Miss Earth CCC- UNP Candon

Nine beauties of CCC- UNP Candon branch vied for the Miss Earth CCC- UNP crown.

The winners were Cherry Jadormeo ( Candidate no. 2 ) Miss Air, Corazon Sonio ( Candidate no. 1) Miss Water, Joanna Marie Friala ( Candidate No. 5) Miss Fire and the grand winner was Phoebe Ann Eugenio ( Candidate no 7) Miss Earth CCC- UNP 2009. (thank you to JhaJha Habab for giving us the results)

See some of the photos of the competition held at their gynmasium recently.

Mass Blood Donation project in Candon

Mass Blood Donation project:
Dr. Singson thanks blood donors and sponsors

It was for cause, many responded and the most so far
The Saint Joseph Institute batch 1984-88 led mass blood donation program produced 45 blood donors.

The donors were led no less by the group’s President Dr. Ericson Singson.

“I express my heart felt thanks to the blood donors. I hope they will continue doing it. I also thank the sponsors of the project,” Singson said.

The project is a joint sponsorship of the office of the Deputy Speaker, city government led by City Mayor Allen Singson, the city health office, Philippine Red Cross- Ilocos Sur Chapter and Saint Joseph Institute Class- 1984-88 (elementary- high school).

Helping out are the members of the Citizen’s Involvement and Service ( CIS), the association of Punong Barangays and radio station DZTP for the information dissemination.

“We support this endeavor because of the positive impact particularly concerning health concerns,” City Mayor Singson said who also came over to personally witnessed the procedures.

The one-day mass blood donation project produced the most number of blood donors so far in the city compared to the recent blood letting projects done in the city according to the PNR- Ilocos Sur chapter.

Dr. Singson said that the massive media campaign, the support of the government and belief of the donors for the cause of the program made it successful.

He also explained the benefits of donating blood.

“It will stimulate the production of new blood cells. It will refresh our circulatory system and reduce the excess iron in our blood,” Singson said.

Singson was helped by his elementary and high school classmates who wore red-shirts.

Also helping are the officials and staff of the City Health Office led by City Health Officer Dr. Narcisco Ramos Jr and Assistant City Health Officer Dr. Joy Villanueva who personally led their staff in assisting the team of the PNR- Ilocos Sur Chapter in the blood letting project.

The bulk of the donors came from the SJI 84-88 led by Singson himself; the members of the AFP, PNP BJMP and BFP; and CIS.
(LBJ)

This is it: the real Kandong Tree

This is it: the real Kandong Tree

The City of Candon search of the real kandong tree is over. The Kandong Tree search team led by Spm Oseas Diasen upon the instruction of City Mayor Allen Singson found it and this time with all evidence to prove it.

Kandong trees mean much to every Candonian because it is the most widely believe origin of its name.

Kandong as locally known to Candonians belongs to the family Melastomataceae. Recent research being conducted by the City Agriculture Office says that Melastomatacea is an Ironwood wood family.

It is believed that its lumbers were used to build our first cathedral.
As it is said to be a premium kind of tree species, superior in tensile strength, exceptional quality and outstanding texture. But all these were just mere myths to us present generation.

No one alive now could really single out what does the tree really looks like. Only few descendants of charcoal makers can give only but mirage hints as to the description and information about the tree.

By the way, the search for the real Kandong tree started from a plain discussion to local flocks.

It started out as just one of the topics brought out during our siesta time after a fulfilling boodle fight lunch prelude by a tree planting activity at the Watershed Development and Reforestation Project.

A certain Victor Bay-ongan and Eddie Barillo of barangay San Andres; descendants of earlier charcoal makers, related how kandong trees used to grow along the versants of the said barangay. Drifted by solicitous curiosity, the same group proceeded to the area where the two informants were saying to have a few stand of the said tree. Leaf and wood samples were then obtained for further study.

It was in this context that the City Agriculture Office launched sort of a re-search of the said tree. The team has gone as far as Santiago Island of Bolinao, Pangasinan, Aurora Province, Tabuk in Kalinga and San Emilio, Ilocos Sur. Two of the cited places recognized and identified the same kandong tree.

No less than Mayor Lorenzo “Boy” G. Bragado of San Emilio, Ilocos Sur and several residents of sitio Maguinudua of barangay Lancuas confirmed the presence of Kandong tree in their locality.

Bragado was quote saying “kandong was one of the oldest hardwood tree species we used as lumber and house construction materials before”.

“It used to lush our forest as one of the endemic tree species but because it was one of the most preferred wood for lumbers, it became rare” Mayor Bragado added. In Santiago Island, KASAMA; one of the most noted successful associations in buricraft making use kandong leaves as dye material. The team then tapped the expertise of two (2) foresters/dendrologists from the Agroforestry Department of the Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University at Bacnotan to identify the said tree in Bolinao.

