THE 11th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and Related Summits will be convened today until December 14, 2005, in Malaysia. The ASEAN Summit is an annual meeting held on a rotational basis by the country which holds the chairmanship of the ASEAN Standing Committee. The Related Summits that are to be held around this time are the 9th ASEAN + 3 Summit, 9th ASEAN + China Summit, 9th ASEAN + Japan Summit, 9th ASEAN + Republic of Korea Summit, the 4th ASEAN + India Summit, and the first ASEAN + Russia Summit. The highlight of these high-level meetings will be the staging of the First East Asia Summit (EAS) on 14th December 2005.

IT’S surprising that none of the prude groups has raised any voice against a TV commercial on the illegal tapping of electricity. That’s probably the reason that neither the Advertising Council and the association of broadcasters (KBP) has turned a blind eye and deaf ear all these months.

THE Philippine education landscape only seems to get gloomier with each year’s passing. Indeed, what is left unsaid of the deterioration of Philippine education? We have seen so much statistics and heard so many proposals on this vastly favorite topic. A conclusion one can make is, simply, that there is something basically wrong in our system of education.

SPEAKING for the Geological Society of the Philippines (GSP), Eduardo V. Mañalac, President/CEO of Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) and Chairman of the GSP Annual Scientific Conference (GEOCON 2005), predicts that "2005 will be a banner year for the energy and mining industries." Other experts are near-unanimous in affirming that our mining and energy sectors have benefited greatly from the Supreme Court’s final ruling, promulgated early this year, on the constitutionality of the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 – which decision has served as the go-signal for the entry of foreign capital, foreign technology, and foreign marketing networks into our mineral and non-mineral industries.

SOME time ago, a minister told this story about his experience. One night he went over to the church to lock it up for the night. He found a boy asleep in the last pew. He woke the boy apologetically, and told him he was going to lock up.

"3.10 Injury or sickness during a match must be haandled carefully and flexibly."

I AM not tempted to comment on the current front-page issues, because some two articles ago, I predicted more or less what was going to happen, if and when Garci appeared. I said that the cases filed in the Supreme Court were done to give him, Garci, a legal "fig leaf’’ cover. Instead let me concentrate on a long-term solution to the poor quality of voters and the defective election process. Going direct to the point, the better our economy becomes, the better the quality of voters and the conduct of elections become.

THERE are many milestones in the history of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Its Food to Europe program after World War II which provided food, clothing, and health care to European children who faced famine and disease. After it became a permanent part of the United Nations which adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Children, the UNICEF expanded its interests to address the needs of the whole child with education, health, and nutrition programs. For its promotion of brotherhood among nations, it received the 1965 Nobel Peace Award.

IT is ironical indeed that many of us have a deeper fascination with occultic practices than with the Gospel. Many of us seem to be more afraid of the frightening effects of occultic practices than the Biblical teaching on the awesome damnation that awaits unrepenting sinners. Many of us spend more time digging deeper into occultic practices than spending time to read the Holy Bible. Many of us treat occultic practices as divine and the Biblical prophecies as fantasies. Many of us honor God with our lips but our hearts are very far from Him. Bluntly put, many of us are acting as if we are more afraid of demonic forces than the wrath of God.

NIYUG-NIYOGAN, ampalaya, lagundi, and sambong. These are just some of the herbal medicines that our ancestors used as traditional medicines. Now with long folkloric usage, accumulation of anecdotal evidence, and increasing documentation of scientific studies about their effectiveness, medicinal herbs are regaining wide public and scientific interest.

A MAN named John was sent from God. He came for the testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light.