AY to NY

Thank God, the story about the P1 billion drug shipment seized from a town mayor of Quezon is back in the newspaper’s front pages. Even Ombudsman Aniano Desierto has entered the picture, slapping a six-month suspension on Mayor Ronnie Mitra. The suspension is puny, for the crime deserves a much harsher temporary penalty. But anyway, until the masterminds and participants in the heinous crime are arrested, prosecuted and convicted, the Ombudsman’s initiative shows that we are moving in the right direction, insofar as the war against drug traffickers is concerned.

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Actually, drug trafficking is a crime worse than the terrorist attack on the United States. While more than 6,000 people died from the attack in New York and Washington, tens of millions of humankind perish from drug addiction. Just in the Philippines alone, the number of drug addicts has grown by leaps and bounds. These are Filipinos who can be considered as belonging to the living dead.

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Right now, we are still obsessed with America’s war against the Taliban regime, Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network Al-Qaeda. Our eyes are still glued to the CNN and BBC coverage of the war that is now raging in Afghanistan. Probably, it is time for us to return our attention and focus on the important things that are much closer to home. And one of them is the continuing drug trafficking that is going on almost all over the Philippines.

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The Commission on Appointments committee on foreign affairs, headed by Senator Blas F. Ople, has given its go-signal to the confirmation of Ambassador Alfonso T. Yuchengco as permanent Philippine representative to the United Nations. This means that it is only a matter of time before the Commission on Appointments, meeting in plenary session, gives its official imprimatur to Ambassador Yuchengco’s assumption of the top UN post. That time could be a few days from now.

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Ambassador Yuchengco’s nomination as Philippine envoy to the UN caps a sterling and distinguished career for a personage who, through the years, as one of our country’s leading business tycoons, devoted and sacrificed much of his time, and even his own personal resources, in the service of our country in foreign lands. Ambassador Yuchengco is a rare breed in the Philippine business community, for his outlook and vision go beyond business. Deep in his heart, his love for the Philippines must be overwhelming.

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I hope that the Commission on Appointments will be able to act very soon on the confirmation of Ambassador Yuchengco’s nomination to the UN. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is scheduled to address the UN when she makes her state visit to the United States. Before that time, Ambassador Yuchengco must be there in New York to prepare the groundwork for President GMA’s appearance before the international body.

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I wonder how the office of the Philippine delegation to the UN, at the Philippine Center in Fifth Avenue, New York, looks like now. I last visited it in 1997, when I was tasked by then Foreign Affairs Secretary Roberto Romulo to speak before the United Nations on concerns of the disabled sector in the Philippines. At that time, the Philippine Center looked drab and neglected, a far cry from the elegance it had when it was first established years earlier. Gone was the Filipino restaurant at the basement of the building, a place frequented by many Filipinos in New York.

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There is a seven-story building near the Philippine Center, also owned by the Philippine government. This is the official residence of the Philippine envoy to the UN. Ambassador Yuchengco has not yet seen the place, but it is expected that he will, just like what he did with the Philippine embassies in Beijing and Tokyo, refurbish it with his own personal funds. Indeed, the Philippine government is lucky to have someone like Ambassador Yuchengco lending a helping hand.

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Operations Christmas Joy, the yearly project that the Good Samaritan Foundation has been staging every year for the past six or seven years, is off to a good start. Several Good Samaritans have come forward to lend a helping hand, in our effort to provide toys, snacks, and other gift items to the sick children confined in the charity wards of Metro Manila hospitals during the Christmas season. Hopefully, by the first week of December, we shall be able to begin our visits, together with Santa Claus, to the various charity wards.

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Let me acknowledge with thanks the following kindhearted persons who sent help for Operations Christmas Joy.

• A businessman with the pseudonym "Penafrancia", a devotee of Our Lady of Penafrancia and a regular donor to the GS fund, P5,000 (thru BPI)

• Dr. Manuel Chua Chiaco Sr., the philanthropist who conceptualized Operations Christmas Joy, P10,000 (Metrobank 611319379)

• Anonymous, P5,000 (ABN-AMRO 38190)

• Mrs. Gloria Samonte, P500

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The other charitable projects of the Good Samaritan Foundation also received support from the following generous people:

• A regular lady donor from Forbes Park, Makati City, P1,000 (BPI 469876)

• C. Sy of Zamboanga del Norte, P2,000 (LBP 699K)

• Atty. & Mrs. Marcelino Ilao of Quezon City, P1,000

• Gloria Samonte of Ongpin St., Manila, P500

• Maila Obciana of San Juan, Metro Manila, P2,000 (Allied 5491301)

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Thoughts For Today:

True friendship hears what is not spoken,
And understands what is not explained.
For friendship doesn’t work in the mouth
Or in the hand but in the heart.

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God said, If you never felt pain,
How would you know I’m a healer?
If you never felt sadness,
How would you know I’m a comforter?
If life’s perfect, will you still know Me?

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My e-mail address: <[email protected]>.