The Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) will plant 70 trees in La Mesa Watershed as part of its 70th anniversary celebrations on October 27 at 7 a.m.

Government Corporate Counsel Agnes Devanadera and former OGCC heads will lead the rites.

For 70 years now, OGCC has been providing legal service to more than 150 government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) and more than 450 water districts all over the country.

OGCC plans to educate the public on its mandate and its key role in President Arroyo’s 10-point agenda in line with the "OGCC at 70: Renewal and New Directions."

For more information, call Capability-building program director Pinky Sy Narciso at 0918-9451323 or 927-0030.

Northrail president Jose Cortes Jr. assured former informal settlers along the train tracks that they would have the first crack at jobs at the construction site of the new railway system.

Cortes said an estimated 2,000 persons are needed in the construction of the 65-kilometer long rail line from Caloocan City to Malolos City, Bulacan to the Clark Special Economic Zone in Pampanga.

Cortes added the China National Machinery and Equipment Group (CNMEG), prime contractor of the $421-million rail project, allowed the NLRC to prioritize the hiring of skilled housing beneficiaries to work on the Northrail Phase 1 project, which was estimated to take about three years.

"Aside from generating various livelihood opportunities in the municipalities, where the railway will pass, operating and maintaining Northrail’s trains and six stations will also require employing about 500 persons,’’ the Northrail president said.

To help ensure competency of the Northrail beneficiaries, the National Housing Authority (NHA) and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) signed an agreement covering their training in various livelihood skills.

With All Saints’ Day just a week away, subscriber interest in the mobile phone-based religious service "Text Mary" is expected to treble among the faithful as they remember and go into the ritual of praying for their dearly departed ones during this annual religious observance.

This was disclosed yesterday by NAIMAR Management Inc., the company that oversees the newest concept of religious service. According to NAIMAR managing director Paolo Reyes, there has been a growing number of requests for masses for the dead through the Text Mary service over the weekend.

"Through Text Mary, all the subscriber has to do is simply text MASSON for the eternal repose of (name of deceased) soul and send to 483 (Smart)," Reyes said, adding that Smart then informs the subscriber that his petition will be included in a mass in one of the well-known Text Mary community churches.

Reyes also disclosed there has been a virtual deluge of prayer petitions since the Text Mary concept of religious service was introduced in August by project trustees Louie Reyes and Joe Magsaysay in an effort to enhance the evangelization thrust of "The Way of Mary" (TWOM) project, a legacy of the late Cardinal Jaime Sin.

The Catholic Church commemorates the feast day of St. Luke today with masses and other religious services in honor of the patron saint of doctors and painters.

St.Luke, who was a Greek physician, was the author of two New Testament books, the third Gospel where he narrated more than 30 years of Jesus’ earthly life and the Acts of the Apostles where he chronicled over 30 years of the Church’s life from its beginning. The Church said St.Luke was the only evangelist who gave a complete account of the Annunciation and the Visitation.

The Sons of the Holy Mary Immaculate said the writings of St.Luke which focused on the universality of the Gospel message "gave a deeper and more complete knowledge of the teachings of Christ. It encourages individuals to embrace the Christian faith and underscores the significance of mission and evangelization."

According to the Orthodox Church tradition, St.Luke was the Church’s first iconographer being the first to paint an icon of the Blessed Mother. He died at the age of 86 and his relics are honored at the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople in Greece. (Christina I. Hermoso)