DARAGA, ALBAY (Oct 13) - COMMUNIST REBELS were suspected of being responsible for the slaying of a barangay councilor in Nabasan, Daraga, Albay at about 2:00 A.M on Monday (Oct.11) and the shooting at close range of the village official's wife, nephew, and his 19 years-old daughter while the latter were asleep.
LEGAZPI CITY, Oct. 12 -- Many Bikolanos welcomed the amnesty that President Benigno S. Aquino III granted to Senator Antonio Trillanes and the other soldiers involved in the Oakwood Mutiny in 2003, the Marine Standoff last Feb. 2006 and the Manila Peninsula Siege in Nov. 2007.
LEGAZPI CITY (14 Oct) -A NEW PUBLIC WORKS director is due to assume his new post at the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) regional office in this city on Friday (October 15).
Current Public Works Director for Bikol, architect Danilo C. Manalang will be replaced by Engineer Danilo E. Dequito on the strength of Special Order no. 89 issued by DPWH Sec. Rogelio C. Singson dated Sept. 13, 2010, designating Dequito as Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Regional Director for DPWH Bicol.
Naga City (14 Oct) - An alleged business partner of victims Eliseo and Angelina Saturno is now being tagged as the mastermind of the kidnapping of the Naga Coliseum contractor and his wife.
In a report by the Naga City Police Office, the two Saturnos were stated to have been abducted at gunpoint last October 10 by a group of six armed men at the Maharlika Highway in Sipocot, Camarines Sur.
LEGAZPI CITY, Oct. 15- The Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council of Albay has advised all disaster managers down to the villages to be very vigilant against lahar flash floods, mudflows, storm surges and landslides as rains brought by tropical storm Juan started to pour Friday noon.
Albay Governor Joey Salceda said "since the disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies and the respective rescue and response teams are in place, all we have to do is to pray the Oratio Imperata, a very powerful prayer, so that 'Juan' would spare the province as well as the country."
CAMP ELIAS ANGELES, Oct. 15,2010, Pili, Camsur- Fresh armed clashes erupt between government forces and the NPA rebels in Sorsogon's election hotspots, a military official said today.
LtCol Santiago Enginco, Commander of the 49th Infantry Battalion based in Sorsogon said that fresh fighting occurred in Salvacion village, Magallanes town at 8:40am yesterday, October 14 (Thursday).
ROME, Oct. 4, 2010 (CNA/EWTN News).- People have come from all over the world to Rome this week to examine the Church's place in the technological age. Opening the deliberations, the head of the Vatican council for communications outlined some of the themes of the congress, which include a look at the identity and mission of Catholic media.
MANILA, Oct. 7, 2010-Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez hopes for a credible report on the bungled Aug.23 hostage taking incident, as the result of the investigation awaits approval.
Iñiguez, who chairs the CBCP's Public Affairs Committee, said the report made by the Incident Investigation Review Committee (IIRC) should be released in full and subjected to public scrutiny.
"The most important thing is that the report should be credible," Iñiguez said.
CAGAYAN DE ORO City, Oct. 7, 2010-President Simeon Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III's first 100 days in Malacañang were characterized by "missed opportunities" especially in promoting human rights, Amnesty International Philippines (AIPh) said.
"During his first 100 days in office, President Aquino has highlighted serious human-rights issues in the Philippines, but has yet to take concrete action against them," AIPh director Aurora Parong said in an emailed statement.
MANILA, Oct. 6, 2010-Is the Philippine population indeed a ticking time bomb as proponents of RH bill say so? One of the country's economists and academicians thinks otherwise.
Dr. Bernardo Villegas, PhD, calling himself a long-term student of demography, claimed that the country's population data is a "statistical abracadabra."
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Sorsogon City (5 October) -- The Sorsogon Arts Council (SAC), in partnership with the Sorsogon Museum and Heritage Center, Incorporated (SMHCI) and the Kasanggayahan Foundation Incorporated (KFI), will highlight the Kasanggayahan Festival 2010 with the Sorsogon Heritage Lectures and the Bisita Museo sa Kasanggayahan.
"Teachers teach more by what they are than by what they say, " so goes a line that stanchly describe how Allan Abasolo, a 32-year old Elementary teacher shared his passion for learning that has inspired a lot of little minds to pursue their education.
Leagzpi City (4 Oct) -- The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has cordoned off from new logging contracts the country's second-growth forest, which is also referred to as "natural forest."
