Naga city (PNA) — The environmental office in the province of Camarines Sur is set to launch a clean-up drive this month, noting the proliferation of posters of candidates put up on trees planted along the highways and roads. Lawyer Arnel P. Rodriguez, provincial environment and natural resources officer (Penro), […]

PILI, Camarines Sur, (PNA) — For defying a court order issued in 2010 which suspended power rate a power cooperative here imposed, a regional trial court judge cited an electric coop executive for indirect contempt. Judge Marvel C. Clavecilla of the Regional Trial Court Branch 33 found Muriel Abonal, area […]

By Manilyn Ugalde Legazpi city, March 3 (PNA) –- The unfolding election episode in Albay this year is viewed as a boring one, with less excitement compared with the past electoral processes in the province and this city. The local non-government organization Pipol Against Graft and Corruption (PAGC) said that […]

Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges-Naga city campus is now known as the Bicol State College of Applied Sciences and Technology thru Republic Act 10231 last October 19. The law grants autonomy to the school as it is officially separated from the Camarines Sur State Polytechnic Colleges in Nabua. It now attains […]

NSCB-Legazpi city.– The Bicol region’s annual inflation rate declined in October, shedding off 0.4 percentage point from 3.5 percent the previous month, according to the official National Statistics Coordination Board-Region V. Based on basic data culled from the National Statistics Office, the year-on-year change was placed at 3.1 percent. This […]

(PNA) — President Benigno S. Aquino III bared on Tuesday the results of the investigation of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) on the ill-fated Piper Seneca that killed Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, saying it was mainly due to pilot error. The President said three […]

LEGAZPI CITY, (PNA) Update — The police authorities would utilize the video footage of a close circuit television (CCTV) camera installed at the electronics repair shop where the shooting of Lupi mayor Raul Matamorosa took place last Saturday afternoon (October 27). The other day, a witness came forward to tell […]

MANILA, Update — A Filipino was among 22 people killed in a fuel truck blast and building collapse in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Thursday, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesperson Raul Hernandez said. At least 12 other Filipinos were injured in the explosion. Nine were admitted to hospitals while three […]

Austrian pilot and daredevil Felix Baumgartner finally broke the sound barrier on Sunday, October 14, 2012. That happened in a skydive from the stratosphere, from the height of approximately 38.5 km (128,000 ft, 24.24 miles) above the Earth’s surface. The jumper reached Mach 1.24 or 1,342 km/h (833.9 miles per […]

The Commission on Elections today announced the disqualification of party-list Ako Bicol from participating in the coming May 2013 mid-term election. It must be recalled during the 2010 general election, the Bicol party-list received about 1.5 million votes enough for three seats of their nominees in the House of Representatives. […]

Bicol has the highest underemployment rate among the regions in the country, according to the latest survey conducted by the National Statistics Office. About 33.5 per cent of workers or employees express the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have additional job, or […]

There’s a new twist in town. The move to split the province of Camarines Sur into two may move forward under a new trick. The twist is here: reports said that the group belonging to those opposing the division have agreed to convert the Partido area or the 4rth congressional […]

Can’t wait to see the “actual” new map of the Philippines that reflects the West Philippine Sea, the previous name of which “was” South China Sea. We learned earlier that Philippine President Benigno Aquino III signed administrative order (AO) number 29 officially renaming that portion of the sea west of […]

Pope Benedict XVI has appointed a new bishop for the Archdiocese of Caceres. Archbishop Rolando Tria Tirona, OCD, DD., (left) will occupy the post replacing Archbishop Leonardo Z. Legazpi, OP, DD, PhD. (right). The new archbishop’s appointment was published in Rome with an announcement made on September 8 at 12 […]

It will not take long before above photo, among the poster exhibits on breastfeeding at the senate, will take some attention and comment, negative or otherwise. Published by the Manila Standard, today September 4, 2012, as photographed by Lino Santos. Captioned “Senator Pia Cayetano, chairwoman of the Senate committee on […]

With Introduction by David A. Kring “From the Earth to the Moon” is a brief, but vivid video and audio recording that provides an inspirational view of the lunar surface, which humans have not visited since 1972, despite being the best and most accessible place in the solar system to […]

