Monthly Archives: June 2009

But CBCP appeals for nonviolent demos vs Con-ass MANILA, Philippines—Leaders of the Catholic church are encouraging the public to hold demonstrations “in a peaceful, nonviolent way” to protest the House majority’s midnight passage of a resolution to convene a constituent assembly to amend the Constitution.

A peasant leader was killed Friday night by unidentified gunmen in Bukidnon province, the latest in a series of attacks against activists, police yesterday said.

SEVERAL tuna fisheries have collapsed and others are in steep decline as overfishing continues and world tuna stocks fall.

TORIL, Davao City: Transshipment is a relatively new phenomenon and Davao is the only place in the country where a fishery product may pass through without paying taxes on its way to auction destinations in Japan, Canada and the United States.

DAVAO CITY: Unload the chilled tuna, pack in carton boxes, put in refrigerated container vans, whisk to the international airport and from there to Manila, then fly them to Tokyo in time for the multimillion-dollar auction markets in Japan early the next morning.

TORIL: The Davao Fish Port Complex (DFPC) here, the country’s only transshipment point for tuna exports, has always been in the red.

Pornography and especially images depicting children being sexually abused and exploited are available on DVD’s under the tables of most street-side vendors in the Philippines and other Asian countries. The absence of a strong specific law that makes it illegal to make, copy, distribute or possess such materials damages the lives of thousands of children.…

MANILA, Philippines – A female neophyte lawmaker from the Buhay party-list group of Bro. Mike Velarde’s El Shaddai is the richest sectoral representative at the House of Representatives.

Net Worth: I asked Makati Mayor Jojo Binay in a forum yesterday his net worth and his prompt reply was P16 million. What was your net worth when you were appointed officer-in-charge by President Cory Aquino in 1986, I followed up, and he said P2 million.

MANILA, Philippines – Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales yesterday condemned the killing of one of the leaders of the farmer activists who walked all the way from Sumilao, Bukidnon in Mindanao to Manila in 2007 to seek justice.

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has delisted some four million voters for failing to vote in two consecutive polls in 2007 – the local and national elections in May and the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls in October.

ILLEGAL, unreported and unregulated fishing are pervasive in the high seas.

GENEVA–International labor experts on Saturday called on the Myanmar government to amend a provision in the country’s new constitution that could be interpreted as justifying forced labor.

The Arroyo government has failed to address the issue of the killings of lawyers and judges, the Hague-based Lawyers for Lawyers said on Thursday.

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s gross international reserves (GIR) reached a new record high of $39.319 billion in May as a result of government foreign borrowing and the increase in the price of gold, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

ASKING for a date through text messages could make a mayor liable for sexual harassment.

To the four Filipino youth who took home awards from the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair held in Reno, Nevada, age and economic standing is not a hindrance to success. Besting 1,563 students from 56 countries, Angeli Yap-Dy, 14, of Capiz National High School; Jovani Tomale, 16, of Davao City National High School; and…

Work sharing could be a relevant response to the global jobs crisis, according to a new ILO policy brief prepared for discussion at the International Labour Conference in Geneva from 3-19 June 2009. Work sharing policies and programmes can result in a “win-win-win” solution benefiting workers, employers and governments. ILO Online spoke with ILO working…

The deployment of Filipino nurses and caregivers to Japan is expected to pick up as the Philippine and Japan sign today a memorandum of understanding for school courses under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) on the Movement of Natural Persons, the Japanese Embassy in Manila reported Thursday.

MANILA, Philippines—The country’s rice production for the second quarter of 2009 may be 1 to 2 percent more than last year, according to Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap.

The “turf war” between the National Electrification Administration and Cooperative Development Authority over management control of thousands of electric cooperatives nationwide has reached Congress.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sounded a cautiously upbeat note on the U.S. economy on Wednesday but warned that corralling government debt was vital to ensuring the nation’s long-term health.

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga, Philippines – Filipinos ranked fourth happiest and third among the most church-going people in the world, according to the statistical website nationmaster.com.

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate has approved on third and final reading a bill seeking to provide rights and duties to homeowners and lay down guidelines on the operations of homeowners associations.

MANILA, Philippines – The dramatically changing global landscape and economic conditions have created the urgent need, and the opportunity, for GM Corp. to reinvent both the car and the company. “All of our key stakeholders — US and global governments, taxpayers, unions, employees, retirees, suppliers, partners and dealers – are playing a vital role in…

Many past actions and events in our legislative chamber aptly called the “Lower House” have jolted and shocked the public because of lack of any sane explanation. But its passage of Resolution 1109 constituting itself as a Constituent Assembly (Con Ass) to amend the Charter is the real shocker. It is by far the most…

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine government blamed the New People’s Army (NPA) for the number of unexplained killings in the country as it highlighted a report to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that such killings “have fallen dramatically by 70 percent.”

With less than three months until the final registration day for the elections set for May next year, the Commission in Elections (Comelec) and the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) are confident of being able to reach the poll body’s pegged target of one million overseas absentee voters (OAV) registrants.

United Nations Special Rapporteur to the Philippines Professor Philip Alston has blasted President Arroyo’s government for failing to put an end to extra-judicial killings.

Dear PAO, I started working for ABC Company as a probationary employee in September 2007. On my sixth month, an opportunity to work as an IT technician in the same company came, so I filed my intention to apply for the position. The management advised me to resign first then apply for the said position.…