Sonny Sales

CAMP SIMEON OLA, Legazpi City (23 July) -THE KILLING of two elementary school teachers in Masbate Province, the slaying of two village officials and the attempted killings of a radioman in Nabua , Cam. Sur, all occurring in July this year have become high-priority cases of the PNP in Bikol.

PNP regional office spokesman, Sr. Supt. Eliciar Bron, disclosed on Thurs. (July 22) that newly installed Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Sec.  Jesse M. Robredo had personally intervened in the probe of the murder cases with a reported directive from President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III on the immediate arrest of the suspects and subsequent filing of cases in court.

NAGA CITY---THE REMAINS of a Korean national still lies at the JL Espiritu Funeral Homes at the poblacion of Pasacao, Cam. Sur after the foreigner had committed suicide at a local beach resort in the said town last July 1, the Cam. Sur Police office here reported last July 6.

The Local police bared that according to the Koji's Beach Resort care-taker, Francia Magsino Barrameda, 28, the Korean indentified as Seung Hwan Kim, 66, was found with a nylon cord tied around his neck and hanging inside his rented cottage at the said resort in Barangay Caranan in this town.

LEGAZPI CITY-THE BINITAYAN Detour bridge linking the critical river banks of Barangay Binitayan in Daraga, Albay to six other villages has been opened to traffic for all kinds of vehicles not exceeding 10 tons in weight early this week after its inauguration last July 1.

DPWH regional director Danilo C. Manalang said the Binitayan bridge-link which started construction in March and completed at the  at the end of June this year, is also being eyed as a diversion route to be connected to a provincial road near the Cagsawa Ruins leading to the national highway.

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.

NAGA CITY (19 June) - AN INCREASE in the crime incidents in Camarines Sur province after the May elections was noted in this province, prompting PNP Provincial director Sr. Supt. Jonathan Viernes Ablang to order the municipal police stations (MPS) in the first and fifth districts of the province to create a task force that will track-down the criminal groups in the said localities.

NAGA CITY (24 May) - LAST WEEK'S burning of two heavy-duty motor graders owned by the Sunwest Development Corporation, a big-time Construction firm in Bicol is being linked in an army report to the victory of "AKO BICOL" or "AKB," a Bikol-based partylist group, whose main supporter is known Bikolano Contractor, Zaldy Co, the reported owner of Sunwest Construction firm.

NAGA CITY (21 May) -- Wednesday's shooting of the police chief of Magarao, Camarines Sur at the Central Bus Terminal (CBD-2) van and jeep terminal at Barangay Triangulo here, is being linked by police investigators to the recently concluded local elections.

In a report by Naga Police Office Chief Sr. Supt. Culver Nasol Sison to PNP Bicol director Chief Supt. Cecilio Calleja, Magarao Police Chief Insp. Angeles Casaol Balla succumbed to fatal gunshot wounds causing his death at 4:35 AM on Thurs. (May 20), while being treated at the St. John Hospital in this city.

RAGAY, CAMARINES SUR - Nacionalista Party (NP) First District congressional candidate Nestor Villa Delos Reyes, the lone opponent of erstwhile DBM Sec. Rolando "Nonoy" Andaya Jr. of the Lakas Party, revealed that he is completely opposed to the construction of the Malaguico Dam in Sipocot town of this province and criticized Andaya for the latter's support of the project.

MANILA and Naga City (April 19)  -- Frontrunners Liberal Party presidential and vice presidential bets Senators Benigno Aquino III and Mar Roxas got the support of former and current local and national leaders from the Bikol region, virtually a sure win from one of the largest voting blocs in Luzon.