TEN years after the Spanish conquistadores defeated the Aztec Empire, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to an Indio, Juan Diego, on Tepeyac hill near Mexico City. Despite the initial resistance of the Spanish missionary bishop, the church eventually came to accept as authentic the story of Juan Diego that the Blessed Virgin Mary had appeared to him four times between December 9 and December 12, 1531. According to the tradition, a miracle convinced church authorities that the apparitions were authentic. An image of a dark-skinned Mary, with Aztec features, was painted miraculously on the cloak of Juan Diego.

IMMEDIATELY after the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to dismiss the impeachment complaint, President Arroyo’s critics called for street protests and other mass actions aimed at taking her down at all costs. Unlike the aftermath of non-opening of the second envelope during the Estrada impeachment trial, there has been no spontaneous outpouring of outrage and no swelling of mass support for efforts to oust her.

GOD gave us memories so we might have roses in December, said J.M. Barrie. This must be true of Margaret Thatcher, who, at 80, now shares with Reagan the ravages of Alzheimer’s. Her daughter Carol said that the "Iron Lady" could no longer remember the start of a sentence by the time she reaches the end.

MANY make the observation in obvious frustration that the Philippines used to be looked up to by our neighbors, and now it is being looked down upon. Most of our neighbors have managed to go past us and have already left us very far behind; and they look upon us with a combination of pity and condescension. Very clearly we have lost their respect.

MARIETTA Santos, girl friend of T-Sgt. Vidal Doble, member of the army intelligence team which did the Garci tapes, reminded the Senate Thursday that six months after the emergence of the tapes, the person who ordered the wiretapping remains unknown.

(Statement delivered at the ASEAN-RUSSIA Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, December 10, 2005.)

WHAT are the lawmakers waiting? Maguindanao Rep. Simeon Datumanong, chairman of the House Committee on Justice, explained that the delay in passing the anti-terrorism bill is attributable to the difficulty of mustering a quorum because the opposition allegedly succeeded in stopping attempts to begin deliberation on this anti-terrorism bill. Yet Congress has only three remaining session days left. Being the committee chairman, Datumanong can’t help being concerned about the House problem of absentee members, with the House leadership resorting to "phone brigades" to get a quorum. How will people look at our lawmakers like that?

GMA prays to God to end the division among the Filipinos.

THERE are nagging issues today that have placed some government agencies in the line of fire. Why is this so? It is because they have apparently been dodging the clamor to do their mandated tasks of protecting the interest of the public.

BORN on December 13, 1935, in San Fernando, Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya, Court of Appeals Justice Eugenio Salango Labitoria, retires today after over 30 years of public service that has been marked with dedication, professionalism, and integrity.

MARY set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."