MANILA--The Gospel may be 2,000 years old, but the Catholic Church is grateful to new Internet-driven technologies for aiding their work of spreading the Scripture. The Archdiocese of Caceres has recently launched a new weekly “podcast” of Sunday homilies aimed at reaching Catholic Filipinos working abroad. Podcasts are like an audio broadcast but aimed at—or subscribed to by—specific audiences. The audio can be accessed live or downloaded for listening at a more convenient time.

LEGAZPI CITY--Masbate Bishop Joel Baylon has expressed concern over the outpouring sentiments of farmers and fisher folk staging a series of mass rally against the operations of Filminera Mining Corporation (FMC), an Australian-Canadian based mining firm that scheduled a full blast open pit mining in Aroroy town on March 20, 2009.

Some of the count ry’s top merchants had a glimpse of the upcoming SM City Naga during the recent Tenants’ Preview at the SMX Convention Center. SM Prime Holdings President Hans T. Sy welcomed the tenants during the event together with SCMC President Annie Garcia, VP for Leasing Daisy Chua, and SM City Lucena’s Mall Manager Jason Terrenal...

IRIGA CITY--Members of the Agta-Tabangnon tribe, a cultural minority group living at the foot of Mt. Asog here, have found strong partners in the University of Northeastern Philippines (UNEP) and the city government of Iriga, in their continuing quest for recognition, equal socio-economic opportunity, and better life with the signing of commitment to advance and protect their aspirations.

MANILA--The Senate and the House of Representatives will organize their own technical working group that would look into the formation of a unified version of a bill that will extend the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program for another five years. This was agreed upon by the Senate and the House members during Friday’s dialogue where the lawmakers threshed out common solution to extend the bill which expired its 20-year implementation last year.

LEGAZPI CITY--Women have greater educational advantage over men in all six provinces of the Bikol Region both in 2000 and 2003, estimates of gender-related development indicators generated by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) showed.

Naga City--Balete River in this city, pathway of the world renowned Peñafrancia Festival Fluvial procession, will become clean and green soon. This was assured by Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Bikol Regional Director Ernesto C. Bihis during a radio interview Monday morning.

Ligao City--The children who witnessed the gunfight between forces of the New People’s Army (NPA) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) last Feb. 18 in barangay Balanac are severely traumatized, according to Cylek Manano of the Children’s Rehabilitation Center.

Nabua, Camarines Sur--“AKO NA ginikanan ninyo, rinugba ninyo ako (I who conceived you, you have destroyed).” In the internet site Nabua Forum, this statement is found marqueed over a picture of the demolished Gabaldon school building in Nabua, Camarines Sur. The building is currently the cause of protest among concerned Nabueños disgusted with the unreasonable demolition of a supposedly heritage structure by the local government here.

Legazpi City --Environment activists rescued what they believe might be the smallest living offspring of the world’s biggest fish— a whaleshark (rhincodon typus) the size of a forearm. The World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature said maritime officials, along with the environment activists in Pilar, Sorsogon, a town in the eastern Philippines, rescued the 15 inch–long newborn whale shark last week and released it in deep waters.