When first launched a little over a year ago, Vox Bikol Online had an initial Alexa rank of 17,000,000. Alexa is a known web information company which ranks websites according to their reach,  "traffic" or number of visits and hits by visitors.

Vox Bikol Online's rank and reach in the Internet have dramatically risen in recent months. Vox Bikol Online (www.voxbikol.com) has recently breached the 100,000^th rank, a requisite for Alexa to give the site more detailed performance monitoring. It's one-month Alexa rank is 58,431^st.

Legazpi City (25 June) -- Albay Governor Joey Salceda declared that the toll fee hike imposed by the South Luzon Tollway Corporation (SLTC) is illegal because the franchise given to them by Philippine National Construction Corporation (PNCC) has expired and has not been renewed.

Salceda said the concession agreement between SLTC and PNCC commenced in May 2006 while the franchise given to PNCC expired in May 2007, without being renewed by Congress.

Legazpi City (25 June) -- Volcanologists here warned anew local and foreign tourists from climbing the slopes of Mayon Volcano due to the resurging rock fall events recorded in the past days as the crater also glowed intensely for several days now.

Camp Elias Angeles, Pili, Camarines Sur (22 June) -- Army engineers have completed P175 million worth of infrastructure projects under the Kalayaan sa Barangay Program (KBP) in Camarines Sur province, a military officer said over the weekend.

Major Harold M Cabunoc, 9ID Philippine Army spokesperson, said that some 138 completed infrastructure projects were turned-over to the local government officials of Camarines Sur in a simple turn-over rites held at the provincial capitol Friday (June 18).

Naga City (21 June) -- As tourism industry in Bikol continues to soar high by posting positive growth, much as the fervor and spirit of tourism stakeholders as they gear up for the 21st Philippine Travel Mart Road Show set June 19 in this city.

Dubbed one of the biggest and most anticipated travel and tourism trade shows in the Philippines, Travel Mart will not only showcase enticing travel and tour packages in the region but will also provide a wide array of opportunities for travel operators to closely work with other industry partners.

Legazpi City (23 June) -- Sectoral leaders from all over Bikol gathered yesterday to sign the "Pahayag ng Pagkakaisa"  against Ako Bicol. It is a counter petition against the petition supposedly submitted by some Bikolano lawmakers and governors to the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to proclaim Ako Bicol.

Truly an epitome of simplicity, Atty. Remelisa Afelor-Moraleda, University President of the University of Northeastern Philippines (UNEP) chose to celebrate another chapter of her life with her beloved UNEPians in an unfussy but remarkable event.  She opted to offer a mass, as she usually does, to thank the Almighty for another fruitful year, instead of a lavish celebration to mark one of the most important days of her life.

CANAMAN, CAMARINES SUR - THE DISTRICT Engineer in the newly created Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Camarines Sur 5^th district office died on Sunday, (June 20) after being confined at the Aquinas University Hospital in Legazpi City.

Sources at the DPWH 5th district engineering office bared that District Engineer Elmer P. Francisco was supposed to start his duties in the newly created district office on Monday, (June 21) after filing a sick-leave since June 1 this year.

Legazpi City (25 June) -- The Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) in Bikol has maintained that three rivers in the region reported earlier as biologically dead are actually not dead at all, according to the agency's regional official.

The Premio Tomas Arejola para sa Literaturang Bikolnon (PTALB) is now accepting entries for its regular categories, namely: rawitdawit (poetry), osipon (fiction), osipon na pan-aki (stories for children), halipot na pasali na pan-entablado (one-act play), halawig na pasali na pan-entablado (full-length play), saysay (essay), nobela (novel), and the new category, halipot na pasali na pan-pelikula (screenplay for short films), Carlos Arejola, chair of the region-wide literary competition announced recently.

The Philippines is in world focus at 12 noon today. A crowd of 150,000 is expected to gather at the Quirino Grandstand to witness a historic event that was unthinkable one year ago today----the inauguration of a President Benigno Aquino as the 15th President of the Republic of the Philippines.