40 windmills to be erected in Pagudpud

Written by Leilanie Adriano / Correspondent

Wednesday, 05 August 2009 19:52

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte—A total of 40 wind turbines, expected to generate 80 megawatts of electricity from wind power, will soon be erected in Pagudpud, a town in the northernmost part of Ilocos Norte province, after the Northern Luzon UPC Asia Corp., an affiliate of UPC Renewables, one of the fastest-growing wind developers in the world, launched its wind-power development here. Troels Carstensen, managing director and vice president of UPC wind management, said on Tuesday at least 102 hectares in Pagudpud have been leased by UPC with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for 25 years. Under the lease agreement, UPC will utilize the government land for the renewable-energy project with an annual land lease of P2.7 million. That same day, Carstensen handed over two checks amounting to P2.7 million as first-year payment of the land-lease agreement to the DENR, represented by regional director Remillio Atabay, at the office of Ilocos Norte Gov. Michael Keon. Earlier, wind developers from UPC Asia had conducted wind survey in the municipalities of Pasuquin, Burgos and Pagudpud and also in the provinces of Pangasinan and Nueva Ecija. Study results, however, showed that Pagudpud has the best wind source, Carstensen said in an interview. Carstensen said investors and developers of renewable energy like UPC have become interested to invest in the country following the national government’s signing of the renewable-energy law that gives incentives to foreign and local developers, suppliers, manufacturers and end-users of renewable energy. Republic Act 9513, otherwise known as the Renewable Energy Act of 2008, specifically ensures that a big percentage of the government share that goes to the host community shall be used to lower the electric bill of consumers that do not use more than 100 kilowatt-hours per month. Also, the corporate-tax rate of renewable energy-generation companies has been lowered from the usual 30 percent to just 10 percent after the seven-year income-tax holiday. The law states that recipient companies may only use this incentive if they pass on the savings on their income-tax expenditures to consumers in the form of lower power rates. In addition, farmers who are engaged in the plantation of biomass resources such as, but not limited to, jatropha, coconut and sugar cane do not have to pay duties and value-added tax for all types of agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides, machineries and others. The Pagudpud wind farm, which is next to the neigboring Bangui wind- power project of Northwind Development Corp., hopes to establish cooperation with Ilocos Norte in terms of producing environment-friendly electricity not only for local residents here, but also in its neighboring provinces, Carstensen said. The second wind-power farm in the province cost about $480 million, which was obtained through a combination of export credit from Europe and in cooperation with local banks for renewable-energy projects, Carstensen added. He reported that development in the 102-hectare land area will commence before the end of this year while the construction of the first UPC wind turbine will start in early 2010. For his part, Keon told residents here that with the increasing number of foreign and local developers interested in renewable energies such as the establishment of wind farms, he expects that electricity rates will definitely be lowered.

Filipino, Japanese investors earmark P3.5B for coco-biofuel devt in northern Philippines

