Monthly Archives: June 2011

‘CONGRESS NOT A VENUE FOR CHARACTER ASSASSINATION’ Fearing a congressional investigation of the presidential KKKs, President Aquino yesterday again meddled in the affairs of the House of Representatives as he gave his marching orders to congressmen to stop any and all congressional investigations of his Kaibigan, Kaklase and Kabarilan.

ANGELES CITY, Philippines – Public schools nationwide have been holding classes for two weeks now, but where’s the chalk for the blackboard?

MANILA — When citizens of the small Mediterranean nation of Malta voted in a referendum last month to legalize divorce, they reignited debate in the Philippines, one of the last countries, along with Vatican City, where divorce is still banned.

MANILA, Philippines – The number of legislators who are opposed to the passage of the controversial reproductive health bill is continuously increasing, an official of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said.

In a bid to eradicate child labor in the Philippines, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) launched a portal providing relevant statistics and other information that will help and encourage the public to combat child labor.  

Last week I was pleasantly surprised to find that a friend, Sarah Bulalacao Grutas, is now social media director for the National Youth Commission. A young person herself, Sarah is a cum laude graduate of the University of the Philippines, with a Creative Writing degree from the UP’s College of Arts and Letters.

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III has created an anti-monopoly office under the Justice Department to go after cartels and to advocate competition in domestic and international trade. Mr. Aquino created the Office for Competition in an executive order signed on June 9, tasking it to investigate all cases involving violations of competition laws and to prosecute…

There are only two countries in the world without a divorce law: Malta and the Philippines. Both are Catholic-dominated nations governed by politicians who are afraid to antagonize the bishops who seem to be more popish than the pope in their dogmatic interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. But Malta is expected to finally enact a…

THE PALACE on Thursday welcomed improved year-on-year employment statistics, particularly a decrease in unemployment, based on the 2011 Labor Force Survey conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO).

MANILA, June 16 (PIA)–The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) yesterday issued a call strongly supporting the bid against asbestos use as it pushes for its inclusion in the list of chemicals identified as hazardous to both health and environment.

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CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/15 June) – The local chapter of the London-based Amnesty International has joined the now much debated Reproductive Health Bill and is calling on the bill’s leading opposition, the Roman Catholic Church, to reconsider its position.

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DOMESTICS – AN INTERNATIONAL ISSUE. Organising in New York (above), Treatment sometimes borders on slavery. THEY can be flown around the globe with their employer, and then find themselves unable to leave the house. For some it may be an escape from grinding poverty and war zones, to relative comfort and security, at the price…

Nannies, cooks and cleaners left vulnerable as UK fails to back ILO move to help workers who are mistreated or denied rights A survey by Justice for Domestic Workers finds half of its members work 55 hours plus a week and 95% get less than the minimum wage.

SINGAPORE : The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Singapore Ministry of Manpower (MOM) have signed a two-year agreement to improve labour and workplace practices in the ASEAN region.

HIGH LEVELS of unemployment intensifies discriminatory practices in the workplace as workers scramble to make do with available jobs, labor experts warned. Jorge V. Sibal, dean of the University of the Philippines School of Labor and Industrial Relations (UP SOLAIR), said the high number of jobless Filipinos has made employers more selective in the hiring…

THE COUNTRY’S population grows by about two million every year. That’s like adding half the population of Singapore, or a third of Hong Kong’s, every 12 months. Feeding an enormous, fast-growing population is difficult enough; feeding it at a time of gathering crisis—the new Oxfam report speaks of “spiralling food prices, devastating weather events, global…

MANILA, Philippines – Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Saudi Arabia are in danger of losing their jobs as the Middle East country starts to strictly implement their “Saudization” scheme, according to a migrants rights group.

MANILA, Philippines – As the first 365 days of President Benigno Aquino III in office draws near, the proverbial question “What has the Aquino Presidency achieved?” is once again raised.

THE GOVERNMENT must better enforce regulations aimed at protecting overseas workers, particularly overseas household service workers, noted a study conducted by the Scalabrini Migration Center (SMC), in collaboration with the state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS).

BUSINESS SENTIMENT in the Asia-Pacific region has dropped due to rising costs and concerns over the global recovery, a Reuters survey released yesterday showed.

MANILA, Philippines – Favorable weather and improved economic conditions pulled down the number of jobless people nationwide, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported yesterday.

UNEMPLOYMENT fell slightly in April but labor experts said this was not necessarily good news as an increase in underemployment indicated a deterioration in the quality of available jobs.

TAKE-UP of office spaces continues to rise, underscoring the bullish outlook of multinational firms in the Philippines, according to data released by a real estate consultancy firm.

MANILA, Philippines – Remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) climbed six percent in the first four months of the year after recovering from a steady slowdown since November last year on the back of strong demand for skilled Filipino workers, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

CANBERRA — Businessmen yesterday called on the Aquino government to hold off from tightening regulations on mining, rejecting a plan by the Environment department to declare mines as “mineral reservations” to hike tax revenues.

CANBERRA — The Aquino administration will work out a “political solution” to problems hounding mining investments in the country, the Trade department said as it issued assurances of support in a meeting with counterparts in Australia, a major mining investor.

IT seems that the notoriety of some taxi drivers in the Philippines has got the attention of the United States, as the US State Department warned Americans against abusive taxi drivers, particularly those engaging in “contractual practices.”

During the 1986-1992 governance of President Corazon C. Aquino, the Department of Education was addressed as the Department of Education, Culture and Sports, and was headed by Dr. Lourdes Quisumbing.