Monthly Archives: November 2011

BRUSSELS – The Philippines is bent on preventing at all costs a decision by the European Union (EU) to withdraw certification rights for over 240,000 Filipino seafarers from vessels registered in any EU member state if it feels the level of training and non-compliance issues are still not addressed by the country.

MANILA, Philippines – Contractual workers can now look forward to enjoying security of tenure and other benefits that are provided to regular workers. Amid widespread contractualization of the labor force, the government is implementing a new policy that would provide better working conditions and protection for contractual workers.

A fundamental understanding of the euro debt crisis can be appreciated better if its historical background is told. Then, the euro is examined as an economic experiment in institution-building.

Local plywood makers warned of more job losses if the influx of smuggled and substandard plywood from China continues unabated.

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) rescued at least six Aeta children and filed charges of human trafficking and violation of anti-child labor law against the owner of a junk shop who recruited and allegedly maltreated the children.

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares have been subpoenaed to explain before a congressional inquiry their alleged deceptive efforts to impose additional requirements on taxpayers.

MANILA, Philippines—After receiving many complaints, the Department of Labor and Employment is turning the spotlight on the plight of security guards who are not paid the required minimum wage and whose rights are often violated, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said Wednesday.

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Education has called on schools nationwide to integrate human rights lessons in classes and other school activities as the country marks National Human Rights Consciousness Week.

MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATED 10:10 P.M.) Health Secretary Enrique Ona has expressed alarm over the spikes in new HIV cases among Filipinos as the department prepared for World AIDS Day’s observance on Thursday, December 1.

THE Family Planning Organization of the Philippines (FPOP) Iloilo chapter raised the alert level against the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Aids) cases in Western Visayas.

RESULTS of a 2010 survey showed that about 1.9 million Filipino children aged 5 to 17, or 6.3% of the population in this age range, were working. More than a third of the working children belonged to the lowest per capita income bracket, according to the National Statistics Office report on the Annual Poverty Indicators…

The Philippine economy registered a moderate growth of 3.2 percent in the third quarter of 2011, supported mainly by the growth in the services sector. Considering the 3.4 percent contraction in net primary income, the growth of the Philippine’s gross national income was slower at 1.6 percent.

Aquino administration shrugs off sluggish growth brought about by weak public spending and declining exports THE economy slowed for the third consecutive quarter in the quarter through September, to 3.2 percent from 7.3-percent last year, dragged down by declining exports, weak public spending and low agriculture output due to typhoon Pedring.

BRUSSELS – The European Union’s decision on whether the Philippines is complying with the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) is expected to come out next month, with an unfavorable outcome seen to stop shipping firms from hiring Filipino seamen.

PHILIPPINE economic growth fell sharply in the third quarter because of an export slowdown and the delayed implementation of the government’s public-private partnership scheme.

THERE has been a pervading assumption that life in the big city would give Filipinos in the rural areas greater access to basic services, better education, economic development and livelihood opportunities.

DURBAN, South Africa: Storms and droughts that have unleashed dangerous surges in food prices could be a “grim foretaste” of what lies ahead when climate change bites more deeply, Oxfam said on Monday.

Bus drivers will soon start having their own basic salary, in a bid to prevent them from trying to outrace each other to pick up passengers, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said.

Growth slowed to a dismal 3.2 percent in the third quarter that returned the Philippines to its familar role as a laggard in Southeast Asia, having one of the worst economic performances in the region for the quarter and all the result of poor management of the budget.

With Christmas just around the corner and with the end of the year fast approaching, most companies are now computing employee bonuses, if not already distributing bonuses to employees.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines have agreed to water down the Save the Industries Act bill lodged before the US Congress by reducing the garment categories to nine instead of 17.

MANILA, Philippines – The shutdown of the automotive local industry will lower the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2.35 percent and will reduce spending by P6.96 billion, a study made by the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) showed.

MANILA, Philippines – The number of companies planning to expand their operations in the first quarter of next year remained steady amid the uncertainties brought about by the fragile economic recovery in advanced countries led by the US and the debt crisis in Europe, a Central Bank survey showed.

More than half of Filipinos travel for pleasure or vacation last year, according to the National Statistics Office (NSO).

Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) administrator Carmelita Dimzon reported that her office filed administrative cases against 24 officers and personnel for failure to remit collections and to liquidate their cash advances amounting to more than P50 million.

Filipino seafarers working in various international shipping vessels are expected to reach 400,000 at the end of the year, the Philippines’ envoy to London said but lamented of their continuous exposure to incessant kidnap-for-ransom activities by pirates off African waters, one of the world’ major trading routes.

LEFTIST lawmakers will today file a bill prohibiting the assignment of military or para-military forces to law-enforcement duties in areas under labor or agrarian dispute to avoid a repeat of the 2004 massacre in Hacienda Luisita, the sprawling plantation owned by the family of President Benigno Aquino III.

Senator notes European criticism of President Aquino’s vindictiveness in prosecuting his predecessor SENATOR Miriam Defensor Santiago on Sunday scolded Malacañang and its supporters for their arrogance toward the Supreme Court, saying they were damaging democracy in their rush to prosecute former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Over the past several years, a quiet revolution has been reshaping the call center business MANILA: Americans calling the customer service lines of their airlines, phone companies and banks are now more likely to speak to agents named Mark in Manila than people named Bharat in Bangalore.

MANILA, Philippines – As the Philippines prepares to mark World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, an administration lawmaker is urging regulators to check whether insurance firms doing business in the country have been complying with a law that bars them from excluding HIV-positive Filipinos from health, accident and life coverage services.