Written by Leilani Adriano / Correspondent

Thursday, 25 June 2009 23:44

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte—After leading the way in renewable energy like wind power, coconut-biodiesel will soon be the next byword here as Japanese investors pledged to develop coconut farms and biodiesel plants in this northern Philippine province.If plans don’t miscarry, Pacific Bio-Fields Holdings Inc., a leading coconut-biodiesel developer in Japan and the Philippines has allotted an initial P3.5 billion for planting coconut trees in government-owned lands, said Rep. Roque Ablan of Ilocos Norte, First District. Under a memorandum of understanding  signed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Philippine Coconut Authority, Bio-Energy Northern Luzon Inc. and Pacific Bio-Fields Corp. (Philippines), around 400,000 hectares of denuded and unutilized public lands in northern Luzon including this province will be planted with coconut trees. The project got the support of the Arroyo government when the President met with Japanese stakeholders in Tokyo, Japan. By August, Ablan reported that a coconut mill will be constructed in Pasuquin, saying the project is expected to generate more jobs. In 2008 a massive coconut-planting project was started in barangay Caunayan, Pagudpud, where about 1,500 hectares were planted with coconut seedlings. The Bio-Energy North Luzon Inc., headed by its president, Salacnib Baterina, is implementing the planting of more coconuts for feedstock to produce coconut methyl ester (CME). Based on a feasibility study done by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, the coco-diesel plant is expected to produce at least 2,000 tons of CME per month. The coconut-processing plant’s output will be exported to Japan. Based on Japanese standards, it accepts only CME as the biodiesel component for its diesel mix. Japanese law requires that 5 percent of CME shall be mixed with fossil diesel for its buses. According to Japanese investors, Tokyo’s buses alone will need all the initial output of the plant. Japanese industries also prefer CME in their energy use. Aside from coconut, the implementing company and its Japanese backers also plan to plant ginger, taro and pineapple between the coconut trees to maximize land use. A study of the Austrian Bio-Fuels Institute in 2007, entitled “Innovative Biodiesel,” states that coconut crop is the ideal second-generation biodiesel feedstock. The crop is fast-growing, and can typically be harvested within 3.5 years of planting and bear fruit continuously for more than 60 years. The crop also flourishes even when grown in poor-quality soil and marginal land normally unfit for conventional agriculture use. Due to efficient land use, the growth of coconut trees does not compete with valuable food production, making it a sustainable fuel feedstock. Also, it is carbon-neutral as it is not derived from fossil fuels. Compared with other energy crops, the study says that coconut crop has a significantly higher oil output. A hectare of coconut plantation can yield an estimated 4,420 liters of coconut oil per year, compared with 1,122 liters for rapeseed and 467 liters for soybean. The coco biodiesel also offers better performance, is easier to refine and fares better in terms of fuel economy than other types of energy crops. Coconut oil behaves almost like diesel fuel with its smooth combustion performance behavior, and can act as an ignition improver when blended with conventional petrodiesel, and produces the least nitrogen-oxide emissions among a large group of crop-derived oils, according to a European Commission project report.

Bangui High Reunion 2010 ken Alumni Network

Ipacdaarmi ditoy ti awis ni Roy S. Padre, mangidaulo iti Banguinians ti Southern California, a makitipon iti Bangui High Reunion 2010 a maangay iti May 2010 segun ti naipablaac nga invitation ken itinerary iti baba, ken casta met a makitipon iti Bangui High Alumni Network, ti sangalubongan a gimong dagiti nagturpos iti dati a Bangui Provincial High School nga isu itan ti Bangui National High School nga addaan campus iti Banban, Poblacion, ken Lanao.

Join me at Bangui High Alumni Network In Touch with Alumni Around the Globe Roy Padre Come join me at Bangui High Alumni Network! - Roy Padre Click to Join About Bangui High Alumni Network linking all bangui high alumni - Blogs Discussions Photos Videos To control which emails you receive on Bangui High Alumni Network, click here

Mayor Vacie Cimatu invites you to the Bangui Fiesta in April

Sunday, February 22, 2009 6:21 PM

Dear Joe,

Kindly extend my invitation to all Banguinians abroad to the annual Bangui Fiesta during the last week of April.  We look forward to have our kababayans all over the world celebrate with us another milestone in our town’s history.  To our kababayans, please leave your comment/s here and we promise we will communicate with you personally.

Thank you!

Very truly yours,

MAYOR VACIE CIMATU

PACAAMO

Intipon mi ti immuna a blogmi, ilocano-samtoy.blogspot.com (Ilocano language, culture, literature), iti ilocanoonline.wordpress.com (ILOCANO ONLINE) manipud iti daytoy nga aldaw mismo.

Combining ilocano-samtoy.blogspot.com with ilocanoonline.wordpress.com made sense; both blogs are about essentially the same themes.  Also the move allows us to concentrate our attention to the latter blog.

Welcome to ILOCANO ONLINE!

JASPER GARVIDA’s iBangui roots confirmed

Today we got the final arbiter on Jasper Garvida’s roots!  Jennelle Garvida, Jasper’s very own sibling, left a comment on the earlier blog entry last month.  Here’s Jen’s comment in its entirety:

“First off, I want to thank you for this article. I am commenting to finally help resolve the roots of Jasper, my brother.

Roy Padre mentioned that the ones embracing and congratulating Jasper after he was announced the winner toward the end of the above video are his grandparents. That is an incorrect statement. Those are in fact our parents.

Roy is correct though in stating that Jasper’s dad is Modesto Agullana Garvida (from Bangui). Our mom Liza, hails from Solsona and Laoag from the Laureta and Marcos clan.

Prior to my family migrating to Canada, we were raised in Project 4, QC and had opportunities to visit our parents’ hometown and had visited relatives in Bangui, Pagudpud, Solsona and Laoag. From our childhood memories, we remember our heritage and of course our longing to someday visit Ilocos Norte soon.

