Ilocos Norte marks 205th anniversary

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte – Gov. Matthew Manotoc led the celebration of the 205th founding anniversary of the province of Ilocos Norte on Thursday, Feb. 2.

Manotoc said the event is a reminder to the public servants of Ilocos Norte to be humble.

“The story of Ilocos Norte is a long one. Kumbaga (So to speak) in the greater scheme, tayo ay isang maliit na dot lang (we are all a small dot), and I think contextualizing our place in history leads us to humility,” Manotoc said in his anniversary message after the flag ceremony.

“To remember to be humble enough, to remember that we are a vessel, we are a symbol, and we only occupy the seats that we do for the people and ultimately our positions, our seats, are not ours but are of the people of Ilocos Norte,” Manotoc said.

Manotoc said public officials are only instruments of public service and challenged them to be humble enough to listen to the people of Ilocos Norte and humble enough to listen to their colleagues.

“We must be humble enough to learn from each and every one, to grow, and to improve. But at the same time with this humility, comes a great amount of responsibility, and urgency, and seriousness, that we must do all that we can because we know the days passed, the years passed, and the terms passed,” he added.

Manotoc encouraged every resident to seize opportunities, especially since this is a great milestone in Ilocos Norte’s history to have President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

“This is the time of Ilocos Norte but we cannot rest on our laurels; we cannot rely on our President, our Senator, our Congressman to do our job. We must do our job and we must make the changes and improvements that we see.”

The governor thanked the people for their efforts and for enlivening their distinctive unity which had contributed to Ilocos Norte’s progress.

After the flag ceremony, learning materials, pandemic recovery assistance, and agricultural equipment were awarded.

The Ilocos Norte Tourism Office and the Communications and Media Office presented “Tan-ok ni Ilocano” films to various schools in the province to encourage academic institutions to utilize multimedia materials produced by the provincial government to preserve the Ilocano culture and renew the youth’s sense of identity.

Forty combine harvesters, four four-wheel tractors, six multi-cultivators, and eight hand tractors were turned over to various farmer-associations which are part of Manotoc’s farm mechanization initiatives to protect their sources of livelihood and increase their productivity and profitability.

Fourteen local government units (LGUs) received the Child-Friendly Governance award for prioritizing children in their planning, budgeting, legislation, and service delivery. (Freddie Lazaro)