Monthly Archives: July 2009

BALER, Aurora, Philippines  – At least 1,200 farmers and fisherfolks from four central municipalities in this province would gain access to modern farming systems through information communications technology following the establishment of a P39.3-million Aurora e- (electronic) village.

MANILA, Philippines – In a continued effort to jumpstart economic activities, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) cut its policy rates by 25 points yesterday, bringing down its overnight borrowing rate to a record low of four percent and its lending rate to six percent.

World leaders at the G8 summit in Italy are negotiating a deal to limit the effects of climate change. Click on the buttons and words above to find out more about the impact of global warming.

A French nuclear expert says that the Philippines should not use the French experience to justify the reactivation of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. Yves Marignac, a consultant on nuclear and energy issues and Executive Director of the energy-information agency, WISE-Paris. wrote his remarks in a July opinion piece for Cleantech Asia Online, an opinion…

Brussels, 10 July 2009 (ITUC OnLine): The ITUC is launching today an international campaign for nuclear disarmament, in the lead-up to the critically important United Nations Review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in May 2010.  A focal point of the campaign is a petition addressed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling for strong…

A nationwide employers’ group has acknowledged that a lot of big companies are violating the labor code’s requirement for them to provide free family planning services to employees, and that the passage of the reproductive health bill would address this concern.

CEBU, Philippines – A bill that prohibits the importation, manufacture, processing, use or distribution of asbestos, which is commonly used in shipping and construction industries, has been filed in Congress last week.

Hiring rate also higher, study shows TAGUIG CITY, Philippines – Amid economic pressure and low operational expenditure from global markets, the country’s contact center business will remain robust until the end of the year, according to a study commissioned by the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP).

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Francis Escudero expressed alarm on Thursday over the increasing dropout rates in primary and secondary education levels.

Leaders of the G8 leading industrial countries have agreed to try to limit global warming to just 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial levels by 2050.

MANILA, Philippines – Nissan may introduce electric vehicles to the country after it penetrates the Japanese and United States market.

MANILA, Philippines – Automobile sales for the first half of the year went down by 2.8 percent as vehicle sales around the world continue to decline.

In the not so distant past, only prostitutes, sentries and those in the medical profession worked nights. Then suddenly there is this new culture where there is happy hour in beer joints at 6, 7 in the morning — all because of the mushrooming of call centers in the metropolis. After working the graveyard shift…

During my more than 40 years as a counselor, I have dealt with a countless gays, lesbians and their parents. I have yet to meet even one couple that from the very start welcomed the idea that perhaps their son or daughter is gay. There is always resistance and a lot of denial that it…

Worldwide economic growth is expected to recover to 2.5% in 2010, says the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

MANILA, Philippines — A broad network of migrant workers in the Asia Pacific region and in Europe on Wednesday slammed a new law in Italy which will soon criminalize undocumented migrants.

MANILA, Philippines — Close to P2 billion allocated for last year’s reproductive health programs in the country remained untapped, a health official said Wednesday.

MANILA, Philippines—Filipino workers in Hong Kong have bonded with workers from other foreign countries in pressing the Legislative Council (LegCo) of Hong Kong to include them in the law that would legislate the wage increase of workers.

THE government will no longer issue tree-cutting permits to preserve the country’s remaining forest cover, Environment Secretary Lito Atienza said yesterday.

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Change is too slow coming for the nation’s one million home care aides. In 2007, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld a 1975 federal labor regulation that defines home care aides as “companions.” That definition exempts home care employers — often for-profit agencies — from having to pay the federal minimum wage or time and a…

MANILA, Philippines—The National Competency Assessment Tool, a standardized test for aspiring business process outsourcing practitioners, is scheduled to be piloted in several schools and universities this year.

This is a response to Bea Colores’ letter which claimed that Ferdinand Gaite could not legitimately lead the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage), a national organization of government employees. (Inquirer, 6/18/09) As affiliate unions of Courage, we feel that we have the duty to answer her.

Philippine – Advocates of “Saudization” are again pushing for a cap on the hiring of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia, the biggest employer of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). Abdul Rahman Al-Qahtani, leader of the “Saudi Arabia is only for Saudis” campaign, told Arab News that the Labor Ministry should strictly enforce Article 3 of the…

BALANGA City, Bataan: The office of Rep. Albert Garcia of Bataan’s Second District has recently initiated the Information Hub, or iHub project providing 18,620 high- school students and 769 teachers maximum use of information and communications technology (ICT) and build an ICT-enabled community in 14 public high schools.

THE cargo and passenger shipping industry contracted in the first four months of the year due to the global financial crisis and the Influenza A(H1N1) scare, the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) said.

The Department of Trade and Industry told local auto parts makers to look into offering more diverse products to make the industry more competitive.

BSP says more leeway to cut interest rates CONSUMER prices in June increased at their slowest pace in over two decades due to the continued drop in the price of fuel and food, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said on Tuesday.