Just what we needed as we needed directions in our effort to contribute to Philippine –Pakistan economic relations.

"We" includes Manila Bulletin’s Gemma Cruz, Inquirer’s Tals Diaz, People Asia’s Fatima Parel, Business Mirror’s Lyn Resurrection and Manila Times’ Dante Francis Ang, We are here on the invitation of the Islamabad Policy Research Institute.

It turned out that the boys were children of employees of the Philippine Embassy headed by Ambassador Jaime Yambao. The kids, who are studying in a school run by Catholic nuns, just came from a dance rehearsal for the June 12 Independence Day celebration.

In a dinner hosted by the amiable ambassador with Vice Consul Conrado Demdem, we were glad to learn that unlike Filipino communities in other countries, there are hardly sob stories of illegal recruitment and maltreatment by employees among the 3,000 Filipino workers, majority of them professionals.

Most of the Filipino professionals here in Pakistan are in telecommunications. We met two of them at the Regent Plaza hotel in Karachi, Aristotle Baricuatro and Gerry Alas, both engineers working with the Swedish Ericsson Electronics. The two said their compensation package is in the range of not less than $3,000 a month, something that would take them some doing to earn in the Philippines.

Aside from those who have Pakistani spouses, many of the Filipinos in Pakistan work with international organizations and embassies. A member of a Filipino community said three of the maids of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani are Filipinas. Needless to say, they are college graduates. Most probably teachers.

Despite Pakistan being predominantly Muslim, Catholics have their own closely knit community. Filipinos attend a Catholic mass where the priest is Pakistani and music is provided by the ambassador, a tenor who has performed in operas in the Philippines. A culture buff, Yambao gives delightful briefings. He gave us an interesting sidelight about the roots of Catholicism in South Asia which complemented our earlier visit to Taxila, ancient Buddhist city 32 kilometers northwest of Islamabad which was discovered by British archaeologist Sir John Marshall.

Taxila, we learned, was conquered by Alexander the Great in 326 BC which explains some of the Greek features of some of the excavated Buddhas.

Yambao said he has read that one of Jesus Christ’s apostles, Thomas, (known as "Doubting Thomas" for not believing immediately that he was seeing the risen Christ) also came to Taxila and built a church, to where the Pakistani Catholics trace the beginning of their Christian religion.

Yambao said next year, the Philippines and Pakistan will mark the 60th anniversary of its diplomatic relations established on Sept. 8, 1948.

He said Pakistan plays an important role in the world being the only Muslim country with nuclear power. It is in the forefront in the US-led war on terror.

The Philippines was instrumental in Pakistan’s inclusion in the Asian Regional Forum, a security-oriented grouping of Asia-Pacific countries. On the other hand, Pakistan supports the Philippines’ application to be an observer of the influential Organization of Islamic Conference. The OIC, however, has yet to set up guidelines on admission of predominantly Christian countries as observer or member.

Yambao said they are working on a visit by Gloria Arroyo to Pakistan to reciprocate the visit made by President Pervez Musharraf to Manila in 2005.

Yambao said trade relations between the two countries were greatly boosted by the availability of cheaper pharmaceutical products from Pakistan. This is reflected in the $4.5 million Philippine import of medicines from Pakistan, almost double from the $2.5 million figures in 2005.

This is one area where it can be said that robust figures translate to healthier people.