Monthly Archives: August 2010

Almost half of the P470.9 billion stranded costs of the cash-strapped National Power Corp. (Napocor) are allegedly fat bonuses, overtime pay and hefty consultancy fees of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (Psalm), which are all passed on to consumers by way of higher electricity bills.

Malacañang yesterday assured no unilateral wage hikes in Metro Manila and elsewhere in the country. “There’s a process involved in bringing forth wage hikes,” said Communications Group official Secretary Herminio “Sonny” Coloma.

The Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah yesterday reminded Filipino household service worker applicants that the minimum age requirement for domestic helpers in Saudi Arabia is 23 years old.

A WEEK before the celebration of the Hospital Week, pro environment-health group Health Care Without Harm-Southeast Asia (HCWH-SEA) raises alarm on the Department of Health’s (DOH) proposal to revive the use of incinerators calling it “revival of the unfittest.” Under the Health department’s draft Health Executive Agenda for Legislation, there is a proposal to amend…

TOKYO: Japan allows hundreds of Southeast Asian nurses to work on short-term contracts, but the health-care workers say the exams they must pass for the right to stay longer are so tough that almost all flunk them.

The head of the United Nations on Tuesday cited “significant gains” of the Asia-Pacific region in achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) but said that more needs to be done to fully accomplish the millennium goals by 2015.

P298M goes to PSALM Power consumers are shouldering about P297.8 million spent for fat bonuses, overtime pay and consultancy fees of state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), Sen. Ralph Recto charged on Tuesday. “These were among the reasons why power rates have never gone down nine years after Epira [Electric Power Industry…

CEBU, Philippines – Five manpower and security agencies have been placed by Home Mutual Development Fund in Cebu City under its watchlist for failure to remit the monthly contributions of the employees.

CEBU, Philippines – Department of Labor and Employment-7 regional director Elias Cayanong yesterday assured employees in the private sector that the increase of their daily salary will not be less than P15.

MANILA, Philippines – Local auto parts makers yesterday defended the Comprehensive Motor Vehicle Development Plan (MVDP) against the Alliance of Vehicle Importers and Distributors (AVID) and insisted that EO 877-A is not a “midnight” EO.

It has happened before with our doctors. It is happening again today with our pilots. There was a time when the brain drain of our doctors to the United States was a hot issue. It takes time and money to study medicine and the investments are made by the families of doctors. Can we blame…

MANILA, Philippines – Organizations and legislators supporting the Reproductive Health (RH) bill have reportedly been courting neophyte congressmen to support the passage of the proposed law by bringing them to seminars in exclusive places in Central Luzon.

Don’t you have better things to do? The question often comes across as a critical put down especially coming from people who seem to spend more time asking than doing.

MANILA, Philippines – Organized labor yesterday rejected the proposal of the business community to defer any wage increase this year due to lingering effects of the global economic slowdown.

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Ralph Recto said the Aquino administration should proceed with caution on its plan to privatize operations of Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 to raise revenues and possibly stem the implementation of new taxes.

CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga, Philippines – A local newspaper publisher in Nueva Ecija was killed by unidentified gunmen last Sunday and policemen are still clueless on the motive behind the crime.

MANILA, Philippines – Aside from pilots and weather forecasters, the country now faces a shortage of geologists. The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) yesterday said the country is running out of geologists and warned the government that vacancies in the agency had reached 50 percent of the workforce.

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

MANILA, Philippines—The regional tripartite wages and productivity boards in four more regions approved minimum wage rates for all employees in the private sector in these regions, the Department of Labor and Employment said Tuesday.

MANILA, Philippines—A senator is seeking a congressional inquiry into the series of power rate hikes in the country allegedly due to, among other things, the inclusion of fat bonuses, overtime pay and consultant fees of top executives and employees of the state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Corp (PSALM) into the stranded debts of the…

A LEADER of women and reproductive health rights advocate group on Monday urged the government to legalize abortion in certain instances when it is warranted.

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago made a last-minute bid on Monday to chair the powerful blue ribbon committee. But Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile decided to give the coveted committee to neophyte Senator Teofisto Guingona III, a member of President Aquino’s Liberal Party.

PHILIPPINE Airlines’ flight attendants said Monday they planned to strike in two weeks amid an impasse in talks on what they claimed was the flag carrier’s practice of assigning fewer than needed staff on flights.

Early retirement age may lead to strike; PAL says union agreed to it MANILA, Philippines – Why retire flight attendants at age 40? This, according to a flight attendants’ union, is the reason why around 1,600 cabin crew of flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) are threatening to stop work in a month’s time.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) announced yesterday it is coming up with a human rights handbook to serve as a guide for the military in conducting operations against all “threat groups,” including the communist New People’s Army.

The most abundant greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide. It is mainly generated through the burning fossil fuels and from clearing forests. Other sources of greenhouse gases include farms mine leakage (methane), fertilizers (nitrous oxide), and smaller quantities of very potent greenhouse gasses from specific industrial processes.

A lawmaker in the House of Representatives on Monday moved to amend the Witness Protection Program Act, following President Benigno Aquino III’s call encouraging witnesses to speak up on unresolved crimes and allegations of corruptions in government.

Buoyed with renewed sense of hope and promise of a bright future with the assumption into power of the new Aquino administration, investors and companies have shown renewed confidence in the country’s economy as reflected in the significant rise of job openings for workers in online recruitment sites.

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine government is to blame for creating a “dire human rights crisis” in the country by withholding access to family planning services and imposing a criminal ban on abortion, pro-choice activists said Monday.

Spotlight on Marissa Begonia  (J4DW/Unite/TUC – United Kingdom) Domestic work: “The worst torture is not seeing your own children” Brussels, 2 August 2010 (ITUC OnLine):The adoption of an international Convention on Domestic Work and accompanying recommendation was approved in principle at the last International Labour Conference. This is a welcome step forward for the many…