Monthly Archives: November 2011

First of two parts The Aquino Administration has much to make up for, and they know it. Upon the release of disappointing 2nd quarter GDP figures, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad promised increased government spending in the second half of the year, “not only by accelerating existing projects but also by spending on additional projects allowed…

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) cried yesterday for help among local trade groups to press the government for a quicker and more decisive response against what it calls as harassment of private enterprises after the continued picket of its former employees at the Terminal 2 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Director-General Irina Bokova of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) commended the Philippines for its dynamic work in education at the sidelines of the General Conference in Paris.

Metrobank, Security Bank and Union Bank among the strongest 100 banks in Asia, says poll Six Philippine banks were listed as among the strongest 100 banks in the Asia-Pacific region while 10 others were included in the top 500 (AB500) rankings by the financial publication, The Asian Banker.

Last week was good for someone like me, who is both an academic and practitioner in the field of governance. It was a week of learning from experiences all over the world in the area of urban development and transportation. This was because of three visitors from the United States of America—Benjamin de la Peña…

ENLISTED personnel and active and retired generals on Monday slammed a revamped pension system as unacceptable, saying they would bear the cost of reforming the Armed Forces’ “corrupt” Retirement Separation and Benefits System.

I wish I could be more optimistic about the peace process between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front but there has been little evidence that any meaningful deal is in the offing.

THE rising incidence of hunger in the Philippines reported recently by the Social Weather Stations has put the spotlight on the wisdom of the Aquino administration’s cash handouts to the poor—and whether the dole is helping to pull Filipinos out of poverty.

THE Associated Labor Union (ALU) called upon the Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education and all state, private schools and universities nationwide to ban the use of all wire gauzes that contains cancerous asbestos from their classrooms and laboratories.

Lawmakers have warned the Aquino administration of demoralization among the police and the military following its decision to allot P31 million for the housing and livelihood of the families of surrendered members of the Alex Boncayao Brigade, the group responsible for killing about 200 policemen in the 1990’s.

DEPOSED President Joseph Estrada on Monday cautioned the government against using P31 million to benefit the members of the Alex Boncayao Brigade, a communist splinter group with which he signed a peace agreement in 2000, saying the rebels must surrender their firearms first.

THE Supreme Court (SC) is pitching to Malacañang, the Senate and the House of Representatives a review of the Oil Deregulation Law since the government no longer has control over escalating prices of petroleum products.

Recruit hackers  — lawmaker WHILE the Commission on Audit (COA) can very well ensure that the government is not disadvantaged in all contracts it had entered into, state auditors still lack the technical expertise to effectively sniff out irregularities in national and local government contracts involving information and communications technology (ICT) projects.

The Palace appealed to both Philippine Airlines (PAL) and PAL Employees’ Association (Palea) to exercise sobriety in dealing with each other to prevent the recurrence of violence at the workers’ picket line last Oct. 29.

SOLON WARNS PALACE FUNDING REBEL GROUPS TO CAUSE POLICE DEMORALIZATION Malacañang and its Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPPAP) chief , Teresita Deles, may just be giving away P31 million to a non-existent rebel group that was once tagged by government as the Alex Boncayao Brigade (ABB), no matter what new…

MANILA, Philippines – To a lot of men, erectile dysfunction sounds like a death sentence. But according to Dr. James Rouse, a naturopathic doctor, Ironman triathlete, yoga instructor, book author, and TV personality in the US, erectile dysfunction is not a disease.

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Airlines (PAL) yesterday lashed out at its detractors for hastily laying the blame on airline management for Saturday’s confrontation at the PAL Inflight Center in Pasay City.