Monthly Archives: December 2009

MANILA, Philippines – National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Roberto Rosales said among the Metro Manila police’s accomplishments he is proud of is the neutralization of the Alvin Flores robbery gang and 219 other crime gangs in 2009, but said he is still not satisfied and vowed to do more next year.

MANILA, Philippines – Thousands of jobs await highly skilled Filipino workers in Australia next year, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque announced yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – Seventy-nine members, or nearly one-third of the House of Representatives, are “graduating” from Congress on June 30, 2010 after the May elections.

Contact center executives concerned that a recovering economy may force up wages and benefit costs and staff turnover thanks to competition for labor from other employers need not worry about it.

FAMILY FACTOR: The Expat Explorer survey of HSBC was conducted last February to April among respondents from the US, Europe and elsewhere who have lived in more than two dozen countries and on four continents.

New leader to balance  present with  past MANILA, Philippines – In the aftermath of Ondoy’s devastation and amid the continuing fallout from the global economic decline, a vast majority of Filipinos—86%, according to a Pulse Asia survey—are entering 2010 with hope, much more than those who said they were optimistic about 2009.  

MANILA, Philippines – In a flurry of international recognition for the Philippines, two prestigious publications, CNN Traveller and Asia Spa, add three more accolades to the country.

THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has pushed back the implementation of two international standards aimed at strengthening the risk management of commercial and universal lenders.

THE governments of the Philippines and the Syrian Arab Republic forged economic agreements last month, including one that would boost micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the Department of Trade and Industry said.

TOKYO: Worries mounted Friday that Japan’s economic recovery is running out of steam as data showed the jobless rate rising and deflation continuing to hobble the World’s No. 2 economy.

THE capital of the country’s banks improved nine months after the Lehman Brothers collapse, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet: In an effort to strengthen the coffee industry in the Cordillera Region considering natives here are coffee lovers, some concern sectors are pushing for its development and the need for its sustainability. Brewed coffee as they say is good source of anti-oxidants, it also warm human bodies especially now that December breeze…

ADMINISTRATION party’s standard-bearer, Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro, has said that overhauling the health-care system of the country could help stop the migration of medical professionals to other countries.

Saying that there seems to be an influx of party-list groups gearing to win a seat in the House of Representatives, a high-ranking official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said that the poll body might only approve one-third of the total number of party-list petitioners. Comelec Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer said that there might only…

CEBU, Philippines – Lack of safety measures has been blamed on the firecracker blaze that killed at least three people – including two children – and injured six others in Mandaue City on Christmas Eve.  

GENERAL SANTOS CITY , Philippines  – The local tuna industry, in limbo over the last couple of months, is in for harder times following a ban imposed by the Western and Central Pacific Commission (WCPC) on all fishing operations in the high seas, or beyond the 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EZZ), beginning January next…

MANILA, Philippines – The acquisition of more than P2 million worth of access cards for cheap rice for the poor during the food crisis last year was unnecessary and the funds could have just been used to directly purchase the staple, a Commission on Audit (COA) report stated.

MANILA, Philippines – Only a third of the 306 party-list groups that filed for candidacy in the 2010 elections can actually run, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said.

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino nationals transiting through New Zealand en route to other destinations are now exempted from securing transit visas, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate has approved on second reading the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons that would mandate local governments to have specific programs for people with disabilities.

For a freshly graduated mining engineer, circa 1969, the Jeffrey asbestos mine in Asbestos, Que., offered Bernard Coulombe one of those exceptional – and irresistible – career opportunities.

Congress has a special gift for “senior citizens” this Christmas —exemption from the 12-percent value-added tax on their purchase of goods and services.

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — The number of complaints filed by workers here regarding pay and other forms of compensation in 2009 more than doubled compared to last year, an official of the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) local office said.

But controversial sponsor system stays KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait—The Kuwaiti parliament passed a new labor law on Wednesday that grants better rights and conditions for the 2.3 million foreign workers but does not scrap the controversial sponsor system.

HSBC: Investors scouting for low-carbon ventures MANILA, Philippines—Asia-Pacific nations reported better results than the United States when it came to providing goods, products and services that helped in easing the impact of climate change, according to a financial metric pioneered by British banking giant HSBC.

DAVAO CITY – Communist guerrillas allegedly killed more civilians than soldiers in Southern Mindanao, which is composed of the Davao provinces and Compostela Valley, in 2009, the military said in a report released Friday.

Many countries are now opting for nuclear power to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and address global warming. Will the Philippines follow suit?

MANILA, Philippines – The number of Filipino skilled workers hired in Dubai and other cities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) slightly dropped this year due to the prevailing financial crisis.

Three people were killed in a fire that gutted 15 stores selling pyrotechnics at the Oval Plaza here shortly before dawn yesterday as Christendom was celebrating Christmas.

WASHINGTON – HOUSEHOLDS pushed their savings rate to the highest level in more than 15 years in May as a big boost in incomes from the government’s stimulus programme was devoted more to bolstering nest eggs than increased spending.