Monthly Archives: May 2009

The Customs bureau has asked the Department of Finance for a higher hazard pay and medical benefits for X-ray scanning staff exposed to radiation at the worksite.

Several years ago, this senior legislator from Cagayan led a one-man campaign against the controversial  purchased power adjustment scheme in which end-users were unreasonably  made to shoulder even the cost of excess or unused power supplied by independent power producers.   The scrapping of the scheme to ease the burden on power consumers became his campaign…

Congress has earmarked a supplemental budget of P8 billion for the rehabilitation of communities in Panay and Negros islands that were devastated by typhoon Frank on June 20 last year.

President Arroyo has ordered the Commission on Higher Education to drop the “no-payment, no-periodical examination” policy and adopt instead a “flexible, socially sensitive” tuition payment plan for all state colleges and universities.

PRESIDENT Arroyo unveiled a package of non-wage benefits for over a million state workers yesterday, including shuttle services and more scholarship programs for their children and siblings.

The Philippines ranks as the second most dangerous country for trade unionists, and opposition Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero yesterday said the government’s seeming indifference to killings of trade union leaders could trigger more attacks against them.

Leading data provider Thomson Reuters has announced plans to expand its legal content business and that is has chosen the Philippines to host its facility.

Local economy still unaffected by credit crunch MANILA, Philippines—Big Philippine banks saw a surprise downtrend in loan delinquency in the first quarter, suggesting that the local economy remained resilient so far to credit stresses that have bludgeoned financial institutions in the United States and elsewhere in the world.

While workers around the country marked Labor Day with rallies, elsewhere maritime workers opened their training center at the Cebu Ports Area of Cebu City yesterday.

To understand the rally, recognize that the GDP statistics you are reading are already out of date.

THE National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) on Friday said pump prices today should be P32 lower per liter if oil companies purchased crude in February or March.

OLONGAPO City: Some 500 members of cause-oriented groups including workers of the Hanjin Shipyard in Subic Bay Freeport Zone held a peaceful rally to celebrate Labor Day.

President Gloria Arroyo saluted the Filipino workers on the occasion of Labor Day in her speech during the turnover ceremony for the chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines on Friday.

Our local business leaders dread the coming of 2010, when our commitments to the AFTA will finally take effect. Come next year, many of our industries see an end to the good times, and see themselves struggling from all sides.

The government’s JOBapalooza ’09 job fair attracted thousands of job applicants in Metro Manila and in major cities in Mindanao on Friday. The country-wide job fair offered over 200,000 jobs in construction, business process outsourcing, engineering and overseas work. Majority were overseas jobs.

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Press freedom declined around the world last year, deteriorating for the first time in every region, according to a study released by Freedom House.

WASHINGTON, D.C.: The US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Thursday to rein in credit-card companies accused of duping and gouging consumers already hurt by the paralyzing global recession.

US tags hawker centers as ‘piracy hotspots’   THE US Trade Representative Office (USTR) has tagged Quiapo and Binondo in Manila, Greehills in San Juan, Makati Cinema Square, as well as Metrowalk in the Ortigas Business District, as “piracy hotspots.”

It was good to have met up with former Senator Ernesto Herrera just a few days from Labor Day. Herrera, a pillar of the Philippine labor movement, is the quintessential laborite. I had not seen him for a while but I was keen to hear his views in a financial crisis that has profoundly affected…

WASHINGTON – The Philippines was placed on a lower level watch list of intellectual property rights violators along with 32 other trade partners by the United States government, reports from the capital said Thursday.

MANILA, Philippines – Around 30,000 jobseekers flocked to the Labor Day job fair, said to be the biggest in history, held yesterday at the SMX Convention Center at the Mall of Asia in Pasay City, as the government announced a package of non-wage benefits for workers to help them cope with the prevailing global financial…

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines continues to be on the US Trade Representatives’ Special 301 “ordinary” watch list amid efforts to curb all forms of intellectual property piracy in the country.

Isang maalab at mainit na pagbati sa Araw ng Paggawa! Muli, sa araw na ito ating ipakita ang mahigpit na pagkakaisa ng ating hanay,  mga manggagawa sa Pilipinas at sa ibayong dagat.   Ipinapaabot rin natin ang ating pakikipagkaisa sa mga manggagawa sa buong daigdig sa dakilang araw ng pandaigdigang paggawa.

MANILA, Philippines – The government will hold a three-day job fair starting June 12, Independence Day, to help workers who lost their jobs due to the global economic crisis.

When the Supreme Court (SC) declares a law unconstitutional it is exercising its power of judicial review explicitly granted by the Constitution itself (Section 5 (2) (a) and (b) Article VIII). This does not mean judicial supremacy but merely the performance of a duty as part of the system of checks and balances (Dabuet vs.…

MANILA, Philippines – Lawmakers are seeking measures to provide workers, employers and those retrenched ample benefits and other forms of assistance in the face of the worsening global economic crisis.

MANILA, Philippines – Even the combination of monetary easing and fiscal stimulus would not be enough to fully offset the impact of a slowing global demand and declining remittances, international ratings agency Standard & Poor’s Rating said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – Only about three million Filipinos are registered as individual taxpayers with the Bureau of Internal Revenues (BIR), the Department of Finance (DOF) announced yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – Government spending on infrastructure projects is the major reason why the construction industry is growing despite the global financial crisis, the Philippine Contractors Association (PCA) said yesterday.

After a grueling day at the JOBapalooza ’09, where throngs of workers are expected to converge for the job and livelihood fairs highlighting this year’s Labor Day commemoration, a special concert is set to entertain workers and their families to cap the day’s celebration.