Once again, thank you for your support.”

Frankly speaking, the first time I saw the videos on Jasper on YouTube, they reminded me of a few familiar faces from Bangui and I suspected right then and there that this phenom must have roots from there.

In any case, our heart swells with pride for Jasper.  Such as when an interviewer asked him:  “Apart from winning, what was your highlight on Project Catwalk?“  To which Jasper replied:  “For me the highlight was actually seeing my parents again after the show because I hadn’t seen them for such a long time and they hadn’t really seen what I’ve been doing and for me that was the biggest highlight.“

An erstwhile lecturer for fashion students at Havering College in London, Jasper has moved on, saying “it would be unfair for me not to give myself entirely to that job so I decided to stop teaching and just work in fashion at the moment.”  He revisited Alternative Fashion Week 2008 where, he admits, “it all started for me.”  He had his own collection featured on Oli Fashion (oli.co.uk).  Jasper, we are proud to note, is on an enviable trajectory in his life:  from iBangui roots to conquering a much grander international stage in haute couture.

Ania ngata a sanga ti saririt ti “pungpong ginabbong“?

Iti panagcunami, nalabit naan-annay met a panangpanunot ken panangamiris ti inaramat ti nangputar iti “Pungpong Ginabbong”.  Agsipud ta idi un-unana, no pungpongen (play with a baby by moving about its arms and legs, according to Carl Rubino’s dictionary) da ti ubing, agtalna daytoy wenno mairidep, no la ketdi saan a mabisin, wenno nabasa ti lamping na, wenno awan im-impenna.  Ammo met a di maawatan ti ubing a maladaga dagiti sasawen ti cancion, isu nga atapen mi a ti ayug ti addaan bilegna a mangandingay iti ubing.

Pinadasyo cadin a pinungpong ni baket wenno lacay yo cadagiti canito a dudua cayo ken sigurado cayo a nacabalunet diay ridaw ken tawa tapno awan agsirip?  Agtalna ngata ti nataengan a mapungpong a cas iti maladaga?  Wenno yepyepen santo casla matumba a nambaan a sumuco ken ni turog?  Siimenyo no ania ti ibunga daytoy cabayatan panangdengngeg yo a dua iti ayug ti “Pungpong Ginabbong”:

‘Tay la coma silaw a kinulding…

Dennis Posadas

Back in the late 1950’s when Bangui barrio folks like me still used the kingki (kerosene wicker lamp), or if you’re fortunate with some extra money, a Coleman gas lamp, to light the darkness, one of my aunts in Bangui went to Manila for the first time, stayed there for about a week.  When she came back home to Bangui where we didn’t have any electricity at the time (except, for instance, that huge lightning volt that killed my brother’s carabao instantly during a wicked thunderstorm one night in late summer), she and a bunch of neighbors were huddled around a bonfire of dried rice stalks one early cold morning when I distinctly heard my aunt, as she sucked one last gasp of smoke from her almost completely burnt out tobacco, ruefully said:  “‘Tay la coma silaw a kinulding…“  She was, of course, referring to the incandescent electric light bulb she saw in Tata Justo (Jose, Sr.) Padre’s house in Manila which she only had to flick the switch with her finger to turn it on or off.

Well, residents of Bangui eventually got the “silaw a kinulding” sometime in the late 60s and early 70s.  And to top it all, Banguinians are the first in the entire Philippines to have windmills along their shoreline to harness the awesome winds blowing in from the South China Sea and converting same into electricity which is pumped into the power grid.  And, of course, now the townsfolk can enjoy the benefits of a host of electric appliances and gadgets, such as refrigerators, electric fans, televisions, washing machines, stereos, computers, etc.

Solar Desk Fan

Now, if Dennis Posadas, former Intel engineer/analyst, prolific information technology author, columnist, blogger, and who is currently the Deputy Executive Director of the Philippines’ Congressional Commission on Science & Technology and Engineering, had his way, he would also have all those appliances and then some operated for FREE or almost FREE using solar power.  In “How the Philippines Can Be a Solar Power“, Posadas writes:  “The Philippines semiconductor and electronics industry, working closely with local universities, industries, and investors, can offer significant opportunities for innovation, particularly in solar energy applications development and manufacturing-process reengineering and optimization.”

