Monthly Archives: January 2009

Local businessmen expect a further drop in exports while profitability and sales of firms will be lower this year as the full effects of the global financial crisis hit the business sector this year.

They call it creative accounting which just means that certain bonuses or payments to officers of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) are hidden as discretionary or miscellaneous expenses. In the AFP, PNP and SSS, they are charged to intelligence funds, no receipts necessary.

Due to pervasive corruption and weak enforcement of business rules and property rights, on top of a weak judiciary, the country continues to suffer as among the least economically free country in the world, according to US conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation.

Thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in United Arab Emirates (UAE) are likely to return home soon not because of the economic crisis but due to the new immigration policy in UAE, the Department of Labor and Employment reported yesterday.

Overseas Filipino workers trooped to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) main office in Manila yesterday to protest the ban in the “direct hiring” of OFWs in Hong Kong.

Somali pirates have freed all 21 Filipino crewmembers of a ship hijacked off Somalia three months ago, the government said yesterday.

For 17 straight years, Sen. Joker Arroyo has remained the undisputed “Scrooge of Congress” for being the thriftiest, most frugal, tight-fisted, penny-pinching lawmaker.

WASHINGTON – A number of problems including corruption and the breakdown of peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front are inhibiting the return of full democracy to the Philippines, said the US-based non-government organization Freedom House.

Vice President Noli de Castro is still the choice of most Filipinos to succeed President Arroyo in 2010, results of a recent survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

Benguet Corp. has suspended all activities in its Kingking copper-gold project in Pantukan, Compostela Valley.

The country’s export earnings tumbled 11.9 percent to $3.494 billion last November, the lowest level in 34 months, as the global economic crisis cut orders for Philippine shipments of electronics and other major products.

BASEL, Switzerland (AFP) — The global economy will slow sharply this year before posting a “significant pick up” in 2010, the Group of 10’s central bankers said Monday.

Business profitability, exports, turnover seen to drop this year Local business leaders said profitability, exports and turnovers will drop this year as the country feels the full effects of the global financial crisis, a report said yesterday.

Until 2003, Filipino families were spending less on food and more on house rental and transportation and communication, according to a survey conducted by the National Statistical Coordination Board.

The Philippines’ ranking in global economic freedom fell 12 notches and found the country “mostly unfree,” because of alleged corruption in the government and a weak judicial system, a US-based think tank said Tuesday.

A NONGOVERNMENT organization (NGO) called on the Arroyo administration to set aside its political agenda and reorient the Philippine economy in preparation for the worst global financial crisis in decades.

FIFTEEN companies operating in economic zones nationwide laid off workers last year, according to state-run Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA).

PLANHOLDERS should brace for hard times ahead, as preneed companies admitted hefty losses due to the global financial crisis.

MANY privately held businesses expect 2009 to be worse than last year, as they brace for the full effects of the global financial crisis, according to Grant Thornton International Business Report 2009.

The majority of patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) leading to heart attack and stroke do not receive appropriate treatment for various reasons.

I am sure that upon the resumption of Congress on Jan. 19, there will be renewed efforts by contraception advocates to push for the Reproductive Health and Population Development Act of 2008, which in effect would institutionalize contraception to control the booming population. Advocates claim this is responsible for poverty in the country.

MANILA — A novel cash incentive program for the Philippines poor is helping keep children in primary school, but not preventing them dropping out of high school, according to a study released Tuesday. The food-for-education subsidy started just over a year ago and gives 300 pesos (US$6.30) a month to children aged between six and…

A truck helper was pinned to death when a truck backed into him as he was transferring several cans of cooking oil into another truck at the compound of an oil manufacturing firm in Malabon Sunday.

Japan will hire at least 1,000 nurses and caregivers in the next two years, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) reported yesterday.

Article 282 (c) of the Labor Code allows an employer to terminate the services of an employee for loss of trust and confidence. It must be shown however that the employee concerned must be holding a position of trust and confidence and there must be an act that would justify such loss. This case of…

About 9.4 million or 52 percent of Filipino families still consider themselves poor, the latest survey showed.

Foreign direct investments (FDIs) dropped by nearly 47 percent in the first 10 months of 2008, reaching only $1.418 billion from $2.653 billion during the first 10 months of 2007.

Treasury bill (T-bill) rates declined across the board during yesterday’s auction, the first T-bill auction for the year, because of easing inflation and strong liquidity in the market.

A MEMORANDUM of understanding was signed yesterday between the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and its Japanese counterpart to pave the way for 500 Filipino nurses and caregivers to undergo training and get employed in Tokyo.

State-run pension fund manager Government Service Insurance System remains an active player in the local capital market despite allotting $1 billion for global investments.