Monthly Archives: June 2010

“Fantastic” corporate earnings in the Philippines will drive stock valuations back toward levels in December, when multiples touched the highest in almost two years, according to ATR KimEng Asset Management Inc.

AFTER crossing swords with the Catholic Church over condoms, Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral is ruffling religious feathers again with a move to introduce sex education in schools.

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATE) – Health secretary Esperanza Cabral said sex education should be taught as early as kindergarten, and not when a teen is already pregnant.

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said that it has been alerted by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) of some 253 “low performing” nursing schools in the country based on their graduates’ performance in the PRC nursing licensure examinations for 2009.

MANILA, Philippines—The International Labour Organization (ILO) head in the Philippines hopes that the next administration would focus on creating policies that will strengthen domestic employment in the country, so that overseas work will no longer be a necessity, but not an option.

SINGAPORE – India, Indonesia and the Philippines have Asia’s most inefficient bureaucracies, with red tape a constant blight to citizens and deterrent to foreign investment, a survey said Wednesday. Regional financial centres Singapore and Hong Kong have the most efficient bureaucracies, according to the survey of expatriate business executives by the Political and Economic Risk…

MANILA, Philippines—Filipino consumers are spending more than P75 billion a year on food and herbal supplements, which the health department said do not have therapeutic effects and, worse, may have “harmful side-effects.”

SINGAPORE—India, Indonesia and the Philippines have Asia’s most inefficient bureaucracies, with red tape a constant blight to citizens and deterrent to foreign investment, a survey said on Wednesday.

ENVIRONMENT Secretary Horacio Ramos stressed the need to reform the country’s land-administration system to help boost the country’s socioeconomic development.

FIRMS have pledged roughly two-thirds more investments to the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) as of end-May versus year-ago levels, data released yesterday showed. Planned investments in economic zones amounted to P46.349 billion in the first five months, up 67.8% from the same period last year but slower than the 111% increase recorded as of…

THE business-process outsourcing (BPO) industry is expected to meet its 26-percent growth target this year despite concerns generated by a proposed US bill seeking to tax heavily US companies that engage in outsourcing, the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) said on Wednesday.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the timing and amount of wage increase is crucial to revisiting its baseline inflation forecast for this year and 2011.

While going abroad to work is generally believed to bring financial blessings, at least 60 percent of families of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) remain poor, Catholic Church officials said on Wednesday.

A Commission on Elections (Comelec) official came under fire on Wednesday after it was discovered that he had “blanket authority” to control issuance of computer flash (CF) cards and card burners, two features of the country’s first automated elections held on May 10.

MANILA, Philippines – Only a few private elementary and high schools have raised tuition fees for school year 2010-11.

This is another case illustrating that a final decision can no longer be modified. This is the case of Lito who was hired as technical salesman by a company engaged in the distribution of various chemicals from foreign suppliers (MTI). After more than six years of employment, MTI terminated Lito’s services on July 15, 1997.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines rose to 39th place (four notches from its previous ranking of 43rd) in the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2010 of the Switzerland-based IMD World Competitiveness Center (WCC).

MANILA, Philippines – Monetary authorities are awaiting the decision of the regional wage boards on the amount of salary increase that would be approved to be able to assess its impact on consumer prices, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – Investments in the electronics industry are expected to exceed $1 billion this year with January to May investments hitting $418.53 million.

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THE National Wages and Productivity Commission’s may decide on the petitions to raise the minimum daily pay as early as this week.

Driven by corporate desires to save money and improve efficiencies, Forrester Research is predicting the green IT services market will grow 60 percent per year into 2013, when it will peak at $4.8 billion before leveling off. More enterprises are investigating hiring IT services firms to help plan and implement green IT initiatives, and while…

While the politicians grab at each others’ throats to take credit for (or take credit from) the economic results, the truth is that the government may have very little to do with economic activity outside of the broad framework of regulation and incentives.

MALACAÑANG’S announcement of a wage increase—possibly “within the week”—appears to be premature because the regional wage boards are still holding consultations and deliberations on whether they will approve one.

MANILA, Philippines – A much-sought-after facility for call center and English proficiency programs in Quezon City is offering Free Basic English Training (FBEST) to job applicants.

The year’s International Labour Conference will see the second, and final discussion on the development of a labour standard on HIV/AIDS and the world of work. If adopted, the recommendation will be the first international human rights instrument on AIDS in the workplace. ILO Online spoke to ILO/AIDS Director, Dr. Sophia Kisting about the Recommendation.

FIRMS in economic zones continued to post growth in export sales and employment as of April, data released yesterday showed.

Despite the higher growth rates forecast for the region, the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) reminded developing member-countries (DMCs) like the Philippines of the importance of fiscal prudence after the global economic crisis.

BUSINESS LEADERS want Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) ministers meeting in Japan this week to move a long-planned regional trade deal forward. Efforts towards open and fair trade in the 21-nation group are needed to keep up the “changing nature of modern… regional supply chains,” the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) said in a statement yesterday.

PUBLIC and private economic zones in different parts of the country reported a combined 42.88-percent increase in export earnings in the first four months of the year to $12.69 billion.