PAKISTAN’s President, General Pervez Musharraf, is slated to arrive today for a three-day state visit to the country. President Musharraf has headed the Pakistani government since 1999. Considered a moderate and liberal leader by many of the world’s influentials, President Musharraf has taken the lead in the campaign against terrorism and also, most recently, extended a hand of peace with its neighbor India.

WE warmly welcome President General Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan who is arriving this afternoon, the first Pakistani President ever to visit the Philippines

THE latest survey shows that there are more pessimists today than 19 years ago when Marcos was still in power: 34 percent of our countrymen do not expect their lives to get better in the next 12 months, against 30 percent in 1984. Only 20 percent believe otherwise, and I guess everyone knows who they are.

THE Western media is frenziedly reporting every development in the China-Japan conflict, now heating up as China drills for gas in that part of the East China Sea which Japan claims will suck up gas from its side of the demarcation line.

A SPANIARD, an American, a Japanese, and a Filipino were huddled around a square table. A dozen bottles of beer clustered in the middle section. All were empty except for four, one to each person. Shelled peanuts were in a small basket. Empty shells spread on the table and floor.

(Speech delivered by Justice Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez at the induction of officers of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Nueva Ecija Chapter on April 7, 2005, Lakewood City, Sumacab Este, Cabanatuan City)

DEPENDING on which side of the fence one is in, there emerge ensuing conflicting insights into the mass demonstrations in the streets – including the transport strike today – happening all over the country.

MINDANAO could become the next Afghanistan, according to a prophet from the US Embassy.

ORIGINALLY called "International Monuments and Sites Day," World Heritage Day is celebrated every April 18 of the year to promote global awareness about the richness and diversity of the world’s heritage and the need for sustained collective efforts for the international community to protect and preserve this valuable asset of mankind.

MANY know that January Sanchez topped the 2005 bar exams. But do they know that her "secret weapon," was prayer, particularly devotion to St. Jude, the "saint of the impossible?

ACCORDING to legend, when St. Patrick came to Ireland in the fifth century and was preparing to baptize the heathens, he accidentally pierced a man’s foot with the sharp end of his staff. The man did not cry-out. When St. Patrick saw the blood, he asked the man why he had remained so calm. The man replied that he had believed that this piercing of the foot was an aspect of the ritual of baptism. He was ready to accept it. Organized religion offers us comfort, but also pain; even if it is merely the pain of restriction and regulation, of obeying the rules, it is an essential aspect of belonging to most churches.

JESUS said, "I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know Mine and Mine know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I will lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from My Father."

BORN in Tondo 68 years ago, Joseph Marcelo Ejercito came from a family that was relatively well off, his father Emilio Ejercito being a contractor, a business that allowed his mother, the former Maria Marcelo to dedicate herself to the needs of her family and the household.

THE secular media are saying, somewhat redundantly, that the next pope will determine where the Catholic Church will be going from John Paul II. As the cardinals are incommunicado, speculations abound about their preferences and affiliations.

ONE of the most fundamental freedoms we enjoy is our freedom of speech. We engender good thoughts in our mind and good desires in our heart for our country and our people, and we should have the freedom to express them and speak of them. So great is this freedom that a sage and a Saint referred to it as "the gift of tongues" (Furrow, 899). It is a gift indeed, one that we must take care to use well. Since we are expected to be responsible citizens, we must take care that the words we use and the freedom of speech we enjoy should be directed towards promoting the common good of our people.

LIKE many Filipinos, I love traditional fiestas. You will probably agree that a well-organized fiesta, faithful to its historical origins, is a powerful vehicle for educating the younger generations, despite lamentations that these only perpetuate the worst of national vices. I think all that merry-making can also stimulate local economies.

WHEN Prince Rainier of Monaco – Europe’s longest serving ruler – died, on April 6th, the notice of his death was somewhat obscured by the massive funeral proceedings going on in Rome for the Pope whose death had proceeded his by four days.

FORMER Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is back, this time to seek peoples’ universal access to water and basic sanitation when he appears before the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development on Thursday, April 21, in New York.

OUR 1987 Constitution granting tax exemption to churches and religious groups — with regard to their religious, charitable, and educational activities — should be amended. I agree with Executive Secretary Ermita’s observation that if their activities are run as businesses like profitable bookstores or transacting properties owned and operated by them, they should be taxed. Among the 50,000 groups reported that have claimed tax exemptions but found as fly-by-nights soliciting donations free of tax, some could be the churches and religious groups. Taxing churches to compensate services received from the state does not violate church-state separation. If the state does not protect the church, that’s unequal application of the law. Unconstitutional, too.

"When there is no peril in the fight, there is no glory in the triumph." – Corneille

LAW enforcers, at least some of them, view their work as a competition in fast sleuthing or like running a race around a high school oval.

THE world waits in prayer and excitement as the College of Cardinals elects the next Pope who will serve as leader of the Christian world.

John 10:22-30