News Update Pedro celebrates SAN PEDRO,

Laguna, Philippines - The town's third "Sampaguita Festival" will begin their five-day celebration this Friday, coincides with the observance of the Feast of St. Peter, the Patron Saint. Entertainment throughout the five-day festival is in store for the townsfolk of San Pedro. This will include a Mardi Gras Parade, to be participated in by students, teachers, school officials, and PTAs from public and private schools, the La Torre Brass Band competition, a multi-sectoral parade with floats of the different interpretations of Manok Ni San Pedro; a street-dancing competition, youth sports fests, and the Sampaguita Splint Triathlon. (Ferdinand F. Castro) Quake hits Batanes SINAIT, Ilocos Sur, Philippines - A moderately strong tectonic earthquake with magnitude 5.7 hit Batanes province last Tuesday afternoon but no damage to properties reported, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) satellite based in Sinait, Ilocos Sur. Local Phivolcs Researcher Porferio Peralta told Wednesday that the quake was occurred at about 3:18 p.m. last Tuesday with its epicenter located at 117 kilometers northwest of Basco, Batanes with a depth of 48 kilometers. Peralta said that intensity three was felt in Basco, Batanes. He said that aftershocks will be expected after the quake. (Freddie G. Lazaro)