Vox Bikol

IRIGA CITY--The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) bestowed the choral group of the University of Northeastern Philippines (UNEP) here with the prestigious “Ani ng Sining” award during the closing rites of the 2009 Philippine International Arts Festival last Feb. 28 at the historic Manila Hotel.

The UNEP choral group was cited by NCCA in recognition of its outstanding performance as a cultural group. The choral group brought international honor to the country last year when it won the coveted top prize in the Folklore category of the 2008 HongKong International Youth and Children’s Choir Festival held at the former British’s crown colony’s Cultural Center in July 2008.

The mass media and the new (Information and Communication Technologies) ICTs have a very important role in the communications mission of the Church. The preferred use of the term, social communications, serves to remind us that there is a communicative dimension to every aspect of Church life and that we must not think exclusively in terms of our relations with the mass media or the new emerging media. It remains true that the mass media -- traditional and new alike -- provides us with a privileged way of bringing our message to ever greater audiences and in a variety of different ways. The voice of the divine word must echo even through the radio, the information highway of the internet, the channels of “online” virtual circulation, CDs, DVDs, podcasts, etc. It must appear on all television and movie screens, in the press, and in cultural and social events...

In a consultation-meeting held on February 24, 2009, the NCF administration through its Vice President for Finance, Ms. Emerita V. Padua, announced that the school will have no tuition fee increase for the coming school year 2009-2010.

The said decision came up to heed the appeal of the government, particularly the Commission on Higher Education, not to increase tuition fees because of the difficult economic situation being experienced globally...

Last week, Vox Bikol’s columnist Atty. Che Carpio examined the touted claim that the Naga City government’s website is an effort in transparency. He went through the website’s links under the section of “Transparency at Work” and made known his observations about them. Atty. Carpio’s review of the city government’s website yielded some interesting conclusions which seriously undermine the boast that transparency is at work through posting of information inwww.naga.gov.ph...

A recent study at the Food Engineering Laboratory of the Ohio State University (OSU) showed that the enzyme causing browning in plant and animal tissues can be activated or inactivated at certain frequency and holding time under moderate electric field.

In agriculture, browning of produce is often regarded as a sign of quality deterioration. This is observable in banana, apple, mango, eggplant, cabbage and other crops. As such, the control of such discoloration can save the product from significant loss of market value. There are exceptions of course, where browning is desirable, as in the case of tea and raisin processing. Whatever the desired result, moderate electric field treatment appears promising in either enhancing or preventing discoloration.

IRIGA CITY--The street dancers from the Performing Arts department of the University of Northeastern Philippines (UNEP) won the grand prize of the recently concluded 2009 Tinagba Festival Mardi Gras/ Street Dance contest after they wowed judges and thousands of spectators with their impressive dance moves and magnificent performance.