The Ilocos Times

By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporter Laoag City —The Supreme Court en banc has disbarred a former provincial legal counsel of the Ilocos Norte government for “gross misconduct in the practice of law.” In the 15-page decision signed by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno along with nine other members of the High Court, Atty. Jaime Agtang, 72, of Vintar, Ilocos Norte has been found guilty of violating the Code of Professional Responsibility. As a result, Mr. Agtang may not be allowed to practice his profession until he has fully complied with his obligation and have his license reinstated. On May 31, 2011, Mr. Agtang’s former client Erlinda Foster, also the chairperson of Barangay Pila here in Laoag City filed a disbarment case against him when the latter collected an amount of P150,000 as filing fee a case from the client but upon verification from the trial records, it was revealed that the filing fee costs only P22,410. Also, the lawyer has demanded from the cli

IF we believe that God is everything to us, that he is most relevant to our life and to our needs, since he is at the very core of it all, being our creator and father who is the very giver and keeper of our existence and nature and who loves us no end, then the least thing we can do other than keeping him simply in our mind and heart is to talk about him, and doing so openly. This ought to be our normal behavior. Besides, it is what the world needs, especially now when we see a clear drift toward godlessness, worldliness, materialism, etc. People need to hear about God other than what they hear in churches and other formal religious occasions. We have to recover the warmth of God’s abiding presence and love for us in a world that is growing cold and indifferent to him. Christ himself commands us to do so. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,” (Mt 28,19) he told his disciples. In another occasion, he said, “Whoever acknowledges me before men I will also acknowledg

The writer and his wife Gloria I can’t help but a bit be emotional and surprised as I opened my Facebook this morning as I normally do now as part of my hobbies and pastime besides writing special journals and special activities as my first love is writing fiction, non fiction, poetry, feature stories, novel and novelette and other sort of literary genre. [ Note: I didn’t want fb before, not at all as people were saying it is a waste of time. But I can’t help anymore that my apoko Cheryl Lee Yoro Rosete taught me how to do it in a simple basic way during my one-month vacation in my hometown and birthplace, Tapao, Sinait, Ilocos Sur in October 2012 and  part of my learning is to be more familiar, an fb friend, a newly found townmate who now lives in Ortega, Naguilian, La Union, and a layout artist with Timpuyog Journal which I am a Hawaii Correspondent, so kindly enough taught me over fb at her own time. ] As I opened my FB in my timeline, a letter written by Cheryl Le

Gapu iti nabara nga awis kadakami ni Mr. P Mililani wenno Ernie Pascua iti pudno a nagan, nagkalamisaankami kada Wilson Pascua, KNDI Radio DJ, sigud a kaduak iti KNDI Filipino Fiesta, ken ni misisna ni Aida Ralleta Pascua, Mel Gonzales [Mr. Sarisari] KNDI Radio DJ, sigud a kaduak iti Gumil Hawaii ken Aloha Saluyot Club, ken ni Sylvia Pudiquet Gonzales a misis ni Mel, da Conrad ken Linda Abuel, agpada nga opisial iti OFCC ken iti Bulacan Circle of Hawaii and Associates, Mrs. Marienne Vergara, Virgil Vergara, kaduak ida iti OFCC Special Projects Committee pakairamanan iti Feeding the Homeless, Adopt a Hwy/Park, Walk for Fun, dadduma pay. Iti listaan iti rabaw ti lamisaan, katugawmi pay da 2014 Miss Oahu Filipina Lovely Orsino ken Rev. Dr. Alex Vergara, presidente ti Oahu Filipino Community Council. State Senator Will Espero officiating the oath taking. Nobiembre 15, 2014 Sabado, pasken ti San Nicolas Goodwill Foundation, Inc. ditoy Filipino Community Center. Inkarik ken

The families of Bartolome C. Cadavero of Puerto Princesa in Palawan and Fe S. Lao of Bansalan in Davao del Sur emerged as national winners of the 10th MOFYA (Model OFW Family of the Year Award) in the sea-based and land-based categories after a year-long search conducted in 2014. The honor rite was held January 23 at Blue Leaf Filipinas in Parañaque City. After 33 years of overseas employment, sea-based winner Mr. Cadavero acquired farm lands, real estate properties, and a plantation of exotic, high value trees like rubber and gmelina while land-based winner Fe S. Lao’s toils abroad was put into good use by her husband whose expertise in agriculture resulted in a multi-million integrated, organic farm enterprise with supplemental by-products. As grand prize winners, Mr. Cadavero and Ms. Lao each received trophies, cash prizes of P500,000 and appliances. Meanwhile, special awards, Best in Community Projects and Best in Entrepreneurship were bestowed on the families of Engr

By Dominic B. dela Cruz Staff reporter San Nicolas , Ilocos Norte—The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has allocated P70 million for the construction of the Batac Cultural Center (BCC) for this year. This was announced by DPWH 2 nd engineering district officer Mathias Malenab. Mr. Malenab explained that an earlier P24.5 million allocation was not used last year for the said project because the plans were still being reviewed by the DPWH central office. He expressed hopes that the earlier allocated amount would be added to the new allocation for the project. Upon approval of the program of works, the DPWH will immediately conduct a bidding for interested contractors. Mr. Malenab added that the P70 million would most likely go to structural works or the foundations of the building. In the previous years, soil testing and excavations were conducted on the project area but this were temporarily stopped after the Supreme Court ruled that the Pri

MMSU's S&T Park (file photo) By Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporter Batac City —Hunting for a job or a high quality product ready to be commercialized in the world market? Then, you might want to visit the Science and Technology (S&T) Park of the government-owned Mariano Marcos State University. The S&T Park is MMSU’s newest facility that houses state-of-the-art food processing equipment and innovative products of Ilocanos. Since its soft launching on January 6, the first S&T Park in northern Philippines has been attracting small and medium entrepreneurs, farmers, researchers and other stakeholders to have a glance at the latest innovation showcase of the university. MMSU President Miriam E. Pascua said the university through its S&T Park does not only offer technical assistance but also assist in product enhancement and marketing of products ready for commercialization. “We are currently looking for adaptors who are willing to commerci