By Mar S. Arguelles Camarines Norte Gov. Edgardo Tallado has rejected the recommendation of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Bicol to realign its health protocols in carrying out stricter border control measure in the province in accordance with the policies set by the National Pandemic Task Force. Tallado in his letter to Antonio Nuyda, DILG regional director and chairperson of the Bicol Interagency Taskforce for the Management of Emerging Infectiou

By Mar S. Arguelles Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman on Wednesday, Aug. 18, said the Absolute Divorce Bill he filed is up for plenary debates at the House of Representatives. Lagman, in an emailed statement, said the Committee on Population and Family Relations unanimously approved the unnumbered substitute bill crafted by a Technical Working Group (TWG) chaired by Rep. Edcel C. Lagman who is also the author of House Bill No. 100 on the enactment of an Absolute Divorce La

By Cet Dematera Some 700 reams of assorted counterfeit brands of cigarettes such as Marlboro, Fortune, Jackpot, Mighty, and Marvels estimated to cost P265,000 and cash amounting to P132,000 were confiscated by the authorities in a raid in Pili, Camarines Sur on Tuesday,Aug. 17, a police report said. Arrested while in possession of the fake cigarettes were Erwin C. Sto. Domingo, Ian R. Rebuyas, Ernesto B. Sta. Ana, Carl Justine E. Espinas, Herbert Sta. Ana Abellano, and Shir

By Rhaydz B. Barcia Albay Governor Al Francis Bichara has prohibited trekking in Mayon Volcano as its crater dome might collapse anytime despite of normal situation. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology [Phivolcs] issued a bulletin last July 30, 2021 lowering the alert status of Mayon Volcano from alert level 1 [abnormal] to 0 [normal] due to the decline of volcanic earthquakes, decreasing ground deformation of the edifice, reduction of sulfur dioxide emissi

The Rho Sigma Society will be celebrating its 50th Foundation Anniversary on Aug. 21, 2021. The host chapter will be the Partido Colleges of Goa, Camarines Sur. The chapter has already started the planning, program preparations, fund raising, and other activities related to the celebration. Rho Sigma Society also known as RSS was established 50 years ago at the University of Nueva Caceres, (UNC, the Mother Chapter) in 1971, with members who are mostly working students, ban

By Jason B. Neola Two redevelopment works amounting to P38 million have started to reel off early this week at the Central Business District 1 of Naga City immediately after the city government has underscored their importance during the unveiling of computer-aided design photos depicting them as completed projects. The twin projects – the pedestrianization and road asphalting at the city’s major business zone– were funded by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in t

By Jason B. Neola Some 70 young individuals participated in the ‘Tsinelas Walk’ on Wednesday, Aug. 18, to commemorate the 9th death anniversary of Jesse M. Robredo, former mayor of Naga City and secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government. The trek, which kicked-off from the City Hall grounds at 6:30 AM, proceeded to the Eternal Gardens where the urn containing the remains or the ashes of the departed are being kept. A separate group of some 300 bikers sped

By Mar S. Arguelles Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda, chairperson of the House Ways and Means Committee, has obtained funding for a total of P315 million in new agriculture infrastructure projects for Legazpi City and the towns of Manito, Camalig, and Daraga under the Intensified Building Up of Infrastructure and Logistics for Development (I-BUILD) program of the Department of Agriculture (DA). Salceda in a statement said the projects were proposed by the local governm

By Mar S. Arguelles While complaints mount from public and private health workers across the country about the failure of the Department of Health (DOH) to pay their additional benefits, medical frontliners in the Bicol region, however, had already received theirs and raised no complaint. Dr. Ernie Vera, DOH Bicol director on Wednesday, Aug. 18, said the agency was able to download to various local government units (LGUs) in the region P42-million in Special Risk Allowance (S

Complaints against internet and cable television providers continue to grow. Unless more drastic legal steps are adopted it is feared that assurances of improved services will remain nothing but hot air. Among those frequently griped about is the on and off availability of services, which is causing not only loss of income among business establishments, factories, media facilities, professional practitioners and of late those working from home via business process outsourcing

I know someone who started a roasted chicken food shop at a mall food court a couple of years ago. I initially thought to myself that it might not work. I thought that there were already so many food shops here and there across the city. Then, there were already a considerable number of shops serving chicken, fried or roasted. What do I know? The business took off. Of course, I heard there were rough months, but they got through. The chicken shop even managed to birth

One of the ironies about homecomings for grade school is the difficulty of owning the memories of those years. Being very young upon graduation – twelve or thirteen years of age – our mind and that elusive thing called “heart” are not yet fully developed when we leave our elementary schools. It is in high school, in our adolescence and up to the difficult, terrific ages of sixteen and seventeen, where we become keen about the role our school play in our lives. And yet when we

An tao, kapamilya, partidaryo o amigo na nawalat sa harong kun minahali kita an kagharong halimbawa matrabaho o may ibang tuyo sa harayo iyo an pig-aapod na tumatao. Arog kaiyan an mga Pilipinong nawalat digdi sa satong lugar mantang si iba tang kapamilya nagduman sa ciudad o sa abroad tanaganing mag-eskwela, magtrabo, o maghanapbuhay, magserve sa ibang gobyerno o nasyon. Siyempre ta kitang nawalat kita man an maasikaso kan harong. Kitang mga Pilipinong nawalat kita man maasi

We write this column tonight in the face of the call of some nurses, doctors and other frontliners, who are in the thick of the fight against the Delta virus at the risk of their own lives, being infected in the course of their duties. These frontliners feel that what is due them as compensation and other emoluments are being withheld from them by the Duterte administration, despite the availability of funds with which to compensate them. In the face of the Commission on Audi

By Soliman M. Santos, Jr. Naga City, 11 August 2021 [Paper prepared for the Naga City An Maogmang Lugar webinar, 18 August 2021] Role of HOPE and Mayor Robredo, 1988-1992 At the outset of discussing this topic, on the occasion of the 9th death anniversary of our long-time beloved Mayor Jesse M. Robredo, allow me to first pay tribute to him for his role in the establishment of his and our beloved City of Naga as a Zone of Peace. During the first few months of his first term a