Monthly Archives: March 2009

These are extraordinary circumstances. These times require extraordinary efforts, measures, determination, and will. 1.TUCP believes that the cheapest, quickest form of pump-priming would be a decision on a January 1, 2008 effectivity of the 2008 tax exemptions law. The mechanism is in place. The administrative cost would be least. There would be immediate direct effects…

NATIONAL TRADE UNION FORUM ON ASBESTOS BAN CAMPAIGN Quezon City, 05 March 2009 JOINT COMMUNIQUÉ PREAMBLE We, national centers/unions, federations and Global Union Federation (GUF) affiliates representing the labor sector, believe that Filipino workers should enjoy full protection, including safe and healthful working conditions, afforded by the Philippine Constitution and the Labor Code, so they…

MANILA, Philippines – Investors’ appetite for government debt papers improved as seen during yesterday’s auction.

MANILA, Philippines—Filipino migrant groups in New Zealand have launched online petitions calling on the Wellington government to review a new ruling that automatically denies registration to Filipino nurses who obtained their degrees in the Philippines in less than four years.

MANILA, Philippines – Cotabato Rep. Emmylou Talino-Mendoza warned the nation yesterday of a corn shortage unless it boosts production and research on the second staple food of a large number of Filipinos.

NEW DELHI, India — The American professor nicknamed “Dr. Doom” for forecasting the financial crisis has said the global recession will last all of this year and probably next, India’s Mail Today reported Saturday.

MEMBERS of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) will enjoy increased subsidies for hospitalization fees and professional charges of physicians for confinements starting May 1 this year.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said he could not assure Americans the recession-mired U.S. economy would start growing again later this year, The New York Times said on Saturday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The IMF gave itself a scathing review for its mistakes in spotting the roots of the global crisis and acknowledged it fell short in its job as the world’s global financial overseer.

SINGAPORE (AFP) – Asian governments need to roll out fresh stimulus measures to stop their economies from sinking further as the region reels from collapsing exports, regional analysts said.

NEW YORK – Every day this week arrived with more evidence that energy usage is unlikely to bounce back soon, yet some experts believe oil prices may already have struck bottom.

WASHINGTON, March 8, 2009 (AFP) – The International Monetary Fund called Friday for governments to take further stimulus measures to counter a severe global economic slump it sees extending into 2010.

MANILA, Philippines – The economy, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP) may grow by just three percent this year from 4.6 percent in 2008, according to the latest study on the Philippines by Barclays Capital.

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has issued landmark guidelines formalizing electronic money transactions — the first of its kind of electronic innovation in the world.

MANILA, Philippines – The Quezon City government and the Federacion International De Abogadas (FIDA) recently signed an agreement to provide legal assistance to the city’s urban poor, especially those who are victims of gender-related violence.

Philippine society already accords high status to women. But many of them in the marginalized sector still undeniably need the protection and access to resources that will help them achieve their fullest potential as a human person. This is precisely the objective of the 1979 UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination…

MANILA, Philippines – The Arroyo administration has increased by P1 billion the funding for the emergency employment program to provide more jobs for poor citizens, Malacañang reported yesterday.

Catholic bishops are divided on what automation system should be adopted for the 2010 national polls, with one bloc preferring the position of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and the other bloc lobbying for the open election system (OES).

MANILA, Philippines – On the occasion of International Women’s Day yesterday, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) called on the government to improve protection of women’s rights and related programs in the country.

While the economic downturn has definitely hurt the country’s IT sector, several industry players are optimistic that opportunities still abound and that recovery will happen by 2010.

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Another calamitous jobs report and other bleak data suggest further pain ahead for the recession-battered US economy, and may push back a recovery from the worst slump in decades, analysts say.

Malacañang declared that there is no turning back on the full automation of the 2010 elections, as President Gloria Arroyo waits for the P11.3-billion supplemental budget for poll automation law to reach her desk.

SINGAPORE: Asian governments need to roll out fresh stimulus measures to stop their economies from sinking further as the region reels from collapsing exports, regional analysts said.

CONGRESS will invoke its oversight powers to stop private schools from unduly increasing tuition at this time of crisis, an official said yesterday.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (AP) – The research firm IDC said Thursday that worldwide personal computer shipments fell 1.9 percent during the fourth quarter and projected an 8 percent drop in the first half of the year.

BUTUAN CITY, Philippines – Two still unidentified gunmen shot dxCC Radio Mindanao Network broadcaster Nilo Labares late Thursday night, the latest in a series of media figures targeted, according to police.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. unemployment rate rose to a 25-year high of 8.1 percent in February as employers, buckling under the strain of a severe recession, axed 651,000 jobs, government data showed on Friday.

MANILA, Philippines – Six of the largest military hospitals in Saudi Arabia are in need of more than 4,000 healthcare professionals, technicians and medical personnel, making it the biggest market for overseas Filipino workers, a recruitment leader said yesterday.

WHILE some companies in South Korea are replacing Filipinos with local workers to cut labor cost, this is the exception rather than the rule, South Korean Ambassador Choi Joong Kyung said yesterday.

CEBU, Philippines – To help ease the impact of climate change, Cebu City Councilor Nestor Archival wants to include the school curriculums a subject on environment.