extreme left) explains a point during a committee hearing at the Sangguniang Panlungsod session hall. ( Doms dela Cruz) By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff reporter Laoag City —After the Commission on Audit’s (COA) said in its annual audit report that all transactions between the Government of Laoag Employees Development Cooperative (GLEDCO) and the Laoag City government has “conflict of interest”, the homegrown cooperative has taken steps to rescind all its contracts with the city government. The COA reports were for 2016 and 2017 and involved at least Php66 million. The Sangguniang Panlungsod here and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan also started separate hearings on the issue. The city council has also since passed a resolution urging Laoag Mayor Chevylle V. Fariñas to rescind all contracts between the city government and GLEDCO. GLEDCO board chairperson Enrico Aurelio said that they have cut their contracts with the city gov

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporter LAOAG CITY—Typhoon Mangkhut [Ompong] blew off the Laoag International Airport (LIA) administration building’s roof forcing airport personnel to relocate temporarily. Operations, however, resumed on September 24, 2018 after the sole airline servicing the Manila-Laoag-Manila route cancelled flights starting September 15, 2018. Ronald Estabillo, civil aviation area 1 manager said Mangkhut is the strongest typhoon so far that caused severe damage at the airport. Before the expected the typhoon’s landfall at dawn of September 15, 2018, the airline also cancelled the evening Manila-Laoag-Manila flight on September 14, 2018. The airport was closed from September 15 at 8:00 a.m. until September 16 at 4:00 p.m. Earlier this year, the Laoag airport has been identified as one of the safest and secured international airport in the country with its new aerodrome certificate. The Laoag airport caters to domestic flights daily.

Batac Mayor Albert D. Chua leads the distribution of thousands of fertilizers as grant to the 7,409 registered farmers in the city of Batac from the city's RA 7171 share. ( Photo courtesy of Batac City government) By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff reporter Batac City —"Pabilgen ni Bataqueno, Kasapulan Dagiti Mannalon Ikalikaguman Tayo”. Those were the city’s cry as officials distributed thousands of organic, complete and urea fertilizers to at least 7,409 registered farmers here. Batac City agriculturist Merilyn Gappi said that with the big volume of fertilizers they distributed, the city government decided to divide the distribution into three batches. The first batch was on August 20 and 21, 2018 and the second batch was on August 24 and 25, 2018. The city government has not scheduled the third batch as of press time. Ms. Gappi said each registered farmer received two bags of organic and one bag each of complete and urea fertilizers for

OATH-TAKING. Lawyer Ferdinand Nicolas, President of Northwestern University, leads the oath-taking and induction of the officers and members of the Multi-Sectoral Governance Council (MSGC) of the Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital and Medical Center (MMMH&MC) on September 11, 2018. Nicolas was elected MSGC chair while Zarriedie D. Parilla was named vice chairperson of the Performance Governance System team. ( Edward Vincent Paul A. Miguel photo) BATAC CITY—After becoming the first retained hospital by the Department of Health (DOH) to hurdle the initiation stage of the Performance Governance System (PGS), the Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital and Medical Center (MMMH&MC) here is currently trailing its path towards the compliance stage of the accreditation. PGS pathway has four stages—initiation, compliance, proficiency and institutionalization—wherein MMMH&MC surpassed the first stage last February 2018. True to this, the Institute for Solidarity and Asia and

  STEM students of Ilocos Norte National High School explain to executives of Caltex and GLEDCO how they are using the newly-donated digital microscope that projects the image on a big screen so that the whole class can see. With the modern equipment, teachers can use 21 st  century teaching methods to make their students better learn STEM. Laoag City — With the academe, government, private sector and community all involved, almost 52,000 public high school students and 1,781 of their teachers will be able to use 21 st century learning tools as they study Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). The days of learning calculus and physics with manila paper and chalk are over for these students. On September 25,2018 during an awarding ceremony held in the iconic Plaza Aurora in Laoag City, Caltex Fuel Your School (FYS) turned over P3 million worth of 21 st century learning tools to the 30 highest-need public high schools in Ilocos and Cordillera regions.

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporter LAOAG CITY—The Ilocos Norte government through the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan unanimously approved the reprograming of about PHP35 million for the purchase of palay and rice in the province. Starting this month, the Ilocos Norte government will be buying local palay harvest or rice supply from qualified traders and farmer-recipients here under the so-called “buy-back” scheme. Based on the memorandum of agreement entered into between Ilocos Norte Governor Ma. Imelda Josefa “Imee” R. Marcos and qualified palay/rice traders and farmers here, the provincial government shall buy some of their stocks at fair market value to ensure every household in the province will have sufficient rice supply until the year end. Qualified traders are those engaged in palay or rice trading which maybe sole proprietorship, partnerships, cooperatives, or private organizations. Farmer-recipients also include individual farmers or