Monthly Archives: March 2012

A Japanese disaster management expert has warned countries, including the Philippines, that are considering turning to atomic power as an alternative source of energy to carefully study this option and to heed the fatal lessons of Japan’s nuclear disaster when a huge earthquake and tsunami struck the country a year ago.

Lawmakers from Mindanao have castigated Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras for failing to address the island’s acute power shortage despite his commitment to undertake projects to boost the capacity of hydropower plants there.

IT seems there is another more potent threat to the country’s robust business-process outsourcing (BPO) industry other than the passage of a bill in the United States Congress that would require call-center operators to identify their location while giving US callers the option of choosing a local operator.

MANILA, Philippines – Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz called yesterday on the business-process outsourcing (BPO) industry to strictly adhere to Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) programs.

EUREKA! The K to 12 Basic Education Program, a major part of the campaign platform of President Aquino, is also one of the most controversial administration initiatives.

Whatever shall we do with our education system? The central reform that the present administration wants to implement is the K to 12, a program that makes kindergarten mandatory and adds two years to the present 10-year basic education.

IF you’re looking for a job right now, it’s certain to take longer than you’d like. And the culprit isn’t just the recession. With online job boards making it easier than ever to apply, a single opening can attract hundreds of résumés from around the world. And now many employers use automated systems to sort…

SENATOR Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Thursday pushed for a comprehensive review of the oil deregulation law amid the continuing increase in prices of petroleum products.

Dear PAO, I would like to ask about deposits regarding lease of an apartment unit. I have been looking for an apartment for residential purpose.

At the recent Miss Asia NYC; pageant for transgender women, contestant Priscilla To Wong Fu was asked: Why is prostitution prevalent among Asian transgender women? Flustered, but not totally unprepared, she replied, “We are known to be amiable and hardworking people, thank you!”

The Philippines briefed the United Nations on the gains the Philippines had achieved in upholding women’s rights, the Department of Social Welfare and Development said. DSWD Secretary Corazon Soliman led the Philippine delegation in briefing the 56th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women from Feb. 27 to March 9 in New…

THE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will work to eliminate child labor practices in at least 80 barangays (villages) this year.

THE Department of Labor and Employment announced that private sector workers in Bicol Region will be receiving additional P23 in their monthly wages after the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board approved the hike.

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THE Philippines must look for other alternative markets for the business process outsourcing industry amid the threat posed by a bill pending in the US Congress, consultancy firm CB Richard Ellis said.

Out of school children and youth may have the chance to go back to school by passing the 2012 Philippine Educational Placement Test (PEPT), Educatio Sec. Bro. Armin Luistro announced.

ABAD ADMITS USING ASSESSED VALUE ON PROPERTIES The counsels fop Chief Justice Renato Corona yesterday alleged members of the Aquino Cabinet regularly flout the law requiring disclosure of assets and liabilities despite the executive department’s insistence of using the same law to persecute the head magistrate.

FINLAND – Children throughout the world, including those in the Philippines, are recruited to kill, according to Richard Clarke, the newly appointed Secretary General of Child Soldiers International.

DUBAI – Philippine labor attaches based in the Middle East met recently with Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz to discuss how to better protect overseas Filipino workers, particularly those who have pending cases or are distressed. “It’s a well-rounded approach on how to take care of our OFWs in terms of the policy of protection initiated…

MANILA, 15 March 2012 (IRIN) – Lack of services and information about adolescent reproductive health are fuelling the rise of teen pregnancies and hurting child survival rates, according to health experts.

The Energy Department will issue a directive next week that will free up 300 megawatts of power supply to plug the deficit in Mindanao but consumers will have to brace for higher power rates, a government official said Wednesday.

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

THE Aquino administration has been reaping a P1-billion-windfall for every dollar increase in the price of oil because of the value-added tax, yet it has cut its spending on public hospitals and state-owned universities, lawmakers said Wednesday on the eve of a nationwide protests against rising fuel prices.

LABOR and transport groups said Wednesday they will stage nationwide protest today, Thursday, to oppose the continuing increase in oil, petroleum and commodity prices and to demand an increase in wages.

Following the release of exports figures for January 2012, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said government should intensify policy support to address diversification and competitiveness issues in the exports sector.

Malacaang is bullish on the economy yet it is holding back on a proposal to reduce the 12 percent expanded value added tax (eVAT) on oil by two percent to help ease the burden of the Filipino people.

MANILA, Philippines – Here’s something for the stakeholders in the mining industry to chew on: The collective contribution of Filipino household helps to the country’s economy may have far exceeded that of the entire mining industry in 2011, according to local research group Ibon Foundation Inc.

THE regional office of the Department of Labor and Employment in Northern Mindanao, Philippines, has admitted that child labour is prevalent on sugarcane plantations in Bukidnon.

MANILA, Philippines—The number of jobless Filipinos remained at about 2.9 million as of January, but when compared year-on-year, the unemployment rate actually eased to 7.2 percent from 7.4 percent in the same month of 2011, the National Statistics Office said Thursday.

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