Monthly Archives: June 2010

A bilateral agreement with Taiwan is not necessary because the Philippines and Taiwan already have the Joint Economic Conference, the Trade Department said.

President Arroyo’s legacy in education can be described as unambiguous in terms of resource commitments, but less clear in terms of performance metrics. This is so for two reasons: (i) closing the educational supply/demand gap is constantly being constrained by fiscal and population-growth issues; (ii) it takes a while for improvement to show up in…

First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC), the investment house of the Metrobank Group, said the second half of 2010 will be a period of economic consolidation while 2011 will lead to a full rebound of the Philippine economy.

MANILA, Philippines – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cited the crucial role played by remittances in helping the Philippines stay afloat despite the full impact of the global financial crisis last year.

The Department of Education (DepEd) has confidently guaranteed quality education to more than 20 million public school students for the school year 2010-2011. Beneath the upbeat surface however, the team is extremely hard pressed to meet expenses, given its limited budget.      

Based on statistics published by the United Nations and the Philippine government, our education system is in serious need of reform. Throwing money though at the problem does not make a solution. There must be a comprehensive reform plan in place to address the systemic issues; if not, money spent is money wasted.

MANILA, Philippines – The government inter-agency task force handling cases of unexplained killings of media workers and political activists has sent a team of investigators to Davao to investigate recent cases of media killings in the province.

MANILA, Philippines—This year, the country’s population growth rate has been pegged at 1.9 percent.

MANILA, Philippines – A class suit against the teaching of sex education in public schools was filed yesterday by several individuals led by losing Ang Kapatiran senatorial candidate and Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines legal division chief lawyer Jo Aurea Imbong.

Former Budget Secretary and now University of the Philippines professor Benjamin Diokno has insulted the university by issuing “irresponsible” criticisms over alleged misallocation of budget by the Arroyo administration, a senior faculty member of the UP School of Economics said on Monday. During a press briefing in Malacañang, professor Gonzalo Jurado, a former mentor of…

SOLANO, Nueva Vizcaya , Philippines  – A prominent human rights lawyer here was shot dead by still unknown suspects who waylaid him in front of this town’s municipal trial court yesterday morning.

MANILA, Philippines – President Arroyo’s former professor in economics at the University of the Philippines has given her a grade of 1.0 for her poverty-reduction programs and 1.5 for her overall performance in steering the economy.

TACLOBAN — The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) central office has stepped in and assumed jurisdiction over the labor row at the Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corp. (PASAR), averting a strike at the only copper smelting and refining factory in the country.

ENVIRONMENTAL group Greenpeace yesterday called anew for an “energy revolution,” urging the Philippines and the rest of Asia to take serious steps in promoting renewable energy as doing so would boost the region’s economy and create jobs.

THE INCOMING government should initiate talks for a free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union or else risk being left behind by Southeast Asian neighbors which are negotiating similar pacts, a private think tank yesterday said.

MANILA, Philippines – This year, the country’s population growth rate has been pegged at 1.9 percent. The government needs to bring it down further to 1.3-1.4 percent for the population to stabilize, said Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral on Monday.

MANILA, Philippines – Some 17.3 million or 28 percent of Filipinos 15 years and older are smokers, according to the National Statistics Office.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Justice (DoJ) ordered all city and provincial prosecutors to follow provisions of Republic Act No. 9406 or An Act Reorganizing and Strengthening the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), which exempts its clients from the payment of docket and other fees.

Faye Ferrer talks about the day she went to an outlet of the largest and most popular drug store in the country to find out whether the staff would sell her a mercury-based thermometer. Administrative Order 21 of the Department of Health, issued in July 2008, calls for the phaseout of all mercury-containing devices by…

New voters will have a chance to register with the Commission on Elections from July 1 to 31.

PRESIDENT-ELECT Benigno Aquino III on Sunday vowed to “ascertain the facts” and review the Labor Department’s order approving the planned outsourcing of some 2,600 jobs of the money-losing Philippine Airlines, the first major labor case to test the incoming administration.

CEBU, Philippines – A libel case was filed before the Regional Trial Court against two labor union leaders who allegedly made defamatory remarks last year against the late Luis Alfonso Y. Aboitiz.

THE Arroyo administration remains hopeful that the incoming administration would consider using the controversial Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), subject to studies that would render it safe for operation.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY — The tuna industry is asking the national government to work out bilateral fishing access agreements with other tuna-rich countries since the closure of portions of the Pacific Ocean for six months now has slowed down their production.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Northern Mindanao employers and labor leaders have remained firm in their positions at the final consultation of the regional wage board on Friday.

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATE) – The former legal  officer of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines on Monday sued the Department of Education for incorporating sex education in the curriculum of elementary and high school students.

MANILA, Philippines—For many Koreans, Chinese and Iranians, going to school in the Philippines is cool, especially those who are eager to learn how to speak English.

The debate over sex education in public schools is getting sillier and sillier with every passing day. I suspect that much of the conflict has to do with the failure of both sides to come up with a common frame of reference.

AN important indicator of quality service is how employees relate to their customers. Yet it is not easy dealing with customers’ demands and often service workers need to exert extra effort in order to control their emotions and display appropriate facial expressions. The effort required is what is called “emotional labor.” Emotional labor is typically…

MANILA, Philippines—About 1,000 workers of media giant ABS-CBN decried the dismissal of their contract following their refusal to accept the company’s terms for regularization.