ENUCA Concepcion de Leon Syquia looks your typical, everyday teenager. But it is in her good deeds toward others that makes her different. Though born with, shall we say, a silver spoon in her mouth, Nenuca is one person whose goodwill toward her fellows goes beyond mere abstraction.

VER since she was little, Kimberly had a soft heart for the less fortunate. Since she was young, Kimberly was quick to help people she saw out on the streets—even taking food from her family’s refrigerator and clothes from her father’s closet to give out to people she took pity on.

F we were asked to list the volunteer work that we have gone through, a great many, myself included, would begin with the required outreach program in high school and end with the required outreach program in college. Some would go on to include a socially-oriented college organization or a church group. And, finally, a scant few would conclude with time spent in a small, usually far-flung community, dedicated to teaching or pastoral work. Among these few is Kara Atienza de Cloet, a teacher at the Assumption High School and Grade School.

I’ve never been a fan of inspirational books. Of course as a kid people would give them to me as gifts, in hopes that they could uplift my soul or some such other whatnot. The problem, of course, wasn’t that I didn’t want to be uplifted, it was the manner in which it was done.

ITH over 110 ethnic tribes and cultural communities dwelling within its archipelago, the Philippines is blessed with a rich cultural heritage. But the sad news is these tribes are already nearing their extinction. Since the advent of modernization, tribal traditions and customs have been rapidly becoming a thing of the past.

day after Pope John Paul II was laid to rest, which to the Roman Catholic Church was one less religious man in a world of dwindling believers, the Society of Jesus welcomed into its fold four new priests to fill in the void.

It was a lifetime desire for Merlinda Espejo, wife of a driver and mother to two girls, to have their own house. After all, she knew that the small and dilapidated shack her family was renting in Bagong Silang, Caloocan City, would never become their own. The agony of saving their meager income to pay for a house that they can never call theirs was a source of daily frustration and torment.

T might be easy to apply cliches like "chip off the old block" or "the son also rises" to someone like Julian Coseteng. If his last name rings a bell, it is because yes, the 32-year old Quezon City councilor is the offspring of Nikki, the former senator once identified with feminist causes and the pre-EDSA parliament of the streets.

OMETIMES you just don’t want anyone to spot you on a night out. Not that tenacious narc, not your leery girlfriend, and certainly not the slaphappy subcontractor trying to woo your business. Is there a bar better suited to your surreptitious needs than the Makati version of Yaku?

I first began noticing the problem last year when my favorite catchphrase became "Pardon me?" instead of the requisite turn-the-air-blue four-letter words I normally favor. The EENT specialist I consulted confirmed my suspicions: I was going deaf in one ear.

Today’s games contain soundtracks that will wow you. We’re not just talking about epic scores for the latest release of Final Fantasy and other role-playing games that can easily hold their own to anything John Williams and Danny Elfman can churn out in their sleep. We’re talking about real music by established artists who actually earn hefty royalties from lending their already popular tunes to certain games. Or actually write and record brand-new tunes exclusively for them.