I WAS invited by Ilocos Norte Tourism to judge the 2024 Tan-ok ni Ilocano Festival of Festivals. Though I would have wanted to stay long enough to visit the sand dunes, churches, museums and beaches and eat Batac empanada in Batac again, my 24-hour stay gave me enough beauty and culture to tide me over. The six-hour-long cultural competition took place in the newly built Ferdinand E. Marcos Stadium in Laoag. I describe it as a happy public space.

The new 12,000-seater stadium was inaugurated by President Bongbong Marcos and Gov. Matthew Marcos Manotoc in February 2023. There was an old 2,000-seat stadium on the same site adjacent to the Mariano Marcos University. When Typhoon 'Ompong' devastated the site in 2018, plans to build a new stadium were made under the administration of then-Ilocos Norte governor, now senator Maria Imelda Josefa 'Imee' Marcos. They broke ground in 2019 and constructed through the pandemic.