Monthly Archives: August 2011

Employment rates in the Philippines grew by 4 percent year-on-year as the country’s labor market regains momentum in April 2011, but not in the case of region VI.

MANILA – There are 178 new cases of HIV as of June this year, the HIV/Aids registry reported. Department of Health Technical Program Officer Ethel Dano said the new cases constitute a 63 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

The Department of Labor and Employment will implement a seven-point strategy to help young people make the transition from education to work.

This is going to be a sweet year for the country’s sugar industry. Enjoying a bumper harvest, the Philippines is poised to export at least 300,000 metric tons of raw and refined sugar this year, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said Friday.

IT is no surprise that armed Muslim groups, including the newly-formed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) of expelled Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Commander Ameril Umbra Kato, are using child soldiers, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Friday.

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Airlines (PAL) said yesterday they will commence a company-wide information campaign about its outsourcing program after its workers’ union rejected management’s offer for a dialogue.

About 25,000 housing units in relocation sites of the National Housing Authority (NHA) will be awarded to informal settlers in Quezon City, particularly those occupying danger zones such as sidewalks, roadways, waterways and areas under bridges and transmission lines and over water pipelines.

In the cold eyes of financial analysts, what appears as a meltdown in the markets is really a process of “re-pricing” stocks. What this means is that most investors — hedge funds or individual punters — anticipate a slowdown in global economic activity. That translates into less business and less profit. In turn, that means…

Muslim leaders pleaded to justice officials to fully implement the Republic Act 8371 or the Indigenous People’s Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997 which recognizes the rights of indigenous people and the role of the government to safeguard their well being.

HONG KONG – Migrant workers here urged President Aquino to rethink his labor export program to protect Filipinos against “rising xenophobia and social exclusion” in this territory as well as in other migrant-destination countries.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines’ conditional cash transfer (CCT) program could increase annual incomes of beneficiaries by 12.6 percent, resulting in the reduction of poverty incidence by 6.2 percent, simulations by the World Bank (WB) and the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) showed.

MANILA, Philippines – The ability of terrorist and militant groups to launch attacks in the Philippines has greatly diminished due to stronger counterterrorism measures and operations being carried out by the government, the US State Department said in a report released this week.

THE GOVERNMENT’s cash grant scheme for the poor is expected to raise annual income of beneficiaries and at the same time reduce poverty level, the World Bank said in a statement on Friday.

Three miners died and four others were injured in a landslide in Compostela Valley province. Municipal and provincial disaster relief response teams were dispatched to the Sitio Tagutong, Barangay Manurigao, New Bataan.

MANILA, Philippines — Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Hong Kong Friday expressed alarm over the alleged “rising xenophobia and social exclusion” in Hong Kong and other destination countries for migrant workers.

GOVERNMENT agencies led by the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) have formally launched a campaign for “green jobs” in light of the threats posed by climate change.

TACLOBAN City, Philippines—The Department of Health (DoH) in Eastern Visayas is alarmed by the increase of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome cases in the region.

ECONOMIC GROWTH will likely pick up in the second half as the government spends more and Philippine businesses benefit from a Japanese recovery, a planning official yesterday said. Worries over the economy should be tempered since sluggish first quarter gross domestic product (GDP) was due more to global troubles and the new administration’s adjustment phase,…

THE lawmakers who went to Mexico to study its conditional cash transfer program on Tuesday urged the administration to end its own P21.9-billion dole, saying they did not want the Philippines to go through the same difficulties that the Latin American state had been going through.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) insisted yesterday that any agreement less than its proposed Bangsamoro substate will not address the decades-long Mindanao conflict as the group indicated that the substate proposal would be the least it can offer at the bargain table in terms of autonomy when it negotiates peace with the government in…

In less than a week, one of the hottest topics in Hong Kong will move towards a milestone. A petition by one of at least four Filipino domestic helpers to the Hong Kong government to grant them permanent residence will be heard at the High Court starting August 22.

OPPOSITION lawmakers on Wednesday demanded that the government reduce the number of its dole recipients to 1 million from 2.3 million now so it could use the money saved to build more classrooms and hire more teachers.

THE Palace will not back down in its campaign to have the reproductive health bill passed despite the “strong moral objections” from Catholic Church leaders, an official said Wednesday.

THE Moro Islamic Liberation Front said Wednesday the expulsion of renegade commander Ameril Umbra Kato meant he no longer was covered by a truce shielding the group’s fighters from military assault.

MANILA, Philippines – After causing disasters, climate change is expected to bring about a new breed of jobs for Filipinos.

The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP), in cooperation with the European National Chambers, noted with deep concern the views expressed by the PCCI and — surprisingly — by the BOI, undermining the country’s move towards renewable energies, alternative fuels and a wider energy mix.

August 17, 2011, Quezon City – Japanese unions, through the Japan International Labour Foundation (JILAF), known for its pioneering initiatives in the development and implementation of workers’ education and training programs, will launch another action-oriented model initiative integrating industrial relations, corporate social responsibility and productivity into one package. The new program, called PROGRESS (Program on…

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Wednesday said it is restricting the grant of fiscal incentives to cooperatives amid loopholes in the law, which has allowed for-profit enterprises to avoid tax and labor rules.

The Commission on Audit (COA) on Thursday revealed that not all beneficiaries of the government’s conditional cash transfer (CCT) program in 2009 were actually qualified to receive stipends.

THE government continues to deprive public school teachers of rightful economic and non-economic benefits with the non-issuance of the guidelines on the registration and accreditation of public school teachers’ group under the Department of Education (DepEd).