LEGAZPI CITY, March 19 -- At least 100 people were arrested for violation of the election gun ban in Bicol after the Commission on Election (Comelec) enforced the total gun ban on January 10 this year.

Bikol writer and Ateneo de Naga lecturer Kristian Sendon Cordero is set to participate as writing fellow for Filipino poetry in the annual Writers' Workshop sponsored by the University of the Philippines' Institute of Creative Writing (UP-ICW) which will be held in Baguio City this April 4-11, 2010.

PILI, Camarines Sur, March 16 - Incidences of violence continue to happen in the island province of Masbate despite the signing of a peace covenant among opposing political leaders here as two supporters of poll candidates were gunned down in the past two days, a military report said.

Sinasabat an mga aldaw sa syudad, kan mga nagtiripon-tipon na mga langaw sa mga ati na nagpakuriyat sa mga kripot na tinampo.

We, members of the Philosophy Department of the Ateneo de Naga University, take exception to the accusations made by Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo in his resignation letter dated 1 February 2010.

Last year in July, I wrote here about the possibility of an Erap 2. At that time, Erap seemed to still enjoy more popular support than the presidentiables then and he was the only one who appeared clear on what he wanted to do for the country like securing peace and order in Mindanao. But that was before Cory died on August 1, and Noynoy had not yet joined the race for president.

Finally, the Magna Carta of Women has been signed into law last August 14, 2009. It is the Philippines' concrete action toward the implementation of CEDAW or the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in the country. CEDAW is an international human rights standards set up by the United Nations in 1989, specially designed for women. The Philippines was one of the states that first signed and ratified the convention but it was only after thirty years that our government was able to set up a major law for women which, according to the principal authors, was actually a watered down version of the original bill because of strong dissension from powerful sectors including the male-dominated Catholic Church.

Kun ako periko, tano ta nagdadangog kamo? Periko daa ako ta inaarog-arog ko sana an mga tuyaw nin ibang tawo. An mga isyu luma na asin pigpaparaulit-ulit ko man sana. Lumang isyu na daa an Kuliseyo, an Urban Poor, an Super Market, an Dump Site sa Balatas, an Naga River, an drainage system. Alagad, tano dawa dai na ako nagtataram, padagos man giraray na pinag-uurulayan kan mga taga-Naga asin dawa kan mga dayuhan an mga isyung ini? Anong klaseng periko daw ako?

MANILA, March 10, 2010- The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has recently wired $48,809.00 to the Apostolic Nuncio to Haiti Archbishop Bernardito Auza for the earthquake victims of Haiti.

MANILA, March 11, 2010 -"The stand of the Church on contraceptives can't be compromised." This was the statement of Msgr. Pedro Quitorio, Media Director of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to a women group insisting that the Church change its stand on condoms.