Monthly Archives: March 2011

People don’t understand a lot of things about radiation, so there’s understandable fear. There’s always fear of something you don’t understand—fear of the unknown. It’s a normal human reaction. The solution to it is not to give into that fear. The answer is to understand. I was taught about nuclear power in school, but that…

MANILA, Philippines (2nd UPDATE) – The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) has filed the official results of its strike ballot at the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) Friday morning.

MANILA, Philippines – New York-based think-tank Global Source Partners has downplayed the impact of the ongoing tensions in Middle East and North African (MENA) nations as well as the magnitude 8.9 earthquake and that devastating tsunami in Japan on the Philippine economy.

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) raised yesterday its key policy rates by 25 basis points after keeping them at record lows for 20 months to rein in inflation expectations amid escalating global oil and food prices due to tensions in the Middle East and North African (MENA) states as well as…

BERLIN – Germany is determined to show the world how abandoning nuclear energy can be done.

MANILA, Philippines – The latest survey of Pulse Asia released yesterday showed that more Filipinos trust Vice President Jejomar Binay than President Aquino.

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Malacañang gave its nod to the plan of local carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) to spin-off 3 non-core units that would result in job losses.

Job and career-related web sites continue to be one of the fastest-growing categories online, which is not surprising as the number of people seeking job opportunities continues to rise as students graduate and join the labor force.

Over 200 faculty members from the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) and the University of the Philippines (UP) declared their support for the Reproductive Health (RH) bill and urged lawmakers to immediately pass the bill in Congress.

UNITED NATIONS—Some 27.5 million people have been displaced within their countries by natural disaster, famine and war, the highest number in a decade, according to a new report released Wednesday.

CEBU, Philippines – The National Clergy Discernment Group (NCDG) sent a position letter to the Office of the President on what it said was unjust treatment of the Visayan Electric Company (VECO) against some Visayan Electric Company Employees Union (VECEU) members.

SOME 250,000 Filipino families struggle financially each year with high costs of health care, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.

IN WAKE OF MIDDLE EAST, JAPAN CRISES THE Philippine central bank revised downwards its economic growth forecast for the country, as the Aquino administration’s economic managers braced for a slowdown amid the political tensions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), as well as the disaster in Japan.

MANILA, Philippines – The government is projecting that 20 percent of business belonging to the electronics sector will be affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

MANILA, Philippines – Secretary Mary Ann Lucille Sering of the Climate Change Commission (CCC) stressed that the message of the Earth Hour event is really a long-term call against global warming.

MANILA, Philippines – A prominent think-tank is backing President Aquino’s aggressive push for the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program to fund big-ticket infrastructure projects, but raised concerns on whether Malacañang had done its homework well to ensure their viability and attractiveness to the private sector.

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has thrown its regulatory muscle behind the Kabataan party list group in an effort to stop private higher education institutions (HEIs) from imposing the “no permit, no exam” policy much decried by college students and their parents.

MANILA, Philippines – Academicians and scientists decried the misuse of science and the abuse of power by some educators in waging a propaganda campaign against House Bill 4244, the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill now being deliberated on in Congress.

MANILA, Philippines – The Civil Service Commission (CSC) has junked the four-strike policy on taking the civil service examinations for those who would like to work in the government or earn a promotion.

Amidst all the news about the earthquake and the tsunami in Japan as well as the troubles of migrant workers in the Middle East and North Africa, there is a local issue that should be interesting, if not equally important, to every Filipino especially small-time borrowers and entrepreneurs.

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) has slapped a P5 million fine to the contractors and subcontractors of the Eton Residences project in Makati City for their failure to pay the right wages to their construction workers.

BEFORE he goes any further in declaring his support for plans to activate the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), Secretary Mario Montejo of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) would be well advised to confer with experts at his old alma mater, the University of the Philippines.

A business group said yesterday two House bills seeking to rationalize the income tax system have provisions that are biased against individual businessmen or professionals.

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino 3rd on Tuesday announced that government was inching closer to fulfill the advocacies of the Millennium Development Goal Achievement Program (MDG F-1919) of providing potable water to every Filipino in the country.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), the largest business organization in the country, has expressed concern over the differences in the treatment of taxes for corporate entities and sole proprietors in Congress.

MANILA, Philippines – The Aquino administration is keeping the economic growth targets for the year at seven percent to eight percent despite the huge blows that the economy may experience as a result of the earthquake that battered Japan last March 11.

MANILA, Philippines – Japanese firms in the country will continue their operations here and will not lay off any workers, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) said.

In Manila, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said a number of Filipino workers in Japan have lost their jobs as a result of the twin calamities.

BANGKOK (Xinhua) – ASEAN economic integration will expand trade and investment opportunities among the regional grouping’s members, but a full-fledged integration is not seen in the next few years, speakers at a regional conference said on Monday.

According to the latest World Bank Quarterly Report for the Philippines, the rapidly rising BPO sector in the country will be able to build its natural comparative advantages for Philippine economic status. These advantages are technology-savvy young labor force, cost-competitive platform built around an English-speaking talent pool, a favorable economic zone environment and readily available…