PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (third from left) and Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah (right) head to the Asean Plus Three Summit in Singapore on Tuesday. --AP

SINGAPORE (via PLDT)—Asean leaders on Tuesday signed the historic Asean Charter envisioned to ensure the relevance of the 40-year-old, 10-member grouping amid regional changes brought about by globalized trade.

SINGAPORE (via PLDT)—Asean leaders on Tuesday signed a master plan that would guide the regional grouping in moving toward a single market and production base while sealing development gaps between members by 2015.

THE National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) is confident other projects being financed by the World Bank (WB) will not suffer the same fate as the National Roads Improvement and Management Project (NRIMP), even as it admitted the bank has the prerogative to look into procurement practices of government agencies.

THE United Nations urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to address “serious” development gaps among its members so they can truly benefit from their envisaged integration.

SINGAPORE (via PLDT)--President Arroyo was briefed by UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari on the situation in Myanmar on Tuesday upon her request, a day after Asean leaders decided to scrap the official's pre-scheduled report at the East Asia Summit upon Myanmar's insistence.

A MEMBER of the European Parliament visiting the Philippines reiterated the strong resolve of Europe’s regional bloc to exclude Burma from the proposed free-trade agreement with the member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) due to the continuing military abuses and detention of prodemocracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

SINGAPORE (via PLDT)--Chinese Premiere Wen Jiabao on Tuesday expressed hope that China, the Philippines and Vietnam would soon pursue the development phase of its Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) in the South China Sea.

THE Philippines has proposed the creation of a high-level council composed of leaders from Southeast Asian states  bordered by the Coral Triangle to save this 5.7-million-square-kilometer area of the world’s richest source of marine resources from environmental destruction spawned by global warming and other forms of ecological degradation.

EACH month, the government is more bullish the year’s budget program would end lower than target. They were most bullish Tuesday when Finance Secretary Margarito Teves announced an accumulated 10-month shortfall of only P41.5 billion.

STRONG foreign inflows that helped boost the value of the local currency allowed the government to prepay external debts totaling $2.55 billion in the first nine months.

LEADING environmental and development organizations have joined forces to demand action on climate change by launching a report “Up in Smoke: Asia and the Pacific.”

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—The country’s biggest gathering in the world of advertising opens here Wednesday with some 5,000 delegates expected to participate in the 20th Philippine Advertising Congress, the  second such conference to be held in the Subic Bay Freeport.

SENATORS gave up on an earlier initiative to block Wednesday’s auction of government-owned prime shares in the Philippine National Oil Co.-Energy Development Corp. (PNOC-EDC), agreeing to shift efforts on ensuring that proceeds from the sale, estimated at P15 billion,  would be used for continued exploration of indigenous sources of energy.

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Ready for the holidays. Lights enhance the lure of SM City Pampanga, which was adjudged the longest mall in the Philippines. The record came after SM City Pampanga opened its newest annex recently. It now has a total building length of 668 meters and is composed of four connected buildings, housing more than 433 shops and boutiques. --JACOB CUNANAN