LAOAG CITY MAYOR'S P80-M MANSION?

     Former Laoag City Mayor Roger Farinas has accused the incumbent Laoag City executive of owning an P80-M mansion somewhere in the city. Where did he get the money for its construction? How much is the monthly salary of a city mayor?
     Some people here has commented that the city executive receives jueteng payola to the tune of a million pesos per month. (This payola can not be verified but it is the loudest whisper and that money also benefits the police chiefs, provincial director some cops in the police provincial headquarters. Hey, years, ago, when the blogger was assigned in La Union, the grapevine was saying that that a regional police director--was it Pedro Cuadra?-- was receiving a million peso a month so he could shut his mouth on the illegal numbers game). And this is the reason the city executive and his wife are running in tandem as Mayor (wife) and Vice-Mayor respectively in the May polls? So husband and wife shall enjoy all the jueteng goodies and other perks that Roger enjoyed when he was the city executive? Shame on them, said a barber who cut my hair several days ago. Some intellectuals are condemning the husband and wife team for their apparent gargantuan greediness.
     So whom shall we vote in the polls? asked a relative.
     Michael Keon, if he is running for City Mayor, the blogger said. His cousin Imee the governor has reportedly endorsed the city executive in his vice-mayoral bid. A political act that does not sit well with the city's observers and homespun philosophers like the blogger kano kampay idi. Can we speak here of decency and right thinking?  How about the adage that blood is thicker than water? Does Imee, who does not speak Ilokano fluently, need endorsement for the Laoag City votes in her reelection bid?
     (After what was said here, MK has reportedly joined the MF bandwagon, perhaps for some favors in the future? Adu ti nadismaya, kuna ti lalaki a nalaing nga uminom iti gin, nga agbarbartek iti maysa a tianggi.)
    Jueteng is in the heart of our moral construct. It has ruined our perception of what is right or wrong. It has made a few people rich beyond their expectations,  wallowing in wealth while more than 50 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. MF lives in comfort in his mansion while the poor and the downtrodden in Laoag, especially those living along the river bank, live in ramshackles, smelly and dirty environment. The city in the fringes smell of dog droppings and human feces, the city streets, even in the market area, are stinking. And that public market is a stinking place but the vendors and seller of bananas, lana (coconut oil) earn an honest living. Has Michael F visited the ground floor? Or the Muslim area and the city's dumping place nearby? And the dirty Padsan river that has become a toilet for many people? No doubt he has visited Singapore, the 6th wealthiest nation in the planet. Did he learn anything about the use of public money--and his jueteng payola is public money--so, if he did, he could make the blogger's city the envy of all Philippine cities?

   

CANCER SURVIVOR TO TALK IN LITERARY EVENT

     Cancer survivor Jean Alejandro, now in Micronesia teaching Micronesians how to grow rice, will be attending the 5th TMIF-TMI Global International Iluko Literary Conference at the College of Teacher Education, Mariano Marcos State University on May 24-26, 2013. Jean, a personal friend, former Academic Affairs Dean of the Northern Christian College in Laoag,  will be delivering a lecture in feature writing. There is plan to insert in the program some "story-telling" about her cancer experience in the disease that afflicted her along with Lady Fele Mann, the Filipina civic leader in Darwin, Australia, whose cancer recurred after a 10-year hiatus. Incidentally, the Smiling Lady From Down Under, will lead writers from outside the Philippines who will be attending the 3-day event which will be held at the air-conditioned hall of  Center of Teaching Excellence of Mariano Marcos State University, Laoag campus.

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Reminders to participants in the Severino and Eufemia Lacar Iluko Poetry Contest: Deadline for submission. Francisco Lacar, himself a mannaniw, one of the scions of the Lacars now living in different countries, will fly from Australia to present the prizes of the winners. First Prize, P10,000; Second Prize. P7,000; Third Prize, P5,000; and three consolation prizes at P1,000 each.

TMI INTERNATIONAL LIT CONFERENCE DIRECTOR-GENERAL

The Laoag City Carro

Dr. Alegria Tan-Visaya, secretary to the board of regents of the Mariano Marcos State University, and officer of Nakem Conferences International, has been chosen as the director-general of the 5th TMIF-TMI Global International Iluko Literary Conference to be held at the College of Teacher Education, MMSU on May 24-26, 2013. Dr. Edna Nagtalon, of the College of Teacher Education, MMSU is co-director general.

The late Kerima Polotan, one the Philippines better essayists, posed with the blogger after awarding rites in Focus magazine's Sixth Literary Awards in Manila, The blogger was one of the winners among the country's literary writers at that time when Blas Ople was Minister of Labor in Ferdinand Marcos cabinet.

