Ilocos Norte, Philippines

SAN FERNANDO CITY, Philippines - Six port personnel of the Currimao Port in Ilocos Norte are in hot water for allegedly diverting 12,025 cases of Spam luncheon meat worth P23 million.

Customs and Presidential Anti Smuggling Group officials said the canned goods were supposed to be delivered to Value City Sales in Clark Field but the six port personnel brought them to a warehouse in Currimao Port.

Bureau of Customs Deputy Commissioner Cesar Templo said that the discovery of the diverted canned goods broke the smuggling ring of influential politicians in the North.

GMANews.TV 

A magnitude-4.6 quake was recorded off Ilocos Norte in Northern Luzon before dawn Saturday, but no casualty or damage was reported.

The United States Geological Service (USGS) said the quake was recorded at 2:11 a.m., and its epicenter traced to 80 km northeast of Laoag City in Ilocos Norte.

It said the epicenter was also 200 km north-northwest of Ilagan in North Luzon, 460 km north of Manila, or 700 km south of Taipei, Taiwan.

GMANews.TV

PAOAY, Ilocos Norte — Senator Loren Legarda yesterday cited the big potential of this picturesque town as an ecological, cultural and historical tourist destination for local and foreign travelers.

“Beautiful and stately places like Paoay often struggle whether to open up to mass tourism on a commercial and massive scale, or to just attract the kind of visitors we want,” she said during the town’s fiesta celebration.

“Paoayans themselves have to answer this question since they know their needs and priorities better than the best outside adviser,” Legarda stressed, pointing out that Paoay as a tourist destination is not widely advertised.

But Paoay has a lot to offer to foreign and local travelers who want to commune with nature and to travel back in time by soaking in the town’s Hispanic architecture and art, Legarda said.

She said a visit to the historic Paoay Church, with its mix of baroque, gothic and oriental inspiration, is a must.

Journal Online

The Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) has ordered the investigation and filing of charges against Bureau of Customs (BoC) personnel at the ports of Currimao, Ilocos Norte, involved in diversion of untaxed five container vans of imported luncheon meat.

Undersecretary Antonio “Bebot” Villar, PASG head, said Ramon D. Imbisan from BoC wharfinger and other customs personnel assigned at the sub-port of Currimao, together with Richard Guerrero, operation manager of Aurum Consolidated Inc., and Josephine Cruz, marketing manager of Value City Sales Inc., will be investigated for alleged diversion of the imported products from Clark Field in Pampanga to Poro Point, La Union.

Villar said the hot cargo is owned by Value City Sales Inc. It was seized by PASG operatives for violation of Section 2503 of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines.

Journal Online

BATAC CITY, Ilocos Norte – In line with the government’s biofuel program, the Ilocos Regional Development Council (RDC) has adopted sweet sorghum as a “priority crop.”

The RDC, composed of top officials of provinces constituting Ilocandia, made the decision following a series of consultative meetings with the Bio-Power Development Program in Region 1 of the National Economic Development Authority.

Dr. Miriam Pascua, president of the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU), reported RDC’s decision when interviewed by Mag-Agri Tayo on Channel 4, the government television station, during the First National Sweet Sorghum RD&E Review and Planning Conference held at MMSU recently.

MMSU is a six-campus university in Ilocos Norte whose main campus is in this newly created city.

The conference was sponsored by the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research, MMSU, Commission on Higher Education, Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development, and the India-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Agrid Tropics. By Rudy A. Fernandez

PhilStar