When the leaders of ASEAN talked about free trade and the setting-up of an EU-like organization for Southeast Asia in the near future, I wonder - is it possible to have an Asian-wide organization?

Or should the more appropriate question be: is it feasible? Aside from disparate economic conditions, cultural heterogeneity, and security, what other issues and challenges would such a proposal face? Admittedly, Europe's member countries share common cultural heritage, aside from their relatively similar economic conditions.

Can there ever be an Asian Union?

Finally, the University of the Philippines has opted to shift to open-source. A project which was started early this year is being gradually implemented and people were, and are being trained to do the job.

Some parochial concern.

Robert Sagun, the hardworking President of my organization and I had a meeting last Friday to discuss, and work on some aspects of our WSIS national campaign. So in the course of this meeting, we had documents to translate into Filipino, our national language. Translating something into a language which is not our first tongue really proved difficult. Not only that, we have to consider the style of translation and this is an aspect which is so open to debate.

A lot argue that Filipino should not be the national language, even though it is the most widely understood one, albeit, may not be the most popularly spoken one. Some surveys point to Cebuano, the language of the South and one which I could fluently speak. They say that Filipino, which is based on Tagalog is 1) the language of 'imperial' Manila; 2.) not an international language and therefore not understood by investors and 3.)a language that is not enough, i.e. it is not as comprehensive and extensive as English.

These arguments baffle me a lot, especially the third one. No language is enough. All languages borrow certain words from other tongues (and some adopt them or assimilate them into the native language)since no single culture has the monopoly over all human experiences, over everything. English for example has countless words of foreign origin. A language grows. It is not stagnant. I could hardly appreciate the argument of the so-called purists.

I also find the point that using Filipino would decrease the country's competitiveness. What about the sound economic and investment policies? Is language the first priority of investors, holding more importance than usiness climate and peace and order? Ridiculous, I would say.

So, Robert and I agreed that 'any lack of word' in native Filipino should not hinder us from doing an effective translation of documents. Our readers and the public speak and understand the lingua franca. Let the others rest.

When it was the time of Nintendo craze , some doctors coined the term 'Nintendonitis' to refer to a fatigued and ailed condition of the hand as a result of too much Nintendo-playing. Now, would there be some sort of SMS-tenitis?

Excerpts from a news article by Reuters, carried by a Philippine newspaper:

"Too much text messaging?You may need professional help.More and more people are succumbing to so-called ''technology addictions," spending hours tapping on mobuile phones or surfing the Internet, one of Britain's best known psychiatric clinics said on Saturday...In the Sunday Telegraph newspaper, the head of the clinic's [Priory Clinic] addictions unit said some patients were spending up to seven hours a day text messaging. "We have a situation where some people look down on alcoholics and cocaine addicts, but then go and spend five hours in an Internet chat room," Dr. Mark Collins told the paper.

Hmmm...while the attention before was on the 'physical' effects of too much exposure on the computer, for example - eye problems, obesity, etc.- the 'mental' angle is more or less, a new facet. Well, as the banner in the Health and Wellness section of our discussion board would put it, health is an integrated whole.

The Philippines is the SMS capital of the world. More SMS are sent here than any other country in the world. I wonder how the people would react here. Too much of something is of course, bad.

This brings me to another point. What worries me about SMS is that some people seem to be so much enamored with it, that they think they cannot survive without withoout mobile phones and SMS (talk about societal and peer pressure!). A friend once told me that he was offered sex by a young woman in exchange for a prepaid load (since most here have prepaid subscriptions than regular lines.)!

Indeed, the use of technology can be good or bad.

It is happy to note that Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has recognized the need to bridge the digital divide within and among countries in her speech in the recent UNESCO Conference in Paris. At last, our head of state has made a significant pronouncement on the opportunities offered by ICTs. Not that the government has failed to seize opportunities. ICT programs are underway but her speech should mark government action on making these programs cohesive and coherent. Different agencies have their own programs. And in education (an area she also dwelled on) for example, ICTs are considered a different arena, instead of viewing it as an integral part of subjects offered.

She however constantly referred to the need for a 'knowledge society' (an offshoot of knowledge economy?)instead of 'information society.' Come to think of it, isn't the phrase 'KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY' more affirmative and progressive?