Monthly Archives: December 2011

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte, Dec. 20 (PIA) — The regional director of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Regional Office 8 Atty. Forter G. Puguon said that four companies in Eastern Visayas were among those who received DOLE’s nationwide Safety Milestone (SMILE) Recognition Awards.

Another global recession could cut gross domestic product growth in the Philippines to 1 percent in 2012, similar to its economic performance in 2009, the World Bank warned Tuesday.

A demanding workload and difficult hours make working in the call center industry a highly stressful job. A study conducted by the International Labor Organization last year revealed that over forty percent of night shift employees in the business process outsourcing sector work the night shift, which is associated with occupational safety and health concerns.

The World Bank is extending $455,000 (around P20 million) in grant under its Cities Alliance to formulate the Philippines’ National Slum Upgrading Strategy that will guide the government in improving the living conditions of informal settlers, according to Vice President Jejomar Binay.

PHILIPPINE PROGRESS in addressing labor issues is slated to come under review next year as the United States Trade Representative (USTR) office studies a complaint involving the Philippines’ status as a Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) beneficiary.

MANILA, Philippines –  The amount of foreign portfolio investments or hot or speculative money that was pulled out of the Philippines surged 55 percent in the first 11 months of the year as the sovereign debt crisis in Europe caused jitters and heavy sell-offs of investments, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – After almost two years in Malacañang, President Aquino’s efforts to end the armed conflict with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the communist New People’s Army (NPA) have remained an elusive dream.

THE Philippines expects to receive continued support from the World Bank (WB) for priority programs and projects in the next three years after the institution reaffirmed its commitment to the country’s development strategy during a programming discussion held at the office of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

A strong typhoon can be deadly even to the best prepared, what more to those who least expect it? Tropical Storm Sendong, which has now killed more than 650 people in northern Mindanao, only proves this.

The EcoWaste Coalition yesterday reported that it has detected sky-high levels of toxic elements on several beverage and food containers purchased from popular retail outlets in Metro Manila.

THE PHILIPPINES has aligned with international standards against torture, following the Senate’s ratification of a United Nations (UN) treaty.

JAPAN HAS agreed to begin funding economic cooperation initiatives with the ASEAN early next year as both parties finalized guidelines of project selection and management, a local trade official said on Friday.

Last week, I expressed what I liked most about the new structure and workings of local governments in the Philippines. Today, I would like to express my concerns about current local governance after more than two decades when the Local Government Code was enacted.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine government has repatriated at least 26,273 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), most of them from war-torn Libya, in the first 11 months of this year, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) reported yesterday.

THE Philippine central bank said the use of remittances has continued to improve since the previous quarter as the savings index of overseas Filipino worker households increased.

Last Dec. 12, I asked why gasoline in Manila, Seaoil’s P50.99 per liter, is costlier than the costliest in the US, $3.67 per gallon (P39.45 a liter) in San Francisco. The energy department’s Zenaida Y. Monsada, director of the oil industry management bureau, replies:

Dear PAO, The company where I previously worked did not withhold tax on my salary. Will I be punished for this? Dex

Virtual At-Home Call Center Employees working for Apple File Class Action Lawsuit against the company for allegedly misclassifying Employees as independent contractors in order to avoid paying taxes and overtime pay.

The Government Service Insurance System has written P5 billion worth of foreclosed housing units off its books this year as part of a review of the pension fund’s assets.

A second look at the problem of labor-only contracting would show that it pertains to security of tenure than on the issue of wage. Thus, if we are to focus our attention on that, we could possibly resolve that problem. Remember, we can never have both, like securing their employment while guaranteeing a fixed income…

MANILA, Philippines — Environmental group Greenpeace Sunday lauded the filing of Senate Bill 3087, authored by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, seeking to establish a Pollutant Release and Transfer Register in the country.

MANILA, Philippines—While the sob stories usually make the headlines, the country’s efforts to help thousands of overseas Filipinos, especially those caught in wars and calamities, have not gone unnoticed in the United Nations.

CEBU, Philippines –   Individuals applying for health insurance coverage under PhilHealth’s Overseas Workers Program (OWP) must be able to show proof of active status as OFW both upon registration and upon renewal of coverage.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine economy may still grow by 5.5 percent this year, which is the upper end of the government’s official forecast of 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cayetano Paderanga Jr. said on Thursday.

MANILA, Philippines – New York-based Moody’s Investors Service sees the Philippine economy expanding by five percent next year from about 4.5 percent on the back of strong remittances from overseas Filipino workers as well as higher government spending arising from the Aquino administration’s public private partnership (PPP) program.

MANILA, Philippines – The country has received an upgrade in its credit rating outlook – to positive from stable – from the New York-based Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Ratings Services.

MANILA, Philippines – With more than P31-billion increase in its budget for 2012, the Department of Education (DepEd) is now ready to implement its ambitious K+12 basic education curriculum (BEC) plan.

Empowering the Filipino People “To achieve the Millennium Development Goals and keep temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius, all countries must ACT NOW.”   — UN SecGen Ban Ki-Moon, 01 November 2011

MANILA, Philippines – The Network to Stop AIDS in the Philippines (NSAP) expressed concern over the possible interruption of free treatment for HIV/AIDS patients after the cancellation of financial support from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS.

15 December 2011, Manila–The Associated Labor Unions (ALU) appealed to the Labor department to intervene and save thousands of Philippine central bank employees from an ongoing improper removal and disposal of cancerous asbestos and asbestos-containing materials at the BSP building in Manila.