To further the search and do not end up to just another fallacious hearsays, technical assistances were sought from the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP), Manila and from the Forest Products Research and Development Institute (FPRDI) at Los Baños, Laguna.

In effect, NMP sent Dr. Domingo Madulid; Scientist IV-Curator and Forester Danilo Tandang of its Botany Division in order to make an ocular evaluation, study and documentation of the tree the City Agriculture Office allegedly claiming as the real kandong tree. Dr. Madulid and Forester Tandang took foliage samples of the tree and compared it with the voucher specimens available at the NMP herbarium.

As a result, the NMP in a sort of initial report, after careful morphological examination identified the tree scientifically as Memecylon lanceolatum, which has a common name in Dendrology (study of trees) as Kandong. The National Museum of the Philippines is the repository and guardian of the Philippines’ natural and cultural heritage which includes flora and fauna. Its Botany Division is tasked primarily to make a systematic inventory of Philippine flora and vegetation.

It maintains the national herbarium which is the reference collection of the different kinds of plants found in this country. At present the collection contains approximately 170,000 specimens.

The search still didn’t stop there. Wood samples were submitted to FPRDI for further recognition via wood physics evaluation. The Forest Products Research and Development Institute (FPRDI) is one of the line agencies of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

It is the center of scientific breakthroughs and applied technologies on the utilization of forest-based products in the Philippines in response to the need for information and technology on the utilization of timber resources as well as non-wood forest products.

Again, wood samples which were taken from the tree taken from barangay San Andres matched with the seven (7) wood samples kept at the FPRDI archives obtained from seven (7) different provinces which call it kandong.

In order to arrive at impeccable logical deduction as basis for us to institute and establish in our locality through a city ordinance that the said tree is our long lost and the real Kandong tree, we would like to be one-hundred percent sure that it passes through painstaking scientific wood tests, evaluation and verifications.

The city agriculture office has now subjected the tree to wood (cross section and longitudinal examination), leaves, and floral evaluation; seek advices and technical expertise from legitimate scientists, foresters and botanists.

The National Museum of the Philippines is only waiting for the fruit specimen that will be matched up to the specimens at their herbarium before issuing the certification of authentication. Then the never ending search for the real kandong tree will be over. ERIC A. GACUTAN

Search for Kandon Tree Team:

Chairman : Spm Oseas I. Diasen
Project Leader : Elmor L. Leaño
Researcher : Eric A. Gacutan
Documentors : Leoncio G. Balbin Jr.
Arlon Serdenia
Danilo Antalan
Geoffrey Barredo

References/Advisers:
Dr. Domingo Madulid, Phd
Scientist IV-Curator
Botany Div., National Museum of the Philippine

Danilo Tandang
Forester II
National Museum of the Philippines

Fernando Petarque, Jr.
Chief, Anatomy and Dendrology Section-MPED
FPRDI, UP Los Baños, Laguna

Ramiro P. Escobin, PhD
Supervising Sci. Res. Specialist and Scientist I
Anatomy and Dendrology Section
FPRDI, UP Los Baños, Laguna

Dr. Orlando P. Almoite, PhD
Chancellor/Forester
DMMMSU

Mario Cadiente
Professor/Forester
DMMMSU

Ronald Estoque
Professor/Forester
DMMMSU

Fiesta ti Bantay ( Feast of the forest) 2009 in Candon City

Fiesta ti Bantay ( Feast of the forest) 2009 in Candon City

For the fourth straight year, Candon City had its tree planting activity over the vast goverrnment own along the mountains of Palacapac and San Andres, Candon City, Ilocos Sur

It is its own version of Fiesta ti Bantay ( Feast of the Forest) which is like that of Puerto Princesa’ Pista Y’ Ang Kagueban ( Feast of the Forest).

City officials, government employees, students from different schools, members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology and other government agencies.

“We had made it a point that the fiesta ti Bantay is year event. It our main environment protection and conservation drive project,” City Mayor Allen Singson said.

This year theme is “Earth First, Restore our Forest.

The 132 hectares is the center of the 10-year Candon City Watershed Rehabilitation Development project.

It is being projected as the fruit bowl of Ilocos Region because of the volume of fruit bearing trees planted in the area.

There are more than 10, 000 trees including fruit bearing planted already.

There were 1, 500 mango , 700 lanzones, 500 rambutan, 500 pomelo, 200 santol, 100 sweet tamarind, 100 coconut, 500 pineapple, 500 banana, 2,500 mahogany, 2, 500 gemelina and others.

The site is also being ready as one of the next tourism destination.

Tourists can overview the different barangays of the city and the nearby towns.

