PROGRESS or heritage? This is one issue that has divided suburban planners, investors, local and national officials, historians and cultural conservators for years. The issue at present is whether or not to dismantle and relocate the historic national landmark — the Caloocan "Monumento" — to give way to the proposal to link Light Rail Transit (LRT) 1 and Metro Rail Transit (MRT).

WE mourn the passing of Pope John Paul II.

AS he lay dying, Pope John Paul’s characterization of St. Paul as "the sign of contradiction" was recalled by a priest. Whatever this means in ecclesiastical terms, the most visible symbol of the Christian message of peace, love, hope, and charity made his ultima vaggio in the midst of war and hatred in many parts of the world.

OF all the traffic-easing schemes of MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando, the most successful would be the U-Turn project on Quezon Avenue from Freedom Circle up to the Quezon Memorial Circle.

THE elderly farmer was ecstatic. His one big fantasy and wild dream was about to become reality. For several decades, he wanted to have an audience with the President of the Philippines. Not a particular personality but just the President, whoever that may be. But Presidents had come and gone. He never came face to face with any.

FILIPINOS are among the happiest people in the world, according to Time magazine. They say yes when they mean no, and maybe when they mean never.

LOCAL donors and supporters of Unicef were amused to receive from its Makati office a little bulky mail last week. It was wrapped in a simulated piece of a tattered newspaper page.

SENEGAL celebrates its National Day today. Dakar, the capital and the principal port and commercial center, is home to 18 percent of the population. Other major urban centers are Thies, Kaolack, and Saint-Louis, all of which are in western Senegal.

VATICAN CITY — His easy charm seemed to have vanished and his celebrated good humor gave way to grim determination as illness and old age took their toll on Pope John Paul II, who died Saturday at the age of 84.

THE beloved, most-traveled and extraordinary Pope John Paul II has passed away.

THE angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of David His father, and He will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end." But Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?" And the angel said to her in reply, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God." Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal Arroyo holds many records. Elected Senator in her first try in politics in 1992, she was reelected in 1995 with nearly 16 million votes, the highest number of votes in Philippine history. She was elected Vice President of the Philippines in 1998 with almost 13 million votes, the largest mandate in the history of presidential and vice presidential elections.

THANKS to CNN’s continuing coverage of Pope John Paul II’s death, the world now knows where our real distinction lies — quite apart from being a showcase of corruption in the midst of poverty. It is that we Filipinos take our religion seriously.

RESPONSIBLE citizenship can be as concrete and specific as making up our mind and doing something worthwhile for others, for many others, for all Filipinos, and therefore for the country.

SOMETIMES, it does look as if there is a state religion after all, despite the constitutional provision prohibiting the Philippine government from having one. I have always been mystified by the "separation of Church and State" and have asked several lawyer friends to explain it to me. Some argue that this does not place the Roman Catholic Church and other religious congregations above and beyond the laws of the land. Others say that it forbids the creation of a religion by the State, similar to what England’s King Henry VIII did when he wanted to get rid of Queen Catherine and marry Anne Bolyne. Many of us believe that because it is embodied in the Constitution, the State has to be non-sectarian, lay, and ecumenical in orientation and not give preference to any particular religion, whether it be the majority or minority in the country. That is why even devout Catholics (like this writer) maintain that the display of religious images in government offices, notoriously the Santo Niño and various manifestations of the Blessed Virgin, as well as the celebration of mass and the recitation of the Rosary and the Angelus, on official time and with government-owned sound equipment, should be discouraged if not totally prohibited. Invocations and doxologies during flag ceremonies, anniversaries, and inaugurations should not be heavily Catholic/Christian but meticulously ecumenical in compliance with the Constitution.

DESPITE serious concerns about regional security voiced by the US against Europeans plan to lift the arms embargo against China, it looked up until last week as though the Europeans were more interested in good trade relations with the Asian giant, than Asia’s security concerns. The arms embargo was expected to be lifted soon. Last minute pleas from Secretary of State Rice seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.

PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal Arroyo spent three days in Mindanao last week in a sincere gesture of concern for the welfare of our Muslim brothers and sisters.

WORLD War II (1942-1945), the Korean War (1950-1953), the Vietnam War (1965-1975) – these and other conflicts where our country fulfilled its international commitments to help preserve world peace produced thousands of Filipino veterans. There are some 150,000 of them, many now in the twilight of their lives.

"With all the hopes of future years hanging breathless on thy fate." – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

PRAGUE, Czech Republic – After the end of WW II in 1945 Winston Churchill declared that from the Baltic to the Adriatic, the "Iron Curtain has descended across Europe."

WHO will succeed the late Pope John Paul II, and what will be the procedure followed for election of the next Pope? The hottest news in circulation this week around the world is focused on the recent death of Pope John II and talk about him and his successor. It might interest my readers if I share with them the description of author Malachi Martin in his report, "The Final Conclave," of what usually happens behind the closed doors of the conclave in preparation prior to the election of the next Pope. This book, published by Simon & Schuster Division of Gulf and Western Corporation, New York (1978), was written by a famed author and former associate of Pope John XXIII. It made public, the first time, the inner workings of papal selection.

THAT was demonstrably a harsh judgment on the Filipino character when Presidential Legal Counsel Merceditas Gutierrez declared that the people regard corruption nowadays as a "way of life."

John 3:7-15