Monthly Archives: January 2009

About l7 months before the 2010 elections, the automation of the voting and counting process remains uncertain because the Commission on Elections, Malacañang and Congress could not get their act together to get the ambitious project going.

Trade Secretary Peter Favila said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) this year would focus on assisting those who might lose their jobs here and abroad in starting their own businesses in the country instead.

IN AN effort to secure a grant from Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the Philippines has fine-tuned six compact proposals for submission to the MCC Transaction Team prior to the MCC peer review process.

The bicameral conference committee has agreed to increase to P50 billion the P10-billion Economic Stimulus Fund proposed by the Senate in the 2009 budget, Sen. Edgardo Angara said Monday.

The influx of Filipinos securing jobs overseas does not redound to lower unemployment rate in the country after all, a report from the Philippine Migration and Development Statistical Almanac showed.

The Department of Energy expects more rollbacks in pump prices in January because of low crude costs last month.

The local automotive industry would not have to resort to asking the government for a bailout, unlike the much-troubled US auto industry, manufacturers said Monday.

Jewelry and housewares exporters have downsized their workforce by as much as 60 percent and reduced prices by whopping 50 percent to cope with the impact of the global economic woes, a survey revealed.

How does one handle stress coming from a bossy employer, a philandering husband or unhappiness with life? Here’s what I’ve learned so far.

Make 2009 the year to go from good health to great. It’s easier than you think. “The trick is to make small adjustments and let them add up,” says David Katz, MD, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University. Check out the list of 52 specific, doable mini-changes in this article, then try…

When will our Congressmen start doing something right? When will they do something that will convince us that they truly represent our best interests and not just their own?

Investments at the Clark Freeport Zone are expected to reach $3 billion by 2010, Clark Development Corp. (CDC) president Benigno N. Ricafort said.

In a move to steer students away from substandard schools and so-called “diploma mills,” the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), in partnership with the Professional Regulation Commission, will publish the performance of colleges and universities in PRC licensure examinations.

The National Book Development Board (NBDB) said it is not empowered by law to regulate the quality of textbooks used in public schools.

The pews are filled but the offering boxes are not. Apparently, an increase in the number of churchgoers does not necessarily mean an increase in Mass collections.

Filipina Muslims protest Israel’s assault on Gaza Strip in front of the Israel Embassy in Makati City yesterday.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) yesterday reported that at least 1,000 more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have lost their jobs in Taiwan and other countries due to the global financial crisis.

A government bailout for the Big Three US automakers, the world’s leading carmaker Toyota suffering its first loss in 70 years, and weak sales in the European market. With big players in mature markets in trouble as a result of the slowdown in the world economy, is the Philippine auto industry not far behind?

Close to 18,500 hectares of logged over areas have been identified for the first phase of the $1-billion food security program between the government and corporate giants San Miguel Corp. (SMC) and the Kuok Group.

Amid the growing number of workers displaced due to the global economic crisis, the country’s largest labor group is providing assistance to retrenched workers

I must take a bow. In this corner’s Halu-halong hula-hula last year, my batting average was, hold your breath, 90 percent. Not bad, ‘no, considering that all I did, as usual, was consult my Crystal Bola-Bola and my wornout Tararat Cards. Didn’t I, as usual, put to shame such high-profile showbiz manghuhula as Madame Uling,…

The government expects the country’s consolidated public sector position to incur a deficit of P74.3 billion for 2009, a marked turnaround from its previous projection of a P25.4-billion surplus for this year.

Corn growers said the country can attain self-sufficiency in corn this year if the government provides policy support to encourage local corn farmers to continue increasing their productivity.

The National Biofuels Board (NBB) will see to it that the government’s policy on biofuels will be carried out as scheduled, a top energy official said.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the country’s balance of payments (BPO) would fall below the projected $2.3-billion surplus this year.

The year 2008 will go down as one of the worst years in the history of capital markets. This was the year that was described as:

DUBAI (AFP) — Dubai’s rapid expansion in recent years provided jobs for millions. But the global financial meltdown has abruptly ended the dream for many people as more and more firms sack staff to cut costs.

Last November, the folks at Oxford University came out with a list of “top 10 irritating expressions” in the English language, by which I suppose they meant the English language as it’s employed in their corner of the English-speaking world, and not necessarily in what used to be the backwaters of the Bard’s dominion, in…

Good news for displaced overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Taiwan.

Privately held businesses (PHB) in the Philippines ranked third in the optimism/pessimism barometer for the next 12 months of international group Grant Thornton, although the country’s rating slipped to 65 percent.