Monthly Archives: January 2009

Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) chairman Vicente Sotto III slammed the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) for criticizing the agency’s plan to subject students nationwide to random drug tests.

WASHINGTON – Intel Corp., the world’s biggest maker of computer chips, will close its manufacturing plants in the Philippines and Malaysia, as well as its only remaining factory in Silicon Valley, cutting as many as 6,000 jobs, the California-based company said in a statement yesterday.

Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMP), the country’s largest car manufacturer, announced yesterday that it recorded an all-time high sales of 45,915 units in 2008 despite the general slowdown in global consumer demand.

The economy may have grown at its slowest pace in seven years in 2008, dragged down by high inflation and the impact of the global economic downturn, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said yesterday.

Local industries are asking the government to encourage consumers to buy locally produced goods in order to help Filipino businessmen cope with the global recession.

The local recruitment industry urged the government yesterday to allow the peso to depreciate to a 55 per dollar rate to encourage the eight million Filipino workers abroad to send more money back home and boost the country’s economy.

BALANGA CITY – Two Bataan representatives have expressed support for the $1 billion rehabilitation of the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Plant Project (BNPP) in the coastal village of Morong town if the Korean firm undertaking an exhaustive feasibility study finds it safe to the residents and non-hazardous to the environment.

The state-run Government Service Insurance System said it is reviewing its planned $400-million foreign investment because of uncertainties in the international market.

Vice President and Presidential Adviser on overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) Noli de Castro said yesterday the Philippine government’s ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Jordan, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iraq and Lebanon stays.

UP TO 60,000 jobs could be lost in the country’s key electronics sector after Intel Corp. closed its plant in Cavite and Texas Instruments announced a number of layoffs, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said yesterday.

Management prerogative means the right of the employer to regulate all aspects of employment, to discipline its employees and to impose appropriate penalties on erring workers pursuant to company rules and regulations, such as suspension from work or dismissal from service. This case is about suspension and dismissal.

Intel has formally announced the impending closure of its test-and-assembly facility in General Trias, Cavite to its employees yesterday, a source said.

Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have proven to be more popular than ever among foreign employers.

The bicameral conference committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives approved yesterday the P1.415-trillion national budget for this year, including P50 billion for the “economic stimulus package.”

Twenty foreign-assisted projects have incurred P33.5 billion in cost overruns, Sen. Francis Escudero said yesterday.

It’s musical chairs again at the Palace, with President Arroyo reshuffling key posts in her Cabinet, ostensibly triggered by the request for a lighter workload from Press Secretary Jesus Dureza.

The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry needs the support of the government especially in the promotion of the country as a good offshoring destination, the Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) said.

Tokyo-based investment bank Nomura International Limited has lowered its gross domestic project (GDP) growth projection for the Philippines this year to 2.8 percent from three percent previously, due to the global financial turmoil.

Japanese investors raised concerns over the effect of market conditions on the government’s P20-billion privatization plan this year but officials said careful timing would enable finance officials to raise the target revenue.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will scale down its mineral investment target in view of the global economic slowdown.

Large export firms in Laguna have retrenched 35,000 workers and cut working hours to cope with the prevailing economic crisis, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) reported yesterday.

The Senate is mulling over the possibility of enacting a permanent rent control law, instead of merely extending the law by three years or more upon its expiration.

PRESIDENT Arroyo has reshuffled the members of her Cabinet, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said yesterday.

THE pre-need industry will show a steep deficit for 2008, with liabilities surpassing trust funds, after investment earnings took a beating from the global financial meltdown.

The economic crisis may have created challenging times for many families, but as a resourceful people, we Filipinos can still find many accessible, viable opportunities that will help provide that much-needed supplemental income. Here are some practical ways to earn extra cash and ride out the present credit crunch.

THE US recession could derail spending in the information communication and technology (ICT) sector, as telecom companies reassess business plans, according to IDC Philippines.

LOCAL mining executives said the global credit crunch has constrained funding for projects.

Not every violation of company rules and regulations may be a valid cause for dismissal. This is illustrated in this case of Mia.

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago is certainly sick.

I’ve known for a long time now that there is a gaping mismatch between what the academe produces and what industry needs. I’ve written about it many times in the past as well.