Monthly Archives: July 2011

At least three construction workers were reported dead while two others are still being treated in the hospital due to suffocation while they were inside a septic tank in Batangas yesterday. The fatalities were identified as Romulo Fernandez, Nardito Igloso and Ronald Alimbo.

Many months back, in my column entitled Victory, I somehow said that the Philippines will soon be rerated as investment grade with the continuing surge or inflow of OFW remittances. This has led our Gross International Reserves to hit a record-high $69 billion, which is 10.3 months worth of imports, and surpasses our gross external…

MANILA, Philippines – The World Bank remains interested in participating in the government’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects despite concerns on their processes, including the multi-year forward agreements.

MANILA, Philippines – Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who stand to lose their jobs in Saudi Arabia as a result of the “Saudization” policy can avail of business loans out of the P2 billion re-integration program of the government.

The specter of another financial meltdown haunts the global economy. When this trading week opened, stock markets tumbled from Asia to Europe to North America. Financial risk assessments were grimmer. Spreads on sovereign debt papers widened.

PEOPLE POWER: This culture of blame, which has become as prevalent as it is pernicious, explains why Filipinos celebrate every time an NPA Sparrow Unit assassinates notoriously corrupt government officials, abusive “matons,” a tyrannical hacendero, or undisciplined military men.

MANILA, Philippines – The proposed reforms in the armed forces’ pension system would not affect the military’s recruitment efforts, even if these would reduce the benefits given to future retirees, a senior officer said yesterday. Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Commodore Miguel Rodriguez said soldiers enter the service because of the desire to…

MANILA, Philippines – The government has released a total of P251.6 million to the Department of Education (DepEd) for the nationwide implementation of the Madrasah Education Program, which aims to enhance educational development of Filipino Muslims.

Loan and credit card payments rank high among the problems of Filipinos in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to a report on The Gulf Today.

Surging demand in the provinces for affordable small business ventures and the underlying shift of overseas Filipino workers to entrepreneurship are driving the annual 20 percent growth of the franchising industry, according to a trade group.

BAYAWAN CITY, Negros Oriental – It was drizzling and the narrow path was muddy and slippery. From Nangka 1 village proper, it took an hour’s walk to reach the solitary wooden hut on a hill, overlooking a rice field on one side and a stream on the other.

MANILA, Philippines — To break the division along gender lines in technical vocational (tech-voc) education, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) are coming out with a gender-sensitivity training curriculum.

BACOOR, Cavite, July 13 (PIA) — Mayor Strike Revilla emphasized the important role of barangay captains in identifying incidence of child labor and illegal recruitment of minors in their respective areas as he underscored the need to equip the local officials on the salient features of Republic Act 9231 to effectively protect children from the…

ROSARIO, Cavite, July 13 (PIA) — Barangay officials, members of the Philippine National Police (PNP)-Rosario, representatives of the municipal social welfare and development office and permit and licensing office attended the recent advocacy of child labor conducted by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Public Employment Service Office (PESO)-Cavite.

Three construction workers died while two others were hospitalized after they were suffocated inside a septic tank before noon Wednesday in Batangas province.

Dubai police on Wednesday arrested 120 Filipinos who were learned to be illegally working in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.

A tourism industry leader yesterday proposed that the private sector would handle the overseeing, planning, strategizing and implementation of tourism programs instead of the Department of Tourism (DoT) to be more effective.

A recent Supreme Court decision bearing its judgment on what constitutes capital in the 60-40 Filipino to foreign equity rule concerning foreign investments inspires further commentary on the restrictive economic provisions in the constitution.

MANILA, Philippines – Car importers reported a six-percent increase in sales for the first half of the year despite the slowdown in total industry performance.

MANILA, Philippines – The United States has granted the Philippines an additional sugar allocation of 18, 824 metric tons, the Sugar Regulatory Administration said yesterday. According to the SRA, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has granted an additional Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) for raw sugar equivalent of 19,648 MTRV which is…

MANILA, Philippines – Net inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) declined 15.1 percent in the first four months of the year due to the generally sluggish growth in advanced economies led by the US and Japan as well as the debt crisis in Europe, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – There will be a sharp decline in the internal revenue allotment (IRA) for local government units (LGUs) in the proposed national budget for 2012 because of the steep decline in revenue collections in 2009, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said yesterday.

TARLAC CITY, Philippines – Hundreds of farmers working at the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) yesterday disclosed that they are in favor of the stock distribution plan and not the distribution of farmlands. Jojo Zuñiga, spokesman for the group claiming as members some 7,441 legitimate Luisita farmers, told The STAR that they favor the stock…

The Cotabato Government Employees Association (COTGEM) recently had affiliated to the Association of Labor Unions- Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) in a Memorandum of Affiliation ceremony conducted last Friday, July 1, 2011 at Dr. Rosario P. Diaz building Amas, Kidapawan City.

CEBU, Philippines – The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines maintained that there is a supervening condition that justifies wage increase in Central Visayas.

SELF-EMPLOYED people including doctors, lawyers and businessmen paid an average tax of only P5,800 last year, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said Tuesday.

A CASH subsidy from the collection of the expanded value-added tax (EVAT) could sharply reduce the number of poor senior citizens in the country, according to the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB).

MANILA, Philippines – The Aquino administration will step up efforts to go after professionals and self-employed individuals as part of efforts to improve revenue-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio by four percent, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine embassy in Riyadh said yesterday there is no ban on overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who wish to return to their jobs in Saudi Arabia.