DENR Secretary Ramon J. P. Paje issued Memorandum Order No. 9 directing all field officials of the department to stop accepting and processing all forms of applications for new timber contracts "with logging component in the natural forests."
Legazpi City (5 October) -- Albay Gov. Joey Salceda expressed dismay over the benefits other provinces have been reaping from cheaper and clean electricity supplied by geothermal energy fields in Albay.
Salceda cited the Aboitiz Power Corp., an Independent Power Producer (IPP), has recently announced that it is already supplying energy to San Fernando Electric Light and Power Co. in Pampanga.
He said "It is so unfair. Consumers of San Fernando Electric Light and Power Co. are getting cheaper electricity from Albay."
LEGAZPI CITY, Oct. 6 -- The total gun ban campaign in connection with the October Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Election went on full swing after police and military authorities in Bikol arrested 13 people and seized from them at least 22 various types of low and high powered firearms and explosives, the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Bikol said Wednesday.
Legazpi City (4 Oct) -- The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) declared Catanduanes as the most susceptible area to landslide and flooding in Bikol.
Dr. Arlene Dayao, Chief Geosciences Division of MGB said in a radio interview that the majority of island province's area is landslide and flood-prone. Dayao emphasized that this is due to the "natural ground formation of the province" and to the altered land use system in the area such as kaingin, deforestation among others.
Naga City (10 October) - Amidst the on-going criticisms directed at the Catholic Church hierarchy for being vocal against the proposed Reproductive Health (RH) Bill, Caceres Archbishop Leonardo Legaspi has come out with a pastoral letter seeking to clarify why the Church, particularly the clergy, is intervening in the contentious issue.
MANILA, Sept. 30, 2010-Retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz maintained that legalizing jueteng will not stop the multi-million illegal numbers game in the country.
Cruz, head of the Krusadang Bayan Laban sa Jueteng, pointed out that legitimizing underground lottery would only spawn other forms of gambling in the country.
"It is in the nature of jueteng to be illegal because that's where the money is. Another game will come out with maybe a different name but similar operators and structure than that of jueteng," said Cruz.
MANILA, Sept. 30, 2010-A group of Muslims has joined the growing chorus of voices opposing any effort by President Benigno Aquino III to promote artificial family planning.
In what could be a boost to the Catholic Church's campaign against contraceptives, the Imam Council of the Philippines said they are against birth control pills and condoms even among married couples.
Ibram Moxir, council head, said the Islam community is one with the Catholic hierarchy in opposing the passage of the Reproductive Health bill which seeks to control the country's growing birth rate.
MANILA, Oct.1, 2010-Although "frustrated" with President Aquino's plan to push artificial contraception, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines denied threatening him with excommunication.
CBCP President and Tandag Bishop Nereo Odchimar underscored that they still believe in the spirit of dialogue as an "initial approach" on the matter "and not confrontation."
"Threat of excommunication at this point of time can hardly be considered to be in line with dialogue," Odchimar said in a "disclaimer" issued Friday.
MANILA, Oct. 2, 2010-Hundreds of people trooped to Quiapo Church for a "pro-life" prayer rally that included a Catholic archbishop who urged the government to rethink its position on contraception.
The rally included students and parents. Many waved graphic signs with pictures of aborted fetuses.
A group of rallyists, for instance, were holding a streamer bearing a sign of "Kontrasepsyon Bahagi ng Globalisasyon (contraception a part of globalization)."
LEGAZPI CITY, Sept. 27- Preparations for the massive registration on Oct. 2 for the government's health program, dubbed "PhilHealth Sabado," has been in full swing in Bikol.
The Department of Health (DOH) over the weekend started conducting orientation and organizational meeting in Masbate and Sorsogon to ensure success of the program.
In Masbate, some 46,9000 families identified by the Department of Social Welfare and Development as the "poorest of the poor" are targeted for the day-long weekend registration.
Legazpi City (24 Sept) -- The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will look further into the stabbing of forest ranger Crispulo Santiago by CAFGU Active Auxiliary Sismundo Aldeza in Bicol National Park (BNP), Brgy. Tuaca, Basud Camarines Norte.
Santiago was manning a DENR checkpoint at 22nd IB CAA/Army detachment when he was attacked and stabbed by Aldeza at around 12:30 a.m., September 19, 2010. Aldeza's knife thrust hit the forest ranger's back, rendering the latter shocked but conscious.
