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LEGAZPI CITY (8 October) - WITH THE REPORTS concluded yesterday (Oct.7) on the clearing of landslides in Catanduanes province as a result of heavy rains brought by typhoon "Pepeng" in Bikol, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) regional office here has summed damages to infrastructures in the three affected provinces in Bikol at an estimated P 56- Million Pesos.

DPWH Asst. Regional Director Jaime Martinez told Vox Bikol that clearing operations on several landslides along the Circumferential Road leading to the capital town of Virac, Catanduanes were extensively cleared on Tuesday (October 6).

Heavy rains last Oct. 2, triggered landslides along the national highway in the towns of San Miguel, Pandan, Caramoran, San Andres and a partially cleared highway with a wash-out box-culvert in Bagamanok town.

LEGAZPI CITY, Oct. 10  - Starting this month, the provincial government will no longer deduct the loan payments in the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) from the salaries of its employees.

"President Arroyo's approval of my demand side relief package with immediate effectivity will help both local and national government employees cope up with the recent crisis brought by the recent typhoons," Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said.

NAGA CITY - TWO LOCAL RESIDENTS, a couple engaged in trading were divested of cash amounting to P 300,000 pesos during a lightning robbery-hold up at M. Castro St., near the Tinago National High School at 3:15 P.M. last October 7.

Initial Investigation by the Naga City Police District Office revealed that couple, Enrique Serrano Sanchez, 44 and wife Rosemary Prado Sanchez, 44, both residents of Dons St., Barangay Dayangdang in this city, were reportedly followed by suspects riding a Black XRM Honda motorcycle, after withdrawing the huge amount of cash at the local branches of banks UCPB and Land Bank.

NAGA CITY --- National Artist for Literature Virgilio Almario says he sees bright future for the Bikolano artists, given their esteemed recognition, which should not go the way of their counterpart in the national search for artists that regretfully has been haunted by selection controversy marred by selfish agenda and political patronage and pressure.

"Nabibili na an national artist ngayon," he kidded aside but continued talking about the universal quest for truth and the value of honesty in all human endeavors, especially in the fields of arts, politics and culture.

PILI, CAMARINES SUR - THE HIGHLY PRIZED YELLOW FIN TUNA, locally known as "Kiyawon"  and traditionally considered as the best quality of the four "Bangkulis" or tuna fish specie found particularly in Lagonoy Gulf in this province, has been reported by a monitoring office of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to have dwindled in number based on the August and September catch by fishermen in the Nato, Sangay and Sabang, San Jose towns.

 

LEGAZPI CITY, Oct. 8 -- A total of 150 naval reservists successfully completed the five-day training program on disaster response and mitigation cum humanitarian mission, sponsored by the Philippine Navy (PN) Naval Forces Southern Luzon.

The training program, dubbed as "Exercise Pagsasama ", commenced Monday until Oct. 5, this year at the PN-NAVFORSOL headquarters in Barangay Rawis, this city.

Lt. Darwin Nieva, PN Southern Luzon spokesman, said the program educated and equipped college students on disaster emergency assistance and rescue training.

LEGAZPI CITY, Oct. 8  -- At least 302 hectares of private lands in Sorsogon are planted with trees, according to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) regional office in Bicol based in this city.

Some of the trees were planted as early as 1940, like the 39 narra and five dao trees in the 0.75 hectare-lot owned by Domingo Bayan in Barangay Pamurayan, Sorsogon City.

IRIGA CITY ---  Citizens Army Training (CAT) contingents from  private and public schools and colleges in the Bicol region are all set to show off their best marching units, pretty majorettes, and drum, bugle and lyre corps on Thursday, Oct. 1 along the major streets of this bustling city on the occasion of the University of Northeastern Philippines (UNEP) ROTC Activation - CAT regional competition.

Recently, a position paper signed by residents of the town of Lupi in Camarines Sur has expressed vehement opposition to the controversial Libmanan-Cabusao Dam Project (LCDP), a purported promise of Mrs. Gloria Arroyo and her son, Congressman Dato Arroyo to the farmers of the First District of Camarines Sur.

The devastating flood of September 26, 2009 in Metro Manila and surrounding provinces brought by typhoon "Ondoy" (Ketsana) has hammered once again the question of preparedness.

But while the administration's 2010 bet for president, Defense Sec. Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro, coordinated rescue and relief efforts, he was also blaming climate change as the overarching cause of people's misery and the great loss of lives.

Does it really matter that for the Japanese typhoon is a mere strong wind? Or that our word for typhoon comes from Japanese language?

For a long time, we had been naming typhoons after women, with the sexist notion that storms were like women's mind that changed and shifted direction every now and then.  The unpredictability of the storm led policy-makers to then call storms after women's name.

THE PROPONENTS of the Libmanan -Cabusao Dam Project (now Cabusao-Sipocot-Lupi-Libmanan or Casilli Dam Project) must have learned out of the tragedies plaguing the northern parts of the country today. Pangasinan is still deep in flood waters. Residents of Botolan, Zambales had seen their cemetery demolished by raging waters that disinterred coffins and corpses.

MANILA - Research group Ibon Foundation asked on Friday how aid for disaster relief given by donor governments was spent by the Arroyo government, in the face of the administration's apparent lack of disaster preparedness and response when tropical storm Ondoy hit Luzon last week.

Last September 27 was election Sunday and all Germany was called to vote for the new Federal German Parliament (Bundestag). The political landscape has changed much in the last decades and the number of parties running for parliament has increased. Back some 20 years ago Germany had two main parties, the Conservatives on the right wing, being CDU/CSU and the Social-Democrats, SPD, on the left.

MANILA - As expected, the revived proposal to impose a tax on text messaging is generating controversy and broad opposition. What surprised some people perhaps are the strong statements from telecommunication companies (telcos). They called the plan "anti-poor," "oppressive" and "one of the worst anti-consumer legislations ever made."

Fr. Miguel Robles de Covarrubias was within his first decade of priesthood when he changed the course of history.  His story is a classic example of how a man's personal convictions can influence 300 years and a world beyond his wildest dreams. His life's work is a perfect proof of the wisdom of God's ways.

In the middle of dishonesty, fraud and cheating that plague the present national government, I long for sincerity and truthfulness. Amid extravagance and squandering by government officials from the illegitimate president and her cabinet  to the congressmen and women down to the barangay captains, I long for decency and prudence. In the midst of self-enrichment and wealth accumulation of politicians, I long for simplicity and self-sacrifice.