WE devote a great deal of our time and energy on these pages to inform, educate, and in some ways, provide viewpoints that we hope will guide the Filipino people and their leaders to cultivate the best interests of the country.

It can seem at times that news that is most important to our daily life is about conflict — conflict between political forces within the country, conflict with other nations’ interests, conflict between peace and order and crime and chaos, and conflict between ourselves and forces of nature that threaten our safety and livelihoods.