The Ilocos Times

  By Bernardo B. Ver II  (Contributor) Senator Ma. Imelda Josefa “Imee” R. Marcos is urging the government to put off rice importation until after the peak of the wet season harvest this October, so that farmers can recover from farmgate prices being kept low by rice traders. Ms. Marcos, who chairs the Senate committee on economic affairs, warned that farmgate prices of palay may again plunge from the present PHP12 to PHP15 per kilo to PHP7 to PHP8, as it did last year when rice imports caused an oversupply and dragged down prices. “Importation does not mean the end of all regulation,” Ms. Marcos noted. “Scheduling importation is one way of helping our local rice farmers while the rice tariffication law remains in place,” she explained further. The senator also urged the Bureau of Customs to “go a step further” after it exposed rice traders who mis-declared and undervalued their imports last year by more than PHP1 billion. “Beyond collecting deficient payments on import

By Leilanie G. Adriano  (Staff Reporter) LAOAG CITY—Young achievers in the province of Ilocos Norte received their cash stipend in a simple ceremony held at the Ilocos Norte Centennial Arena. Running for nine years now, the Provincial Capitol workers’ children who are performing well in school get cash reward from the provincial government of Ilocos Norte. According to human resource management officer Fe Siazon, this year’s 52 beneficiaries have increased compared to previous years which ranges from 20 to 30. The beneficiaries graduated in elementary, senior high school and college on top of their classes and each of them received PHP6,000 cash reward. For a parent like Lyn Marie Asuncion from Laoag City, she said she is grateful to the provincial government under the administration of Ilocos Norte Governor Matthew Joseph M. Manotoc for inspiring more government workers and rewarding their children who do well in school. “The cash incentive is a great boost to our childr

Senator Ma. Imelda Josefa “Imee” R. Marcos said the government must help local livestock raisers become more price-competitive to survive the surge of imports that make up more than half of the poultry and pork products in the market. “Stop the importation madness. Filipinos first!” Ms. Marcos stressed. The neophyte senator, who chairs the Senate committee on economic affairs, cited the August inventory of the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) that showed imports making up 81% of the 43,124 kilos of frozen pork surveyed in the market. The NMIS inventory also showed that imported dressed chicken made up 58% of the total 60,810 kilos surveyed. Ms. Marcos said the high volume of imported poultry products and their lower market prices were making the situation worse for local raisers who are already hurting from the sudden slash in market demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Domestic demand for local pork and chicken has dwindled among food companies, hotels and restaurant

  Manila—PLDT Enterprise, together with Smart Communications, Inc., has recently expanded the Smart Giga Study data pack by offering access to both Canvas and NEO Learning Management Systems (LMS) to cater to the current e-learning requirements of schools and universities nationwide.  “With e-Learning being the new norm, we want to help our students and teachers remain productive at home by providing the necessary tools they need for online education," said Jovy Hernandez, ePLDT President & CEO and SVP & Head for PLDT and Smart Enterprise Business Groups. “We at PLDT Enterprise are committed to onboarding more LMS platforms for us to assist and serve more schools, more teachers, and more students in making their e-learning efforts easier.” Smart Giga Study is PLDT Enterprise's academe-centric solution to the current need for online learning. It is a prepaid data pack specifically geared towards students and members of the academe allowing easier access to a selec

Laoag City —Medical technologists and nurses assigned in several local government units in Ilocos Norte underwent a capacity-building training on September 24, 2020 to scale-up the province's testing capacity as part of its coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) response.   Held at the Provincial Capitol Auditorium, the training was a joint initiative of the Task Force Salun-at and the Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital and Medical Center (MMMH&MC).   According to Dr. Modesty A. Leaño, head of MMMH&MC’s molecular biology laboratory MC, the training aims to empower city and municipal health offices in conducting the proper procedure in collecting, packaging, and transporting of COVID-19 specimen.   “The goal of the Task Force Salun-at and MMMH&MC is for all persons involved in contact tracing, the locally stranded individuals [LSIs], and the Returning Overseas Filipinos are subject to prompt, proper, and timely testing. Importante ang proper collection [of swab sampl

  Laoag City —As one of the five pilot provinces in the Philippines to lead the Department of Agriculture’s synergized agriculture and fisheries extension services, Ilocos Norte has started building its three-story research and extension center to boost local farming practices. On September 10, 2020, Ilocos Norte Governor Matthew Joseph M. Manotoc led the groundbreaking ceremony of the construction of the Ilocos Norte Agriculture and Fisheries Extension System (INAFES) at the Provincial Agriculture Compound in Laoag City. "After devolution, naging fragmented na ang agriculture extension services natin. Kaya naisipan naming i -collate lahat ng efforts, skills, at resources upang mabigyan ng mas mabisang solusyon ang mga problema ng mga magsasaka at mangingisda ," provincial agriculturist Norma Lagmay shared during the press briefing at Sangguniang Panlalawigan Hall, on September 24, 2020. Accordingly, the provincial government will apply a participatory rapid appra

  Laoag City cemetery clean-up. Laoag City police station personnel and officials and BPATS of Brgys. 1, 2, 3, 58, 57 and 30B conduct a clean-up drive at the Laoag City north cemetery in preparation for the All Saints/Souls Days celebration. (Photo courtesy of PNP-Laoag) By Leilanie G. Adriano  (Staff Reporter) LAOAG CITY–Following the guidelines issued by the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) on the observance of “undas”, a Filipino tradition of remembering the dead by going to the cemeteries and lighting up candles or offering prayers and flowers, Ilocos Norte Governor Matthew Joseph M. Manotoc retracted his earlier pronouncement, saying they will now close all public and private cemeteries in the province from Oct. 29 to Nov. 4, 2020. In his latest Executive Order No. 96-20 posted on the evening of Oct. 8, 2o20 in the official social media page of the provincial government of Ilocos Norte, the governor said visiting hours fo