Page One: The ASEAN in New York

Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III, nicknamed PNoy to mean President Noynoy, has come back home to the Philippines with a portfolio containing a $434-m grant to "alleviate poverty and fight corruption", American investors' commitments to do business here, memories that include his $54 worth of hotdog treats to his delegation at a street food stall in middle Manhattan, and a lot of cheerios from Pinoys pursuing their American dreams from New York to California.

We have no idea who else among ASEAN heads of state went street foodie in New Yowk midtown but we're quite certain they didn't have to compare themselves to predecessors who had lavish meals at expensive restaurants in the Big Apple.

We're delighted--and we're grinning ear to ear--that he gave a pasalubong of ticking firecrackers to the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and their alliance of manangs and manongs from Aparri to Jolo. Mabuhay to Reproductive Health, PNoy!

There's this no-need-for-an apology-from-the-USA regarding the Philippine flag being displayed as if we're at war (see the pictures here, the red on top). PNoy frets that the issue is being rubbed in by people who have nothing else to do (walang magawa!). Well, he'll be at war with the bishops soon.

We thought it was serendipity that had PNoy standing right beside His Excellency Barack Obama in this 'must' group picture during the US-ASEAN Leaders Summit because the host American President should be between the 5th and 6th Asean member; that is, Laos and Malaysia.

Did the ASEAN Leaders endorse PNoy's call for 'global people power to fight poverty'?

The protocol is evident in the arrangement of the ASEAN members' flags, which are flanked by host Stars-and-Stripes and the ASEAN flag: Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Serendipity? Could be, but we're told that PNoy should be next to the host because the Philippines chairs the US-ASEAN Leaders Summit. Anyway, that pose could have enabled PNoy to ask for a cigarette break with the O. And they did have a short tete-a-tete, seven minutes! It's unlikely they enjoyed a good puff, mentholated or not.