Monthly Archives: March 2012

The Universal Health Care program for Filipinos, a priority measure of the Aquino administration, moved one step closer to its enactment into a law as the House of Representatives approved House Bill (HB) 6048 or the Pinoy Health Insurance Act on second reading.

MANILA, Philippines – Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz has ordered the wage board in Metro Manila to speed up the conduct of public consultations and grant a possible pay hike to workers in the metropolis before the end of May.

DESPITE higher prices and scary scientific studies showing that smoking often leads to cancer, the number of smokers continues to rise globally, according to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which advocates against smoking.

MANILA, Philippines – An upbeat President Aquino yesterday hinted that the Philippines might be able to get more upgrades from credit rating agencies this year, owing to significant improvements in the economy and brighter infrastructure prospects.

President Aquino bared yesterday a renewal energy program that sounds like a clone of the energy build up strategy of former President Fidel V. Ramos that resulted in a power glut and along with it came the cost of electricity in the country spiralling which has now become the world’s most expensive.

MANILA, Philippines – The government plans to expand a landmark poverty alleviation scheme that provides cash aid to the country’s poorest households to benefit nearly 5 million families, an official said Tuesday.

President Aquino III expressed his intention to revive Philippine manufacturing. That’s welcome news. But instead of counting chickens before they’re hatched, he should focus on fixing the things that need to be fixed to make the Philippines an attractive place for foreign and domestic manufacturers. The to-do list is quite formidable, however.

HOUSEHOLDS in Metro Manila with a monthly consumption of 200 kilowatt-hours could expect an increase of P55.24 in their power bills by May.

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DESPITE the ongoing uncertainties in the host countries of the millions of overseas Filipinos, the Bangko Sentral is confident that the level of remittances will still grow this year, albeit slower than last year.

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is urging beneficiaries of remittances to channel the money sent home to the Philippines by their loved ones overseas for more productive uses such as savings and investments.

PRESIDENT Aquino has ordered the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) to speed up the processing of the project proposals for the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program to accelerate its implementation.

STATE AGENCIES have been ordered to hasten infrastructure project approvals this year in a bid to take advantage of increased investor appetite, President Benigno S. C. Aquino III yesterday said, and also prepare for fierce economic competition from neighboring countries.

ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR, Philippines – Just before the break of dawn, Ricky (not his real name) started his day by packing up his pick, mullet and ore bucket.

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PRESIDENT Aquino has ordered the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) to speed up the processing of the project proposals for the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program to accelerate its implementation.

THE World Bank is urging the national government to “carefully monitor” the real-estate industry as the country’s real-estate market may be showing signs of oversupply, which could jack up vacancy rates and mute rental growth starting this year until 2014.

CAMP RAFAEL C. RODRIGUEZ, Butuan City – A ten wheeler truck owned by DOLE Stanfilco was damaged Monday by alleged members of communist-New People’s Army (NPA) at the vicinity of Block 9, Sanguenza Quarry, Sitio Kabalawan, Barangay Anajao Da-an, in Tago town, Surigao del Sur, reported regional police spokesman Supt. Martin M. Gamba, on Tuesday.

THE GOVERNMENT plans to expand a landmark poverty alleviation scheme that provides cash aid to the country’s poorest households to benefit nearly five million families, a Cabinet official said.

THE Philippine economy is poised for sustained and rapid inclusive growth with a trusted, credible and committed political leadership under President Aquino, an official of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said.

THE GOVERNMENT’S 5-6% growth goal for this year will likely be achieved on the back of robust demand and increased spending, a Senate think tank said, notwithstanding challenges posed by continued global volatility. “[The] outlook for 2012 is relatively sanguine,” the Senate Economic Planning Office (SEPO) said in March report, noting that underspending had resulted…

In recent weeks, Filipino leaders, starting with President Aquino III, have gone into an aggressive PR offensive announcing to the world that the Philippine economy is doing well. The stock market is booming and the peso is strengthening. The the country’s credit ratings have been upgraded, though it remains notches below investment grade. And foreign…

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has partnered with five private firms for the implementation of sustainable livelihood programs for the beneficiaries of the government’s conditional cash transfer program.

MANILA, Philippines – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommended the adoption of a unitary sin tax system and indexation of excise taxes to inflation as proposed under House Bill 5727, which is currently pending before the House ways and means committee.

To hecklers who claim he is just “Noynoying” in his job, President Benigno Aquino III has one answer: the economy is on the right track and “many things” have happened in the country since he took over the presidency 21 months ago.

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Some 11.5 million foreigners, among them Filipinos, are living in the United States without proper immigration documents, according to estimates released by the US Department of Homeland Security on Friday (Saturday in Manila).

The P133-billion worth of projects recently approved by the government respond to the objectives of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2011-2016, which is to generate employment and massive investment in infrastructure to attain inclusive and sustainable growth, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said over the weekend.

Anger over the power price issue now erupting in Mindanao is one that this country has not seen since the initial outbursts against the power purchase agreements in Metro Manila almost a decade ago.

After more than a century of legal disputes since the US government tried resolving the friar lands question in the Philippines, the vast estates owned by Spanish Catholic monastic orders remain a labyrinthian issue among local courts and the much-assailed irregularities in the bureaucracy and the justice system had further made life difficult for those…

Very much at the heart of the current impeachment proceedings is a search for a definition of “betrayal of public trust.” But as Justice Conchita Carpio Morales said, in the impeachment case against Chief Justice Hilario Davide, defining impeachable offenses is beyond the scope of judicial power. Hence, whether or not the offenses allegedly committed…