Monthly Archives: May 2011

SOCIAL WATCH Co-Convener Marivic Raquiza considers it “very one-sided” that the government monitors compliance by beneficiaries – the so-called demand side – of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program, but not the supply side, which the national and local government should take care of.

The plight of nearly 3 million Filipinos who face displacement in the Middle East and North Africa will be one of the focal points in an International Labor Organization (ILO) conference in Geneva, Switzerland next month.

Brussels: Monday 31 May 2011 (ITUC OnLine): A new multimedia report uncovering the human cost of the huge migrant labour force in the Gulf States of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates is being launched today by the International Trade Union Confederation in Brussels.

MANILA, Philippines—Years of unmitigated and destructive human activities have plunged the Philippines in a biodiversity “crisis” that could take decades to reverse, environment officials said Tuesday.

Foreign tourist arrivals in the Philippines rose 13 percent to 1.31 million in the first four months of the year, putting the government on track to meet its target of 3.74 million this year.

BERLIN—Germany’s coalition government agreed early Monday to shut down all the country’s nuclear power plants by 2022, the environment minister said, making it the first major industrialized power to go nuclear-free since the Japanese disaster.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines has always been ready for divorce, a lawmaker and women’s advocate said. In an interview with ANC, the main proponent of the divorce bill in the House of Representatives, Gabriela Party-list Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan, said this option for couples with failed marriages is just a supplement to what is already…

LAST May 24, the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) launched the 2nd MAP CSR Leadership Challenge. MAP began the Challenge in 2009 to encourage its members to embrace CSR and go beyond the customary corporate philanthropy that we see. MAP President Felino “Jun” Palafox has explained that the Challenge “aims to promote CSR as…

ECONOMISTS said the Philippines’ slowdown in the first quarter augurs weaker growth for the rest of the year.

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya  ,Philippines – Police are investigating the reported influx of foreigners, mostly Koreans in an illegal mining site in a remote, mountainous area of the province.

With the opening of another school year a few days away (or ilang tulog na lang, kids!), a lot of savvy parents have probably done their yearly assignment  that is, the requisite school shopping. Through the years (or school year after school year), this shopping list of school essentials seems to grow longer and longer…

ON the basis that he could do with all the help he can get, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo is seeking the help of civil society organizations to prod local government units to practice good governance and monitor their compliance to standards set by the national government.

If you’ve ever had a migraine, you know it’s much worse than the average headache. In fact, symptoms may be so severe that all you can think about is finding a dark, quiet place to lie down.

MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Treasury (BTr) yesterday capped the increase in the yields of Treasury bills (T-bills) after the government announced that the country’s economic expansion slowed down in the first quarter of the year.

THE Save Our Industries Act, a bill in the US Congress that would enable the freer entry of Philippine-made garments into the highly lucrative US market, would be re-filed in the current 112th Congress after it was snubbed in the last legislative session.

MANILA, Philippines – The economy grew by a lower-than-expected 4.9 percent in the first quarter of the year due to a drop in global trade and government underspending on infrastructure.

ALL systems are ready to go as the Education department (DepEd) re-launched on Monday its Oplan Balik Eskwela (OBE) through the Information and Action Center Task Force (IAC) in preparation for the official opening of classes next week.

The other thing the President talked about upon his voluntary repatriation was the PLDT-Digitel merger. Well, to be fair, he did not really talk about it. He simply said he is in receipt of a voluminous report (about half an inch thick) from groups opposed to the merger.

VALLETTA – Staunchly Catholic Malta approved the introduction of divorce, backing the move by a small majority in a referendum.

THE Department of Health revealed on Monday that hundreds of Filipinos die every day from tobacco-related diseases.

MANILA, Philippines – Students and parents will get assistance from the reactivated Oplan Balik Eskwela (OBE) Information and Action Center of the Department of Education (DepEd) when schools open on June 6.

The recent low competitiveness ranking of the Philippines in Asia-Pacific calls for concern, according to the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) is a wake-up call.

Massive government underspending in the first quarter constricted economic growth to 4.9 percent against a record-setting 8.4 percent expansion in the gross domestic product (GDP) a year ago.

Issues of constitutional infirmities hound the administration-backed government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) reform bill, Sen. Joker Arroyo yesterday said, even as President Aquino’s key ally in the Senate expressed confidence the newly-approved legislation can withstand constitutional scrutiny.

The House of Representatives is in for another con-tentious debate on the issue of the divorce bill before it takes on another long recess.

The importance of strong and effective labour administration and labour inspection systems in the context of economic and social development is recognised in the Constitution of the ILO, the Declaration of Philadelphia and the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization. The same principles have been further developed by numerous ILO Conventions, Recommendations…

MANILA, Philippines – Despite the all-out efforts to address the inequities in the well-being of the Filipino youth, health services and support have yet to make significant headway.

SHE HAD neither bought a lotto ticket nor joined a TV game show. But Marissa felt like she won the jackpot anyway late last year, when her family was chosen as one of the recipients of the government’s Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Program.

In a recent article in Time Magazine, Fareed Zakaria offers five strategies to bring unemployment down in the United States. The context is the observation that the US economy is now producing the same amount of goods and services as it did in 2007, prior to the global crisis, but with seven million fewer workers.…

MANILA, Philippines — Seeking to amend the Expanded Senior Citizen Act of 2010, Bacolod City Rep. Anthony Rolando Golez Jr. is pushing for the exemption of senior citizens who are licensed professionals from paying income taxes.