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Vol. 26 Issue 46 06-12 April 2009
Salceda to Chiz: Economy grew despite debts
Jonas Cabiles Soltes
13.04.2009
NAGA CITY--Reacting to a statement released over the weekend by Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero saying that the national debt doubled under the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Albay Governor Joey Sarte Salceda said the opposition senator failed to account the economic growth experienced during the term of the President.

“Using the same figures [used by Escudero], [it can be deduced that] the national debt radically improved from being 78 percent of the [country’s] gross domestic product (GDP) to 52 percent of GDP,” said Salceda, an economic adviser to the President and former cabinet secretary, told the Inquirer on Sunday.

CBCP Head Asks Filipinos to Unite for the Common Good
Roy Lagarde
12.04.2009
MANILA, April 12, 2009- The Catholic bishops' leadership urged a nation facing a financial crisis, conflict and increasing poverty not to lose hope, but to join in real solidarity for the good of the country.

In his Easter message, Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) President and Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo said Filipinos can accomplish many things by acting in authentic unity.

Balikatan Humanitarian Mission Kicks Off
BA Recebido
12.04.2009

Sorsogon Province (7 April) -- The RP-US Balikatan humanitarian mission formally opened here April 1 in a simple ceremony at Barangay Guruyan in Juban town, this province.

Barangay Guruyan is one of the identified recipient barangays of the joint military forces' engineering and medical missions.

Barangay Patag in Irosin, also among the identified priority areas, will receive health assistance, school buildings and road component projects.

PNP Bikol Hires 500 Policemen This Year
PNA
12.04.2009

LEGAZPI CITY April 8 (PNA) -- The Philippine National Police (PNP) regional office here announced yesterday that they are now accepting applications for the recruitment of 500 new policemen this year.

Chief Supt. Paterno Bangui, Bikol police regional director, said the recruitment was in line with government's job generation program to provide employment in the countryside.

Democracy and Democrats
Karola Klier
12.04.2009

In 23 May 1949 the Parliamentary Council in Bonn ratified the German Basic Law and by doing so brought the Federal Republic of Germany into being. The German Federal Republic was built up on the ashes of the totalitarian dictatorship. Back then many doubted the Germans' capability to be democratic; 40 years later the Berlin Wall fell which paved the way to an All-German Democracy.

Ordinary Life is Enough
Fr. Andrew G. Recepcion S.Th.D
12.04.2009

THE HOLY WEEK IS OVER. Everybody is back to normal life and schedule with fond memories of vacation spent with family and friends as well as a certain feeling of nostalgia for moments of prayer and recollection during Holy Thursday and Good Friday.

The Death of a Dream
Fr. Luisito A. Occiano
12.04.2009

What really happened on that First Good Friday? Who nailed Jesus to the cross? It was not Pilate because he was trying desperately to find an explanation, any excuse to let him go. It was not the Sanhedrin either because they wanted him dead but they did not have the authority to order an execution. They were under martial law of a foreign power. The definitive power came from ordinary people - a screaming crowd demanding blood. CRUCIFY HIM!

Dismantling Warlordism Key to Stopping ASG Kidnappings – Moro Leader
Alexander Martin Remollino
Bulatlat.com
06.04.2009

The kidnapings by the Abu Sayyaf (ASG) seem unstoppable.

A 2005 US Department of State report cites a number of major kidnappings by the ASG thus:

In April 2000, an ASG faction kidnapped 21 persons, including ten Western tourists, from a resort in Malaysia. In May 2001, the ASG kidnapped three US citizens and 17 Filipinos from a tourist resort in Palawan, Philippines. Several of the hostages, including US citizen Guillermo Sobero, were murdered. A Philippine military hostage rescue operation in June 2002 freed US hostage Gracia Burnham, but her husband Martin Burnham and Filipina Deborah Yap were killed.

Other Stories: 
Obama's Candidates for Vatican Ambassador Rejected
CNA
12.04.2009

ROME, April 9, 2009-- The Obama administration has seen three possible candidates it floated for the position of U.S. ambassador to the Holy See sunk due to their views on abortion. Additionally, a source at the Vatican confirmed to CNA that Professor Douglas Kmiec will not become the ambassador due to his stance on life issues.

With the President traveling to Rome in July, when he hopes to meet Pope Benedict XVI, not filling the position would be a major gaffe.

Filipino Heritage Festival to be Launched in Naga
naga.gov.ph
14.04.2009

NAGA CITY --Mayor Jesse M. Robredo, Armita B. Rufino of the Filipino Heritage Festival, Inc. (FHFI) and Ana Maria ‘Bambi’ Harper of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) will be the main presentors during the formal launch and press conference of the 2009 Filipino Heritage Festival on April 15, at Almacenas Reales in Fort Santiago, Manila.

