Monthly Archives: May 2011

MANILA, Philippines — Despite gaining the support of congressmen and various non-government organizations (NGOs), the bill seeking urgent political party reforms has yet to hurdle committee approval due to questions raised on provisions requiring state financing and setting limits for campaign contributions.

TAGAYTAY CITY, Philippines – While advocates see it as a viable solution to various burdens facing the country today, an official of the Department of Health (DoH) said the Reproductive Health (RH) bill will not solve poverty woes but will merely allow local government officials to move under a synchronized command in the delivery of…

MANILA, Philippines — Reminding them that “labor is the creator of capital,” Vice President Jejomar C. Binay urged businessmen to take care of their workers by ensuring compliance with accepted wage and other labor standards.

“DON’T consider credit as debt; just look at it as a liability to be paid.” So goes the advice on a website offering tips on the “wise” management of credit cards. As you might have suspected, the site was set up by a credit card company. The play on words did get me thinking: how…

MANILA, Philippines—Labor recruiters want the Philippines and Saudi Arabia to reopen talks on the on the deployment of Filipino maids to the Middle Eastern kingdom after the latter suspended the hiring of domestics due to the issue on wages.

The labor representative on the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board yesterday said he is not optimistic that workers in Western Visayas will get an adequate wage increase with the “measly offers” made by management groups in Panay and Negros.

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines—Management groups in Negros Occidental offered a P7 Emergency Cost of Living Allowance (Ecola) for minimum-wage earners during a hearing of the regional wage board held Friday morning.

MANILA, Philippines- The Garment and Textile Industry Development Office (GTIDO) is looking at creating a centralized database in order to help revive the local garments and textile industry.

The hot issue on SSS is now really percolating. This column last week apparently touched a few raw nerves among our readers, many of whom are SSS members, and I did get a barrage of sentiments, mostly from people I don’t personally know but have only now seen fit to let loose their feelings about…

Authorities on Friday began its crackdown on city bus firms violating the Labor Code in Metro Manila, officials said. Chairman Francis Tolentino of the Metro Manila Development Authority spearheaded the inspection of bus terminals in Fairview, Quezon City to determine any unfair labor practice going on.

A GROUP of Roman Catholic schools on Friday defended its move to increase tuition for the coming school year as it admitted that rates its members offer are comparatively “higher” than those of state universities and colleges in the country.

Manila, Philippines – The Philippines has rejected an appeal from Saudi Arabia to cut the minimum wage for Filipino maids by half and will not be sending new domestic helpers until the dispute is solved, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said yesterday.

Manila, Philippines – The Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) yesterday said hundreds of thousands of nurses remain jobless because of a saturated market and expressed hope that those who enroll in nursing this school year would do so for love of the profession.

PRICES of school supplies have increased minimally just two weeks before classes resume, according to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

The Palace responded to the recent World Competitiveness survey that showed the Philippines sliding two notches to a poor 41st place this year through a spin, saying the 63.291 overall score that the country got was an improvement over the years.

The labor and employers sectors in the local garments and textile industry banded together, in an unprecedented move, to back the SAVE Act bill now pending in the US Congress. The passage of the bill is expected to generate jobs for workers who were displaced when the US stopped issuing quotas on garments imports in…

P2B AUGMENTATION MAY BE ILLEGAL — LAGMAN Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman and Budget Secretary Butch Abad may likely find themselves in hot water after House members bared their intention to hold an inquiry into the P2-billion additional budget allotted for the controversial conditional cash transfer (CCT) program bloating its appropriation this year to P23…

DID you know that roughly ten percent of a country’s population are persons with disability? This, according to the National Council on Disability Affairs which cites the United Nations as its source. So if we are now a population of 90 million, which is data as of 2008, then it is safe to say that…

Some militant groups have recently asked President Aquino to stop the rise of oil prices. Fact is, world markets dictate oil prices; a Philippine president can’t have any impact on this. The whole world is suffering due to the conflicts in the Middle East that affect oil supply and future assuredness of supply. That has…

Let me say it again upfront. The Catholic Church has every right to oppose the use of contraceptives from the pulpit. It may dictate to its believers anything it wants. But it cannot and it must not be allowed to dictate to others of a different faith.

STATE-RUN National Power Corp. on Thursday sought help from the Joint Congressional Power Commission for P15 billion in loans from private banks to finance its operations and missionary electrification and renewable energy projects.

SINGAPORE Post Centre (SPC), which won the Asean Energy Award 2008, employs a total system approach in retrofitting its central chilled plant room. It adopted a 24-hour Web-based monitoring system enabling better visibility and management of the entire system resulting in optimal availability.

DEVELOPING ASIA-PACIFIC countries such as the Philippines should expand social protection programs to cover all low-income groups and minimize persistent income inequality amid economic gains, a United Nations agency said in a study released on Wednesday.

TAGAYTAY, Philippines — Stigma and discrimination against people infected with HIV in the Philippines have lessened over the years and the media played a role in this, a development worker said Friday.

JERSEY CITY, NJ – Jersey City resident Esther Winkley has been a housekeeper for New York’s rich and famous for 25 years.

MANILA, Philippines – The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) conducted a random inspection of different bus garages in Metro Manila on Friday to assess the working condition of drivers and other employees.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today opened the General Assembly’s first-ever thematic debate on international migration and development with a strong call for an intelligent, cooperative approach, focused on the positive “to harness the unstoppable force of migration for the greater good”.

Assistant Sec. Enrique Tayag warns that the number of HIV-AIDS cases could rise to 45,000 by 2015 based on current trends. Mark Merueñas TAGAYTAY, Philippines — Some 45,000 Filipinos may be infected with the HIV-AIDS before the Aquino administration ends in 2016 if the government will not act to contain the spread of the dreaded…

STALEMATE IN WAGE HIKE A tie vote of 3-3 by the Central Visayas wage board yesterday forced members to look harder into the merit of giving an early minimum wage hike.

According to a report on the ABS-CBN News website, “the debt-ridden Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) has seen a possible solution to stay afloat and pay its housing and educational plan holders. The solution is to force some of the agency’s executives to go on forced retirement, as well as sell its painting collection and…