Monthly Archives: June 2009

MANILA, Philippines—The emergence of various types of health supplements has adversely impacted the growth of the local pharmaceutical sector, according to an industry executive.

MANILA, Philippines—The threat of job cuts abroad has prompted families of overseas Filipino workers to invest more than they used to, according to a survey by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

MANILA, Philippines – Chief Justice Reynato Puno yesterday said that with the sorry state of the nation, Filipinos have no reason to celebrate Independence Day.

MANILA, Philippines – Portfolio investments made a significant turnaround in May, with over $498 million worth of funds coming into the country compared with the $276-million net outflow in April.

MANILA, Philippines – Four Filipino students were among the winners of one of the largest pre-college science and technology research competitions in the world, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said Friday.

MANILA, Philippines – Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto is optimistic that dollar remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and an improvement in the performance of the export industry would help the country achieve the government’s latest economic growth projection for 2009.

Unite to avert eruption, says Chief Justice Filipinos should not even go through the motions of marking more than 100 years of freedom from Spanish rule if they continued to allow fragmentation rip the country apart, the Supreme Court Chief Justice said Friday.

Please allow us to respond to The Manila Times editorial on the “deficiencies” of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) published June 9, following its celebration of Migrant Workers Day last June 7.

MANILA, Philippines—Why should a big water utility bother with the financially unrewarding effort of installing drinking faucets, in a city jail, of all places?

Brussels, 12 June 2009 (ITUC OnLine): Millions of children, especially girls, risk falling out of education and into work as the impact of the world economic crisis deepens, the ITUC has warned today, the World Day Against Child Labour.

The world economy will shrink by much more than previously thought, according to the World Bank.

Filipino consumers remained pessimistic in the second quarter as result of the expected lower household income, particularly among middle and low-income families, resulting from the economic slowdown, the central bank reported Thursday.

MANILA, Philippines – A high-level mission of the International Labor Organization (ILO) is set to investigate the unexplained killings in the country.

MANILA, Philippines – Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap told herbal industry leaders that the government would help increase linkages between raw material producers and manufacturers to ensure the quality, reliability and safety of Filipino herbal products.

MANILA, Philippines – A business group has expressed support for constitutional amendments only if it would improve the country’s economic interest and to be done only after the 2010 elections.

MANILA, Philippines – Government economic managers lowered yesterday the country’s economic growth projection for 2009 to between 0.8 percent and 1.8 percent from the earlier target of between 3.1 percent and 4.1 percent on account of the larger impact of the global financial crisis.

MANILA, Philippines – Consumer confidence took a major beating in the second quarter of this year as private households saw dimming prospects for the country and for their own families over the next six months.

THE International Monetary Fund expects the economy to contract by 1 percent this year, revising its forecast of a 1-percent growth because of disappointing first-quarter numbers.

TWO major business groups yesterday said they support efforts to amend the Constitution despite mounting opposition to the latest House initiative to push changes without the Senate before the 2010 elections.

MANILA, Philippines – The herbal industry is going after $1 billion in exports by next year, according to the Chamber of Herbal Industries of the Philippines Inc. (CHIP).

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Spotlight interview with G. Rajasekaran (Malaysia – MTUC)   Brussels, 11 June 2009 (ITUC OnLine): How is the economic crisis affecting the large migrant population in Malaysia? G. Rajasekaran, general secretary of the MTUC (1), talks about trade union initiatives designed to help them. He also denounces the exploitation suffered by domestic workers, a particularly…

KUALA LUMPUR — Airline executives Tuesday expressed hope of a turnaround next year after fresh estimates showed they may lose close to US$20 billion from 2008 to 2009 due to the global economic slowdown. With oil prices threatening to rise on expectations of a U.S.-led economic turnaround, delegates to the annual meeting of the International…

The consortium of Smartmatic and Total Information Management (TIM) that won the bidding for the May 10, 2010 poll automation project has committed to complete the canvassing and counting of votes not less than two days.

MANILA, Philippines – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has “agreed in principle” to adopt the recommendation of the Philippine government for “deep, early emissions cuts” at a special sideline meeting during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bonn, Germany, Presidential Adviser on Climate Change Secretary Heherson Alvarez said.

The revived Buy Pinoy, Buy Local campaign is slowly gaining support, with the House of Representatives and the Nacionalista Party (NP) led by Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. among the first ones endorsing it.

MANILA, Philippines – Administration congressmen’s push for Charter change through a constituent assembly (Con-ass) would worsen the economy and hasten the country’s fall into recession, GlobalSource, a New York-based think-tank, warned in a report.

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate and the House of Representatives have resolved all major issues concerning the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) bill and agreed to extend the coverage for five more years plus an allocation of up to P150 billion.

MANILA, Philippines – Foreign direct investment (FDI) outflows amounted to $27 million in March, a 118-percent decline compared with inflows amounting to $149 million in the same month last year.