“What we need are efficient leaders who can turn around things, and not full autonomy,” said Sen. Francisco “Kiko” Pangilinan, reacting to a group’s proposal to create Bikol Autonomous Region through Charter change.

NAGA CITY--The entry of tycoon Henry Sy’s Shoemart mall in Naga will have both benefits and unwanted effects on the economy of Bikol, says Abet Bercasio, president of the Metro Naga Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI).

The mall is expected to generate substantial revenue for the city in the form of taxes, he adds.

MANILA — Even with the release of one of the three Red Cross workers, the Roman Catholic Church continues to exhort the whole nation to pray for the two other workers’ immediate release.

In Rome, Pope Benedict XVI raised his voice and made an appeal that “humanitarian sense and reason will prevail over violence and threat.”

The Apostolic Nunciature in Manila communicated the Pope’s appeal to the local media through the CBCP Media Office morning of March 31.

NAGA CITY --- Proud of their school and of their outstanding alumna, the Isabelina high school class of 1978 feted their classmate, Dr. Maria Victoria-Bernido and her husband, Dr. Christopher C. Bernido, with a testimonial dinner held at the Universidad de Sta. Isabel auditorium last Monday, March 30.

MANILA, March 31, 2009—Amid calls for him to choose between the priesthood and politics, Pampanga Gov. Ed Panlilio said he will quit from priesthood should he decide to run for president in 2010. Panlilio, a Catholic priest-turned politician, said he has no choice but to ask for dispensation to end dispute over his priestly status.

MANILA, April 3, 2009— House Speaker Prospero Nograles assured the immediate passage of the bill extending the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) by June.

After the dialogue last Thursday between lawmakers, Catholic bishops and some farmers, Nograles said they are committed to pass the bill with appropriate reforms.

SORSOGON CITY, April 3 (PNA) – The Philippine Army (PA) conducting anti-insurgency activities in Sorsogon, a highly communist rebel-infested province southeast of Luzon, has accused the New People’s Army (NPA) of killing a 37-year-old widow human rights activist here. The Celso Minguez Command (CMC), the local unit of the NPA operating in the area, on the other hand, said in press statement that the death squad of the PA was behind the assassination.

NAGA CITY—Sen. Francisco “Kiko” Pangilinan said he would strongly support the house bill filed by Laguna Rep. Edgar San Luis seeking to penalize public and private hospitals that ask payments from intern nurses. “It’s exploitation,” said Sen. Pangilinan who was in Naga City on Wednesday. “I am willing to look carefully at this [house]bill.”

JUBAN, Sorsogon, April 2 (PNA) – Local officials here on Thursday spread the red carpet for the formal opening of the Balikatan exercises in Sorsogon province under the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). Opening ceremonies were held in Barangay Guruyan, an interior village of this fifth class municipality highly infested by 40-year old communist insurgency that seeks to topple the government and establish a Marxist-Leninist state.

MANILA, April 3, 2009— As the deliberation of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill in Congress nears end, expect more dirt, Catholic Church officials said. San Fernando Archbishop Paciano Aniceto claimed local government officials will be “manipulated” to add support to the proposed measure. “They will try to get in the provincial and municipal level. They will influence the governors and mayors to promote the same bill in the LGUs,” he said.