TRANSPORTATION

1.1  Land Transportation

Buses going to Laoag-Manila, Vigan-Manila and Bangued-Manila routes by the province national highway at regular intervals daily.  These serve as transportation facilities linking the province to other provinces and metropolis.  Mini-buses, jeepneys, and tricycles also serve as inter-provincial, inter-municipal and interbarangay modes of transportation.

Roads and Bridges

Ilocos Sur has a total road network of 2,837.661 kilometers.  Of the total, 13.3% were national roads, 9.44% provincial roads, 8.6% municipal roads and 68.7% barangay roads.  The road to population ration was 5.20 kilometers per 1000 population and the road density was 11 kilometer per thousand hectares of land area.

1.2 Air Transportation

There is one feeder airport in the province located at Mindoro, Vigan that occupies a land area of 16.7 hectares.  The facilities include a runway of 900 x 300 meters, 0/0 stepway; 145 x 100 meters approve; 2-30 x 15 meters taxiway; 100 meters parking area; 83 x 6 meters terminal building and 2,220 linear meters fencing.  At present, the airport is only opened for chartered flights.

1.3 Sea Transportation

There are two sub-ports in the province located at Salomague, Cabugao and Sulvec, Narvacan.  Facilities at the Salomague Port are two berths 120 meters long and 9 meters wide, a transit area of 108 sq. meters; a warehouse port with an area of 1,200 sq. m. 46 meters long approach and a 10-control depth of water.

There are two sub-ports in the province located at Salomague, Cabugao and Sulvec, Narvacan.  Facilities at the Salomague Port are two berths 120 meters long and 9 meters wide, a transit area of 108 sq. meters; a warehouse port with an area of 1,200 sq. m. 46 meters long approach and a 10-control depth of water.

The port of Salomague has been upgraded from provisional status to Permanent Port of Entry as per memorandum Order No. 436 of the president of the Philippines dated June 14, 1997.  The seaport is operating under the management of the North Quadrangle Container Services, Inc. (NQCSI).

Cargo ships from Hongkong, Taiwan and China call at the port twice or once weekly.  Cargo traffic averages at 20 containers a week.

WATERWORKS AND SEWERAGE FACILITIES

In the province, approximately 69 percent of the present population (of which 24 percent in urban area and 76 percent in rural area) is considered as adequately served.  Under the area classification, 72 percent of urban population and 69 percents of rural population have access to safe water sources/facilities, while the rest is underserved and/or unserved.  About 88 percent of the served population depend on Level I facilities while 12 percent are served by Level III and/or level II systems.

Level III   

Level III systems at municipal level are usually established and operated by water districts under technical and financial assistance at LWUA.  Some LGUs also implement and operate Level III systems commonly at barangay level.

There are 13 Level III systems in the province being operated under different kinds of ownership. 

Waters districts in the municipalities of Vigan  (including Bantay and Caoayan), Narvacan, Santa, Sta. Lucia and Tagudin

The largest system in the province is the Metro Vigan Water District covering twelve (12) urban barangays of Vigan, six (6) urban and nine (9) rural barangays of Bantay, and seven (7) urban and two (2) rural barangay of Caoayan.  Water districts in the other four (4) municipalities serve mainly for urban barangays extended to their neighboring rural barangays, while small scale systems being operated by municipality or barangay are catering to a limited number of barangays.

Level II

All Level II Systems using spring sources are reported to have been providing water throughout the day, although no disinfection is provided.

Level I

Level I facilities are common in rural barangays, majority of which are owned privately.  Major facilities are different types of wells equipped with hand pumps or developed spring with transmission line in one communal faucet.

POWER

The power requirement of the province is supplied by the National Power Corporation through the Ilocos Sur Electric Cooperative (ISECO).  At present, all of the 32 municipalities and two (2) component cities are energized, however; only 729 or 94% of the total barangays are energized.  Potential household connections are 119,212 but actual connection is only 97,622 or 81.8%.

Of the total consumers, 75% are residential connections, followed by Barangay Power Associations (BAPA) which is 18%.

There are 730 trained authorized barangays electrician but only 380 are active.

COMMUNICATION

Radio and Television Stations

There are seven (7) local radio stations operating in the province, 5 AM and 2 FM Stations.

There is no local television station in the province but the telecast of all national TV stations can be received locally.  Cable television companies also operate in the province thereby improving access to local and international news.

Telegraph Stations

Almost all the municipalities of the province have public telegraph stations.  Private telegraph companies like the RCPI, Bayantel and PT & T have offices in Vigan, Narvacan, Cabugao and Candon.  These provide telegram, telephone and facsimile services.

Telephone Systems

Domestic and direct-distance dialing is provided by the Digital Telecommunication Philippines, Inc. in 17 of the 34 municipalities of the province.

The proliferation of cellular phones expands the communication system in the province. The presence of advanced technologies like computer and internet services likewise improves the communication network in the province.

Mail Services

Public Postal Services

Postal services are made available to the public through 37 post offices/postal stations headed by a postmaster.

Mail carriers totaled 91 distributed among the 34 municipalities of the province.  On the average, the ratio of letter carrier to the population is 1:6342.

Private Messengerial Services

Private messengerial services like the JRS, LBC, DHL, FedEx and EXL operate in some municipalities of the province.

Publications

Ilocos Sur has newspapers/newsletters published locally by local writers/journalists.  Newspapers and magazines of national circulation are also available in the province, however, the Bannawag is considered as a community magazine in the locality.

RECREATION

Sports Facilities

All barangays in the province have either a multi-purpose pavement or basketball court that serves as the venue of sports activities, not to mention the grounds of public elementary/primary schools located in the barangays.

For provincial or regional sports activities, the province has several stadiums/sports complex/gymnasiums to boast of.  Some of these are the Quirino Stadium located in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, big enough to accommodate the games played for the Palarong Pambansa, the Sto. Domingo Plaza and Sports complex, and the gymnasium of the UNP and other public secondary schools.

The provincial government is annually conducting inter-agency/inter-municipal sports competition in basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball chess, table tennis, and bowling aside from the regular sports competition being undertaken by the DepEd.  Likewise, the provincial government is also participating in the LGUlympics and Philippine National Games as a component of the physical fitness program of the present provincial administration.

Other Recreational Facilities

In the province, there are only 4 movie houses, 3 of that are located in Vigan and one in Candon.

There are no nightclubs operating in the province, however, there are sing-along or videoke bars located in some of the restaurants and resorts in the province.