Monthly Archives: September 2010

In their first joint meeting on American soil, the leaders of the United States and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) took fresh steps to cement their growing engagement and pledged to cooperate more closely in key areas such as education and trade.

NEW YORK—Prosperous city-state Singapore recognizes the many opportunities for trade and investment in the Philippines, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said here on Friday after the bilateral meeting between President Benigno Aquino and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

MANILA, Philippines—Following the provisions of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), the second batch of 10 Filipino caregivers-to-be are scheduled to leave for Japan today, September 26, the Japanese embassy here said in a news release.

AFTER CONCILIATION-MEDIATION MANILA, Philippines—Seven cases of preventive mediation in one of the country’s biggest geothermal companies have been settled by the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) following a series of conciliation conferences that resulted in the awarding of more than P120 million in retirement benefits.

A Davao-based broadcaster has sued top officials of the Radio Mo Nationwide (RMN) network for allegedly subjecting him to illegal dismissal from work nearly a month ago.

MANILA – Doctors in the Philippines have been banned from smoking by the country’s medical association to make sure they set a good example to their patients, the group said Saturday.

MANILA, Philippines –  Changing the country’s tough stance on divorce will take more than simple luck and good intentions. For Luzviminda Ilagan and the women of the Gabriela party-list who are pushing for a twice-failed legislation to legalize divorce, the stakes are high.

VnnNews – President Barak Obama and President Nguyen Minh Triet co-chaired the second ASEAN-US Leaders’ Meeting in New York on September 24, which was attended by ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan and leaders of ASEAN member states.

MANILA, Philippines – Majority of extrajudicial cases in the country remain unsolved with only a 1.05% successful conviction rate during the period 2001-2010, a recent study revealed.

MANILA, Philippines—Completion of a planned sewerage system for Metro Manila, which has one of the world’s most polluted waterways, is set to be delayed by over 20 years, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said Friday.

NEW YORK – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the US have come up with key commitments expected to revive the superpower’s presence and interest over the strategic region southeast of China.

THE Philippines is moving up the value chain in the contact-center industry as the country is expected to capture more business in the high-end or premium voice segment owing to the innate talent and English-language capability of Filipino Agents, according to Indian business process outsourcing  firm WNS Global Services.

DESPITE the country’s efforts to increase social spending through programs like the conditional cash-transfer (CCT) program to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) believes that addressing infrastructure constraints will still hold the key in achieving the goals by 2015.

THE PHILIPPINES and Australia have started a partnership for energy efficient and green buildings, an Australian trade official said. Ross Bray, Australian Trade Commission senior trade and investment commissioner to the Philippines and Micronesia, said in an interview that Manila and Canberra are in the early stages of knowledge sharing for green building.

There were emphatic and asser-tive, albeit convivial, discussions at the regional technical training on skills assessment of migrant workers held in Bangkok last week under the auspices of the International Labor Organization and sponsored by the Korean Government. The comments and recommendations were summarized by resource person David Lythe from New Zealand, ILO skills and…

THE Philippines is still struggling in dealing with maternal deaths despite achievements in women empowerment and gender equality. This was revealed by former President turned Pampanga second district Rep. Gloria Arroyo during her speaking engagements at the Fifth Clinton Global Initiative conference held in New York, United States, her spokesman Ma. Elena Bautista-Horn said Friday.

NEW YORK – President Aquino made a pitch for Philippine garments to enter the United States duty-free as he also sought the support of Washington for the Philippines’ bid to become a member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multilateral free trade agreement formed with the objective of creating a platform for promoting economic integration among…

CANADA – Filipino caregivers were recently enlightened with rich discussions on the Live-In Caregiver Program (LCP), followed by a closed door roundtable consultation on the plight of refugees in Canada.

NEW YORK – The United States pledged continued support for President Aquino’s administration during the signing of the $434-million grant to the Philippines by the Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC), citing his commitment to fight corruption and help uplift the lives of the poor.

MANILA, Philippines – The government recently forged an agreement with some 40 private institutions to improve the country’s disaster response system.

Workers of a dental facility, which shut down last month without due notice by its American owner, are planning to take over the business and resume its operation through their cooperative.

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines will meet its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This was the statement made by Health Secretary Enrique Ona at the opening of the Women Deliver Philippines Conference at the Crowne Plaza Hotel last week.

MANILA, Philippines—The use of English as a medium of instruction even for starter learners may be the reason why some nine million Filipinos aged 10 to 64 find it difficult to read, write, compute and comprehend, according to an education official.

P100-billion budget sought for salaries, classrooms MANILA, Philippines — Public schools need 57,000 more teachers and 113,000 new classrooms in the next three years to fill the current shortage as the student population rises, the Department of Education (DepEd) said on Thursday.

Obesity is now on the rise among Filipino adults ages 20 and up, and threatens to increase the number of people having degenerative diseases, a DoST study showed.

LINGERING conflicts, fragile political situations and armed violence in Southeast Asia hamper the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) among the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

Our major competitor is ruining our business by hiring almost everyone in the organization. Is there a way to stop it? — Red Bean. Somewhere in a province, the parish priest noticed a group of young boys standing around a small stray dog. “What are you doing, boys?” asked the priest. “Telling lies,” replied one…

THE BUSINESS process outsourcing (BPO) industry should intensify efforts to recruit workers outside Metro Manila as there are competent talent pools in the provinces, according to an official of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP).

THE Supreme Court (SC) has declared constitutional Republic Act 8762, or the Retail Trade Liberalization Act signed by then-President Joseph Estrada in March 2000, which allows foreigners to engage in the retail-trade business in the country.