From high above the Earth, the International Space Station (ISS) provides a unique vantage point to view our home planet. Stunning time-lapse photography of cities, aurora, lightning and other sights are seen from orbit. Famed astronomer Galileo imagined these views from space and now through the technological marvel of the […]

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captures a very long, whip-like solar filament extending over half a million miles in a long arc above the sun’s surface. Filaments are cooler clouds of solar material that are tethered above the sun’s surface by unstable magnetic forces. The image and video, which covers […]

We are posting here several video clips courtesy of NASA following the incredible journey of a rover designed to gather more scientific information about Mars and can withstand the hostile Martian environment. Enjoy and be informed. It must be recalled that a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space […]

(NewsUSA) – With the wealth of internet activity and connected communications offered by smartphones and tablets, our laptops and desktop computers are practically becoming passé. This means your “cell phone” isn’t just a phone anymore, your tablet isn’t just for reading the latest romance novels, and it’s giving software and […]

(NewsUSA) – Ask an average group of 10- to 12-year-olds in the United States what they want to be when they grow up, and more than one in four will say famous athlete or singer/actor. Pose the same question to their counterparts in the developing world and professions requiring a […]

As if the information posted in here on several instances about the town of Siruma may not be enough, yet, here comes a graphic understanding on what to expect on the road to the forsaken and almost forbidden frontier. Thanks to the abundance of resources at self publishing anything from […]

Seven charitable foundations and institutions in the Bicol region had been cut-off of their monthly and quarterly funding by the numbers gaming agency Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO). Many more similar institutions around the country suffered the same funding stoppage. This was revealed by chairwoman Margarita Juico who said the […]

Manny Pacquiao promotes bout against Juan Manuel Marquez on Mexican television reality via karaoke singing while Shamcey Supsup wins 3rd runner-up in the 2011 Miss Universe pageant held in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The most prestigious beauty pageant in southern Luzon was held on September 7 with the venue at the Naga city coliseum. Seventeen Bicol lass vied for the coveted title.

The past weekend the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation has taken over the assets and liabilities of the LBC Development Bank per MB Resolution No. 1354 dated September 9, 2011.

The Archdiocese of Caceres opens tomorrow the 2nd Bishop Gainza trade fair in Naga city coinciding the week long celebration of the Peñafrancia festivities.

Even at the height of the religious Peñafrancia Traslacion last Friday, the battle for the hearts, minds, and political patronage of every Camarinesense rages on.

There is no fear that hyacinths or water lilies would clog rivers and lakes in Bicol to cause floods and pollution resulting in fish kills, the environmental management bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources regional office in Legaspi said.

The province of Albay and the city of Naga has been shortlisted among the top ten best governed provinces and cities of the Philippines according to the Local Governance Performance Management System report for the year 2010.

Most Rev. Jose B. Bantolo was installed as the new bishop of the Diocese of Masbate on Tuesday morning filling the post that has been left vacant for more than a year.

Local government units, non-governmental agencies, Catholic heirarchy, parishes, parishioners and the general citizenry are gearing up for the coming religious and civic festivities in Calabanga, Daraga and Naga city this September 2011.

The proposed rehabilitation of Camsur’s Camaligan fish port met a stumbling block with the withdrawal by its funding source. The Japan International Cooperation Agency has withdrawn as it rechannels funding at home in the aftermath of overwhelming devastation brought about by the earthquake and tsunami last March.

The province of Camarines Sur is hosting the upcoming 22nd Philippine Advertising Congress. It will be held at the CWC, inside the sprawling provincial capitol complex in the capital town of Pili.

A six-grader at the Malinao Central School braved the hip-deep rampaging flood waters to save the Philippine flag left on its pole when classes were suspended amidst the raging storm in the middle of the day.

Cobra Ironman 70.3 Philippines reels off with a big bang early this morning, August 14, at the CamSur Watersports Complex (CWC) of the Provincial Capitol Complex here from over 1,100 triathletes from 28 countries around the world.

We are having a good doze of information on the proposed creation of new (sic) province of Nueva Camarines, thanks to the gerrymandering ideas of some congressmen who may have less things productive and constructive in their mind sets.

The data on rice production cited by Pres. Benigno Aquino III in his second SONA are among the faulty facts and figures. Says IBON Foundation.

It is more of affirmation than surprise that more Filipinos are on board the social microblogging network of Twitter. The Pinoy penchant for technology and innovation in communication, among others, is a common knowledge. Here’s a new development. Twitter announced on 1st of August that its translation center is now available for Filipino and Malay languages.

