Monthly Archives: July 2010

In its recent meeting, the Development Budget Coordination Committee revised upward its GDP growth forecasts to 5-6% for 2010. But in a surprise move, the committee forecasts that economic growth will accelerate to 7-8% in 2011 by “harnessing innovative public-private partnerships.” The rosy prognosis for 2011 goes against the forecasts of both the International Monetary…

DESPITE all the talk about going green and the increasing “environmental advocacies” of companies, only 17 products in the country have earned the Philippine version of eco-labeling called the Green Choice seal.

VIENNA, Austria—The criminalization of sex workers, drug users, and men who have sex with men were highlighted as major sources of concern in the fight against HIV in Asia, at the world AIDS conference here Wednesday.

A LITTLE more than a tenth of Filipinos in 2003 could be considered poor under an expanded poverty index that will be used in the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Report scheduled to come out this October, the institution that crafted the method said in a statement.

CEBU, Philippines – A Mandaue City police official and at least three members of the Associated Labor Unions picketing the Chagrin Incorporated in Barangay Pagsabungan were criminally charged before the Office of the Ombudsman Visayas for alleged violation of the rights of an arrested person and grave misconduct.

That silly party-list system will have to go, sometime in the near future, because clearly, it has been abused through the years, and will continue to be abused — even by the so-called “cause-oriented groups.”

The government will streamline its small and medium enterprise (SME) development efforts by placing all bureaus and agencies mandated to help the sector “under one roof.” On the sidelines of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines Inc. (FINEX) general membership meeting on Wednesday, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo told reporters that eight agencies have overlapping…

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has urged President Benigno Aquino 3rd to intervene in the labor dispute between Philippine Airline (PAL) and its employees.

Toshiba Corp. of Japan is keen on reviving the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. Froilan Tampinco, National Power Corp. (Napocor) president, said that the Japanese firm has expressed interest in rehabilitating the Bataan plant since Toshiba already controls Westinghouse Electric Co., the company that constructed the 630-megawatt nuclear plant.

The rule is that an employer of a negligent employee or household helper shall be liable for the damages caused by the latter acting within the scope of their assigned tasks even though the former is not engaged in any business or industry. The exception is that said employer is not liable if he proves…

(Part 1 of a series on Reproductive Health) The population has reached 90 million. Seventy percent are poor and barely productive. Only five years remain to attain the 2015 UN Millennium Development Goals. The UN Global Monitoring Report 2010 foresees our failure in two goals: providing quality primary education for all; and decreasing maternal and…

MANILA, Philippines – The government yesterday came out with the revenue regulations pertaining to the tax privilege provisions of the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010.

MANILA, Philippines – The newly appointed science and technology secretary intends to use his training and experience as an inventor and engineer to solve some of the country’s recurring problems like floods and traffic.

About four million Filipino households nationwide continue to experience hunger, with a rate that has remained at double-digits, according to the second quarter Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey results released Wednesday.

MANILA, Philippines – With the new Aquino administration showing keen interest to develop nuclear energy as an alternative source of electricity, another Japanese company, Toshiba Corp., said it is willing to supply nuclear reactor facilities to the Philippines.

MANILA, Philippines – Acting National Economic and Development Authority Director General Augusto Santos said Tuesday the gross domestic product was expected to grow 6.5 to seven percent this year because of additional spending that the government would undertake.

MANILA, Philippines – Members of the visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) team said yesterday that the new administration under President Aquino should first focus on enhancing and improving its tax collection efficiency before introducing new tax measures as part of efforts to put its fiscal house in order.

MANILA, Philippines – The Aquino administration has inherited a budget gap of P196.7 billion in the first six months of the year, 28.2 percent more than the P153.4-billion budget deficit recorded in the same period last year.   

BANGKOK — In October 2008, when the world was reeling from the collapse of Lehman Brothers and job markets were freezing up everywhere, Akane Natori waltzed into a new position she liked. “Things went so smoothly after applying online, and before I knew it, I had the job,” said Ms. Natori, who was then a…

The World Bank and the regional development banks (ADB, AfDB, EBRD, IDB), collectively know as the multilateral development bank (MDBs), have agreed on harmonized mandatory labour standards requirements for construction projects they finance above a certain value. The specific language that the MDBs adopted is based on proposals made by BWI and the ITUC and…

The regional director of the Department of Education (DepEd) yesterday expressed fears that children are being used as child laborers in gold-rich areas in Compostela Valley Province.

A new International Labor Organization (ILO) book launched on Wednesday in Geneva and Manila suggested that the multibillion-dollar business process industry (BPO), generally call centers, should now be open to listening workers’ “collective voice” and engage “social dialogue” to improve working conditions in their “high-strain” workplaces.

Dagupan City (21 July) — The Department of Labor and Employment-Regional Office 1 is set to implement an intensive inspection strategy program called Project Labor Enforcement and Action Program (Project LEAP) starting August this year.

June 30 was a total high for me. Although I watched the inaugural rites only on television, I was in awe and proud to be a Filipino. And hopeful that finally righteousness will reign in our country. I know in my heart that integrity, courage and loyalty to God and country are the criteria in…

MANILA, Philippines—The Supreme Court recently affirmed its 2007 ruling that sugar plantations are covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, or Republic Act No. 6657.

Over 20% in the last three quarters — SWS HUNGER CONTINUES to haunt many Filipino families, with the Social Weather Stations’ (SWS) overall measure barely improving and more claiming to have frequently lacked anything to eat.

VIENNA – Fewer than 10% of injecting drug users (IDUs) get practical help to prevent them from spreading HIV to others, according to research presented at the world AIDS conference on Tuesday.

BEIJING — That warm glow and soft purring emanating from South Korea was the International Monetary Fund (IMF) trying, yet again, to put the Asian financial crisis behind it.

Despite the effort by the country’s call center companies to alter the outsourcing industry, turnover rate in the country’s call center has gotten so worst that it hits 60 to 80 percent, according to the Call Center Association Philippines (CCAP).

The EcoWaste Coalition, a waste and pollution watchdog, held a mock wake called “Kaluksa” in front of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Quezon City recently following the death on June 24 of a one-year-old baby girl who mistakenly drank silver cleaner in Paco, Manila.