MANILA - Even when the official campaign period for the position of president was yet to begin last February 9, one could already feel the campaign heating up. The people are already barraged with television ads disguised as infomercials and the proliferation of posters - minus the "vote for..." of course, lest the candidate be charged with electioneering. There are the presidential debates hosted by the big television networks, the constant playing of campaign jingles on the radio, and the tit-for-tat in newspapers. Name recall is the name of the game. No matter how vague the messages are, the objective of the candidates is maximum exposure.

"KUNG WALANG CORRUPT, WALANG MAHIRAP." (If no one is corrupt, no one would be poor.") This is the central theme of Noynoy's presidential bid to be the opposite of GMA and her administration which has been mired in corruption scandals. It also appears to be a dig at Manny Villar's rising star, given the allegations of corruption or at least impropriety as to the C5 extension project. "Sipag at Tiyaga" is now, as the joke goes, "C5 at Taga."

In the discussion of media corruption, there are two words necessitating an etymological and contextual scrutinies-first, the term media, and the second, corruption. Such looking up of the origins of these two apellations may give us a deconstructed and definitive clarity of what the fusion of the two, media and corruption, or media corruption, is all about.

Mrs. B is Mrs. Edita Tronqued Burgos. Mrs. Burgos is the mother of Jonas Burgos. An activist, Jonas Burgos was abducted on April 2007 and up to now there is no trace of him at all. In Ever Gotesco, where the abduction took place, a guard served as the only witness. The guard saw how five men and a woman dragged him out of the mall as public as our own poverty. People also saw how you can be pulled out of a very public place and into oblivion without other people being able to do anything to save you. Or stop people from hiding you forever.

The endeavor of the Meridien Vista Gaming Corporation to introduce and establish another form of gambling through betting stations of its "virtual numbers game" in the province of Camarines Sur and in the City of Naga had been reported to have met with little success so far. Despite endorsements from the Sanggunian Panglalawigan and the Camarines Sur chapter of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines, Meridien found its first gambling stations being closed down by the Provincial PNP due to lack of official permits to operate "small town lotteries-type" of games.

"Yellow" fever hit thousands of Bikolanos on Tuesday as yellow ribbons lined roads and highways in Camarines Sur as the campaign period for national positions officially started. Clad in yellow shirts and donning streamers on their vehicles, hundreds of presidential aspirant Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III's local supporters embarked on a day-long motorcade across the province's towns, ending in a political rally at Naga City's Plaza Quezon.

Daet, Camarines Norte (12 February) -- The province of Camarines Norte notched the overall championships in the Palarong Bikol 2010 held here last week. After the 7-days sports and literary competitions, Camarines Norte has obtained 519 points, followed by Camarines Sur with 510.5 points claiming first runner-up, second runner-up Naga City, 244; third runner-up Legazpi City, 236.66; fourth runner-up Albay, 236; fifth runner-up Masbate, 207; and sixth runner-up Catanduanes gaining 192 points.

While Iriga City is rejoicing for the successful holding of the annual Tinagba Festival, dubbed as one of the hottest celebration in the region, the University of Northeastern Philippines (UNEP) also has reasons to celebrate with the new list of their graduates now turned registered nurses, adding up to the rooster of health professionals in the country.

LEGAZPI CITY, Feb. 10 - Land Transportation Office (LTO) Bicol regional director Ramon Roco is pushing for the inclusion of driving and traffic lessons in the curriculum specifically in elementary level.

NAGA CITY, Feb. 10 - Three Philippine Army soldiers in Bikol were recipients of the Globe Telecommunications education grants in a recently held Philippine Army 9th Infantry Division Service Awards ceremonies held at Camp Elias Angeles, Pili, Camarines Sur.