Monthly Archives: May 2009

There is a no need to allow foreigners to own land in the country to encourage more foreign direct investment (FDI), the Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) said.

WASHINGTON — Press freedom declined worldwide in 2008 as even once-unfettered nations such as Israel and Italy imposed new limits on media coverage, according to a report by media analysts.

MANILA, Philippines – Sales of publicly listed Filinvest Land Inc. to the expatriate Filipino community remain strong despite the global economic crisis, as FLI caters mainly to the mass housing market, its head said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – After registering a 50-percent drop in investments in the first quarter, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority expects the second quarter to be much better, with demand for the country’s products starting to pick up.

MANILA, Philippines- I wrote recently on the perverse Philippine experience wherein poverty had risen in recent years even as the economy reportedly grew at the fastest rate achieved in 30 years. The fact is, compared to the rest of the world, Asia as a region had actually translated every percentage point of economic growth into…

MANILA, Philippines – The crop of more than 900,000 college graduates of class 2009 are facing the bleak possibility of joblessness or underemployment with the government failing to provide jobs other than those in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, according to a youth party-list lawmaker.

WASHINGTON – A number of emerging democracies including the Philippines  have suffered considerable declines in press freedom over the last five years, Freedom House reported.

MANILA, Philippines- I wrote recently on the perverse Philippine experience wherein poverty had risen in recent years even as the economy reportedly grew at the fastest rate achieved in 30 years. The fact is, compared to the rest of the world, Asia as a region had actually translated every percentage point of economic growth into…

SUMMER is here. Then why is it raining hard in April? Thirty years ago, summer was always humid and dry. We all know the months of March and April are rainless while November to February are chilly months. When rain starts to pour in May, most kids are out in the streets playing and enjoying…

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.

TOKYO: Japan’s jobless rate hit a more than four-year high as deflation returned to haunt the world’s number two economy, which is reeling from its worst slump since World War II, data showed Friday.

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.

TOKYO (AFP) — Japan on Thursday reported its first increase in factory output in six months, adding to hopes of an economic recovery that the central bank said should start to take root later this year.

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…