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Two top US Officials will be meeting with their counterparts in Ottawa on February 23.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff will meet with Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, Trade Minister David Emerson, and their Mexican counterparts.

CANADA - A training program in which officers observe volunteers who may be high on drugs, and is used in 30 U.S. states, has the Edmonton Police Service and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in a public relations nightmare.

Few days ago, I had a good and short conversation about religion and salvation with some smart guys from FOREX in Alexandria, Virginia and the same topic came up at a party in Manassas where Born Again Christians and Catholics argue about the authenticity of their own religion.

I have never been open about my faith since I left the portals of Baguio City more than fifteen years ago. Although I am still a practicing Catholic and have no intentions of leaving the institution but I have avoided discussing it in public for two major reasons. First, I have pursued a non-Thomistic philosophy in the Graduate School and re-oriented myself with the study of Oriental philosophy especially Indian Philosophy and have farther engaged myself in discovering the meaning of existential and phenomenological existence. Second, I have always believed that faith is a personal matter and any debate over religion is a useless intellectual exercise.

In the last November elections, we celebrated the victory of Kris Valderrama who won a seat as delegate to the Maryland Assembly. Just like her father, David Valderrama who also served as delegate in the same assembly for twelve years, Kris had the support of Filipino-Americans from both sides of the political spectrum.

Members of the FATAM (Filipino American Tennis Association of Maryland) led by its spokesperson Danny Francia hailed the appointment of FilAm tennis player Cecil Mamiit to spearhead the Philippine Tennis efforts to win medals in the Beijing Olympics Mamiit often visited Montgomery County in Maryland to campaign in the Legg Mason Tennis Tournament during the summer. He is well liked by the youth and will serve to inspire them to do great things.

CALIFORNIA – In the ethnic enclaves of Ventura County that I happily but cautiously inhabit, I was quite surprised to learn there still exists a tiny faction vehemently opposed to the idea of assimilation. When I recently wrote a mission statement for a minority publication of which I am executive editor, I included the word “assimilation” as one of our goals. For indeed, I believe it to be an important and vital consequence of immigration, a small price to pay for a large slice of life on better shores.

LUOISA COUNTY, Virginia – Fr. Rodney L. Rodis, 50, a retired Filipino Catholic priest accused of embezzling probably up to $1 million from the parishes where he used to serve, is getting some the sympathy and support from his former parishioners and even the diocese.

An overflow crowd at St. Jude’s Jan. 21 heard Fr. Mark R. Lane, diocesan vicar for priests, call for healing and stress the positive aspects of Fr. Rodis’ tenure in the parish. Several parishioners also expressed their willingness to forgive the priest for his acts of betrayal.

UNITED NATIONS - The Philippines is sending 320 peacekeepers to Liberia and Haiti to the United Nations (UN)-sanctioned missions before the end of this month. It was not clear, however, if the AFP would cut the UN-sponsored allowances of the fresh batch of peacekeepers, as it did in the past.

DAVAO CITY - Several American and Australian intelligence agents are in Mindanao to monitor terrorist activities, military sources here claimed recently. “Mindanao is crawling with CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and even Australian federal agents," a source told The STAR. The US embassy and Philippine government denied the story.

ZAMBOANGA CITY - Military authorities have shifted their focus from identifying the remains of Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani to determining who should receive the $5-million reward for his killing.

CANADA – Filipino-Canadian Jeff Rustia recently received the Philippine Presidential Pamana Ng Pilipino award at ceremonies held in Malacanang.

Rustia was recognized for being an exemplary visionary and role model for Filipinos in Canada and around the world.

LEYTE = Philippine Army troopers backed by helicopter gunships of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) pounded a secluded barangay in Albuera, Leyte over the weekend, killing at least 30 alleged New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in the area, military authorities said.

LUCENA CITY — New People's Army (NPA) rebels operating in Quezon province have started negotiating with election candidates for their permit to campaign fees through the Internet and by mobile phone, local officials disclosed. "I was contacted by an NPA cadre sometimes last month and informed me of the new process,” a municipal mayor, who requested anonymity and also asked that his town not be named, said in an interview.

CAVITE- After the successful reconciliation talks between the Remulla and Revilla clans some two weeks ago, administration Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. announced Jan. 22 what he claimed to be an end to the decades-long political turmoil in Cavite after Gov. Ayong Maliksi agreed to unite with them.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has named a new prosecutor to handle the case against former Batangas governor Antonio Leviste.

The DOJ named Senior State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco to replace prosecutor Henry Salazar and ordered Velasco to determine whether the case against Leviste should be upgraded from homicide to murder in connection with the killing of his aide, Rafael de las Alas.