By Zyra D. Ponce with reports from Bicol Mail News Team Goa Mayor Marcel Pan in a post on his Facebook page last Monday, Feb. 22, said that he has requested President Rodrigo Duterte, Environment Sec. Roy Cimatu and Interior and Local Government Sec. Eduardo Año to conduct a thorough investigation into the rampant quarrying activities in several towns in Camarines Sur province. Pan, for truth sake’s, also requested President Duterte, Cimatu and Año to include him and Camarin

By Rhaydz B. Barcia Bishop Joel “Bong” Z. Baylon of the Diocese of Legazpi has expressed sadness over the acts of vandalism on the statues of Nuestra Señora De Salvacion and Padre Pio at the St. Padre Pio Parish Church in Rawis, Legazpi City recently. The prelate said that the irresponsible acts could have been done by people who were not in their right mind. “I am really saddened by this unfortunate incident. Although I suspect the culprit(s) did not mean to destroy the imag

By Jason B. Neola Naga City Mayor Nelson Legacion on Monday, Feb. 22, has called on business owners to include in their list of corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects the beautification and development of areas near their workplaces. Legacion urged businessmen to include the easement or the road right of way near their respective establishments in the beautification and cleanliness drive. “Let’s try to do it beyond the confines of our properties,” he said. The idea

By Paulo DS. Papa Naga City Mayor Nelson Legacion has recently appealed to teachers and education officials in the city to support his re-election bid in 2022 so that he can build more schools. Legacion said he aims to construct more school buildings in the city to address the lack of classrooms and the growing student population particularly at the Camarines Sur National High School (CSNHS), which has some 2,000 students. During the groundbreaking ceremony of the new two-s

Small fisherfolk groups have expressed strong opposition to House Bill (HB) 7853, which seeks to allow commercial fishing vessels to enter between 10.1 to 15 kilometers inside the 15-kilometer municipal waters. Among the groups against the bill is the Lakas ng Maliliit na Mangingisda sa Bicol (Lambat Bicol), whose chairman, Elwin Mangampo, said that the bill will further favor commercial fishers. “Such a proposal hurts us, for it favors commercial vessels, which burden smal

By Keren Anne V. Bernada The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) through its Occupational Safety and Health Center Regional Extension Unit 5 (OSHC 5) has conducted free online basic and advance training for safety officers to micro, small to medium enterprises (MSMEs) on Feb. 17-18. According to OSHC 5 unit head Mark James Andayog, the 10-hour training to SMEs with less than 50 employees was aimed to impart knowledge and skills on basic concepts and principles of OSH. I

By Jason B. Neola NAGA CITY --- The local government unit here is on the process of establishing a strong internal audit services after an ordinance that seeks to reinforce the operations of the present Internal Audit Unit was enacted by the Sangguniang Panlungsod and approved on Monday, Feb. 22, this year, by Mayor Nelson S. Legacion. Authored by City Councilor Joselito S.A. del Rosario, Ordinance 2021-016 creates the Naga City Internal Audit Services Office (NCIASO) that sh

By Jason B. Neola NAGA CITY --- Excessive prices of pork in this city will soon be a thing of past once the Naga City Price Coordinating Council Resolution(NCPCC) No. 01-2021 that imposes a price ceiling on the product formally takes effect. Councilor Jose Perez, chairman of the Sangguniang Panlungsod Committee on Consumer Protection and executive director of the NCPCC, said the measure is an offshoot of the public consultation aimed at providing solution to the skyrocketing

By Cet Dematera AFTER almost a year of suspending all its tourism activities due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Legazpi City government has re-opened on Wednesday, Feb. 24, the city’s tourist destinations to all domestic and foreign tourists residing in the country, particularly the all- terrain vehicle (ATV) rides at the foot-slope of the cone-shaped Mayon Volcano and the boulevard and parks along the Albay Gulf. The soft-opening via Zoom meeting was joined by the City Mayor

Aside from being eyebrow raising, the very bold burglary right inside the Regional Trial Court (RTC) located within the supposed to be strictly guarded capitol grounds is sending a very strong prompter. Capitol has long created an impression of having the strictest Civil Security Unit (CSU). How come those robbers found it relatively easy to penetrate and ransack the courts right under the very nose of CSU forces? Or are the security guards under the payroll of the judiciary

“One more died”. Someone gave me this greeting. For almost a year, the tabulation of Covid cases have been a staple in the news and we watched its escalation with anticipation until we got fed up somewhere along the way. But that additional score point wasn’t for the Covid cases or deaths, but for the death due to allergic reaction to the vaccine. What? There seems to be some people who keep track and tabulate the number of fatalities due to inoculation. Okay, maybe we c

I walk alone the street of sorrow – that should be the opening line from any guide giving a tour of Naga Centro after dark. One begins from Misericordia, the street of commiseration and pity. Then cross to Tinago, the hidden street and ask, what was hidden here? Turn left and be in the middle of a street named Blumentritt, an Austrian ethnographer who wrote about the Philippines and who became the friend of Jose Rizal. Walk a bit to the right and you are on Dayangdang, a stre

Pano an pagkampanyang may “social distancing”? Nakamaskara, faceshield, bawal mag-abrasa, bawal mag-akbay, bawal magkugos asin bawal maghadok sa gurang asin sa aki. An karampanyahan sa masunod na eleksyon mayo nang miting de avance, mayo nang miting sa barangay, mayo nang miting sa poblasyon nin banwaan o ciudad. Ini na an panahon asin oportunidad na magka-igwa nin dakulang income an mainstream media, social media asin an gabos na taga-media. Naturalmente, malangkaw an presyo

The recent decision by the Philippine Supreme Court to dismiss for lack of merit the election protest filed by former senator Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos against Vice President Leni Robredo was a big blow to the son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos. Had the Supreme Court sided with Bongbong, he would have been a heartbeat closer to becoming the next president of the Philippines – an open secret that his mother, Imelda Marcos, does not deny. After a politi

The Philippine Supreme Court as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) finally junked former Sen. Bongbong Marcos’ election protests thus affirming that Vice President Leni Robredo as the official winner of the 2016 Vice Presidential election. The ruling belied her assertion back in 2016 when she resigned her Housing Secretary portfolio that the Duterte administration was out to steal her elected office. The Supreme Court is now populated by Duterte appointees but the ruli