By Zyra Ponce Naga City mayoral candidate Fortunato “Tato” P. Mendoza denied during the Mayoral Debate 2022 at Plaza Quezon held last Saturday, April 23, accusations that he is giving away P1,000 each to individuals to buy their votes during the May 9 national and local elections. Radio reports and social media posts showed many people queuing for several days outside Mendoza’s house in front of the Coca-Cola Bottling Plant along Concepcion Pequena in the city. The accusation

By Mark A. Gomez The Second Division of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has cancelled the certificate of candidacy (COC) of Angel G. Naval for the position of municipal mayor of Caramoan, Camarines Sur for purposes of the 2022 national and local elections on the ground of material misrepresentation under Section 78 of the Omnibus Election Code (OEC). In a resolution promulgated on April 19, 2022 in Special Action Case No. 21-129 (DC) entitled Constantino H. Cordial J

By Connie Calipay Brig. Gen. Mario Reyes took over the helm as the new director of the Police Regional Office in Bicol (PRO-5) replacing Brig. Gen. Jonnel Estomo in a ceremony held on Tuesday, April 26, at the Philippine National Police (PNP) regional headquarters in Camp Gen. Simeon Ola, Legazpi City. The ceremony was presided by Lt. Gen. Rhodel Sermonia, Philippine National Police (PNP) deputy chief for Administration, who believed that Brig. Gen. (Mario) Reyes, PRO5 is in

By Jason B. Neola A bus terminal using state-of-the-art technology that will allow it to transact cashless and paperless is what the city government wishes to see in the Bicol Central Station (BCS). BCS Manager Roderick Reforsado said the plan, once realized, would help the transportation facility to operate almost alike to the Araneta Center Bus Port in Cubao, Quezon City, from which the modernization plan was patterned. “Aside from having a cashless and paperless transactio

By Zyra Ponce More than 400 bicolano youth supporters from different organization in the region joined the pink caravan at the University of Nueva Caceres (UNC) grounds in celebration of Vice President Leni Robredo’s 57th birthday last Saturday, April 23. The event dubbed as “Saranggola ng Pag-asa” was spearheaded by Solid Leni Bicol (SLB) Youth and was also conducted on the same day in different places such as in Occidental Mindoro and other provinces nationwide. The activ

By Jason B. Neola The Naga City government has adopted a Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) resolution calling for the creation of a committee that will spearhead the planned establishment of a new city cemetery, one of the mandates of local government units (LGUs) stated in the Local Government Code of 1991. A provision in the resolution said that the construction of a public cemetery is a policy of the city government to be able to provide decent and accessible burial services th

By Connie Calipay Balancing the importance of science, economy, and art in promoting the abaca industry in the island province, Catanduanes State University (CatSU) President Dr. Patrick Alain T. Azanza has initiated an art exhibit that uses abaca paper as a canvas material. In an interview, Azanza said the main purpose of the exhibit is to promote alternative uses of abaca paper, including as a canvas in artworks, particularly paintings. “This is the first exhibit participat

By Connie Calipay The Philippine National Police (PNP) in Bicol seized some P22.3 million worth of illegal drugs from 241 police operations for the 1st quarter of from January to March this year. A recent report from the Police Regional Office in Bicol (PRO-5) showed that two high-value target individuals died in a buy-bust operations, 272 drug suspects arrested, and confiscated some 365.80 grams of marijuana and 3285.32 grams of shabu. In its campaign against loose firearm

There seems to be a series of resolutions issued by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the cancellation of certificates of candidacy (COC) of certain candidates, with less than two weeks prior to the May 9, 2022 national and local polls focusing mostly on residency issue. Given the limited period of time, obviously it is chronologically impossible that such resolutions will attain finality prior to the elections, considering that most of the Comelec orders have been is

“The biggest distinction between brownouts and blackouts is that brownouts are partial outages while blackouts are a complete shutdown of electricity. During a brownout, the system capacity is reduced and the voltage is typically reduced by at least 10 to 25 percent.” (https://neccoopenergy.com ›) Since I was a kid, I have always wondered about the difference between brownout and blackout; because I would often hear the terms from adults. Then I realize that brownouts have b

By Alenn F. Nidea Guest Columnist (Note: Guest columnist Alenn F. Nidea graduated high school from Ateneo de Naga. He is a NY-registered foreign attorney, works as a financial professional, and pursues an advocacy in legal consulting within the Filipino community. He resides in Queens, New York.) When you say, “I’m very New York,” can you also say, “You know, I’m very Europe” or “I’m very Africa” or maybe, “I’m very Barangay, I come from the local rural village?” The last st

Bihirang magrilibot an grupo nin mga kandidato sa mga harong-harong ngonyan pero patos nin posters, tarpaulin asin billboards kan mga politiko an mga barangay, banwaan asin ciudades patin mga kahoy, kudal, poste, tinampo asin highways. An sabi bawal daa sa mga edeficios kan gobyerno an magbugtak nin mga pabantulin kan mga politko pero iyo man guiraray an nangyari, sa mga municipyo an mga lanob asin kudal na propiedad kan gobyerno pano nin mga taplak ta dai man pigsasaway kan

An Barangay Fundado sa Canaman, magiging sarong tourist destination oras na mahaman an pinaka dakula asin malaman na Bicol Museum. Iyo ini an proyekto ni Historian Danny Gerona asin sa asistencia kan saiyang mahigos na esposa, si Karen Gerona. An kamumugtakan kan Bicol Museum yaon sana sa kataid kan halabaon na tulay na mag susogpon kan Libmanan asin Canaman, ini an haloy nang pig plano na proyekto na inot na pig padrenohan ni Cong. Dato Arroyo. An tulay iyo an magpapa rika

The first University in Bicol is soon-to-be a Diamond University. On the historic day of April 20, 2022, the University of Nueva Caceres community was one in making history and marking history. This memorable and meaningful milestone event formally welcomes our 75th Foundation Anniversary Celebration in February 2023. The UNC Diamond Jubilee Kick-Off Program started our year-long festivity that ushers UNC’s great, grand, and glorious Diamond Jubilee. Unveiling the UNC Diamond

The Party-List candidates in the May 2022 elections, to my observation, are not given enough attention in the electoral campaigns. This is sad, considering the intention of the party-list system which is to give voice to the underrepresented sectors in the Legislative branch of government. The Party-List system was created in the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines, opening the doors for basic sectors in Philippine society such as the urban poor, labor, farmers and indigenou