Monthly Archives: October 2010

The Philippines is an “abundant graduate workforce” that makes it a “veritable offshore giant for the UK BPO market,” a UK-based outsourcing trade association said when it gave the Offshoring Destination of the Year Award to the country for the third time.

HANOI, Vietnam – Philippine road users and nurses stand to benefit from assistance from Japan following talks between President Benigno Aquino III and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan during the 17th summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

INCHEON, South Korea—Countries in Asia and the Pacific are more prone to natural disasters than those in other parts of the world, with people in the region four times more likely to be affected by natural catastrophe than those in Africa and 25 times more vulnerable than Europeans or North Americans, a United Nations report…

DESPITE the slowdown in main export markets like the United States and Japan, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) is confident that hitting double-digit import growth will continue for the rest of the year.

DOLLAR earnings raked in by exporters in the different economic zones (Ecozones) in the country jumped by 28.96 percent in the first three quarters of the year to $30.275 billion.

BOCAUE, Bulacan —The principal of the night shift high school department of a college school here will spend All Saints’ Day behind bars after police arrested him when an 18 years old female student accused him of allegedly sexually molesting her.

A HIGH ranking official of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has been charged with sexual harassment at the Sandiganbayan’s third division.

The Palace claimed yesterday that the Aquino administration had exorcised the controversial P21-billion conditional cash transfer (CCT) program of so-called ghost-family recipients and that beneficiaries in the program are guaranteed to be among the poorest of the Filipino poor while expressing confidence yesterday Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman, who will implement the program, will…

NEW YORK — Measuring the emotional intelligence of employees, from their ability to read body language to controlling frustration, could be good for business, according to a new study.

With the tenure of non-career executive service officials expiring on Sunday, six senators seek granting civil service eligibility to temporary government workers.

A PLAN for helping to reach the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, called community-based monitoring System, has been set up by the municipality of Tampakan in South Cotabato, and in Kiblawan and Malalag towns in Davao del Sur—areas sitting on what could be the biggest copper-gold deposit in Southeast Asia.

NAGOYA, Japan: Bitterly divided rich and poor nations can work together to save the world from global warming, jubilant negotiators said on Saturday after forging a historic United Nations pact on protecting ecosystems.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) is ready to go to the Court of Appeals following Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz’s decision upholding the plan of the management of the flag carrier to layoff some 3,000 employees.

BARANGAYS are not getting their rightful share of internal revenue collections with the wrong implementation of the Local Government Code, former Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr.

CEBU, Philippines – The Philippine government, through the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), is confident that the country is on the right track on improving its competitiveness rank in the world in the next few years.

The Philippines on Friday supported adoption of two Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) declarations—Enhancement of Welfare and Development of Asean Women and Children and Human Resources and Skills Development for Economic Recovery and Sustainable Growth.

First, let me clear the decks. I am in favor of giving the poor the same freedom of choice for family planning as the rich. The lack of money should not deprive them of that equality. As far as I know, USAID in the past provided funds for the poor to enable them to choose…

SUBIC BAY (PLDT/WeRoam) — Much of the prognosis in the air point to a possible return of crippling power blackouts early next year, more markedly in summer. The figures I have seen indicate that while the peak demand nationwide is around 9,500 megawatts (7,000 mw of it in Luzon), the current dependable supply totals 10,500…

MANILA, Philippines – Budget Secretary Florencio Abad defended yesterday President Aquino’s power to rationalize the pay and perks of officers and employees of government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCC) and government financial institutions (GFI).

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Loren Legarda has called for the immediate passage of the proposed Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers in order to protect the rights of the sector. Legarda noted that seafarers make up 25.83 percent of the country’s migrant work force. The country also supplies 28.1 percent of the world’s ship manning requirements.      

MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 31, 2010) – Filipino sailors aboard foreign-flagged ocean-going vessels sent home a total of $2.461 billion in the eight months to August this year, up $250 million over the same period in 2009, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines reported Sunday.

MANILA, Philippines—The National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) has settled labor disputes at Clark Development Corporation (CDC) in Clark Field, Pampanga and Best Chemical and Plastic Inc. in Barrio Maduya, Carmona, Cavite, the Department of Labor and Employment said in a news release.

HANOI, Oct 31, 2010 (AFP) – ASEAN’s attitude to Myanmar, and the harsh treatment of activists by the bloc’s chair Vietnam on the eve of its summit, highlight the group’s failure to confront human rights abuses, watchdogs say.

MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz has allowed Philippine Airlines’ planned mass layoff of some 3,000 employees when she affirmed the previous order of then acting labor secretary Romeo Lagman denying the motion for reconsideration of the ground crew union at the national flag carrier.

MANILA, Philippines—The government has set aside P10.7 million to help improve the socio-economic conditions of 30,000 disadvantaged migratory field workers, or “sacadas,” Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said Saturday.

(Benchmark Survey Select Results) 1. Most organizations granted salary increases in 2010. – Rank and file (91.01%) – Officers (82.42%)

Girls who are boys Who like boys to be girls Who do boys like they’re girls Who do girls like they’re boys. —From the pop song “Girls and Boys” MY YOUNG interior designer friend, Gigi, whom I used to visit for some small business, shared her pad with Leli, a writer, with whom she had…

The so-called stranded electricity costs which were the result mostly of onerous contracts with independent power producers (IPPs) during the term of former President Fidel Ramos had ballooned to P471 billion and the government is now at a loss on how to pay off the huge amount.

Bangkok. A year after its creation, a Southeast Asian human rights body has earned an unflattering label — that of being a window-dressing exercise to improve the image of a region that is home to governments notorious for suppressing political opponents.

NOT TOO LONG ago, Indonesia was Southeast Asia’s basket case. Within the region, it was the hardest hit by the 1997-1998 financial crisis and subsequently plunged into a cycle of political and social unrest and economic decline. Today, however, under its current political and economic setup, Indonesia has attained levels of stability and prosperity few…