It is „half-time" in Germany. The academic year has reached Carnival and Ash-Wednesday, the time where German students receive their reports on their performance so far. All exams are written, all grades are completed, all documents are submitted and now they all hold in hands the report about how the first half of the year went for them. We all pause for a number of days and breathe.

NAGA CITY, Feb 21, 2010-Expect the Archdiocese of Caceres to be more engaged in its prophetic function for social change. In response to the New Year's Day Pastoral Letter of Caceres Archbishop Leonardo Z. Legaspi which called on the local Church to look to Mary as a source of hope in the midst of the country's poverty and in preparation for the coming elections, the Council of the Laity of Caceres (CLAC) immediately organized a convention of the parish pastoral councils and the religious organizations to deepen the faithful's understanding of the pastoral letter.

It is with gratitude to God that the movie-project is finally set to start shooting this coming March 3, 2010. The movie is written and directed by Marilou Diaz-Abaya, a multi-awarded film maker and director. Lead roles will be played by Judy Ann Santos, Ryan Agoncillo, Marvin Agustin, Christopher de Leon, Vivian Velez, and a boy-a newcomer in the industry-who could be a new Santino in the making. The movie is expected to be finished before the celebration of the tercentenary in September. The producer of the movie, our very own Bikolano film maker and producer, Tony Gloria, of the UNITEL Production known for socially relevant movies, hopes to include the movie in this year's entries to the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) on December.

The power of the media is immense and vast, that is has also the capacity to take away from us proper sensibilities. This is the danger of public perception. When Joseph Estrada was ousted by the so-called second EDSA People Power, Joseph Spaeth of Time magazine predicted that ousting a leader would be a vice in the Philippines. Now it is indeed a vice, and the media is greatly involved in its success. You don't like the face of your principal, go to a radio station; you want to defend a parcel of land you don't really own, go to a radio station; there's a hostage-taking somewhere else, get a media celebrity. Of course, I may have exaggerated a bit, but that's only for literary purposes.

An piniling tema kan satuyang Santo Papa ngonyan na Cuaresma iyo an tema nin "Hustisya". Ini gikan sa inspirasyon kan Surat ni San Pablo sa mga Taga-Roma: "An Kasuripotan nin Mahal na Dios ipinahiling huli kan pagtubod ki Jesu Cristo"(Rom. 3: 21-22)

"ITO ANG PANATA KO: TAPUSIN ANG KAHIRAPAN." (This is my avowed mission: to end poverty.)" To this Manny Villar's opponents quickly raise alarums given his multi-million peso advertising campaign vis-à-vis the C-5 controversy: all that money would be recovered through presidential influence, if not outright corruption. Hence, the joke now about "C-5 at Taga" as against his "Sipag at Tiyaga."

While Naga City Councilor John Bongat is entirely entitled to his opinion regarding the absence of any "controversy" between the Naga City government and the local church regarding the manner in which the Peñafrancia Fiesta has been and is to be celebrated, we however disagree with his nonchalant dismissal.

LUPI, Camarines Sur, Feb. 16 -- Some 31 residents of Barangay Colacling here benefited from the multi-livestock production training and dispersal program of the Program Management Office (PMO) of the Bicol River Basin and Watershed Management Project (BRBWMP) recently.

Jaypee S. Sayson, a BS Architecture student of the University of Northeastern Philippines (UNEP) bagged the top prize in Literary Graphics, English category during the recently concluded 9th Luzonwide Higher Education Press Conference held from February 8-10 at Lingayen, Pangasinan.

VIRAC, Catanduanes, Feb. 17-- Intel Philippines, through the Adopt-A-School program of the Department of Education (DepEd), has donated 20 units of Classmate notebook computers to Virac Pilot Elementary School (VPES) here, the biggest public elementary school in the province.