COLLEAGUES MEET. Ambassador Lauro L. Baja, Jr., Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations, congratulates Secretary-General designate Ban Ki-Moon after his acceptance speech before the 61st UN General Assembly on Friday, 13 October 2006. The South Korean foreign minister was earlier appointed as the eighth UN Secretary-General, replacing Kofi Annan who bows out at the end of the year. Ambassador Baja and Foreign Minister Ban were colleagues in past ASEAN and related meetings when both were senior officials. (Photos by Patrick Chuasoto)

Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales puts on a New York Yankees baseball cap given to him by the Filipino community shortly after celebrating mass in honor of San Lorenzo Ruiz at the Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York on Sunday, 24 September. Hundreds of Filipinos led by Ambassador Lauro L. Baja Jr., Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and Consul General Cecilia Rebong, packed the cathedral to hear the cardinal who celebrated mass in the famous midtown Manhattan landmark for the first time. ELMER CATO