Monthly Archives: May 2009

You have that friend who sweats it out endlessly, trying one diet fad after another in an attempt to shed off unwanted fat. Yet, results are less than stellar.

The House of Representatives approved on third and final reading on Tuesday night the investments and incentives code of the Philippines, which consolidates the country’s scattered investments and incentives statutes.

WASHINGTON, D.C.: President Barack Obama, decrying “egregious” tax abuses, announced Monday (Tuesday in Manila) savings of $210 billion by squeezing offshore havens and US firms’ ability to profit from outsourcing jobs.

MANILA, Philippines—The Bureau of Internal Revenue believes that several corporate taxpayers have been dodging payments of their tax obligations.

TRAVEL agents slammed Philippine Airlines’ cheap fares yesterday, saying those threatened an industry already reeling from a slowdown in travel as a result of the economic crisis and the swine flu that has spread from Mexico to other countries.

CEBU CITY – Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said unemployment in the country was slowly starting to ease as companies have started to hire workers.

Newspaper section: NewsProper and timely intervention, including efficient water management, is needed to help ease the impact of climate change on the farming sector, a recent study says.

The head of the US central bank, Ben Bernanke, has said he expects the recession to end this year unless there is a major financial setback.

MANILA, Philippines – All through history, the healing benefits of green foods have been recognized. People and animals have survived primarily on grasses and green plants when diseases strike. The benefits of various green foods seem related to their chlorophyll content. In 1911, the so-called green plants or green foods were discovered to have a…

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines will remain in the Watch List of the US Trade Repre-sentative (USTR) office because the US said that the government failed to put a true deterrent mechanism to prevent people from infringing Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine banks reported a 34.1-percent decline in net income in 2008 as the industry suffered huge losses in non-interest income.

MANILA, Philippines – The average rate of the 91-day Treasury bill (T-bill) dipped slightly to 4.276 percent from the previous rate of 4.287 percent at yesterday’s T-bill auction as investors’ stayed on the sidelines awaiting the release of the April inflation rate.

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — Some 300 lawyers will simultaneously file a string of cases against government agencies in courts nationwide on June 5, World Environment Day, for their alleged failure to strictly implement 300 environment laws.

MANILA, Philippines – Oil firms announced last night they would roll back the prices of gas by P1.50 per liter and diesel by 25 centavos per liter effective today.

MANILA, Philippines – Don’t be afraid of nuclear energy. Even the Pope favors its use.

But local financial system still healthy, says BSP   LOCAL banks took a bath last year, but emerged otherwise unscathed from the worst crisis to hit global lenders, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).In its report on the Philippine Financial System for the second semester of 2008, the BSP said the country’s financial…

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago wants the Department of Health (DOH) to conduct studies on the chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) disease and the number of Filipinos suffering from it.

The country’s hotel industry has not been spared from the effects of the global economic crisis as less people stay in hotels and serviced residences to make the most out of their hard-earned money.

Filipino woman overseas workers about to be deployed to the Middle East are being discouraged from sexual activity at least two months prior to their departure as they could be sent home upon arrival if found to be pregnant.

The Arroyo administration failed to convince the United Nations (UN) that it is doing its utmost to stop torture and protect the human rights of its citizen as the world body concludes a conference to assess the progress of its members in observing provisions to protect human rights, primarily commitments against the use of physical…

MANILA, Philippines—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s two-day visit to Egypt has yielded at least $1.2 billion worth of investments.

MANILA, Philippines—The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines continues to work on the strengthening of the country’s intellectual property environment, in a bid to be removed from the United States Trade Representative’s Special 301 Report Watch List.

MANILA, Philippines–The Philippines is set to become the next headquarters for Telecentre.org, a five-year international social investment program that assists in the establishment of multimedia telecommunications centers in developing countries.

NUSA DUA (AFP) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) called Monday for a fundamental “rebalancing” of regional economies in response to the global crisis, while predicting a “mild recovery” next year.

The World Health Organization says countries must not lower their guard in the response to the swine flu outbreak.

EU economies will contract by 4% in 2009, the European Commission has forecast – more than twice what it predicted at the start of the year.

(This is part of Take Charge of Your Money, a partnership between INQUIRER.net and Citibank to help readers handle their personal finances well.)

MANILA, Philippines – Despite the global financial crisis and the massive layoffs in the country, more workers are still buying their own homes.

A disturbing trend in our society today is the increasing number of litigations. Records show that courts and government agencies vested with quasi-judicial functions are swamped with numerous civil, criminal, political, labor, administrative, and a potpourri of other cases arising from legal conflicts and clashes of rights.

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) will not be able to implement the two-year pre-university level system for academic year 2009-2010.