Monthly Archives: May 2009

MANILA, Philippines – The policy-making Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) cut policy rates by 25 basis points to 4.25 percent for the overnight borrowing rate and 6.25 percent for the overnight lending rate, BSP Governor Amando M. Te-tangco Jr. announced yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The worst is still far from over for the global air transport sector, with international traffic data for April showing a 3.1-percent decline in passenger demand and a 21.7-percent fall in cargo volume compared to the same period last year.

MANILA, Philippines – Electricity rates are likely to go down by P1 per kilowatthour (kwh) once the twin power reduction bills authored by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile are passed, the lawmaker said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines must prepare to be competitive now instead of hoping for a further delay in the full implementation of the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA), Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines may slip into a recession this year as economic growth – as measured by the gross domestic product (GDP) – inched up a mere 0.4 percent in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period in 2008, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) reported yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate approved Wednesday night Joint Resolution No. 26 seeking to increase the salaries and benefits of government employees to make them competitive with those of the private sector.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Education (DepEd) said that only a minimal number of private elementary and high schools raised tuition fees for school year 2009-2010, easing problems of a surge in migration of students from private to public schools.

MANILA, Philippines – The House of Representatives has approved the bicameral conference committee report on the proposed new rent control law.

A lawmaker warned that the country might soon face a shortage of about 20,000 to 30,000 tons of natural rubber annually as rate of replanting and new planting programs slows.

The country is three months away from a technical recession after the economy shrank by 2.3 percent in the first quarter compared with the final three months of last year due mainly to the government’s failure to deliver a massive pump-priming commitment.

PERTH, May 29 (Reuters) – Oil rose to a new six-month high above $65 a barrel on Friday, on track for its largest monthly percentage gain in more than a decade, after government data showed a surprisingly sharp drop in U.S. crude inventories and OPEC left output steady.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US consumer confidence leapt in May to an eight-month high, the Conference Board said Tuesday in a report offering fresh hopes of an end to the prolonged recession.

MANILA, Philippines – With the signing of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Renewable Energy Act, the Philippines would be able to generate up to $10 billion in fresh capital from renewable energy development projects over the next 10 years, said Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes.

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang has approved a P13 per kilo support price for yellow corn then ordered the National Food Authority (NFA) to purchase 300,000 metric tons of corn this main harvest season to encourage corn farmers to increase their production.

A United Nations official yesterday said there is an urgent need to raise awareness among Filipinos on the need to bring to “zero level” the problem of corruption which remains a serious problem in the country.

Before the end of 2009, St. Luke’s Medical Center will open the P9-billion 600-bed St. Luke’s Medical Center hospital at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

(Editor’s note: The following is the Board of Investment’s faxed letter dated May 19 but sent on May 26. We publish it in toto and unedited but minus the barely legible “graphical representation” mentioned in paragraph 11.)

The Senate has passed the measure updating and upgrading the Salary Standardization Law, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said Wednesday.

The head of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) bids committee has called for vigilance in the 2010 polls, saying “nothing is fool proof” as he oversaw the transmission testing yesterday of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines.

Private schools pursue demand for tuition hike Malacañang appealed to teachers not to push through with their planned strike on Monday, saying this would be another burden to the people.

MANILA, Philippines—With less than a year before the May 10, 2010 elections, the Commission on Elections is working on a tight schedule to procure the technology to automate the 2010 polls, as it comes to the final leg of the bidding process for the P11.2 billion automation project.

MANILA, Philippines—Saudi Arabia has released a new minimum age requirement for employment in several categories of Filipino workers to make sure they are mature enough to work in the kingdom.

MANILA, Philippines—Illegal recruiters have been “gate-crashing” job fairs and hiring job seekers on the spot, Pasay City Mayor Peewee Trinidad warned the public on Wednesday.

Speaker Prospero Nograles led some 60 lawmakers in withdrawing support for the bill pushing for the rehabilitation and opening of the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) even as the House of Representatives is set to deliberate and is expected to approve the measure on second reading this week.

MANILA, Philippines – Nursing and Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM) continue to be the top college degree courses that incoming college students prefer to take this school year, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said.

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s business process outsourcing (BPO) sector has notably been able to weather the impact of the global financial crisis, an industry survey indicated.

Following are some very funny spelling bloopers caught in local newspapers, publications and various emails. See if you can catch the errors. – From Laffaday

Johnson & Johnson Philippines continues to prove its leadership in community service not only in the country but in whole of Asia, as the company recently bagged the most coveted plums in two categories of the 2008 Asian Corporate Social Responsibility Awards.

One in every five students aged 13 to 15 is the current smoker in the Philippines, according to Dr. Agnes Segarra of teh Department of Health-National Epidemiology Center.

CEBU, Philippines – Lack of enforcement allows barangay officials to get away with the penalties for violating the Solid Waste Management Act, according to Environmental Management Bureau Solid Waste Management Division-7.