Monthly Archives: December 2009

MANILA, Philippines – The air quality in Metro Manila, according to data gathered by the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia), has improved in terms of the Total Suspended Particulates (TSP) level, a 15-percent reduction from 2004 to 2008. The metropolis is less dirty than the more progressive cities of Shanghai and Jakarta as…

MANILA, Philippines – Albay province takes center stage again in the climate change adaptation initiative, having been recently chosen by an international research group as a model for the study of the impact and mitigating measures against the menace of global warming.

MANILA, Philippines – The soured loans of universal and commercial banks in the country inched up 4.8 percent in October immediately after tropical storm “Ondoy” and typhoon “Pepeng” pummeled major cities and municipalities in the National Capital Region and nearby provinces.

MANILA, Philippines – President Arroyo yesterday lifted martial law in Maguindanao on the recommendation of her security officials.

PILI, Camarines Sur – Senator Loren Legarda yesterday disclosed an on-going review of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Cooperative Code of 2008 (RA 9520) intended to “further help cooperatives in the country provide better services to their members.”

Kabataan party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino is seeking a ban o the use of food containers made of styrofoam in public and private school canteens, saying styrofoam packaging produces dioxins that cause a wide range of illnesses, including male and female reproductive problems, diabetes and hormonal disorders.

MANILA, Philippines – Filipinos had better improve their their English to keep the country’s competitive edge in the global business process outsourcing industry as China is improving its people’s English-speaking skills and could emerge as a key player in the BPO business, a top official said.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) has issued a circular suspending the accreditation of erring hospitals and clinics facing administrative charges for defrauding the government agency.

MANILA, Philippines – The impact of typhoons “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” doused consumer confidence in the country as revealed by the grim economic outlook in the fourth quarter of the year and the first quarter of next year, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) deputy governor Diwa Guinigundo said.

MANILA, Philippines – The number of HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) cases in the Philippines has continued to increase over the past two years, alarming the Department of Health (DOH).

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates—With the repercussions of Dubai’s worst financial crisis still hanging thick in the air like lost secrets, life for most Filipinos working in this Middle Eastern cosmopolitan enclave goes on, their resilience hanging tough against yet another litmus test.

MANILA, Philippines – The Asian Development Bank (ADB), in a new study on poverty, warned that unless the Philippine economy is able to shift to higher growth trajectory, the country might be “stuck in a poverty trap.”

MANILA, Philippines – The policy making body of the Bangko Sentral ang Pilipinas (BSP) is dangling an incentive for rural banks to merge and consolidate.

The relatively warmer air temperature felt the past few days in Luzon is only temporary, meteorologists of the state-run Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said Sunday.

THE Supreme Court has ordered state-run National Power Corp.’s top officials to explain why they should not be held in contempt for ignoring its order to compensate 5,648 of its employees who were dismissed in 2003.

DATA showing that the profits of listed firms surged by at least 60 percent in the first nine months of the year don’t lend much confidence in near-term prospects. According to the Philippine Stock Exchange, asset sales and cost-cuts were largely responsible for the positive margins.

GreenGrowth_Web

AS the Philippines strives to attain higher growth to cut poverty and increase incomes of Filipinos, an Asian Development Bank (ADB) published study showed that the cycle of poverty will likely continue in the Philippines and prevent the country from attaining its desired economic growth in the future.

WASHINGTON – Parents who let their kids romp in the mud and eat food that has fallen on the floor could be helping to protect them against maladies like heart disease later in life, a US study showed Wednesday.

COPENHAGEN – Developing nations at the UN climate conference rejected as “insignificant” on Friday an EU pledge of 7.2 billion euros (10.6 billion dollars) to help them tackle global warming.

COMMENTARY MANILA, Philippines – What shalle we do with gold? The highly vulnerable countries like the small-island states and the Philippines are now suffering irreversible damage and irreparable injury as a result of climate change.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) yesterday urged the labor and management sectors to adjust work standards to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change not only on workers but also on business and economy.

GOVERNMENT financial institutions (GFIs) have released as much as P170.3 billion in loans for nearly 150,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) under the SULONG Program since 2004, according to SB Corp., the program’s lead convenor.

Taiwan proposes two international cooperation schemes on combating and mitigating climate change. Climate change caused by human activity-induced global warming is one of the toughest challenges the world is facing. Through more than two decades of international cooperation, Taiwan has been successfully introducing advanced policies and technologies into its environmental protection infrastructure.

FIRST, it looked like the division of the house in the ongoing UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen was clearly between the rich, developed nations and the poor, economically and industrially developing nations together with the poor, rather economically and industrially underdeveloped nations. To simplify the dichotomy:

Dear PAO, I am an employee of a private company for three years now. I would like to know if I am still entitled to a full 13th-month pay even if I will be on maternity leave for two months. Our human resource department said my benefit would be pro-rated. It is my understanding that…

The Philippines has graduated from a low-income country category to the lower middle-income country category, making it eligible for a multimillion-dollar grant from the Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC), the Department of Foreign Affairs reported Thursday.

The Department of Health (DOH) on Friday warned anew about the dangers of unprotected sex and intravenous use of illegal drug amid the alarming increase of HIV/AIDS cases in the Philippines.

MANILA, Philippines – To further uphold the rights of consumers, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is proposing changes in some provisions in the Magna Carta for Residential Electricity Consumers.