Monthly Archives: September 2011

With the rise of Internet usage as a basic human right, a seafarers’ advocacy group in the Philippines held a three-day seminar on information and communications technology (ICT) to help seafarers in reporting human rights and labor abuse cases.

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

A study on maternal deaths in 181 countries showed that the maternal mortality rate in the Philippines dropped by 81 percent from 1980 to 2008, the news agency “LifeNews.com” said.

At the 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia Pacific, UN Women indicated a need for a greater investment in HIV-positive women and advocated for the greater involvement of HIV-positive women leaders from countries including China, Indonesia, India, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Moni Pizani, Representative and Regional Program Director of UN Women for East and…

MANILA, Philippines – Administration congressmen are questioning the additional P6.2 billion in the proposed budget of the Department of Agriculture (DA) purportedly to finance Stage II of what they dub as “ghost irrigation projects” for 2012.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is cracking down on businesses handling pollutive and hazardous substances without appropriate permits.

“Indeed, as Asian digital communities – from Chennai to Chengdu to Cairns – increasingly spend time consuming information and dynamic content from online sources, we are witnessing a shift in magnitude in how companies need to plan and manage communications for the future. The possibilities are exciting”. – Bob Pickard, Asia-Pacific president and CEO, Burson-Marsteller…

Even from her sickbed, Gloria Arroyo doesn’t stop. The full-page ad boasting of her achievements does it all over again. She made similar preposterous claims in January last year and we destroyed them in an article entitled “Fairyland”. I guess we have to do it all over again.

APART from recently discovered “ghost” repairs of police armored vehicles, the Philippine National Police will be going through the wringer soon. The investigation this time aims to ferret out “ghost” pensioners that have taken more than P1-billion from the government in the past five years.

Questionable indeed are the styles used in pushing for the passage of the RH bill. Right now, the glaring ones are the apparent lack of transparency or attempts to conceal or misrepresent its real nature and purpose, and the use of incorrect and outdated statistics.

The current policy of the Aquino administration to screen budget releases may have done the economy more harm than good, minutes of the last Monetary Board (MB) meeting showed.

GENEVA — Thousands of migrants stranded in Tripoli are unable to be evacuated as they cannot safely reach the port or register with their embassies, the Inter-national Organization for Migration (IOM) yesterday said.

First of two parts A HOPEFUL chorus from top government officials heralded the August 31 release of Philippine economic data. A week and a half before, Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran put April-June real growth in gross domestic product at “slightly better than 4.9 percent [in the first quarter], because of higher government spending and power…

* Output seen at 2.4 million tons in 2011/2012, nearly flat vs 2010/11 MANILA, Philippines – The government expects sugar output in crop year ending August 2012 of around 2.4 million tons, nearly flat from the previous year, and may sell the sweetener to other countries on top of its US quota for a second…

This year, six awardees from different parts of Asia take center stage in the annual Ramon Magsaysay Awards, the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize, to serve as models of leadership and service. In this series, GMA News Online asks each awardee: What can the Philippines learn from your story?

QUEZON CITY, September 2 (PIA) — The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is in active coordination with the Human Rights Affairs Officers (HRAOs) of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines in its directive to reject violence, particularly hazing.

The recruitment industry expects a huge decline in the number of Filipino domestic workers being deployed to the Middle East with the likely approval of a resolution that would make Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates off limits to household service workers.

Workers can argue to high heavens about the P20 wage increase being inadequate but that’s what the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board in Central Visayas (RTWPB-7) delivered.

Deaths dropped by 81 per cent between 1980 and 2008. Data contradict abortion and reproductive health bill supporters. For years, international agencies and media used figures considered out of date by the institutions that collected them. Manila (AsiaNews/ Agencies) – The Philippines are winning the battle against maternal deaths even without any reproductive health law.…

MANILA, Philippines — High percentages of people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), including those in the Philippines, had lost jobs or income in the last 12 months based on their HIV status, a new report by the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has revealed.

Amid reports that in claiming for discounts some senior citizens still insist on showing identification cards issued by associations, the Department of Social Welfare and Development reminded them that only ID cards from the Office of Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCAs) will be honored.

The top three concerns of Filipinas in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are sexual harassment, unwanted pregnancies, and abuse of domestic workers, said a survey conducted by “Ilustrado,” a Filipino society magazine in Dubai.

For helping disadvantaged youths, a Filipina nurse received the “2011 Pride of Australia” award. Mica Alcedo was awarded the medal under the “Fair Go” category at the Crocodylus Park in Darwin, Northern Territory on August 19, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.

Filipino permanent residents in Hong Kong may avail of a HK$6,000 cash handout by Hong Kong’s Financial Services and Treasury Bureau, the Philippine Consulate General there said.

A FORMER president of the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) branded as toothless paper tiger the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) directive for a moratorium on enrollment in nursing.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz yesterday said the number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were found to be positive with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have reached 166 in just seven months, from January to July this year, up by 73 percent compared to the 96 diagnosed over the same period in 2010.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine membership to the World Trade Organization (WTO) has helped the country’s trade expand in the global market, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said yesterday.

CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) 7 decided Wednesday to increase the minimum wage in Central Visayas by P20 after a deliberation that stretched more than five hours.

On another front, the Reproductive Health (RH) bill cannot be dismissed as a mere duplication of existing laws. Rather, its passage would lead to the adoption of a clear-cut and cohesive national policy on reproductive health and responsible parenthood that should guide the programs of the Department of Health (DOH) and local government units (LGUs),…