THE cooperative movement traces its roots to the early American colonial period when the Rural Credit Cooperative Bill (RCCB) was introduced in the Philippine Assembly in 1907. Unfortunately, the RCCB was disapproved by the Philippine Commission and it took close to a decade before the Rural Credit Act, promoting the organization of rural cooperatives, was passed. In the subsequent year, in 1916, the Act was amended and cooperative administration was given to the Bureau of Agriculture. Another decade passed before the Cooperative Marketing Law (Act No. 3425) was enacted, giving the Bureau of Commerce and Industry the responsibility of organizing farmers into marketing cooperatives. Ten years later, more than 560 marketing cooperatives were recorded but their performance was wanting.

A STATESMAN rather than a jurist, Nixon’s secretary of state Henry A. Kissinger once said that there are times when national interest is more important than the law. The implication is that the law may not always be in the national interest, which raises the question: Who determines the national interest?

IF statistics are correct, that nearly half of the Philippine population of 85 million think of themselves as belonging to the category of "poor," which means a substantial number of school dropouts, and if approximately the same number of the population are young people 28 years old and below, it becomes an unfair exercise to ask them to decide whether this country should adapt a federated parliamentary form of government, and shift away from the current presidential system, as the cure to all our political and economic problems.

YOU may be happy to hear that this newspaper has serious readers who want to keep the nationalistic torch burning. Last week, I wrote about my discussions with Atty. Alan Paguia regarding Article 86 and the "Additional Article" of the Malolos Constitution, during my daily radio program. We both agreed that it is imperative to review the Malolos Constitution, now that President Gloria Arroyo herself has signaled the start of the "great debate" on Charter change.

IN New York, the UN opened its year-long celebration of its 60th anniversary with the summit of world leaders at the Security Council, which was chaired by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. This October 17th, I was back in Manila for the opening of the UN Week which was launched with a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of General Carlos P. Romulo at the Libingan ng mga Bayani at Ft. Bonifacio, by the Department of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the United Nations Association of the Philippines (UNAP), which CPR sponsored, and government and UN agencies. Ambassadors assigned to the Philippines were invited and I greeted a number who showed up for the 9 a.m. ceremony, including the ambassadors of Sweden, India, Cuba, Argentina, Spain, Singapore, Russia – and the chargé of the French Embassy whose new ambassador has arrived in Manila but was presenting his credentials at Malacañang that same day.

IT is great to be home once again in this super University! My first speaking appearance at the Far Eastern University (FEU) Auditorium was some 50 years ago — to be exact, 48 years ago in 1957 — when as a young sophomore law student, I delivered my inaugural address as president of the FEU Central Student Organization. Thank you, FEU, for giving me that invigorating memory, that exhilarating experience of heading the student body of the then largest educational institution in our country.

IT was reported by a newspaper yesterday that Cebu Archbishop Ricardo J. Cardinal Vidal has joined calls for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to step down to pave the way for snap elections.

TODAY, as we celebrate the 33rd anniversary of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), I look back with fondness at the metamorphosis that has taken place at PAO in its more than three decades of free legal services to the masses.

THE more enthusiastic advocates of parliamentary and federal system started to celebrate last week after reading Con-Com’s recommendation to suit their political taste.

THE declaration that the United States was reaffirming its support to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s government must have been a big disappointment to the political opposition and to all those freaking out, so to speak, for her removal from office.

Luke 13:18-21