They are also assured of fresh air and abundance of fresh fruits. ( LBJ)

Independence day celebration in Candon City

Candon City Mayor Allen Singson and Vice Mayor Nestor Itchon led other city officials, city employees, officials and teachers from DepEd, students from different schools, barangay officials, members of the PNP, AFP, BFP, BJMP, non-governmental organizations, officials from national agencies like DPWH, DILG, and other sectors in the celebration of 111th independence celebration at the Plaza Wayawaya.

Other city officials present were City Councilors Alfonso Singson, Rhoda Abrero, Oseas Diasen, George Valdez, Angel Balagot, Rosario Villalobos and Aris Valdez.

The city officials had wreath laying on the monument of Dr. Jose Rizal and Don Isabelo Abaya, the city’s local hero.

After the wreath laying, a concelebrated mass followed at the St John de Sahagun Church with Nueva Segovia Archbishop Ernesto Salgado.

JOB FAIR ATTRACTS 1, 400 APPLICANTS

JOB FAIR ATTRACTS 1, 400 APPLICANTS

CANDON CITY, Ilocos Sur- The recent two-day job fair sponsored by Deputy Speaker Eric Singson, Departmen of Labor and Employment and Philippine Overseas Employment Administration generated more than 1, 400 applicants for overseas employment.

“We are very glad with the turn out to help our constituents find employment overseas,” Singson said.

According to Nonette Villanueva- Regional Center Chief for Nothern Luzon of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration ( POEA), there were about 500 positions ready to be filled.

Among the jobs offered by the seven companies invited were nurses, engineers, domestic helpers, care givers, factor workers, drivers and others.

Singson who initiated the program said he asked the companies not to collect placement fees and other charges.

He even offered the companies to have their extension offices in the city to avoid further expenses from the applicants.

Mayors from the different towns of the second district came over to accompany their town mates.

Singson said that the continuous employment abroad will help in a way in the current economic turmoil because of the remittances they will be sending to their families here if they will make it. (LBJ)

Candon City 8th Tobacco Festival Street Dancing

The Candon City’s 8^th Tobacco Festival Street Dancing Competition and grand parade held on March 28, 2009. The showdown of the street dancing was done at the grounds of Candon South Central School.

The parade was led by the city officials headed by City Mayor Allen Singson and City Vice Mayor Nestor Itchon.

The street dancing contest was participate in by the different secondary and tertiary schools in the city. The University of Northern Philippines- Candon Branch was the winner while the Ilocos Sur Polytechnic State College- Candon Campus came in second and Candon National High School salvaged 3^rd place.

Candon City’s favorite food turns Holy Rosary

Instead of the usual round plastic beads, Candon City’s favorite delicacy calamay ( glutinous rice cake) was utilized as beads on

March 25 in honor of the annunciation of the Bless Mary and in line with the thanksgiving offer for the said product for the city’s fiesta festivities.

“It is in honor and celebration of the annunciation of the Bless Mother Mary and for the city’s calamay product,” Parish Priest Vicente Avila, the initiator of the project, said.

March 25 is historic to this city as it is its fiesta day celebration in honor to the 111^th foundation of Candon.

The  calamay makers/ vendors of Bagar, Candon City produced 59 calamay to match the number of the beads of a holy rosary with a wooden cross at the start.

The calamay vendors themselves with some additional church goers mostly clad in white shirt held  calamay placed inside coconut shell draped with dried banana trunks.

The Parish’s Integrated Youth Ministry and male choir led the recitation of the holy rosary.

Each time part of the rosary is recited, the calamay bead holders take their places in a circle marked with church staff tying each calamay which eventually formed a living rosary.

The 30- minute whole holy recitation took place in front of the St. John Sahagun Church.

They later carried the connected calamay to the grotto and had a mass with Avila officiating.

“We are very happy because our product was used and our way also of saying thank you to the lord,” Liza Abaya, President of the Candon City Calamay Vendors said.

Of course the city government appreciated the initiative of the church.

“We are elated with Fr. Avila’s concept. It combines our devotion and thanksgiving,” City Mayor Allen Singson said.

The calamay were later given to the church goers.

Candon Fiesta Admin Nite 09

the administration/ barangay/ balikbayan night was celebrated with  evening of ball room dancing. The main guest was  Ilocos Sur  Vice gov. Jeremias Singson. Hosting him and the other guests were Deputy Speaker Eric Singson, former Congresswoman Grace Singson, City Mayor Allen Singso and the other city officials.

Actress and ball room dancing guru Regine Tolentino was the main performer during the ball room dancing.

Barangay officials, their spouses, members of the non-governmental organizations, private sector, staff from the DepEd were the main participants of the ball room dancing.

Ms Ilocandia Bikini Open 09

Contestants of the Ilocandia Bikini Open 2009 ( ladies). the contest will be held at the Candon City Beach Front, Darapidap, Candon City, Ilocos Sur on March 28, 2009.