The recent typhoon (Bebeng) hit the streets of Calabanga and poured enormous flood water on our living rooms. The storm also drained out about one thousand tilapia fingerlings me and my kumpadre seeded on the portion of the creek at the back of our house.

No Filipino goes out of the country with a death wish. When the 122 others on death row and more than 7,000 in jails abroad left, they were full of hopes and dreams to provide a better future for their families. Fifteen million overseas Filipino workers left the country to seek greener pastures abroad in the absence of jobs, livelihood and decent living conditions in the country.

A torture video was uploaded in a popular video-sharing site showing some Philippine military men beating young and new trainees. The torture video was, accordingly, submitted by the beaten soldiers, to express their dismay over the extremely cruel exercises of the Philippine Military.

The revised PH methodology pegs the official poverty threshold, or the amount supposedly necessary for a tolerable standard of living, at just PhP46 per person per day in 2009. This is lower than what would have been a national poverty line of PhP52 according to the old methodology, and effectively reduces the number of poor by 5.32 million without really improving the poverty situation.

After nine years of neglect under former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, expectations among overseas Filipino workers were high when the Aquino administration was installed.

Albay Governor Joey Salceda has ordered the reactivation of evacuation plans for landslide and flood prone areas and residents in six towns following the continuous and heavy rains almost all throughout the Bicol region, and most heavily Albay for the past six days.

Despite the supposed high salaries of Filipino call center agents, they could only out-earn their American counterparts by 2037, based on a Watson-Wyatt study released last year and published by the CCAP magazine “Connect”. At that time, the salary rate hikes for the “low-cost but qualified labor” of Filipinos were rising at 9-percent on average versus 3-percent in the US.

The news that the Philippines has overtaken India in the number of new hires in the call center industry has prompted a labor education NGO recently to warn industry stakeholders and the government against risking its workers’ welfare for the sake of such boom, or the projected boom up to 2016.

How can the government and the Armed Forces of the Philippines claim that it respects human rights when human rights defenders themselves are being the target of attack? How can there be claims of “change” when the lives of the majority remain the same, and even getting worse, and those who defend the rights of the poor and the oppressed are still being treated as “enemies of the state”?

Research group IBON calls on lawmakers deliberating on the budget for the controversial Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Program to look into the resulting additional debt burden that Filipinos will shoulder to repay the program’s loans.

After Justice Secretary Leila de Lima submitted her review on the case of the Morong 43, the legal team of Malacanang also reviewed de Lima’s review and forwarded recommendations to the President. Aquino already said twice that he would let the courts decide on the case of the health workers.

Human Rights group Karapatan noted the number of victims of extrajudicial killings, now numbering 20 under president Aquino, has surpassed former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s record during her last six months in office.

The threat of eruption of Mt. Bulusan in Sorsogon and its possible challenges to the surrounding populace has one immediate positive effect, if we can qualify it as one. The provincial unit of the rebel movement in the province has made known their declaration of a unilateral suspension of offensive military operations (SOMO) in areas near the volcano.

Advocacy group Migrante International on November 19th staged a picket in front of the department of foreign affairs (DFA) building in Manila to call on the government to facilitate the repatriation of distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

“With the raid of the office of progressive organizations by combined elements of police and military in Daet, Camarines Norte and the subsequent arrest of four activists, the Morong 43 template is now being replicated.” Karapatan

Through PPP projects, many crucial responsibilities of the government are being transferred to profit-oriented private corporations and banks, particularly the development and operation of core infrastructure such as roads and mass transportation network, power generation, and water supply and distribution, among others.

Experiences show PPPs did not guarantee savings for the government but even bloated the public debt. And it can only get worse under the Aquino government’s new schemes for more of PPPs.

Masteral students enrolled at the Central Bicol State University of Agriculture-Calabanga rolled their sleeves for a day of community service. Mostly teachers from the state schools in the municipality, they went out to the nearby shoreline for a beach clean-up. All are pursuing masteral studies but met together in the environmental governance class for the first semester of 2010-2011.

Mount Bulusan in Sorsogon continued to show signs of increasing volcanic activities, recording explosion-type quakes and belching a 200-meter high white steam clouds above the crater rim, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said.