Monthly Archives: June 2011

Megan McKee, University of Pittsburgh School of Law Class of 2012, worked as a legal researcher for the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law and is currently working in Lebanon. She writes about the need for greater rights for migrant workers in that country, especially for those employed as domestic workers…

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines—Three Filipino transsexuals have sued the government for discriminating against gays before the United Nations, it was revealed in a forum at the University of the Philippines-Baguio last week.Lawyer Evalyn Ursua, who represents Naomi Fontanos, Juliana Marian Giessel and Rio Moreno, said her clients still carried Philippine passports that identified them as males,…

MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Jejomar Binay continues to enjoy high approval and trust ratings among the top five national government officials, according to a recent Pulse Asia survey.

Fear not it’s National Poison Prevention Week (NPPW)! The mere mention of the word poison is enough to make us cringe. By poison, we mean a substance that can cause a disturbance to organisms, usually by chemical reaction, when a sufficient amount is ingested. Of course, there are the other potent things that can poison…

TAKING stern action against erring higher education institutions (HEI), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has directed 32 colleges and universities to phase-out or close their deficient courses after monitoring and evaluation showed they are not adhering to the standards and guidelines of the Commission.

MANILA, Philippines – Bureau of Immigration (BI) records showed that almost 200 Filipinos attempt to sneak out of the country daily to work abroad.

BUSINESS leaders of Cebu gathered yesterday at the Norkis Social Center to discuss what they described as ill effects of frequent increase in the minimum wage.

OZAMIZ CITY, Misamis Occidental, June 28 (PIA) – A daily wage increase of Php5 has been proposed by the different business groups in Misamis Occidental.

(New York) – President Benigno Aquino III of the Philippines has done little during his first year in office to carry out his campaign commitments to justice for rights violations and to dismantle “private armies,” Human Rights Watch said in a background paper released today.

THE Aquino administration does not intend to end the year with a budget surplus as registering one would be bad for the country’s economy, according to the Department of Finance. Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima told reporters that the government is doing a lot of catching up in terms of public spending after it underspent during…

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said the government should review the subsidies for biofuel because it contributes to higher food prices.

Manila, Philippines – Am I? According to somebody who shall not be named I have become an iPad addict, overnight. I’m neither agreeing nor disagreeing. As with any gadgets I’ve owned, the latest always steals away my time and attention the most. That is until a new and better one comes along. The remark I…

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines needs to expand its tax base and increase tax rates to significantly boost revenues and cut debt levels if it wants to win an investment-grade sovereign rating, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said on Friday.

MANILA, Philippines – A new pension body that will replace the military’s Retirement and Separation Benefits System should be managed by civilian financial experts rather than soldiers to ensure that its funds are handled efficiently, an RSBS official said yesterday.

Dear Ms. De Guzman: This refers to your column item entitled, “The disabled-ignored and discriminated” which was published on June 6, 2011. In your column, you mentioned that “this is where DSWD has failed. We are ignorant about the different people in our society who need help, thus, we tend to discriminate them.”

MANILA, Philippines – Recruitment officials yesterday called on the government to step in and immediately take necessary measures to “stabilize” the value of the peso in the midst of reports that the recruitment industry is getting jittery because the currency is becoming stronger.

MANILA, Philippines – Some 182 governors and mayors “misused” their 20 percent development funds sourced from the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA), Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines — Ever received threatening phone calls from a credit card collection agent? How about calls in the wee hours of the morning or in the middle of the night? Worry not, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) actually has regulations that prohibit credit card issuers and their collection agents from engaging in unfair…

More power bill burdens are expected as state power assets holding firm Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (Psalm) said it is firming up the amount that it will charge consumers for so-called stranded debts and the stranded contract costs that runs into tens of billions of pesos that state firm National Power Corp.…

On the heels of a human resources summit of HR professionals in Asia, I wrote in this space last week about my observations about the industrial relations situation in Singapore, venue of the summit. I talked about how enviable the situation in Singapore was —how the Singaporeans have a massive surplus of jobs, how even…

The Bureau of Internal Revenue is making it easier for employees who lost their jobs for reasons beyond their control—such as death, sickness or physical disability—to not pay any tax on separation packages.

WASHINGTON – French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde appeared poised to become the head of the International Monetary Fund this week despite a strong challenge to Europe’s traditional hold on the job.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Misamis Oriental, June 27 (PIA) — The Php79.66 daily increase in wages is essential if workers are to cope with the increasing prices of commodities and cost of living.

MANILA, Philippines – Electricity users may end up paying 39 centavos per kilowatthour (kwh) more in their bills once the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approves the proposed universal charge (UC) of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM).

MANILA, Philippines – A party-list congressman on Sunday raised an alarm against a high number of Filipinos who got infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) through unprotected male-to-male sexual contact.

MANILA, Philippines — Health authorities have asked the House of Representatives to consult international medical experts before acting on a bill that seeks to impose stiffer penalties on abortion and widen the scope of prohibited acts.

Brussels, 24 June 2011 (ITUC OnLine): Trade unions are telling a key meeting of the United Nations program UNAIDS this week that, along with real commitments from governments to fill the US$ 8 billion funding gap, the potential impact of workplace-based activities in tackling the HIV and AIDS pandemic is still not being realised.

Foreign workers in Saudi Arabia send £17bn to families back home annually. But for some, the cost in physical and mental abuse is too high, writes Jason Burke Shortly after dawn, as the sun rises over the hills behind the city, tens of thousands of women will wake in the Saudi Arabian port of Jeddah…

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines needs to expand its tax base and increase tax rates to significantly boost revenues and cut debt levels if it wants to win an investment-grade sovereign rating, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said on Friday.

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – Human rights violations committed by the government and private parties against transgender Filipinos may soon be subject to international legal censure and corrective measures, if activists and lawyers succeed in getting the attention of the United Nations, pro-gay advocates said Saturday.