Catanduanes Steps Up Anti-Rabies Campaign
PIA
14.04.2009

Catanduanes--An intensified rabies elimination campaign of the provincial government here has reeled off Tuesday (March 31) in the bid to attain a rabies-free Catanduanes by 2012.

Human Rights Watch Head Asks Church’s Lead in Condemning Human Rights Violations
Melo M. Acuña
12.04.2009

MANILA, April 8, 2009─The world's leading human rights organization is looking at the Catholic Church to consistently make its moral voice heard against the series of human rights violations happening in the country.

Human Rights Watch Director Kenneth Roth in a press briefing yesterday morning said they need the Church's moral authority to stress that "these (targeted killings) are wrong and a different solution has to be found."

Roth's group is in the country to investigate the killings perpetrated by the so-called death squads in Davao.

Tigaon Charts Agri-Business Agenda
Danny O. Calleja
12.04.2009

TIGAON, Camarines Sur, April 7 (PNA) -- With its development agenda deeply anchored on agriculture, this far-flung municipality at the inner northeast section of Bikol has set its goal towards becoming the premier agribusiness center of the region.

The municipality is presently under the stewardship of Mayor Arnulf Bryan Fuentebella, the 33-year old son of congressman and former House Speaker Noli Fuentebella and grandson of the late Camarines Sur Governor Felix Fuentebella.

Ridiculous
Vox Bikol
13.04.2009

The claim of Casureco II Spokesperson Ana Marie Jovily Dy, made during a radio interview that—ultimately—the management of the troubled electric cooperative is not under the authority of the Board of Directors, but that of the National Electrification Administration is ridiculous. The corollaries of that claim would be that the Board is a useless but costly appendage of the cooperative and that the Casureco II employees are really government employees.

Silences and Taboos
Tito Genova Valiente
12.04.2009

In memory, I have gone once more through a week of silences. The Holy Week of my childhood was a series of rules, the days marked in taboos and the forbidden.

Our grandmother commanded a silence rule, a no-loud laughter rule.. That rule began technically from Monday but became more despotic after the colorful Wednesday procession. That day was also the day when the town became a landscape of loud colors. Red and yellow prepared us for the black.

Orípon
Victor Denis T. Nierva
06.04.2009
NAGMOMOTÔ-MOTÒ NA NAMAN an kadakol na Pilipino ngunyan huli man sa sinurat ni Chip Tsao dapit sa pagigin “nasyon nin mga oripon (country of servants)” kan Pilipinas. Mala ta haros magbilog na si Sen. Pia Cayetano nin bill tanganing isikwal kan bilog na nasyon si Chip huli sa saiyang ‘racial remark.’ Nangyari ini huli sa pagkaongis ni Chip dara ka diringkilan kan Pilipinas asin Tsina sa isyu kan Spratlys.
SM economic effects weighed
Alec Francis A. Santos
06.04.2009
NAGA CITY--The entry of tycoon Henry Sy’s Shoemart mall in Naga will have both benefits and unwanted effects on the economy of Bikol, says Abet Bercasio, president of the Metro Naga Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI).

The mall is expected to generate substantial revenue for the city in the form of taxes, he adds.

Sorsogon execs welcome Balikatan
Danny O. Calleja
06.04.2009
JUBAN, Sorsogon, April 2 (PNA) – Local officials here on Thursday spread the red carpet for the formal opening of the Balikatan exercises in Sorsogon province under the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

Opening ceremonies were held in Barangay Guruyan, an interior village of this fifth class municipality highly infested by 40-year old co

Inmates Find Atonement in Singing “Pasyon”
Jonas Cabiles Soltes
14.04.2009

NAGA CITY—The steel-cold prison bars of Naga City District Jail have not stopped inmates from keeping the faith. On Holy Monday, while the sky over Naga City was crisp after a drizzle, Eden de Lima, 59, along with other inmates, was thinking how to raise money from among themselves so they could buy rice, fish, vegetables, coffee, cheap bread, ginger (for salabat), and pansit for the meals of the 20 persons who will sing the Bicol version of “Pasyon.”

3rd Haydee Yorac Awardees feted
Vox Bikol
06.04.2009

NAGA CITY --- Proud of their school and of their outstanding alumna, the Isabelina high school class of 1978 feted their classmate, Dr. Maria Victoria-Bernido and her husband, Dr. Christopher C. Bernido, with a testimonial dinner held at the Universidad de Sta. Isabel auditorium last Monday, March 30.

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