Monthly Archives: August 2010

MANILA, Philippines – The administration of President Aquino wants the country’s economy to be at par with its Asian neighbors at least before he steps down in June 2016.

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s exporters are considering an upward revision of their export growth target for 2010 from 20 percent to at least 25 percent following the higher-than-expected growth in merchandise exports during the first half of the year.

It’s the same old dog with a different collar. This can be said of Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s version of the RH bill. The old version of the bill is also compliant with the Philippines’ commitment to several international treaties. And it is precisely because of such feature in the bill which makes it inherently wrong.

This is the context I’m a Filipino and a law student, and here, abortion is a crime. According to Articles 256-259 of our Revised Penal Code, whether you’re the woman getting the abortion, the abortionist, or someone assisting or encouraging the abortion, if you commit the act on purpose, you could get sent to jail…

Australia’s major banks have slammed a Labor election promise to ban lenders from charging fees if their consumers exceed their credit card limit.

1. To respond to the clamor of the Philippine population who want the Reproductive Health Care Bill passed into law Filipinos are clamoring for the passage of the Reproductive Health Care Bill (RH bill) into law. The 2008 national and Manila City surveys of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) both confirm that majority of Filipinos…

Airport employees have suffered a legal setback after the Court of Appeals stopped the implementation of a court order for the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) to pay them their cost of living allowance (COLA ) and amelioration from 1999 up to the present.

The military has extended a controversial anti-insurgency battle plan that progressive organizations have linked to extra-judicial killings of persons identified with the left.

MANILA, Philippines – Indigenous peoples are urging the Aquino administration to put an end to the marginalization of indigenous communities.

MANILA, Philippines – Llanelyn Sotto, 35 weeks pregnant, was rushed by her mother Nellie to a hospital in Manila when her water bag broke. But the hospital staff said that since it was a premature delivery she would need an incubator for which they demanded a P30,000 down payment. When all she could offer was…

MALLS and shopping centers in Metro Manila during office hours, says my husband, are “senior citizen country,” populated mostly by older people walking around in pairs, groups or all by their lonesome, enjoying the free air-conditioning, the convivial company of fellow retirees, or the attentive service of drivers, yayas, caregivers and apos (grandchildren).

BASIC EDUCATION ‘I will expand basic education in this country from a short 10-year cycle to a globally comparable 12 years before the end of (my) administration (2016)’ ——President Aquino Campaign platform “10 things I will fix in Philippine basic education”

The critical role that a working mass transit plays in urban development is obvious. A working mass transit system is one that can get a commuter to their point of exit within 30 minutes from entry into the system’s gates. Our MRT / LRT systems currently fail this test during rush hours what with the…

FOR most students, Math may seem to be the hardest subject, but not for these kids. A team of Filipino whiz kids brought another honor to the country as they won a total of 69 medals in two mathematics contests held in China and Taiwan recently. According to Dr. Simon Chua, president of the Mathematics…

To the objection that VAST system would be easy to cheat in because collecting would not be as transparent as in the present VAT system, House of Representatives Ways & Means Chairman Hermilando Mandanas points to the accounting and invoicing requirements under his proposed law. These requirements are more rigorous but simpler to implement and…

The following is the section in the present law that the proposed VAST will do away with. These are the main mechanisms and schemes that, in the view of the House and Ways Chair Hermilando Mandanas, VAT-registered companies—in collusion with BIR collectors—manipulate so that in the end they have very little or nothing to remit…

The proposed law to change the value added tax (VAT) system to value simplified tax (VAST) would throw back the Philippines to “primitive times” and undo the fiscal and economic progress that the country has achieved so far, the Finance department said. Gil Beltran, Department of Finance (DOF) undersecretary, told The Manila Times that House…

Mandanas: No need to hit toll fees with EVAT, govt collections will double House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman Hermilando Mandanas believes his House Bill 1970, which would impose a 6 percent “Value Simplified Tax” or VAST in lieu of the present 12 percent Valued Added Tax (VAT), will quickly solve the government’s…

MANILA, Philippines – The high cost of health care in the country remains a burden for many Filipinos as seen in the decelerating growth rates of their health spending.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Finance (DOF) wants a stop to the creation of new freeport zones as part of government’s bid to plug loopholes in the grant of income tax holidays.

(The author, who covers public finance for The STAR, won in round one of the THINK3 global blogging competition organized by the Netherlands-based European Journalism Center. This article is one of her blog entries published on May 15, 2010 at http://development.thinkaboutit.eu/think3.)

MANILA, Philippines – Thirty-four people were involved in a road accident every day during the first quarter of the year, according to the latest survey conducted by the Department of Health (DOH). The latest National Electronic Injury Surveillance System showed a total of 3,077 injuries sustained from road accidents in the first quarter of 2010.

Lieutenant General Ricardo David, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff, said the soldiers’ manual, “will become the Filipino soldier’s ‘bible’ in our internal security campaign.”

New Zealanders are paying about $10 million a month more in interest on their credit cards than they would be if banks had passed on falls in the Official Cash Rate (OCR).

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In the Philippines, farmers are already feeling the heat. While climate change is already hitting millions of vulnerable people in the country, farmers, too, are being affected—where drought, flooding, hunger and disease are becoming more common than ever. Our correspondent Imelda V. Abaño embarked on a mission to look into the plight of the farmers…

DESPITE being perceived by some quarters as a manufacturing laggard, the Philippines has proven its critics wrong as manifested by the presence of several manufacturing plants in the country, according to an academician from the state university.

Resource centers of Philippine embassies will be “transformed” to offer a wider range of “care and services” for overseas Filipino workers (OFW) instead of simply being sites for skills enhancement.

Strong growth in Germany, bolstered by gains in France and Spain, helped secure better-than-expected economic results on Friday that saw the eurozone outstrip US recovery figures. But some analysts warn that the global recovery could be peaking.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – – The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits jumped unexpectedly last week to the highest level in six months, the government said Thursday, adding to US recovery concerns.