Monthly Archives: April 2009

MANILA, Philippines – Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) officials are cautiously optimistic that foreign investments could actually be higher than expected this year, possibly pushing the country’s forex reserves higher and the balance of payments (BOP) stronger.

MANILA, Philippines – President Arroyo ordered yesterday the release of P1 billion next month to help the country’s export industries survive the global economic crisis.

MANILA, Philippines – New homes, jobs and livelihood grants await Filipino workers on Labor Day.

I can’t say I am ecstatic over the addition of more party-list congressmen as a consequence of the Supreme Court’s reading of the law.

CONFUSION: That the April 21 decision of the Supreme Court on the Party-List system of congressional representation sowed confusion is an understatement.

MANILA, Philippines – Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) chairman Vicente Sotto III disclosed yesterday that 33 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are now detained in several prisons in Brazil and Suriname because of drug-related offenses.

MANILA, Philippines – Environmental groups yesterday called on the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to actively support global action to ban nine more “extremely nasty” chemicals that pose significant risk to human and ecological health, as they pushed for the expansion of the original 12 Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) under the Stockholm Convention.

Electronics and semiconductor firms have started recalling 7,000 workers that were earlier displaced due to the global economic crisis.

If a company or product manufacturer is to influence consumers’ purchasing decisions and earn their trust, they should improve on their social responsibility record and not just rely on good customer service. This was evident based on the latest results of the 2009 Reader’s Digest Trusted Brands Survey in the Philippines.

Anakpawis party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano yesterday assailed Malacañang for its continuing “no wage hike policy,” stressing “at this time of worsening economic crisis, it is far more just for the working class to demand a wage increase.”

The Philippine mission to the United Nations in Geneva yesterday belied reports that the country has been taken off a UN list of model countries for migrant workers for failing to protect its workers from abuses.

The Department of Trade and Industry said it will not extend the zero duty on cement since its price has not gone down since its implementation.

Employers endorse suspension of wage hikes   EMPLOYERS have called on the government to turn down petitions for a wage increase amid a global economic crisis that has increased the ranks of the jobless.

Nine insurance companies have beefed up their capitalization to meet the government’s minimum requirement while one has been placed under voluntary receivership, the Insurance Commissioner Eduardo Malinis said yesterday.

SOME 1.124 million state workers will get pay hikes over the next four years under a P123.8-billion salary package approved by the House appropriations committee.

MANILA, Philippines—Vice President Noli de Castro and senators Manny Villar, Loren Legarda and Francis Escudero retained their positions as the “top recommended successors” to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the Social Weather Stations (SWS) Survey for the First Quarter of 2009.

Ending the crisis and transforming the global economy Brussels, (ITUC OnLine): The world is facing its gravest economic crisis in over 60 years.  Tens of millions of jobs are being lost due to the greed, plunder and incompetence which have, through decades of free market deregulation, led the world into deep recession.

The United Nations in its latest report has identified the Philippins among countries with grave violations against children.

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said it is likely for remittances to actually grow in the second half of this year, with the anticipated increase in labor deployment to the Middle East.

MANILA, Philippines – People complaining of torture in the country have brought their case before a United Nations body in Geneva, Switzerland even as the Philippine government faces a review of its compliance with the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment and Punishment by the international human rights panel.

SEOUL: Hospitals will be allowed directly to seek foreign patients from May as part of South Korea’s efforts to become Asia’s new medical tourism hub, officials said Tuesday.

TOKYO: Japan’s economy has come through the worst of its biggest crisis since World War II, the head of the country’s top business lobby said in an interview published Tuesday.

The likelihood of the Supreme Court reversing its ruling on a formula that raised the number of party-list representatives is far-fetched, Chief Justice Reynato Puno said yesterday.

Much policy advice has been given to facilitate global finance, trade and investments to connect with the global economy. But much less to reinforce local communities and local markets where people live and want to stay if given the opportunity. Strengthening local communities in developing countries is also a means to help those who will…

MANILA, Philippines – A congresswoman from Mindanao, which supplies more than 40 percent of the country’s corn requirements, is proposing an increase in the government’s buying price for corn from P7 to P13 per kilo.

MANILA, Philippines – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) warned Southeast Asian nations to take timely action to adapt to climate change because the “business as usual” attitude of the world could result in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines experiencing combined damage equivalent to almost 7 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) every year…

MANILA, Philippines – The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) expressed optimism that this year’s target growth rate of 3.1 to 4.1 percent could still be attained now that there are indications that the global financial crisis is bottoming out.

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s largest labor group yesterday pushed for the granting of non-monetary benefits as a Labor Day gift for workers nationwide.

Businessmen sent a strong signal yesterday to the government on what important concerns should be addressed most to help companies reduce their operating expenses.

Local officials and community leaders have expressed alarm over a sudden increase in crime incidence and other illegal activities in Davao City which until recently was described as “the most livable city” in the country until the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) painted a different picture.