Monthly Archives: February 2009

Although the government has allocated P100 million for a livelihood assistance fund for displaced overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to start their own business, not many OFWs want to avail themselves of this fund and become entrepreneurs.

MANILA, Philippines — A recent survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed that more Filipinos expect their quality of life to improve in the next 12 months despite the global economic crisis.

MANILA, Philippines — The bad loans of the commercial banking sector dropped slightly in November last year to 3.78 percent of their total loan portfolio – the lowest recorded ratio recorded since the 1997 financial crisis, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in a report.

MANILA, Philippines –Thousands of workers are being forced to take a leave of absence or put in shorter hours as the global recession begins to take its toll on local industries, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) said.

THE government has proposed a P30-billion package of increases in benefits to members of the Social Security System, Government Service Insurance System, Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and the Pag-IBIG Fund for housing.

HONDA Motor Co. said yesterday it was imposing a 5-percent reduction in the salaries of its managers in Japan as well as those stationed overseas to cope with sliding sales.

On the streets of Birmingham, the queen’s English is now the queens English.

Almost as soon as the Commission on Higher Education posed the question about an added year to college for nursing and education courses—at least for starters—militants (and those putting on airs of militancy) took to the streets hooting their outrage at what they claim is a travesty of their rights. In what that travesty consists,…

JOBS at the special economic zones will rise 5 percent this year despite the global financial meltdown that has forced electronics makers, the Philippines’ top exporters, to cut down on production, an official said yesterday.

KUALA LUMPUR – ASIA’S auto industry faces a dramatic slowdown in 2009 as the global financial crisis puts the brakes on sales, with Japan and Korea hit hard by weakening demand in the United States and Europe.

The Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) is keeping its bleak economic growth projection for the Philippines this year despite what it termed as a surprising gross domestic product (GDP) growth last year.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. ruled out the possibility of an economic recession, expressing optimism that private consumption would continue to support economic growth.

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Nearly 187,000 workers in the US technology sector lost their jobs last year, the highest number in five years, consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said Thursday.

A local waste and pollution watchdog yesterday urged the government to consider the creation of “green jobs” by expanding recycling programs.

Close to 50,000 jobs await returning workers displaced by the world economic crisis, the government said yesterday.

The death toll in the explosion that ripped a fireworks factory in Cavite last week rose to nine yesterday as police investigators remained clueless on what caused the blast.

TRECE MARTIRES CITY, Cavite—It was difficult for Lilibeth Doncillo to look at the wrecked site of Starmaker, two days after the firecracker factory exploded, leaving at least six people dead.

The country’s biggest labor group yesterday urged the government to make available its non-performing assets for the use of 500,000 Filipino workers who have been laid off or about to lose their jobs in the wake of the global financial crisis.

Labor Secretary Marianito Roque urged the Philippines’ Three Plus (3+) Social Partners, labor, management, government, industries, and other prominent sectors, to unite in enablinh the country ride out the global economic crisis, even as he bared that the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) has allotted some P402.852 million to urgently assist the workers displaced…

The militant center for women, Gabriela National Alliance of Women expressed concern about the rising unemployment rate among women, saying 70 percent of the laid-off workers are women in their productive years.

SANTA ANA, Cagayan, Philippines—Officials and residents of this coastal town on Friday protested the alleged environmental destruction caused by the operations of casinos at the Cagayan Special Economic Freeport Zone here.

ALL pawnshops take “anything of value” as loan collateral, as the sign says out in front. But this one pawnshop, Agencia de Empeños de Makati, goes a lot further.

THE massive job cuts being implemented by manufacturers and exporters amid the global economic crisis may lead to an increase in the number of unredeemed pawned items.

MANILA, Philippines — Workers party-list Partido ng Manggagawa on Saturday pointed out the flaws in the action plan drafted at Friday’s Multi-sectoral Conference on the Global Financial Crisis organized by the Department of Labor and Employment.

MANILA, Philippines—Eighteen Chinese nationals purportedly coming to the country to visit were actually workers bound for a construction project at the Cagayan Economic Zone Area (Ceza).

MANILA, Philippines—How will Filipinos get through hard times? They will buy more lotto tickets.

The international air transport industry is forecast to suffer a $2.5-billion loss this year based on a fuel price of $60 per barrel, a decline of three percent in passenger volumes, a drop of five percent in cargo traffic and yield deterioration of three percent.

The economy is likely to grow by 4.1 percent this year or within the government’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for the year of 3.7 percent to 4.7 percent, an economist from the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) said yesterday.

A senior administration lawmaker yesterday called on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Department of Education (DepEd) to provide children of displaced workers access to school grants that can be used to pay their tuition, even if only in part.

Two student groups launched a signature drive against the Commission on Higher Education’s (CHED) plan to include nursing among the courses it will cover in its two-year pre-university level system, which will effectively turn the four-year nursing program into a five-year course.