Monthly Archives: May 2011

THE Philippines ranked second to Cambodia in spending the least on education among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), it was learned on Tuesday.

Minimum wage adjustment determined by the government after public hearings is a major part of Philippine labor welfare policy. The giant leaps in raising the welfare of labor in other countries should be studied to enable us to see the role of wage policy more clearly.

Going by the cabbie’s narrative, his passenger, noted journalist Chit Estella, was killed by a reckless bus driver last Friday dusk. As told to Chit’s husband, Prof. Roland Simbulan, they were southbound on the 16-lane Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City. One need not be familiar with the place to picture what happened. The taxi was slowing…

The record growth last year was upgraded to 7.6 percent from the initial estimate of a 7.3 percent gross domestic product (GDP) expansion that made President Aquino gloat about his achievements in the economic front although he assumed office only in the second half of the year.

It really pays to be one of the President’s most favored men. Yesterday, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman admitted that her agency’s budget for the controversial conditional cash transfer (CCT) program for 2011 was raised from the originally approved P21.19 billion to P23.39 billion. This despite the fact she did not raise the number…

According to the ILO’s global report on discrimination “Equality at work: The continuing challenge”, significant progress has been made in recent decades in advancing gender equality in the world of work. However, the gender pay gap still exists, with women’s wages representing between 70-90 per cent of wages earned by their male counterparts. Jordan has…

VISITING computer stores in this city reminds me a bit of David Letterman’s Stupid Pet Tricks—only the animals on the show are smarter than the sales clerks.

Here’s the body count so far from this administration’s version of justice for all: Luneta hostage incident —Entire chain of command absolved; need to protect indispensable Cabinet members and LP bigwigs. Morong 43 —Self-confessed NPA cadres released; need to suck up to the Left. Multiple coup plotters—Danilo Lim and Antonio Trillanes amnestied on the eve…

SENATOR Panfilo Lacson on Monday revived a proposal to create a national ID system, setting the stage for a debate over a measure that had already been rejected by the Supreme Court on constitutional grounds.

THE money sent home by the nearly 10 million Filipinos working and living abroad went up in March despite the unrest in the Middle East and North Africa and the earthquake and killer tsunami in Japan, the central bank said Monday.

Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz yesterday announced that a looming strike of more than 280 teachers and employees of the Wesleyan University in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija was averted after the DOLE’s National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) conducted a series of conciliation and mediation conferences that settled the worker’s dispute with the school…

MANILA, Philippines – The Aquino administration has officially adopted the One Town, One Program (Otop), which was initiated by the previous administration of former President now Pampanga second District Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to spur the growth of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the countryside.

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will extend its One Town One Product Program (OTOP) due to the success of the project in attracting new investments.

MANILA, Philippines – Remittances from Filipinos abroad posted its slowest monthly growth in 19 months in March as it expanded by only 4.1 percent. But the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) remains confident that the amount of money sent home by overseas Filipinos would remain resilient nothwithstanding the tensions in Middle East and North African…

MANILA, Philippines – The yield for the benchmark 91-day Treasury bill (T-bill) went up to 1.889 percent during yesterday’s auction as the government made a partial award of P1.4 billion out of total bids worth P2.980 billion.

ANOTHER road accident in-
 volving buses claimed the life of an innocent citizen. Same sickening circumstances: bus drivers racing each other then running away from the scene of an accident they themselves caused.

IT’S NOT RELIGION: Yes, I am a Catholic, and proud of it. Although a sinner, I am happy that the Mother Church still embraces me as one of its children.

TWO events last week mirrored the Filipino’s utter lack of discipline and the state of corruption in the country today.

MANILA, Philippines – Lawmakers suggested yesterday various measures to lessen the burden of families hit by increased tuition and other fees in schools.

MANILA, Philippines – No name-calling please. Malacañang yesterday appealed to Catholic bishops to be more circumspect in expressing their opposition to the reproductive health (RH) bill and avoid offending remarks and rude name-calling.

The government had started negotiations with the European Union (EU) for a free trade agreement at the sidelines of the recent 18th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in Indonesia, Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory Domingo said.

Growth in remittances from Filipinos abroad is plateauing based on recent Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data that showed foreign transfers totaling $1.6 billion in March or 1 4.1 percent growth from the previous month.

While Malacañang suddenly turned biblical over the Reproductive Health (RH) bill debate saying that it will retaliate by giving bread to those who throw stones against it, some Catholic bishops lambasted Sen. Panfilo Lacson, an ally of President Aquino, for alleging that the Church uses the pulpit to cam-paign against the controversial bill.

President Benigno Aquino III has signed Executive Order 43 which formally establishes the five Cabinet clusters that will address key priority areas of his administration.

The number of Filipino nursing graduates aspiring to practice their profession in America plummeted by 52 percent in the first quarter of this year, after nose-diving by 37 percent in 2010, a congressman said on Sunday.

THE Government Service Insurance System is implementing a reorganization that will cut the number of top executive positions in the pension fund to make it more efficient, industry sources said over the weekend.

MANILA, Philippines –  The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) announced Friday that it would suspend all its housing loan programs in line with efforts to adopt wholesale approaches to asset sales and to wind down housing programs in favor of other government shelter agencies.

MANILA, Philippines –  Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) said yesterday its operations will return to two shifts next month after cutting its production by 50 percent as a result of the twin disasters in Japan last March.

MANILA, Philippines –  Private economists and analysts see a higher inflation of 4.9 percent this year and 4.8 percent next year due to the continued tensions in Middle East and North African (MENA) states as well as rising oil and food prices in the world market, a survey conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas…