The Ilocos Times

By Reynaldo E. Andres Contributor Batac City —The Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) and the Maejo University (MJU) in Chiang Mai, Thailand have agreed to establish a cooperative relationship in order to foster strong ties in their respective programs so that students and employees who might want to pursue exchange studies might improve their skills and academic performance. The areas of cooperation are contained in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two universities which was signed last month by MMSU President Miriam E. Pascua and MJU President Chamnian Yosraj. Subject to mutual consent includes those programs offered by the two parties which are considered feasible and desirable and are believed to foster development partnership between them. Cooperation shall be carried out through exchange of students and staff, joint research activities and publications, participation in seminars and academic meetings, exchange of academic materials and other relev

SAN  Nicolas Mayor Melanie Grace P. Valdez receives the plaque of recognition from RDC-I acting chairperson Dir. Nestor D. Rillon for winning the top plum in the Region I Search for LGU Best Practices with the entry “Cultural Heritage: Makakain Ba Yan?...Maituturo” under the 1 st -3 rd  class municipal category. San Nicolas also took 1 st  runner up honors in the Search for LGU-NGO Partnership with the entry “I Have a Dream: SN Express Bin-I Foundation Inc.” (Doms dela Cruz) By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff reporter BAUANG , La Union—Four Ilocos Norte local government units were recognized in the recently concluded State of the Region’s Development Conference (SORDC) and Regional Development Council (RDC) Awards and Recognitions Program held in Bauang, La Union on April 22, 2015. San Nicolas takes two awards Delegates from the municipality of San Nicolas headed by Mayor Melanie Grace P. Valdez received the award as they bagged top honors in the Search for the LGU Best

LIKE SHOOTS to the sun, tens of thousands of tourists were lured to Sillag. The 4th Sillag: Poro Point Festival of Lights shone anew from April 9 to 12 with additional exciting events highlighting the rich heritage of the warm, hardworking people of La Union amid the province’s picturesque beaches and scenic landscape. Similar to its previous celebration, Sillag is drew an average of 20,000 people per day, hundreds of which are foreign tourists, witnessing the four-day festival.  The peak number of visitors is expected to reach 40,000. A beacon for progress La Union was previously eclipsed by other (and more popular) local tourism events up north especially in Benguet's Baguio City, Pangasinan’s Dagupan City, and Ilocos Sur's Vigan City.  La Union gradually reinvented itself and was able to exploit the tourism and business potentials especially of its beaches in San Juan endowed with enticing surfing conditions. Soon enough, Sillag came to light.  The Sillag

MEMBERS  of the Laoag City Search and Rescue (SAR) retrieve a victim of a drowning incident identified as Florida Angeles, 35 years old from Dasmariñas, Cavite on the early morning of April 15, 2015 under the Gilbert Bridge. The incident is still under investigation by the members of the Laoag police headed by P/Supt. Jeffrey T. Gorospe. (Doms dela Cruz)

By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff reporter Batac City —Councilor Winet Quidang is hopeful that five more computer units for the city library would soon be coming from Batac natives’ group abroad. In a regular session of the Sangguniang Panlungsod, the council members unanimously approved five resolutions requesting a computer unit each from five organizations abroad. Originally, the sponsor prepared eight resolutions but three were set aside since the city government has other requests from the said groups. The five organizations are the Annak Ti Batac International-Hawaii, Annak Ti Batac Singapore, Annak Ti Batac Hawaii, Annak Ti Batac Hong Kong and Annak Ti Batac Association of Singapore. Ms. Quidang said the requested computer units would be added to the library’s existing 13 units. Of the 13 units in the Batac library, six are for internet use and the remaining seven are strictly for encoding purposes. The requested additional units, Ms. Quidang explained wil

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporter LAOAG CITY—Following the denial of a resolution of endorsement for the establishment of a 4.9 megawatt solar farm in Burgos, Ilocos Norte, the project proponent, Energy Development Corporation has finally issued a letter of apology, asking members of the Ilocos Norte board for a “second chance”. On behalf of the EDC’s board of directors, management and staff, Reman Chua, who is also the current project manager of the Burgos wind project said the company takes full responsibility for the “honest mistake” and it was never intended as a sign of disrespect to the provincial lawmakers. According to Mr. Chua, “The omission was partly based on the erroneous understanding of Sec. 56 of the Local Government Code of the Philippines by our project development team that local government procedure mandating that ordinances and resolutions enacted by the Sangguniang Bayan of Burgos are to be reviewed by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan will constitute

New vision and global framework for action on groundwater governance released Daegu/Rome/Washington , D.C.—The Food and Agriculture Organization ( FAO), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the International Association of Hydrogeologists have called for action by the global community to manage the increasingly urgent depletion and degradation of limited groundwater resources on April 10. Ahead of the 7 th   World Water Forum  in South Korea (12-17 April), the five organizations have proposed a set of principles governments can use for better groundwater management. The 2030 Vision and Global Framework for Action  represent a bold call for collective, responsible action by governments and the global community to ensure sustainable use of groundwater. For too long, groundwater governance has been an area of policy neglect, resulting in the degradation and depletion of this criti