The Ilocos Times

By Dominic Dela Cruz Staff Reporter Batac City —Batac mayor Jeffrey Jubal Nalupta announced that the Farmers Day celebration has been set for May 1-7, 2014. The special day recognizes the importance of the farmers in the city and to appreciate their contribution towards the city’s development. Nalupta said this year’s festival features different activities and innovations from past celebrations. The celebration will be kicked off by a thanksgiving mass, opening of booths and exhibits, Zanjera Day/Congress Agri Bingo Part I and pre-judging of the Balasang ti Away pageant on May 1. The Carosa Parade featuring “karison” [carts] and carabaos will take centerstage on May 2. This parade depicts the old way of the farmers as the carts would be used as floats that would be decorated with the farmers’ high value crops... At 7 pm of May 2, the Balasang ti Away 2014 will be crowned. The said beauty tilt features 30 candidates from the city’s 29 rural barangays, incl

LET’S give due attention to this need of raising and training leaders. We cannot and should not take this for granted. We should not think that leaders would just come out of the blue, whether we like or not, whether we do something about it or not. We have to look for them, those with potentials, and train and form them to be such. While it’s true that God’s grace can make leaders out of the commonest of persons, it’s also true that grace requires human cooperation not only from those directly called to be leaders but also from all of us who in varying degrees are involved in raising and training leaders. Yes, St. Paul once said that God often chooses the weak, the foolish and base things of the world to confound the strong, the wise and the proud. Or if we want to be more graphic, God can, as the Bible says, lift up the poor from the dunghill so he can sit with princes. (cfr 1 Sam 2,8) Just the same, these divine affirmations do not preclude the necessity for some lea

Inannugot ni Ilocos Norte Gobernador Ma. Imelda “Imee” R. Marcos nga adu dagiti kasapulan a mataming pakaseknan ti programa ti salun-at. Kunana a daytoy ti rason no apay nga agtultuloy ti panangtutokna kadagitoy a problema tapno naan-anay a maipaayan iti atension. Dinakamatna a karamanen ditoy ti panagkurkurang ti bilang dagiti doctor nga agserserbi kadagiti nagduduma a district hospital. Nupay kasta, inadmitirna a ti problema ti gobierno nga uray adda ti panagbaybay-a dagiti doktor no dadduma ken no palagipam dagitoy, sika pay ti agbalin a dakes wenno ipilaanda iti kaso. Inlawlawagna a daytoy met ti saanna a magustuan ken pakaragsakan no dadduma iti agdama a situasion. Nupay kasta, kunana nga adda met ti limitasion ti pundo ken panagala kadagiti doktor nga agserbi kadagiti ospital. Inbatadna nga adu met dagiti mangngagas nangruna kadagiti espesialista a saanda kayat ti sumrek iti gobierno gapu iti nababa a sueldo. Iti baet daytoy, immunan nga impasingk

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff Reporter The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is urging small and medium enterprises here to continue promoting their products by joining trade fairs and exhibit to increase their market. Beyond the sales generated during fairs, DTI Regional Director Florante Leal told participants during the culminating activity of the summer trade fair and garden show held at the Capitol grounds on April 15 that it is more important that products are exposed to the market. “The exposure of the product is lasting. The sales will come automatically when you join fairs,” Leal said citing that DTI continues to support product development to assist SMEs in promoting their products. Also, he said that joining trade fairs serves as an avenue to launch new products to a wider market. While inspiring other producers to participate in regional and national trade fairs, the DTI regional director said Ilocos Norte’s bagnet and longganisa are the top gr

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff Reporter MARCOS, Ilocos Norte—The saga of the town with two mayors continued on April 22 after a brief hiatus as the police padlocked the municipal mayor’s office. The lockdown of the said office, according to the police, is to scale down tensions in the town as former Marcos mayor Salvador Pillos and proclaimed Marcos mayor Arsenio Agustin continue to claim mayoralty of the town. The electoral case has been elevated to the Supreme Court as Pillos filed an election protest against Agustin. On April 21 at about 6 pm, the Marcos police were alerted of the re-entry of Pillos to mayor’s office. The mayor’s office is located on the second floor of the Marcos municipal hall. After re-entering the office, Pillos said he will not vacate it unless the Supreme Court comes out with a final verdict on his protest against Agustin. Agustin has been acting as the mayor of this town after he was proclaimed by the local Commission on Elections and

A lawyer from the Public Attorney's Office visits the Laoag City Jail to provide free legal services to detainees. (Doms dela Cruz)

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff Reporter Paoay , Ilocos Norte—Families living in Brgy. Masintoc, whose income greatly depend on aqua farming in this coastal municipality, are being threatened with the loss of livelihood as water pollution worsens and further exacerbated by the rise of temperature. Masintoc brgy. chairperson Edward Agdeppa reported the re-occurrence of what is believed to be “fish kill” on April 24. He explained that this was apparently due to the degradation of waterways with its natural flow of water connecting to their fish cages have been blocked. Agdeppa added that the “fish kill” affects their livelihood and that this has been one of their main concerns every time the water becomes polluted and its natural flow blocked. The Ilocos Norte fishery office responded to this immediately as it recommended the clearing of the waterways. “A fish kill is defined as a significant and sudden mortality of wild or cultured fish. What happened in Masintoc is