Monthly Archives: February 2010

MANILA, Philippines – Subsidies disbursed by the government to government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) and state-owned agencies reached P17.439 billion last year, already way above the P11.3 billion programmed subsidies for the period, latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (Btr) showed.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) may recommend to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) the banning on the importation of mercury-containing products in the country.

MANILA, Philippines – Environmental organizations have lauded the unveiling of a global mechanism that would help countries, including the Philippines, address the “highly toxic” industrial chemical PCB or polychlorinated biphenyl.

MANILA, Philippines – Two of the world’s biggest nuclear power producers have expressed interest in putting up a new nuclear power facility in the Philippines, a ranking energy official said.

MANILA, Philippines – Three out of 10 Filipino adults expect their lives to improve this year, according to a recent survey by the Social Weather Stations Inc. (SWS).

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines—Gone were the days when fishing boats of the Amadeo Fishing Corp. (AFC) sailed daily to catch tuna.

Prices may be falling for mobile and broadband access across the globe, but if you want fast Internet access, it still pays to be rich.

MANILA, Philippines—The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) has assailed the Department of Finance (DoF) for asking President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to veto a provision in the proposed new Migrant Workers Act that exempts the money wired home by overseas Filipino laborers from the documentary stamp tax (DST).

MANILA, Philippines – A labor group has scored the Department of Finance (DOF) for asking President Arroyo to veto a provision in the proposed new Migrant Workers Act that exempts overseas Filipino workers’ remittances from the documentary stamp tax (DST).

INTRAVENOUS illegal drug users have been included in a campaign against the spread of HIV/AIDS in Cebu City, a health official said.

LABOR and assembler groups in the car industry are lobbying for representation in the proposed Automotive Industry Development Council.

THE Department of Energy (DOE) has resumed its lobby for the use of nuclear power amid a growing shortfall in the Philippines’ electricity supply brought about by a prolonged dry spell.

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THE Supreme Court on Monday reversed its controversial Dec. 1, 2009 ruling that allowed government executives to run for office without resigning, and instead ruled that they were considered resigned after they had filed their certificates of candidacy.

SINGAPORE will increase the levies for companies hiring foreign workers as the country attempts to depend less on overseas labor, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said Monday.

MANILA, Philippines – Nine women were reported raped each day in 2009, mostly in Metro Manila, according to Philippine National Police (PNP) statistics, Cotabato Rep. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza said yesterday.

Sales of vehicles powered by fuel cells running on hydrogen will surge over the next 10 years, according to a report released Tuesday by Pike Research.

A new study conducted by the Department of Education (DepEd) showed an alarming increase in the number of male students being sexually molested in schools.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) has created Task Force GenSan (Gen. Santos City) to facilitate the timely delivery of services and interventions for workers in the local tuna industry which is being severely affected by international fishing groups’ imposition of a two-year ban on tuna fishing.

Two months ago, I wrote about the campaign to phase out mercury-based healthcare materials like thermometers and sphygmomanometers (blood pressure taking devices) in hospitals and households. In that article entitled “Doing away with mercury”, I also talked about the Department of Health’s Administrative Order 21, issued in July 2008. The order mandated all hospitals to…

EXPORTERS are seeking the reinstatement of a “contingency list” in the 2010 Investment Priorities Plan (IPP) to allow them to recover fully from the global economic slump.

A major seafarers’ group has scored the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) for the agency’s failure to plug loopholes in maritime safety enforcement in the Philippines, saying that most of the memorandums it has issued  were meant to put the blame for the disasters on others.

Losses from ‘mild’ dry spell placed at P9B Potential losses of the agriculture sector from a prolonged dry spell are expected to increase in the coming months, according to the Department of Agriculture.

MANILA, Philippines – It is conventional wisdom to think that our competency in English gives us a clear-cut advantage in the BPO (business process outsourcing) industry. After all, English is practically our second language, so doing business with Westerners should not pose a problem at all. This kind of readiness has made us a worthy…

WASHINGTON (AP): Job creation in the U.S. is stuck on an uphill treadmill. So many jobs have been lost that the U.S. must run hard just to keep from losing more ground. Despite the election-year emphasis on job creation by both parties, the short-term outlook is bleak.

MANILA, Philippines – Operators of compressed natural gas-run buses are threatening to pull out of the Department of Energy Natural’s Gas Vehicle Program for Public Transport (NGVPPT) due to continuing negligence of the government to address the issues confronting the program.

MANILA, Philippines – The auto industry is asking the government to provide incentive packages to promote exports of vehicles, a move expected to boost local manufacturing and encourage more investments, the Chamber of Automobile Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) said.

MANILA, Philippines – An economist said the record remittances sent home by Filipinos abroad has yet to result to stronger economic growth due to reduced multiplier effect as a result of benign microeconomic environment.

MANILA, Philippines – The real lending rate in the Philippines continued to slide last year enabling the country to improve its ranking in Asia in terms of highest real lending rate, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

Still irked at having been declared persona non grata by the Davao City council, the Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (Anad) party-list and Bantay party-list Reps. Pastor “Jun” Alcover and Jovito Palparan, respectively, again hit hard at the city council members yesterday, charging that not only are council members sleeping with the enemies of the…