Monthly Archives: December 2010

CEBU, Philippines – Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal is “now looking into” the row between the labor union and management of the Visayan Electric Company (VECO).

The IBM Global Locations Trend said in its latest report that the Philippines has already overtaken India as the world’s number 1 country for shared services and business process outsourcing (BPO).

The government has set aside P1 billion ($22.7 million) for the “reintegration” of returning overseas Filipinos in their home country, President Benigno Aquino 3rd said on Monday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is urging commuters to report abusive taxi drivers by calling its “Oplan Isnabero” action center hotline, 7890, or sending a text message to cell phone number 0918-8848484.

MANILA, Philippines – Shoppers were advised yesterday against buying toys laced with harmful substances that pose health risks to children.

MANILA, Philippines – A top executive of the World Bank assured President Aquino yesterday of the institution’s strong support for his administration’s good governance and anti-poverty agenda.

MANILA, Philippines – The House of Representatives will fight for the restoration of the P880-million fund for the purchase of contraceptives in the proposed P1.645-trillion national budget for 2010, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said yesterday.

WASHINGTON – The economy is starting to fire on almost every cylinder these days but the one that matters most: Job creation. Factories are busier. Incomes are rising. Autos are selling. The holiday shopping season is shaping up as the best in four years. Stock prices are surging.

MANILA, Philippines – Eight in 10 Filipinos are satisfied with the performance of President Aquino and Vice President Jejomar Binay, the latest survey by Pulse Asia showed.

The Philippines and the European Union on Friday signed a €36-million support pact for the country’s health program, aimed at improving the delivery of health services in key areas in the country.

MANILA, Philippines – The Aquino administration aims to lower the government’s debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio to 53 percent by 2013 from the projected 58 percent ratio this year.

MANILA, Philippines – UK-based Standard Chartered Bank sees the country’s economic growth slowing down next year on the back of overheating concerns after posting a strong growth this year.

MANILA, Philippines – The agriculture sector must post a growth of more than five percent in the fourth quarter to achieve a flat growth for 2010. Otherwise, it will end up in negative territory, said University of Asia and the Pacific economist Dr. Rolando Dy.

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

Catholic Church officials on Monday held a “consultative meeting” with the country’s largest organization of doctors regarding the controversial reproductive health (RH) bill currently pending in Congress.

BRUSSELS (AP) — Europe and the euro will never be the same. The debt crisis is forcing governments to rewrite some of the eurozone’s most fundamental rules. While some see the current turmoil as the slow-motion wreckage of the common currency bloc, others maintain Europe will have the political resolve to keep it together and…

MANILA, Philippines – Australian investments in the Philippines are expected to increase significantly in the next few years specifically in the mining, outsourcing, clean energy and environment, and to some extent in education and the manufacturing sector, according to Australian trade officials.

December 1, 2010: Manila, Philippines – The Associated Labor Unions (ALU), the Building and Woodworkers International (BWI) and the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) asked Canada to close Jeffrey asbestos mine in Quebec in a protest around the Canadian Embassy in Manila in 25 November 2010.

MANILA, Philippines – The Akbayan party-list group is calling for the ouster of Alfonso Cusi as director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) due to his alleged links to former First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo and his being a “midnight appointee.”

MANILA, Philippines—Some 2,300 overseas Filipino workers on Monday urged the Supreme Court to act on their appeal in connection with the 27-year-old case they filed against a Texas-based giant company worth some $609-million in claims plus interest.

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has approved the maximum annual revenue of the country’s power transmission monopoly for the next five years. In a decision, the regulator approved the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines’ (NGCP) revenue requirement of P40.47 billion in 2011; P41.65 billion in 2012; P43.37 billion in 2013; P44.39 billion in 2014;…

MANILA, Philippines—The largest alliance of Protestant and non-Roman Catholic churches in the Philippines has thrown its support behind the controversial reproductive health (RH) bill as “a means to encourage Filipino couples to seriously consider how to plan their family.”

No real change or reform is possible under the existing government set-up. It looks like PNoy may not truly succeed in his promised pagbabago if he will just continue working under the present policies and practices prevailing in government service. The fact that even in government, family ties still run deep for many of his…

MANILA, Philippines—It is unlawful for private firms to interfere with the formation of labor unions by their workers, the Court of Appeals (CA) has reminded company owners and managers.

AN official of the United Nations Development Program sees the passage of a reproductive health bill as aiding the country in achieving the Millennium Development Goal of reducing the incidence of extreme poverty.

MANILA, Philippines—The minority bloc in the House of Representatives will push for the retention of the P880-million allocation for family health at this week’s bicameral conference committee on the P1.645-trillion national budget for next year.

MANILA, Philippines – Congress should investigate the rising number of HIV/AIDS cases in the country, a party-list lawmaker said Sunday.

MANILA, Philippines – Amid the reported surge in new HIV cases, lawmakers want to review implementation of the 12-year-old Philippine AIDS Prevention and Control Act.

MANILA, Philippines – Some 17 million Filipinos still do not have access to safe water while 25 percent of the population does not have “individual type of sanitation facilities,” an administration lawmaker said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – Three students from Grace Christian College bagged the championship trophy in the Junior Division of the 4th International Young Mathematicians Convention (IYMIC) held in Lucknow, India over the weekend.