The website home-solar-systems.com lists some of the most commonly used residential solar power applications. Such technology utilizes the heat coming from the sun for heating spaces and water. It can also be used for cooling spaces, ventilation, desalination, cooking and many other purposes.

The list of uses of solar power includes:  calculators with a small solar cell, solar battery chargers to recharge cell phones, Ipods, laptop computers and other small devices, solar panels known also as photovoltaic cells that transform the sun’s energy to electricity.  The more common use of solar power is of the residential variety–providing electricity for homes. In the latter case, solar panels are installed on the roof (photo at left) or on the ground and the electricity produced feeds a battery bank and an inverter providing 110 or 220 volts for the home. Other popular solar devices using solar technology are solar lights, solar fountains, solar pumps, solar refrigerators (ama, nalamlamuyot ngata ti ayus tay impalamiis a basi!), solar water heaters and solar fans. These products are now widely available and are a good example on how solar energy can be utilized to cut energy costs.

Ay wen, Ikit, dimo coma masapul ti mangipaburec iti danum a pangpatay ti lamiis diay nacabatia a pagbelnasmo. Wenno adda coma pagpaypaymo a paligpalig (solar fan) cadagiti calgaw a nadagaang.  Ken nasaysayaat nga amang ta awan baybayadam nga electric bill no daydiay coma solar light ti usarem a silaw a kinulding.

BANNAWAG Online!

C. Rambaud

Maragsacan cami a mangipadamag nga addanton Internet edition ti Bannawag, ti cangrunaan a periodico dagiti Ilocano, segun ti naawat mi nga email ni Cles Rambaud, Associate Editor ti Bannawag, idi Enero 30, 2009:

“Dandanin agmata daydi arapaapmo nga adda koma met website ti Bannawag,” insurat ni Cles. “Uray dagiti kakabsat a magasin ti Bannawag, addanto metten websiteda. Inaprobaranen ti MB Management daytoy a kiddaw.”

Ti “arapaap” a dinacamat ni Editor Rambaud isu ti linaon ti impaskinco a blog entry a napauluan iti “Bannawag Website–An Open Letter” iti ilocano-samtoy.blogspot.com idi Feb. 22, 2007.  Daytoy ti insuratco:  “…itan adda pamuspusan tapno mataginayon ken madadaan nga ucagen dagiti pinanid ti Literatura Ilocana 24/7:  isu dayta ti panangipablaac cadagitoy iti las-ud ti Internet.  Mabalin nga ipablaac ti amin a sinurat, saan laeng a dagiti mapili wenno capintasan, tapno iti casta mausisa dagiti aggagar nga agusisa no casano ti panangparang-ay iti literatura tayo.”  Insingasingco a mangipasdec ti Bannawag iti bucodna a website tapno maipablaac ditoy ti amin a sarita, novela, daniw, salaysay, ken dadduma pay.

Maysa cano laeng a simple a website cas pangrugian daytoy Internet edition ti Bannawag.  Cadacami, dackel nga addang dayta agsipud ta lumawanto ti law-ang a masilnagan ti Bannawag.  Bareng dumtengto met ti aldaw a mairaman iti Internet Edition ti archive dagiti napalpalabas nga isyu ti Bannawag, cas pagarigan mangrugi iti Nob. 3, 1934 issue (umuna a bilang).  Maawatan mi a pangrugian laeng ti umay a simple nga Internet Edition ken maawatan mi met a saan a binangon ti ciudad ti Roma iti maymaysa laeng nga aldaw.  Uray pay ni Apo Dios, innem nga aldaw nga… sa naginana iti maicapito…

Cas iti masansan a mabasa tayo iti ungto ti serialized a sinurat, PADAANAN TI SUMARUNO A PASET! Wenno, MAITULOYTO.

Her Honor, The Mayor Leads

Photos show Mayor Salvacion S. Cimatu (lady in shades at center behind banner) leading the Municipality of Bangui contingent in royal blue at this year’s 191st Foundation of Ilocos Norte festivities.  (Photos, courtesy of Leilanie Adriano, Staff Reporter of The Ilocos Times)

Mayor Cimatu is seen below with a slice of cake in her hand aimed at Ilocos Norte Governor Michael Marcos Keon as the governor gamely gets in position to swallow the proffered slice during his 54th birthday party held at the Ilocos Norte Capitol auditorium on Sept. 22, 2008 (The Ilocos Times):