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NEWARK, New Jersey – Leandro Aragoncillo, a former US Marine and FBI intelligence analyst who worked under two administrations in the Office of the Vice President of the United States was sentenced July 17 to 10 years in prison for passing on secret US documents in an effort to topple the Philippine government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

WASHINGTON - The House Committee on Veterans Affairs July 17 voted to raise the proposed pension for Filipino veterans of World War II living in the Philippines to $500 a month and $900 to those who have become naturalized US citizens.

WASHINGTON D.C. – Eric Lachica, executive director of the Arlington-based American Coalition of Filipino Veterans (ACFV), last week denied that Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA) had criticized him for his lobbying activities in Congress on behalf of Filipino veterans of World War II.

He was reacting to a story by-lined by Romeo P. Marquez, editor of the “Philippine Village Voice” (PhilVoiceNews@aol.com) in San Diego quoting Rep. Filner as denouncing Lachica for collecting “fees” from veterans and for “pruning down veterans’ demand” for full equity under the bill he is following through in the House of Representatives.

WASHINGTON – US ties with Association of Southeast Asian Nations is facing a setback as President George W. Bush will skip the summit with Asean leaders in Singapore September 5. The US embassy announced in Manila that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also will not be able to attend the annual Asean ministerial meeting Aug. 1 and 2 in Manila.

Jose Luis Gascon, a Filipino leader, has suggested ways in which the Filipino and international community can focus their efforts to bolster democracy in the Philippines which he said is in recession. Gascon, a Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow and executive director of Libertas (Lawyers League for Liberty), gave a lecture before the International Forum for Democratic Studies at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington D.C. July 17, 2007. Libertas is a Manila-based network of civic-minded legal professionals committed to the promotion of freedom, equality, and the rule of law in the Philippines.

WASHINGTON - The Philippines paid the District of Columbia city government nearly $35,000 (P1.6 million) in property taxes for an old, unused chancery it has owned since the days of American colonialism, a spokeswoman for the DC’s Office of Chief Financial Officer said.

MANILA – The Supreme Court-hosted summit of various sectors of society on extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances has asked President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to order security forces to stop these acts which have scarred the image of the Philippines here and abroad.

The participants in the summit that July 17 were grouped together in 12 clusters and conducted discussions under the moderation of a Supreme Court justice.

MANILA – The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) has reported 83 killings of trade union leaders, community leaders and labor advocates since 2001.

CTUHR, a nongovernment organization established in 1984, offers social and educational services, and paralegal assistance to workers and victims of trade union repression. It also provides moral support to the dependents and relatives of disadvantaged workers.

MANILA — The United States National Council of State Boards of Nursing has announced that it will begin administering its licensure exams in Manila on August 23. Scheduling for examination appointments will begin on Friday, according to a notice posted on the NCSBN website, www.ncsbn.org. The test will be administered by the Pearson Professional Center in Manila.

HONG KONG – Filipino high school students shone again in the Po Leung Kuk 11th Primary Mathematics World Contest in Hong Kong July 16, cornering three team awards and nine individual awards including a first honor for a student of the Philippine Science High School, who received a perfect score that the Philippines last achieved eight years ago.

“We are very proud that these students have brought honor to our country,’ said Simon Chua, president of the Mathematics Trainers Guild-Philippines, the group that trained the Philippine delegation for the contest. ‘This only means that Filipino students can compete and win in world competitions," he said.

MALAYBALAY CITY - Juan Miguel F. Zubiri took his oath of office July 15 as the 12th winning senator exactly two months after the May 14 mid-term elections.

He is the first senator from Bukidnon province. Executive Judge Josefina Bacal of Malaybalay RTC administered the oath-taking ceremonies with local officials and Bukidnon elders headed by former vice governor Esmeraldo Cudal in attendance.

MANILA – The Philippine peso continued to climb to fresh seven-year highs, breaking through P45 against the dollar last week and completing its best weekly performance in years after the government said it would not impose capital controls to curb the currency’s rise.

The peso gained further even as the Philippines’ third-largest bank forecast that the gross domestic product would grow by 6.4 percent this year, well within the government’s forecast range.

MANILA – President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo says she envisions the Philippines to be joining the ranks of the First World in 20 years because of her administration’s blueprint for development.

In her 7th state-of-the-nation address before a joint session of Congress July 23, the President said that because of the programs she had put in place, the country would be well on its way to achieving her vision of turning the Philippines into a fully-developed country.

MANILA – The United States has strongly condemned the killing of 14 Marines and the beheading of 10 of them in the recent ambush staged by Moro Islamic Libertation Front (MILF) rebels and Abu Sayyaf terrorists in Basilan July 10 as an “act of barbarism.”

I left the mainland for a week earlier this month with a group of fellow United Methodists from our church in Kensington, as part of a “Volunteers In Mission” team to help the people in a Nicaraguan village construct a classroom next to a church.