MANILA, May 29, 2010- A CBCP official has called on the incoming administration and the next Congress to guarantee the voting rights of prisoners. "We call on the next administration and the next congress to review the laws governing our election and ensure that the prisoner voting right is upheld," said Rodolfo Diamante, Executive Secretary of the Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Care (ECPPC) of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

MANILA, May 27, 2010-A ranking Catholic Church leader said authorities still have lot of things to do to prove there sincerity in prosecuting people behind a controversy-ridden government transaction.

Like scents, tastes bring us to places, remind us of events and affairs, and conjure within us old feelings. More often, these feelings are heightened because some are of our deepest intimacies while some are of our greatest melancholies and fears. This simple psychology of flavor was, is, and will always be a big part of how we are formed as individual persons.

On May 26, 2010, Papa passed on to join Mama with God. His death also brings us to ponder upon the mystery of life. "Each one of us will render an accounting when we stand before God at the end of our lives," says Papa's favorite teacher at the Ateneo de Naga, Fr. James B. Reuter, SJ. And for Papa, we can take a glimpse of his journey through the first line of a song he used to sing-with Mama on the piano: LOVE CAME TO ME. Love came to Papa through Mama and through us their 14 children.

Akkad in Mesopotamia was the center of the world's first empire some 25 centuries before Christ. The Akkadian language outlasted the empire, becoming the language of several later cultures, including Babylonia.

What were the Spanish thinking? What mindset was in play in the 1849 Claveria List of Surnames, a listing from which a male indio head of the family supposedly chose a Spanish last name for himself and his kin?

For my column piece this week, I am sharing below my homily which was delivered last 2010 May 30, on the occasion of the solemnity of the Holy Trinity.

NAGA CITY --- Did you know that the number of Filipinos infected with human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) rose dramatically in the past 10 months? Doctors at the Philippine General Hospital Infectious Diseases Treatment Complex said the number of HIV cases in the hospital rose to 100 in the past 10 months. Records from the Department of Health (DOH) showed that the number of HIV cases rose to 709 last year, compared to 528 in 2008.

Nine United States Peace Corps volunteers assigned in different schools/offices in the country facilitated the Division Secondary School English Teachers' Training (DSSETT) held at Pili National High School (PNHS), La Paz, Pili, Camarines Sur. One of them, Mary R. Manouchehri, who is an Education Volunteer assigned in the Bikol Region, was co-organizer of the said training, along with Fe G. Peralta, English department head in PNHS. They shared innovative strategies in teaching writing, and teaching heterogeneous classes, respectively, during the alternative sessions at the two-day training.

Naga City ---- Members from various religious organizations of Caceres, religious communities and parish pastoral councils from the Archdiocese of Caceres gathered on May 22 at the Holy Rosary Minor Seminary for the 1st Archdiocesan Congress of Ecclesial Communities here with the theme "The role of ecclesial communities and the Laity in the Public Square," The event was spearheaded by the Office of the Religious Movement (OREMOS) of the Archdiocese of Caceres, through the support of the Springs of Life Catholic Charismatic Community (SOLCCC)-UNEP Chapter. His Excellency, Most Rev. Leonardo Z. Legaspi OP, DD graced the occasion with his presence as the congress' main celebrant and preacher.