All congressmen throughout the country are reportedly allocated 20 million pesos for the Priority Development Assistance Program (PDAP) and 5 million pesos for peace and order.

The amount of 20 million pesos is intended for education for the purchase of books, equipment and other related items and other priority projects while the 5 million pesos could be used in the effective crime prevention campaign in their respective congressional districts.

The flesh was yellow, thick, and creamy as rich custard. The fruit was smaller than the usual size that you pay more than a Ps 1OO per kilo at the fruit stands, but we shared it evenly among us. This was last summer. This summer we enjoyed two fruits which fell a few weeks apart from that same single tree in our yard. I laughingly commented that the tree could not help but drop the fruits what with the power of wishing that the family had for the fruits to fall.

The fruit we had enjoyed was durian from our backyard. Some years back my husband planted a seedling he bought in Davao. When one buys a seedling one can only hope that the seller is honest in the claim that it comes from good stock. This was one buy that proved to be a good one.

DAVAO CITY — A veteran scout official from Mindanao was appointed recently as the new Assistant Secretary-General of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP), the country’s largest organization involving young citizens in value formation and nation-building.

Regional Scout Director Ernesto Baluyot took on his new assignment effective May 1, 2003 after having been selected by the BSP National Executive Board, headed by BSP National President and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay.

We are featuring in this column today the history of the prestigious Philippine Academy of Family Physicians (PAFP) Zamboanga City Chapter as prepared by Dr. Araceli B. Arañez with contribution from Dr. Myrna P. Angeles....

The late Dr. Gregorio Brilliantes formally organized the PAFP-

United States President George W. Bush had pledged to President Arroyo during her visit last month to the United States that he will extend financial aid for infrastructure projects and economic development in Sulu.

Bush made the pledge after learning that majority of the political leaders in Sulu support the holding of Balikatan in that province.

The local government units of Cavite, Koronadal and Kidapawan are pursuing major projects on information and communications technology (1CT) under the Build-Operate- Transfer (BOT) scheme.

As the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) is celebrating its 15th year anniversary, its regional office here is proud to report that the status of its land acquisition distribution under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) in Western Mindanao is 99 percent accomplished.

EVERYONE WHO ATTENDED the home-based, homebody birthday bash of Zamboanga Showbiz socialite Vincent Paul “VP” Elago will attest to the fact that they enjoyed every moment of it. In fact, they are looking forward to a wholesome publication of this momentous celebration.

According to Zimnet’s Marketing Manager Kates Valdez Allas, who happens to be VP’s close friend and associate, the popular young celebrant personally hosted his birthday party with much gusto and treated all the guests with tender, loving care. And with all the very important celebrities and personalities who attended, the party was indeed a grand success.

THE ZAMBOANGA ZIMNET MARKETING AND PROMOTIONS COMPANY, performed a whole-day workshop training seminar “LEARN HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN COMPUTER”, a company IT Services Program campaign for the consumers’ capability of assembling their own computers, for developmental price cut downs, last Saturday, June 14, 2003, at the Function Hall of Hotel Perlita, Mayor Jaldon Street, this city.

The 9 AM to 5 PM training seminar, in cooperation with computer shop partners, was set for representatives from various sectors in the Government Offices and Non-government Offices such as NEDA, DAR, NCC, DA, DENR, DTI, BIR, RTC, PNP-RGS, WMCIP, Coca-Cola, Sungate, NLV Construction, ATO, EAAB, TESDA, Petron, Sutelco, DepEd Zamboanga Cty and Tawi-Tawi, IT Personnel from Ateneo de Zamboanga University and from other universities and colleges in the locality, Jonrem Trade District and other department stores, as well as personal representatives.

If you don’t even have time to make dinner, how are you supposed to volunteer in your son’s classroom or your daughter’s Book Fair? For both working mothers and stay at home moms, there is always a struggle to fit our children’s needs with our home and career responsibilities.

A growing trend today for teachers is to ask for more parent involvement in and for the classroom. As school budget’s shrink, so does the availability of teacher’s aides — those hard working souls who make copies of worksheets, cut out tiny alphabets, attend field trips, etc. This leaves us — the mothers — to fill in the gaps.

What’s the wife’s gift to her husband on their wedding anniversaries? Find Dr. Nimfa Edding’s answer elsewhere in this corner.

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In this world there are good guys and bad guys. There are the Godly and the “Satanic. There are also the honest ones and liars. Society for all its sophistication and technological advancement had not gotten rid of so-called “scum of the world.” This kind of people still abounds everywhere. They are just all around waiting for every opportunity to take advantage of fellow human beings. Even media is not exempt from these kind of human degradation since certain media persons had the cunning ability to create a world of make believe. They think they can fool the readers with a cheap trickery.

Out of human desperation or maybe being exposed to public ridicule, a “person can result even to doing things that others consider as dishonesty but would still do it. If for example, I have a disagreement with somebody and that I had been challenged to an intelligent exchange of ideas but could not survive the heat or pressure, then I would just simply do things to make the public believe I’m right to cover-up my inadequacies. And there are many ways to do this especially if I have access to media. 1 can prepare a letter written by myself praising my person with all the “icing on the cake” to make it look I’m the hero and the ‘man of the hour’, so to speak. Then that letter, I can just print. Presto! I’m a good guy and the best there is. My detractor is the bad guy. Easier to do, isn’t it?

Want to earn a hundred thousand pesos (P100,000.00) cold cash and a Hewlett-Packard personal computers? Come and join the Ramon Magsaysay Student Essay Competition.

The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) is calling all college and high school students who have the passion and talent for essay writing to write an essay about a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee and win prizes for yourself and your school in this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Student Essay Competition with the theme: “Inspiring Me to Make a Difference: Personal Lesson From a Magsaysay Awardee.”

Disgraced former president Joseph Ejercito Estrada or Erap to his diehards had filed an impeachment case against 8 Associate Justices of the Supreme Court for what he believed was their wrong judgment removing recognition to the legitimacy of his presidency and affirming the legitimacy of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, then the vice-president as the new president as a result of the Edsa Dos people’s revolt.

Erap’s arguments are: He is still the legitimate president of the Philippines because he never resigned thus he was only forced out from office by those who conspired (alluding to the Prince of the Church Cardinal Sin and some AFP Generals) who illegally removed him as duly elected president. He also alleges that the Constitution was violated by the SC Justices when Macapagal-Arroyo was sworn as his successor without his resignation from office or incapacity. Some of the Justices were even present during the swearing in ceremony that he interpreted as partisanship, hence culpable violation.