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DAET, CAMARINES NORTE -- THE SURGE OF NEW INCIDENTS OF ARMED ROBBERIES and killings in this capital town and nearby localities has drawn deep concern particularly on the business sector, who had initially raised some P 50, 000 pesos in cash rewards for the immediate arrest of suspected armed-robbery gang members.

Earlier, Daet mayor Tito Sarion made an urgent appeal to the Cam. Norte police office and the local police to prevent further occurrence of the spate of robbery-holdups and murder of victims. with constituents here now fearing this new surge of crimes.

The deadline of the 6^th Premio Tomas Arejola para sa Literaturang Bikolnon (PTALB) has been extended to the end of July, this year. This is in response to requests from literary quarters all over the region, according to Carlos Arejola, chair of the annual literary competition.

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) has chosen Camarines Sur as Model Province for Region V in the implementation of Republic Act 9485, known as the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007 (ARTA).

Model provinces and cities of each region were identified for their having completed their respective Citizen's Charters, set up Public Assistance and Complaint Desks and adopted measures to stop fixing activities in their jurisdictions.

NAGA CITY ---- Nursing students and medical staff of the University of Northeastern Philippines (UNEP) assisted doctors, dentists and other health care professionals treat hundreds of poor patients at the Camarines Sur National High School (CSNHS) Pavilion  during the Bombo Medico 2009 activities of Bombo Radyo Philippines here recently.

Bombo Medico 2009, a medical and dental activity in celebration of the Iloilo-based radio network's 43^rd Anniversary, provided over 1,000 patients from Naga City and suburbs with free medical and dental services.

What would it take for Naga City Ordinance 95-070 to be enforced?

For several months already, we have urged the Naga City government which issued the above the ordinance to attend to the judicious implementation of prohibiting smoking in public places and inside public transportation. It would seem, however, that same city government could not care less: its reputation as a "smoke-free city" gained through the passage of the said ordinance has also gone the way of its early moniker "An Maogmang Lugar." In other words, Naga City is neither "smoke-free" nor "maogma" anymore.

PARTY LIST GROUPS THAT DID NOT OBTAIN TWO PERCENT OF THE VOTES MAY STILL GET REPRESENTATION: Even party list groups that did not obtain at least two percent of the votes cast for party lists in any election may now be given a chance to install at least one congressman (or even more, in fact) in the House of Representatives.

The German word for voluntary work is "Ehrenamt," which literally translates to "honorary post." It is a highly valued "post" which is done by a volunteer and is not geared towards payment. It is carried out for a period of time and it is focussed on the common good. Ordinary people actively and voluntarily get involved in efforts of achieving a common goal.

It happened in April of 1982. Poets who were all based in the city, all very young, all in the throes of second and, perhaps, third love, but never in their last, submitted all at the same time, their poetry. The magazine that served as the formidable literary magazine of that decade and the decade before that could not ignore the works.

A few days ago, I chanced on Erap being interviewed on ANC's "Strictly Politics." My attention was caught by how he was deftly answering Pia's pointblank questions and in straight English. He had some grammatical lapses, but these were negligible.

If we recall, Erap's 1998 campaign was packaged to capitalize on his masa appeal.

Flaunting their bodies and flesh on stage under the glare of spotlights  in front of a crowd of strangers, is probably one of the shallowest aspirations that women could ever have. Beauty pageants, as universally accepted as they are, do nothing but insinuate that women's primary goal in life is to make themselves beautiful, sexy and attractive - with voluptuous body, large breasts and hips, small waist, long and shapely legs, smooth skin, shiny hair, white perfect teeth - so that when the day of judgement comes, they will be pronounced the most beautiful of all. Pageants promote the petty, small-minded belief that women should beat other fellow women in their physical looks, and therefore perceive fellow women not as allies for a greater cause but as competitors of their temporal youth and beauty. Women should get the attention of the judges, most of whom are men, and some women who believe the same way.

LAST WEEK, THIS PAPER featured four articles on the Church’s rejection of the secular celebrations, military parade, and other civic activities during the Peñafrancia week. Take note that I used ‘week’ instead of the ecclesiastical term ‘novena’ which is a little more than a week.

MAPPING THE FUTURE is actually envisioning the future in visual terms.  James Canton's book, the Extreme Future (Penguin Group 2007), that gives a picture of the top trends that will reshape the world in the next 20 years, has powerfully captured the need to welcome the extreme future prepared.  Canton writes: "Maps are so much revealing, though, when they're studied closely in the context of when and where they were