Monthly Archives: June 2009

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP)—Foreign maids working in Malaysia will soon get one day off a week as part of a bid to improve working conditions for domestic helpers from overseas, according to a minister.

If you think the lack of technology is the reason we don’t have more wind and solar power, think again.

Abused women or those aware of any woman experiencing domestic abuse may report to women and children’s protection desks in police stations or contact the “Aleng Pulis” hotline 0919-7777-377.

MANILA, Philippines—Business process outsourcing firms that provide specialized services are capitalizing on the economic downturn, as companies in the United States search for less expensive alternatives offshore.

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As temperature soars RIYADH, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—As summer temperatures rise across the Kingdom, building contractors in Riyadh are giving workers a three-hour break in the afternoons when the heat is at its highest, Al-Watan newspaper reported Monday.

GENEVA—Because of its exposure to natural hazards, the Philippines is one of the unsafest places on earth.

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s under-five and infant mortality rate significantly declined over the past several years, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – With congressmen preoccupied with Charter change, local and foreign business groups urged lawmakers yesterday to give priority to 12 pieces of legislation, including those that will lower power costs and provide broad access to public records.

On June 30 more than 600 lowly workers of Quedancor will be laid off — victims of the government agency’s financial mismanagement. Reason for the retrenchment: “huge operational losses.” Supposedly Quedancor has run out of funds to sustain one-third of its work force. The employees naturally are asking why they’ll be the ones punished for…

MANILA, Philippines – More employees will be hired by the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry despite the slowdown in the global economy, based on a survey conducted by the Business Process Association of the Philippines.

MANILA, Philippines – The accumulated bad loans of universal and commercial banks were unchanged in April, staying well below the four-percent pre-1997 level at 3.65 percent as banks kept discarding non-performing loans, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – University of Asia and the Pacific (UAP) professor and economist Bernardo Villegas expects the country’s economy to grow by close to six percent in the fourth quarter of this year.

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s unemployment rate slipped to 7.5 percent in April from 7.7 percent in January despite the economy shrinking at its fastest pace in two decades in the first three months of the year, the National Statistics Office (NSO) reported yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The National Government’s debt continued to pile up, increasing by 1.5 percent, or P65 billion, to P4.229 trillion as of end-March from the end-February level of P4.164 trillion, latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.

WASHINGTON, D.C.: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected Monday the United States would make a “solid” recovery from recession in mid-2010, but warned of major risks including the real-estate crisis and rising interest rates.

Despite lower headline jobless number   JOB prospects in the Philippine market hardly improved in April, according to the National Statistics Office (NSO), which reported lower unemployment numbers largely due to the government’s temporary work program.

The unemployment rate fell to 7.5 percent in April from eight percent a year ago despite a global recession, but a top economist said the latest jobs data were misleading.

The fight against the one-chamber constituent assembly to amend the Charter isn’t over as yet, despite a ruling by the Supreme Court (SC) dismissing for being premature two petitions that sought the nullification of moves in the House of Representatives to convene a con-ass in revising the 1987 Constitution.

The US economy should emerge from recession by the late summer, according to economists from some of the country’s top banks.

Despite the progress of the global fight against child labor, the economic crisis still threatens to increase the number of child laborers, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said Monday. In its report titled “Give Girls a Chance: Tackling child labor, a key to the future,” the ILO said girls in particular are in danger of…

The United Nations (UN) has again flayed the Arroyo administration’s dismal human rights record after the UN Committee against Torture (UNCAT) expressed grave concern at the “routine and widespread use of torture” in the country and the “climate of impunity for perpetrators of acts of torture, including military, police, and other state officials.”

(OTTAWA) Twenty of Canada’s foremost health, environment and labour organizations are urging Canadian Parliamentarians to heed the call to ban Canadian asbestos being brought to Ottawa by three Grade 10 students from northern British Columbia. The students – Hayley McDermid, Claire Hinchliffe and Chloe Staiger, have written a bill to end Canada’s mining and export…

The white paper on Corporate Social Responsibility, published in January 2009 by the Government of Norway is now available in English. See link below.

MANILA, Philippines—Urging more Filipinos abroad to register for the 2010 elections, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on Monday said it expects some 700,000 overseas absentee voters “to significantly influence” the outcome of next year’s presidential elections.

An unhealthy lifestyle may be to blame for the gender divide The reluctance of men to adopt a healthy lifestyle and visit the doctor may be fuelling a gender gap in cancer cases and deaths, experts say.

MANILA, Philippines—A group of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in New Zealand will try to persuade immigration officials there next month to allow OFWs laid off due to redundancy to remain in the South Pacific state so that they could find new jobs.

TODAY is the first hearing of Senate committees on Trade and Industry and Public Services on the issue of pre-paid loads of cellular phones that always seem to vanish.

Local and foreign business groups are calling on Malacañang and lawmakers to prioritize the twin power bills pending before Congress to ensure its passage.

INTERNATIONAL passenger traffic in the Philippines fell in the first three months of the year due to the global economic crisis, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) said Monday.