Monthly Archives: October 2009

MANILA, Philippines – The teachers’ group Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) said despite the worldwide celebration of World Teachers’ Day yesterday, teachers, especially those in public schools, are still not being fully appreciated because of their inadequate salary and benefits.

MANILA, Philippines – Business groups have expressed alarm over Malacañang’s plan to extend its declaration of a state of calamity for at least a year, with one calling it “an overkill.” The groups said the plan, if carried out, would spawn more problems like job losses and supply shortage.

MANILA, Philippines – Price controls may remain until 2010 and government is expected to have a firmer hand in rebuilding areas ravaged by “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” as Malacañang considers extending its declaration of a nationwide state of calamity for at least one year.

A majority of U.S. workplaces block access to social-networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, new survey results commissioned by consulting firm Robert Half Technology indicate. Fifty-four percent block social networks “completely,” while another 19 percent only permit it “for business purposes.”

QUEZON, Philippines, 25 April 2005 – While the world’s attention has been focused on the Indian Ocean tsunami, tens of thousands in the Philippines have been dealing with the aftermath of another natural disaster that has gone largely unnoticed. In December 2004 three typhoons hit the South Eastern province of Quezon, killing more than 2,000…

Paris (AFP): Governments worldwide should look at changes to their immigration policies with a view to offering a “new deal” to migrant workers whose skills can help spur economic recovery, said a United Nations (UN) report released on Monday.

THE Philippine economy may go through a ”slow recovery” in the third quarter, according to the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), as its composite leading economic index (LEI) slid further into negative territory. Citing a moderate decline in its LEI, the agency said the indicator slipped to negative 0.425 in the third quarter from a…

At the end of its investigative visit, the high-level fact-finding mission of the International Labor Organization did not accuse the Arroyo Administration of doing what militant labor and political groups have been claiming. The ILO probers did not say in the statement they issued on Thursday that they had found the government to have grossly…

German President Horst Koehler has voiced concern that current efforts to reform world financial systems do not go far enough. He says that trade unions need to get involved.

“Presidentiables” made news doling relief goods plastered with their names and photos. The self-publicity was cheap. They used Storm Ondoy’s floods to make victims owe them debts of gratitude for “kindness”, translatable into votes. Observers had to advise that the hungry accept the aid but reject the abusers. Some called for filing of electioneering charges.…

Initially, I didn’t know where Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila was coming from when he griped against media reportage on the post-typhoon Ondoy situation. An impassioned Favila could not hide his irritation when he took a swing at media while briefing President Arroyo and other Cabinet members during the National Disaster Coordinating…

MANILA, Philippines – President Arroyo has ordered the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the Social Security System (SSS) to speed up the processing and release of loan applications of their distressed members.

The Conservative party is the only political party that can be trusted to defend the asbestos industry, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in Quebec’s asbestos mining region at the end of July.

Pro-cyclical Fiscal and/or Monetary Conditions Have Been Attached to IMF Agreements During the World Recession Washington, D.C. – A new discussion paper from the Center for Economic and Policy Research finds that 31 of 41 of countries with current International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreements have been subjected to pro-cyclical macroeconomic policies that, during the current…

Brussels, 5 October : In a statement prepared by the ITUC, Global Unions Federations and TUAC for the annual meetings of the International onetary Fund and the World Bank (Istanbul, 6-7 October), the international trade union movement urged the international financial institutions (IFIs) to put job creation at the centre of their countrystrategies and programmes,…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The US unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent in September, the highest since June 1983, as employers cut far more jobs than expected.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines ranked third in a global survey on microfinance, even topping the category on regulatory framework, a new report released by the International Finance Corp. (IFC) showed.

MANILA, Philippines – President Arroyo has ordered state pension funds to defer collecting loan repayments from its distressed members to allow them as well as the economy to recover from the devastation caused by tropical storm “Ondoy” by freeing up money for consumer spending.

THE Social Security System yesterday cut the interest rate on home repair loans to 9 percent from 13 to help members whose homes were damaged by tropical storm Ondoy.

China’s growth next year could be hit by credit strains and east Asian economies face the risk of inflation if they hold interest rates low, World Bank chief Robert Zoellick warned on Friday.

Dear Atty. Josie Lichauco, It is a great pleasure to be once more working with you in this our common objective, indeed a rare opportunity, to contribute to our country’s “democratic aspiration” in this “recent phase of human history”.

“Life is a game of chess, wrote Benjamin Franklin. Chess is life, according to Bobby Fischer. Just apply the lessons with love, patience and understanding. And passion. The whole world is the chessboard, the space that holds the chessmen, each an independent piece, but collectively interlinked in all they do. Like in real life, the…

This is how disaster management in our country has progressed through the years. Commonwealth toPost-Commonwealth Era During the Commonwealth days, two (2) executive orders were issued by the late President Manuel L. Quezon, namely, Executive Order 335 and 337. Executive Order 335 created the Civilian Emergency Administration (CEA), which was tasked primarily through the National…

MANY sections of the citizenry and media, including this paper, have expressed dissatisfaction with the way the government has handled the latest, and most devastating, physical disaster Metro Manila and its environs have suffered in 40 or more years.

IMF expresses concern over fiscal situation MANILA, Philippines – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the Philippine government should put on the breaks on its stimulus spending next year to prevent the country’s fiscal situation from deteriorating further.

THE CONVERSION of several public schools into evacuation centers for tens of thousands rendered homeless by Storm “Ondoy’s” floods should worsen the short shrift public school students have been getting from the Department of Education’s decision last August to cut class hours to five or even four hours. DepEd officials have justified the truncated class…

ANSWERING the question let me cut to the chase, and offer my answer to the question which entitles this piece. As a professional economist who has directed national sample surveys of Philippine poverty dozens of times for over two decades, I think that the current global slowdown is not worsening it, in the same way…

Can the lumbering elephant overtake the hyperactive dragon? What appeared unthinkable for decades, if not for more than half a century, may actually happen soon, perhaps as early as next year.

State-run Social Security System (SSS) cut down the interest rates of its loan window for home repairs and improvements from 13 percent to 9 percent to help members affected by tropical storm Ondoy.

PARIS (AP) — Unemployment is rising around the world as the recession leaves few corners untouched — but sharp differences remain between companies directly hit by financial or housing-market collapses and those that have deliberately protected jobs with expensive measures — including subsidizing shorter working weeks.