Albay,officially the Province of Albay,is a province in the Bicol Region of the Philippines,mostly on the southeastern part of the island of Luzon. Its capital is the city of Legazpi,the regional center of the whole Bicol Region,which is located in the southern foothill of Mayon Volcano.
Legazpi,officially the City of Legazpi,is a 1st class component city and capital of the province of Albay,Philippines. According to the 2020 census,it has a population of 209,533. Legazpi is the regional center and largest city of the Bicol Region and in Albay,in terms of population. It is the region's center of tourism,education,health services,commerce and transportation in the Bicol Region. The city is applying for a Highly Urbanized City (HUC).
Bicol International Airport,also referred by some sources as Southern Luzon International Airport,is an airport serving the vicinity of Legazpi,the capital city of Albay and the regional center of Bicol Region,in the Philippines. Dubbed as the Philippines' "Most Scenic Gateway",the airport is located in Daraga,an adjacent municipality of Legazpi. The ₱4.7 billion project is on a 200-hectare (490-acre) plateau 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) from Mayon Volcano. It replaced the old Legazpi Airport,which is only 2 to 3 kilometers from the BIA.
Typhoon Durian,known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Reming,was a deadly tropical cyclone that wreaked havoc in the Philippines and later crossed the Malay Peninsula in late November 2006,causing massive loss of life when mudflows from the Mayon Volcano buried many villages.
Francisco Tiongson Duque III is a Filipino physician and government official who served as Secretary of Health in the Cabinet of President Rodrigo Duterte from 2017 to 2022,a position he had previously held from 2005 to 2009 in the Cabinet of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. From 2010 to 2015,he served as the chair of the Civil Service Commission.
Ana Theresia "Risa" Navarro Hontiveros–Baraquel is a Filipino politician,community leader,and journalist serving as a Senator since 2016. She previously served as a party-list representative for Akbayan from 2004 to 2010.
Rolando Aureo Gutierrez Andaya Jr.,also known as Nonoy Andaya,was a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives. He represented the 1st district of Camarines Sur from 1998 to 2006 and again from 2010 to 2019. During the 17th Congress,he was a House Deputy Speaker from 2016 to 2018 and was subsequently elected House Majority Leader,serving from 2018 to 2019. In his inter-congressional years,he was the Secretary of Budget and Management from 2006 to 2010 in President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's cabinet.
Ako Bicol Political Party (AKB) is a political party in the Philippines participating in the party-list elections in the Philippines. It represents the Bicol Region and the Bicolano people. In the 2016 elections,AKB was the top partylist with 1,664,975 votes,earning it 3 seats in Congress.
Ferdinand Martin Gomez Romualdez is a Filipino businessman,lawyer and politician serving as the Speaker of the House of Representatives since 2022. He is also serving as the representative for the 1st district of Leyte since 2019 and previously from 2007 to 2016. He formerly served as the House Majority Leader from 2019 to 2022,and unsuccessfully ran for senator in the 2016 elections. He is a first cousin of President Bongbong Marcos.
Mark Aguilar Villar is a Filipino politician and businessman serving as a Senator since 2022. He served in President Rodrigo Duterte's cabinet as the Secretary of Public Works and Highways from 2016 to 2021,and was the COVID-19 pandemic isolation czar from 2020 to 2021. A member of the Nacionalista Party,he was the Representative of Las Piñas from 2010 to 2016. Villar has also previously held executive positions in his family's businesses.
Karlo Alexei Bendigo Nograles is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the Chairperson of the Civil Service Commission from March 4,2022 to October 7,2024. He was previously the Cabinet Secretary (2018–2022) and acting Presidential Spokesperson (2021–2022) in the Duterte administration. He was also the co-chair and spokesperson of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) in the Philippine government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and chairman of the government's Inter-Agency Task Force on Zero Hunger. He was the representative of Davao City's 1st district from 2010 to 2018.
The 2019 Philippine general election was conducted on May 13,2019. A midterm election,those elected therein will take office on June 30,2019,midway through the term of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Rodel Masigan Batocabe was a Filipino lawyer,politician,and member of the Ako Bicol Political Party (AKB). Batocabe served in the House of Representatives of the Philippines for three terms from 2010 until his murder in office on December 22,2018,at a gift-giving event for senior citizens in the village of Burgos,Daraga municipality,Albay. Batocabe was first elected to House of Representatives of the Philippines in 2010,an office he held until his death and was the first sitting member of the House of Representatives to be killed during the administration of Rodrigo Duterte,but he was the 21st Filipino official to be murdered since Duterte's tenure began in 2016. Batocabe was a political ally of President Duterte.
The PNR South Main Line is one of the two trunk lines that form the Philippine National Railways' network in the island of Luzon,Philippines. It was opened in stages between 1916 and 1938 by the Manila Railroad. Services peaked in the 1940s until the late 1960s,when the system started to decline. Since 1988,it was the only functioning inter-city rail after its counterpart to the north,the North Main Line,was closed. The intercity section of the line in Laguna,Quezon and the Bicol Region was then closed and reopened repeatedly between 2004 and 2014 due to a combination of declining ridership and was closed since then. Currently,only a little more than half of line is operational as the line currently serves two commuter services,namely the Inter-Provincial Commuter from San Pedro to Lucena and the Bicol Commuter regional rail service between Sipocot,Naga Camarines Sur and Legazpi Albay,following the closure of the main line,the PNR Metro Commuter Line between Tutuban station and Laguna.
The Alyansa ng mga Mamamayang Probinsyano,also known as the Ang Probinsyano Party-list (APPL) is political organization which has party-list representation in the House of Representatives of the Philippines as of the 18th Congress.
Rodante Dizon Marcoleta is a Filipino lawyer and politician serving as the party-list representative for SAGIP Partylist since 2016. He is a former House Deputy Speaker of the 18th Congress from 2019 to 2022. A member of the religious organization Iglesia ni Cristo,and one of the vocal detractors against ABS-CBN,Marcoleta is one of the 70 representatives who voted to permanently deny the renewal of the network's franchise and responsible for the termination of landmark partnership deal between ABS-CBN and TV5. He is also the host of Net 25 public affairs program Sa Ganang Mamamayan and a fan of Korean dramas.
Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. became involved in a scandal over allegations of overpriced medical supplies it supplied to the Philippine government for the latter's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Blue Ribbon Committee of the Senate of the Philippines launched an investigation into the matter and uncovered other issues,such as the supplied face shields' alleged substandard quality and how the company was able to secure a contract worth billions of pesos despite being founded only in 2019 with a small paid-up capital.
Barangay Health Wellness (BHW) Association Inc.,also known as the BHW Partylist,is an organization which holds party-list representation in the House of Representatives of the Philippines. It aims to represent the interest of barangay-level health workers.
Yang Hongming,more commonly known as Michael Yang in the Philippines,is a Chinese businessman and is an associate of 16th Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Yang was linked in the Pharmally scandal which allegedly overpriced procurement contracts for medical supplies to be used by the Philippine government during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alfredo "Pido" Abaroa Garbin Jr. is a Filipino politician currently serving as the Mayor of Legazpi,Albay. Prior to his mayoral position,he served as a representative for the Ako Bicol party list in the House of Representatives. Garbin assumed leadership of Legazpi after winning the mayoral race,following the disqualification of Geraldine Rosal.
