PILI, Camarines Sur - Frederick "Erick" S. Feliciano of Quezon City, crossed the finish line with the frontrunners of the third and final lap to clinch the Sports category championship of the Tour of Camarines Sur 2009 and a cash prize of P35,000.

THE YEAR FOR PRIESTS, announced by our beloved Pope Benedict XVI to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the death of the saintly Curé of Ars, St. John Mary Vianney, is drawing near. It will be inaugurated by the Holy Father on the 19th June, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests. The announcement of the Year for Priests has been very warmly received, especially amongst priests themselves. Everyone wants to commit themselves with determination, sincerity and fervor so that it may be a year amply celebrated in the whole world -- in the Dioceses, parishes and in every local community -- with the warm participation of our Catholic people who undoubtedly love their priests and want to see them happy, holy and joyous in their daily apostolic labors.

Early morning of Thursday, May 28 (Wednesday, May 27 in Rome), I watched the UEFA Champions League Roma Finale 2009 between defending champions Manchester United (Man. United) and the Spanish La Liga and copa del rey champions FC Barcelona ("Barca").

Yesterday, I traveled with my students to Kamakura, in the Kanagawa Prefecture, our equivalent of the province. That was our second day in Tokyo, after the sedate urban life of Nagoya, and I was attempting to show them-in a very old fashioned way-how in a country different time zones and generations can find themselves linked to each other. Tokyo, with its post-modern structures and sensibilities that go beyond the so-called zen is never really separate from the villages of this seaside city of Kamakura, the seat of warrior culture, the site of everything that makes Japan cinematic, anime-based, romantic and exotic to the point of combustion.

May 23, 1949 is not a date that is well settled in the Germans' awareness. Maybe that is because May 23 is the date in which Germany was stigmatized by being divided into two states. Yet who would the Germans be today without this date? Without the Basic Law ratified that very day? For it is, to my mind, the best one Germany ever had in its entire history!

In my column this week, allow me to present some data from a study I made on the relation of poverty and population in Masbate.

VATICAN, May 26, 2009-- On its first day online, the new website enabling young people from around the world to get to know Pope Benedict XVI, received almost half a million visits.

According to webmaster Father Paolo Padrini of Vatican Radio, the website sponsored by the Pontifical Council for the Laity is intended "to create a climate of belonging, of participating in the Church, through ever greater closeness with the Holy Father."

MANILA, May 29, 2009- A Catholic bishop sees no problem with sex education in schools but said that it should be taught "properly" and in accordance with the church teachings.

VATICAN, May 28, 2009-- The bishops of Italy met this afternoon with Pope Benedict, who spoke to them about the "urgent task" of education in Christian values, the upcoming Year for Priests, the earthquake that struck the Abruzzo region and the impact of the financial crisis.

NAGA CITY -- REPORTS REACHING the Police Provincial Office (PPO) here during the last 5-days from the localities of Calabanga, Libmanan, Bato, and Goa towns all in Camarines Sur province, noted the series of armed robberies perpetrated by armed men clad in bonnets.