Monthly Archives: June 2011

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines  – A cargo vessel loaded with some 40,000 liters of gasoline exploded near a private port in Pasacao, Camarines Sur Wednesday afternoon, leaving all its 12 crewmen and a 11-year-old boy injured, the Coast Guard said yesterday.

Undoubtedly, since the introduction of the foreign sponsored and foreign crafted RH bill, a serious rift and deep division has been created in our nation. Never before have there been such heated discussions and sharp differences among Filipinos on several issues of fact and of law regarding this bill. Before it was introduced, we seemed…

MALOLOS CITY, Philippines  – The Philippines ranked third in the annual impunity index report released by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate committees on energy and public services have recommended the extension of the lifeline rate privilege given to low-income users of electricity by another 10 years.

Manila, Philippines – The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) is drawing up a framework to rationalize the miscellaneous fees charged by colleges and universities in the country to address concerns of exorbitant and so-called ridiculous fees.

Manila, Philippines – The Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) is set to approve new rules to strengthen protection for children appearing in broadcast media.

CEBU, Philippines – A protest rally was held inside the Mactan Export Processing Zone (MEPZ) yesterday morning by around 50 union members of Blaze Manufacturing Corporation Employees Union (BMCEU) and Agency Workers Union of Blaze.

CEBU, Philippines – Two men were trapped inside a stone quarry in barangay Calagasan, Argao town in the southern part of the province since yesterday morning.

Domestic workers play an important role in the economy and they allow others to go out and earn money. Yet they remain invisible, unprotected and their contribution is often not recognized. At the forthcoming International Labour Conference (in Geneva, 1-17 June) the ILO and its members will debate drafts that could lead to the first…

MANILA, Philippines – The Asian Migrants Coordinating Body in Hong Kong (AMCB-HK) expressed their disappointment after the Hong Kong government announced increases in their minimum allowable wage (MAW) and food allowance.

CEBU, Philippines – Two teachers separately charged their husbands for violence against women before the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office.

It’s been so tough to get data from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) these days. After almost ten times calling the said government agency for the list of tertiary schools and their updated tuition per unit, I was left hanging like a beggar for statistics. So I decided to research online and ask the…

Virulently toxic is the only way to describe the current political environment surrounding the debate over the Reproductive Health (RH) bill pending in Congress. Bishop Nereo Odchimar, head of the powerful Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) raised the temperature level to fever-pitch when he announced last September that the Church may excommunicate  President…

MANILA, Philippines – If Rizal were alive today, would he support the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill?

ONE-FOURTH of the people who tested positive for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the country last year came from Central Visayas. HIV is the virus that causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

THE Philippine semiconductor and electronics industry on Wednesday cut its exports outlook following the disasters in Japan and the political tension in Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA).

LEGAZPI CITY: Students throughout Albay will be learning about the life-wrenching, impact of climate change beginning this school year.

THOUSANDS of foreign university students are flocking to the Philippines, attracted by cheap yet high-quality courses conducted in English and an easygoing lifestyle outside class.

THIS you have to reconcile. The economy has been growing incredibly fast. President Benigno Simeon Aquino III has claimed credit for it. He has been in office for almost a year now. He has a right to assert his bragging right.

IT will be ten years to the day by next week when Republic Act No. 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001 was enacted into law. Its passage was railroaded through Congress amidst a very strong lobby from the creditors of the National Power Corporation (NPC) led by the Asian Development…

Dear PAO, I know that an employee is entitled to his regular pay on a regular holiday, like Labor Day, even if he does not work on that day. But when I received my salary last May 15, I discovered that I did not receive my salary for May 1. What action can I do…

HALF of Filipinos have expressed their agreement on legal divorce for separated couples, with 63 percent approval reported among live-in partners, the latest Social Weather Stations revealed on Wednesday.

MANILA, Philippines – Fifty percent of Filipinos agree that divorce for separated couples should be legalized, results of the latest Social Weather Stations survey revealed Wednesday. The survey, conducted last March 4-7, 2011, found that 50% of adult Filipinos agree and 33% disagree with the statement, “Married couples who have already separated and cannot reconcile…

PARIS: Mobile phone users may be at increased risk from brain cancer and should use texting and hands-free devices to reduce exposure, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) cancer experts said.

Takeaway: It’s easy to get caught up in the implementation details of a Web site design project and lose sight of the hands-on user perspective. Calvin Sun airs a few user experience grievances that can alienate site visitors — permanently.

The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) is experiencing a “brain drain” phenomenon after a number of ramp controllers (RCs) resigned for high paying jobs abroad.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Education (DepEd) has issued guidelines on the use of its P500-million disaster Quick Response Fund (QRF) to promote “more prudent” spending of the funds.

MANILA, Philippines – Nine people were hurt when a cargo vessel exploded and caught fire near an oil depot off Ragay Gulf in Pasacao, Camarines Sur late Wednesday evening.

RIYADH: Twenty Filipinos out of a group of about 150 trailer truck drivers in Dammam have stopped work due to violations of the terms and conditions of their employment contracts by their employer.

Eight hours a day, seven days a week, a 40-year-old woman in this sweltering capital sweeps the footpaths of the public housing development where she lives. In the afternoon, she returns to her room, where she and four of her children, ages 5 to 15, sleep on a double mattress on the floor.