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Naga City -- Reacting to reports which allege that the Archdiocese of Caceres has demanded from the Naga City Government that vending in the City's plazas be prohibited, Caceres Communications Commission Director Fr. Louie Occiano issued a press statement belying such allegations.

In his statement, Fr. Occiano clarified that the Archdiocese did not make any such demands.

NAGA CITY-Police investigators are yet to find out who raped and killed April Joy, 7, who on Sunday was found lifeless and without clothes beside a creek in Barangay Cagaycay in Goa town in Camarines Sur.

"Laboratory examination found out that the victim had laceration in her genitals, proof that she had been raped before she was killed," said PO3 Edmundo Trinidad of Goa town police.

He said a blow to the head by a blunt object killed the victim, who had been seen swimming in the creek before she was reported missing.

NAGA CITY- A welcome competitor put 'padyak' (pedicab) drivers in Naga City on a day-off last August 15.

Along with four kids and a city councilor, Senator Manuel "Mar" Roxas drove a pedicab through the streets of downtown Naga, to the surprise and delight of curious onlookers, some of which exclaimed, "Nagpapadyak talaga si Kuya Mar! (Kuya Mar really knows how to drive pedicab!)

Naga City - - THE EQUIPMENT OF A LOCAL CONSTRUCTION FIRM HERE, has been razed by suspected communist rebels in a series of three incidents, the police provincial office (PPO) here had reported.

The PPO reported on August 10 that communist rebels have torched an ELF-truck with plate number EAD 367 owned by the Megay Construction firm in Sitio Mayon, Barangay Toytoy, Garchitorena, a coastal town in Camarines Sur.

LEGAZPI CITY, Albay, Aug. 13 -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo directed the Department of Public Works and Highways today to expedite the completion of the Presentacion-Caramoan coastal road in Camarines Sur.

The Chief Executive, who was scheduled to visit Caramoan, deferred the road inspection due to inclement weather. She instead proceeded to her scheduled visit to this city to inaugurate the re-opening of the tolling facilities of Legaspi Oil Company in Barangay Arimbay.

DAET, Camarines Norte, Aug. 14-- The municipal government of Daet sponsored a two-day Disaster Preparedness Seminar at the Daet Kalinangan Center over the weekend in support and to mark the celebration of the National Disaster Consciousness Month.

The disaster readiness training was attended by 67 participants from Daet's villages and representatives from other sectors. It was facilitated by officials of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Bicol.

NAGA CITY --- The Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) conducted its one-day expo on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) last Wednesday, August 12, at Magdalena Hall, Crown Hotel here, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

With the theme, "Bicol Express: To Prosperity, Right on Track!", the expo was attended by representatives from various chambers of commerce in Bikol, PBSP member companies, the academe, NGOs, and LGUs who have confirmed attendance, according to Rowena B. Sugay, Foundation Affairs Manager.

In his privilege speech at the Sangguniang Panlungsod last August 11, 2009, Naga City Councilor Nathan Sergio exhorted his fellow City Councilors to come up with a "Task Force Cheaper Medicine" to monitor compliance with the implementation of Executive Order 821 putting up maximum drug retail price (MDRP) on certain medicines.

LEGAZPI CITY - - PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO led the inauguration rites of the upgraded facilities of the Legazpi Oil (LegOil) Company Inc. coconut - processing plant in barangay Arimbay here on Thurs. (Aug. 13).

At the plant's administration building, Mrs. Arroyo assisted by the LegOil chair, Josefa Aquino, CIIF president and CEO Jesus Arranza, Albay Gov. Joey Sarte Salceda and Legazpi City, Mayor Noel Rosal lead the ceremonial switch-on in synch with the start of the mechanical dumping of delivered copra to the plant warehouse.

MANILA, August 11, 2009-A Catholic bishop said it's high time for people to show their disgust over the series of scandals committed by the Arroyo administration.

Novaliches Bishop-Emeritus Teodoro Bacani said President Arroyo and her party's reported lavish dinner in New York is another thing that requires a lot of explaining from Malacañang.

With Malacañang claiming there was nothing wrong in dining with a posh restaurant, Bacani called on the people to make known their sentiments on the incident.

MANILA, August 13, 2009-Even a Catholic bishop cried foul over President Arroyo's order to demolish the "Grand Mosque" in Pasay City.

Archbishop Oscar Cruz, former president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, describe the move as a ticking-bomb ready to explode right in front of Malacañang.

Cruz said destroying the mosque and replacing it with commercial establishments and casinos only proves the government's greed for money and power.

Last August 13, the Archdiocese of Caceres formally presented to the public the grand program for the 300^th or Tercentenary celebration of the devotion to Our INA, the Lady of Peñafrancia. The local church sums up the celebration of a people's devotion to INA with a word profound with meaning: mabalos. The Tercentenary celebration is an occasion for gratitude towards our indebtedness to this gift of devotion.

What does it entail an artist to represent the nation? If you are following the debate, we have newly selected National Artists. Two of them are being disputed: one is Carlo Caparas and the other is Cecille Guidote-Alvarez. Caparas is to be conferred the title for Visual Arts (he did not draw those komiks stories for which he is being recognized) and for Film (when in fact he is notorious for making those bad massacre films).

Truth to tell, I personally didn't care that much who would be our next president. For as most people tell us when you ask around, "pare-pareho lang sila" (they're all the same), in reference to the presidentiables. It's but a popularity contest as you would have surely seen in their media campaigns and in the various leaders' fora that have since been held.

Wala kang mapili. (You can't really choose from them.)

In 2004, Napoleon Brandy ran an ad campaign with the line "Nakatikim ka na ba ng 15 anyos?"

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines and militant women's groups lost no time to demand for the pull out of the commercial in TV, radio and billboard. The double meaning, according to them, undermines the dignity of women and insults every family. The ad was eventually pulled out.

All the brouhaha regarding the one million peso dinner of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her cohorts stem from the fact that millions of Filipinos are starving while she is living the high life and jet-setting around the world trying to sell our country.

THE CLOUDS ARE GREY for Filipino artists today. The air, dry for us, cannot be breathed for sustenance of life. I refer, of course, to the death of dignity and honor of the Order of the National Artists in our country. Interestingly, at the time of writing, I am in Manila waiting for the road to Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya, to be opened again for traffic. Bayombong is the birth place of one of the greatest influences of Philippine literature, National Artist for Literature Dr. Edith Tiempo, and she will be paid tribute there.

THE TITLE OF THIS COLUMN is from the poem of Chiara Lubich.  The homily of the Jesuit Father Catalino Arevalo during President Corazon Aquino's funeral mass spoke of her selflessness, faith, and love for her family.  I think great men and women lived their lives with a great sense of sacrifice, with a tenacity of purpose and a consistency of life that finds its source from an ardent love of God and neighbor.  I would like to dedicate this poem to President Corazon Aquino who was not only an icon of democracy but a living witness of faith.