The program for the May 24-26, 2013 literary event has been finalized during TMIF board meeting at the Center of Teacher Excellence building last March 24. MMSU President Dr. Miriam Pascua will deliver the keynote address. Governor Imee R. Marcos will be the guest of honor and speaker during the awarding of winners of the Lacar Iluko Poetry Contest which will be held in the evening of May 24.

The event is expected to draw at least 2000 writers, student writers, academicians across the country and those of other countries like Australia, the US Mainland and Hawaii, Saudi Arabia.

 The invisible factors at work in illness include emotions, thoughts, relationship, fear, personal history.

BOARD MEETING

The Timpuyog dagiti Mannurat iti Iluko iti Filipinas will hold its board meeting tomorrow, March 24, 2013 at the Mariano Marcos State University, College of Teacher Education, Laoag City. The agenda include the forthcoming Iluko Literary Convention which will be held at the venue on May 24-26; the continued printing of Timpuyog Journal, now on its 58 issue ( March 15, 2013)

The blogger will give tips on caption writing, headline writing and editing in general. If you are in Laoag tomorrow, we invite you to attend. Some Ilokano books will be given, courtesy of the blogger.

JUDGES IN LACAR ILUKO POETRY CONTEST

     The Contest Committee of the Severino and Eufemia Lacar Iluko Poetry Contest has announced the judges of the said contest. They are: Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Dr. Vicente Bonoan of the Data Center Philippines and Dr. Alegria Tan-Visaya of the Mariano Marcos State University. The deadline for submission of entries is April 30, 2013.
     Some of the entries have been published in Timpuyog Journal, the official magazine of the Timpuyog dagiti Mannurat iti Iluko iti Filipinas.
     Incidentally, the March 15, 2013 issue of Timpuyog Journal carried an article about Baay-Licuan, a town of gold in the North. The photo essay was composed by Edgar Guquib of Ayusan Sur, Vigan City.Where is Baay-Licuan, once a hotbed of insurgents? Also in the issue of the magazine are the latest entries in the Lacar Poetry Contest, the first prize of which is P10,000; 2nd prize, P7,000; third prize P5,000; and three consolation prizes of P1,000 each.The theme or topic should be cut from the Ilokano landscape or the Ilokano diaspora. 

Some of the rules of the Contest:

1. Orihinal laeng dagiti maisalip ket saan a kualipikado dagiti naipablaaken wenno maipablaak iti sabali a pagiaranak iti Iluko.
2. Uray ania a tem ti suraten a daniw ngem ketdi adda mailaga a kultura, ugali ken tradision ni Ilokano a makita iti sinurat.
 3. Tallo a daniw ti isubmitir ti mannurat ket saan a lumbes iti duapulo ket maysa a linia ti tunggal daniw. Kayatna a sawen, tallo a daniw ti mangbukel iti maysa a pakisalip a qualipikado iti maysa a gunggona.
4. Ipatulod dagiti pakisalip iti andrewlab2011@hotmail.com ken franklin_macugay@yahoo.com. Ilanad iti manuskrito ti pudno a nagan, adres, ken contact number ti mannurat.

No hard copy dagiti manuskrito, ipatulod a saggaysa kada Mr. Peter La.Julian, 23 National Road, Oscariz, Ramon Isabela ; ken Mr. Franklin P. Macugay, Municipal Hall, CabatuaIsabela.

NEW DEADLINE FOR LACAR ILUKO POETRY CONTEST

 Part of the P60-Million Tribu Paraiso in Diadi, Nueva Vizcaya

     We have a new deadline for the Lacar Iluko Poetry Contest. It's April 30, 2013.  Contestants should know some of the rules of the contest. They have to submit also their short bio of at least two paragraphs stating their names, age, employment, if any, educational background. No pen names. The true name of the author should appear in the poems. Awarding will be on May 24-26 at the Mariano Marcos State U, Laoag campus. The family of the sponsor will personally give the prizes. By the way, one of the judges is Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The contestants should send him a copy of the entries at aurelioagcaoili@yahoo.com. The other judges are Dr. Vicente Bonoan of the Data Center and Dr. Alegria Tan Visaya, secretary of the Board of Regents of the Mariano Marcos State University.

Art exhibit by a Taiwanese artist at the the Manila Bay Sands in Singapore

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A Singaporean artist's version of Rodin's The "Thinker" at the Sentosa

      Prizes for the winners of the contest in Iluko: P10,000, first prize; P7,000, second prize; P5,000, third prize and three consolation prizes at P1,000.
    Winners are advised to receive the winners in person. Otherwise, the prizes will be forfeited in favor of TMIF. 

Where is Baay-Licuan, a town of gold? Find it out in Edmar Guquib's feature article in the March 15, 2013 issue of Timpuyog Journal.
 


When you arise in the morning, think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love.--Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor