Monthly Archives: March 2011

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago reiterated her call for Congress to pass the proposed reproductive health (RH) bill in order to help address the rising number of maternity-related deaths, unwanted pregnancies and HIV cases in the country.

THE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has imposed an internal deadline to relocate and repatriate the remaining overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in critical areas in Libya by today.

MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino has formed a committee to address the recent oil price increases and ensure steady supply of fuel in the country amid political unrest in the Middle East and Africa.

Job opportunities in European companies are opening up for Filipino workers repatriated from Libya, the Department of Labor and Employment said Saturday.

BHUBANESHWAR, India (AP) — Indian police detained two people after an angry mob of fired workers burned to death a senior executive of a steel factory, an official said Friday.

CONSENSUS is building up both in government and in the private sector that this year’s economic growth target would not be met.

Concluded from yesterday A little more than 10 years ago, it was the Philippines that led 133 other nations in acknowledging the threat of this global phenomenon.

WITH the alarming rate of young people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the Department of Education (DepEd) said that there is a need for a more active approach to the issue which is regarded as an “educational emergency.”

THE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Thursday said that it is granting P10,000 financial assistance to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) returning from war-torn areas in the Middle East and Libya.

MANILA, Philippines –  Social Security System (SSS), the state-owned pension fund for private employees, is planning to raise this year its contribution rate to 11 percent of a worker’s monthly salary credit (MSC) from the existing 10.4 percent, its top official told The STAR.

MANILA, Philippines –  The Philippines has been retained in the ordinary watchlist of the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) said.

MANILA, Philippines –  US investment bank Citigroup has upgraded the country’s growth forecast this year after the Philippines posted its strongest economic growth in 34 years last year.

The world has gone topsy-turvy for former Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo and Chief Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio. For sounding the alarm against the rushed-hushed plea bargain of plundering military comptroller Gen. Carlos Garcia, they are now the ones in trouble. Their successors have charged them before the Sandiganbayan with indirect contempt. If found guilty, they can…

As members of the Lower House of Congress continue to deliberate and discuss the proposed RH bill, they should not confine themselves within the legislative chambers and the many pro and con arguments being adduced therein. As representatives of the people, they should continue listening to the many voices still being articulated outside the Batasan…

MANILA, Philippines – There have been well-intentioned attempts of government agencies and legislators to provide measures for the protection of the most vulnerable of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), the so-called household service workers or domestic helpers. Practically all of them are women and are breadwinners for their respective families. Especially in East Asian countries like…

MANILA– A Labor official forecasts a 3-percent drop in deployment of overseas Filipino workers last year, blaming a nugatory policy on departure in the country’s major airports as one of the causes.

There looms a peril far more threatening in scope and magnitude to the political unrest in the Middle East and other parts of the world. And if the recent floods and landslides that struck the Bicol Regions, Visayas, and Mindanao are any indication, it would seem that the alarm sounded by the Philippines’ foremost policy-making…

MANILA, Philippines – A spokesman of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said on Wednesday that President Aquino should seek funds from the private sector for returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Libya.

MANILA, Philippines – More focus in reaching adolescents is needed, said UNICEF, as investing in the world’s 1.2 billion adolescents can break cycles of poverty and inequity, and reduce the risk of HIV in the country.

Filipino students have deteriorated in the field of science and math. At an educator media forum, a University of the Philippines (UP) expert said this is because local education persisted in using an obsolete discipline-based curriculum in math and science already rejected as early as 1993 by Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

A STUDY on the infection rates of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) revealed that the Philippines is one of seven countries that have seen an increase in such cases, which now involve people as young as 15.

MANILA, Philippines – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday urged the Aquino administration to broaden its tax base and strengthen tax administration by overhauling its excise tax system on sin products and rationalizing its fiscal incentives to raise much needed revenue to bankroll social and infrastructure spending.

MANILA, Philippines – The grim projection is out: At the rate the Philippines is ravaging its natural resources, it world be the first Southeast Asian country to lose its forests within the first half of the present century.

DepEd is still searching for quality preschool curriculum and its corresponding teacher training. Can they work on this before the school year starts in June? Quality kindergarten teaches you all you need to know — HOW TO LIVE. Usually, parents keep looking for preschools with scholastic materials for the three R’s instead of social materials.…

MANILA, Philippines – The government is closely monitoring oil prices as political unrest in some parts of the Middle East and Africa continues to threaten supply and raise concerns over possible price manipulation by local oil firms.

AFTER posting unprecedented growth in 2010, branded consumer food manufacturers expect a challenging year ahead amid steep rises in commodity prices.

I wrote in this space the other week about the plight of Filipino seafarers, particularly new merchant marine graduates who aspire to get jobs on board ships through local manning agencies.

An advocacy group batted yesterday for the immediate passage of two Senate bills which could effectively cut electricity cost to the end-users by as much as P2 per kilowatthour.

THE Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) has tagged Quiapo district in Manila as among the 33 “notorious” Internet and physical piracy “hot spots” requiring intensified anti-piracy efforts.

OIL companies implemented a hefty increase in pump prices amid soaring oil prices abroad.