ANTIPOLO CITY, Rizal — Hundreds of pilgrims, including the sick and the infirm as well as doctors and nurses, coming from different parishes of the Diocese of Antipolo welcomed the pilgrim relic of St. Camillus de Lellis, patron saint of the sick and hospital when it arrived at the National Shrine of the Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, popularly known as the Antipolo Cathedral yesterday morning. The crowd eagerly awaited the arrival of the motorcade from Marikina City as early as 6 a.m., to be able to venerate on the glass encased reliquary of the whole heart of St. Camillus, which has been touring the country since its arrival last week. (Nel B. Andrade)

CATAPANG IS NOW MAJOR GENERAL

PALAYAN CITY, Nueva Ecija — For devotion to his duties and loyalty to the Constitution, President Aquino approved the promotion of Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr., to Major General in the Philippine Army with full military honors rendered last Thursday for the newly promoted commander of the 7th Infantry Division. The promotion took effect last February 9, giving Catapang a rank of two stars on his shoulder. A recipient of three Gold Cross medals for bravery, Catapang is a member of Philippine Military Academy (PMA) “Dimalupig” Class of 1981 and is considered as one of the youngest among his “mistahs.” (Mar T. Supnad)

LIFE TRAINING

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan — Students from two state universities of this province thanked the provincial government headed by Governor Baham Mitra for the three-day seminar for Basic Life Support Training conducted by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office in partnership with the Department of Health (DOH). Around 59 engineering and social work students from Western Philippines University and Palawan State University attended the free training last Feb. 21-23 on Victoriano J. Rodriguez hall at the provincial capitol. (Ferdinand F. Castro)

4 NEW POLICE OICS NAMED 

SAN CARLOS CITY, Pangasinan — Four more acting chief of police assigned to this city and three other territories in the province but with clearance from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the middle of the election period, the Pangasinan Police Provincial Office (PPO) announced yesterday. Assigned as officers-in-charge (OIC) of two municipal police stations (MPS) and two City Police Offices were Chief Inspector Randy Arellano in Rosales; Supt. Gaston Cafongtan in Bayambang; Supt. Reynaldo Panay in Lingayen; and Supt. Angeles Genorga in San Carlos City. Genorga said his priority here is to solve the problems on cattle rustling, drug pushing, and the rampant use of unregistered vehicles. (Liezle Basa Iñigo)

VIGAN AWARDED

VIGAN CITY, Ilocos Sur — This country’s well-known world’s heritage city won the first-ever National Gawad Pamana ng Lahi (NGPL) award after besting the five cities-finalists under the city category. As a prize, Vigan City received a trophy and cash amounting to P5 million from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG). Last Oct. 30, 2012, the Gawad Pamana ng Lahi regional award was conferred on Vigan City with a cash prize of P2 million.  (Freddie G. Lazaro)