Monthly Archives: June 2012

Contrary to President Aquino’s claim that businesses are rushing to invest in the Philippines, the local unit of US auto giant Ford Motors announced yesterday it will close its local vehicle assembly plant in the Philippines by the end of the year, with the loss of 360 jobs, as part of an ongoing restructuring across…

FEWER COUPLES are getting married and those who choose to tie the knot are doing so at a later age, government data showed, as weddings become more and more expensive. Web site gives new twist to ‘arranged’ marriages

THE Philippine government has vowed to step up efforts to achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on basic education and maternal health by 2015.

A June 28, 2012 press release from the Department of Labor and Employment Secretary of Labor and Employment Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz yesterday identified the initial 80 barangays in the country’s 16 regions that the DOLE is working with, in convergence with other government agencies and private sector partners, to declare child-labor free barangays this year.

From more than a year of deadlock, the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) was finally signed between the management and Valle Verde Country Club Inc. Employees Union-LIKHA-TUCP. In the photo are (from left) General Manager Erlinda Tanjangco; Ernesto Villaluna, Valle Verde Country Club President; NCMB Conciliator-Mediator Angelita Narvaez; Bro. Jesus Villamor, Union President; Atty. Florante Yambot,…

MANILA, Philippines – Stigma and discrimination are major barriers to the treatment of drug dependence, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

THE Philippines is not ready to absorb the next “investment wave” coming its way, a power and water resource expert said. Nevertheless, the Aquino administration, with four years left before the end of its term, could start enhancing the country’s “absorptive capacity” that will push forward industrialization, according to Alan Ortiz, president and chief operating…

The January-May 2012 actual fiscal numbers suggest that the kinks that bug project implementation in the Aquino administration remain. Using the most likely case, spending for public infrastructure and other capital outlays, will be off by about 30% during the first half of the year. A pickup in the third quarter is unlikely because of…

STATE SPENDING remains well below programmed amounts for the year despite significant year-on-year gains as of May, data from the Budget department showed.

THE Philippines and the Euro-pean Union (EU) are expected to sign the landmark Partnership Cooperation Agreement (PCA) next month at the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Regional Forum in Phnom Penh. The agreement is expected to move forward negotiations for a free-trade agreement (FTA) that will facilitate trade and investments and…

MICHIGAN-BASED Ford Motor Co. announced that it is shutting down its 30,000-unit capacity manufacturing plant in Santa Rosa, Laguna, at the end of the year due to its failure to achieve economies of scale and the lack of parts supplier base in the country.

THE NUMBER of Filipino families that consider themselves poor has declined, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) said in a new report where it also noted self-rated food poverty gains. A May 24-27 survey, the results of which were made exclusive to BusinessWorld, found 51% of the respondents — equivalent to an estimated 10.3 million households…

MANILA, Philippines – Suspected communist rebels burned three trailer trucks carrying copra products in Algeria, Surigao del Norte last Monday night, the military said.

Some three million children in the Philippines, aged 5 to 17, are exposed to dangerous work environments, a survey of the National Statistics Office said. The results of the October 2011 Survey on Children were released Tuesday at the launching of “Batang Malaya,” a nationwide campaign to fight child labor.

The four leaders also agreed to push for a pan-European tax on financial transactions Leaders of the eurozone’s four biggest nations have agreed in principle to measures to boost growth equal to 1% of the currency area’s economic output. Germany, France, Italy and Spain outlined plans to push for a 130bn-euros (£104bn; $163bn) package.

Perceptive observers of economic development discussion in the country will notice that these days, there is much reference to “inclusive” development. This terminology is only of recent origin.

MANILA, Philippines – The number of child workers in the country has increased, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported yesterday. “As of October 2011, there are 5.49 million working children aged five to 17 years. More than 55.1 percent or 3.02 million were counted as child labor while 2.99 million are exposed to…

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MANILA – Over the past decade, the incidence of child labor in the Philippines increased by almost 30 percent from 4.2 million in 2001 to 5.5 million last year, the 2011 Survey on Children of the National Statistics Office (NSO) indicate, alarming both the Federation of Free Workers (FFW) and the International Labor Organization (ILO).

MANILA, Philippines- The national government on Tuesday announced that it will have reduced child labor by 75 percent in 2015, with the ambitious goal of making every barangay in the country child labor-free. During the launching of Batang Malaya program, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the Aquino administration is “very determined” to eliminate child labor…

MANILA, Philippines- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved on Tuesday a $350-million loan to help the Philippines in policy reforms aimed at developing skills among out-of-school youth.

BANGKOK – The United Nations, in its latest global report on drug use and trafficking, says Asia is facing increasing trafficking and use of amphetamine type stimulants as well as a revival in the production of opium in Burma and Laos. A senior U.N. official says the illicit production and abuse of drugs is a…

The Department of Energy (DoE) warned the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) that any postponement to the proposed 600-MW coal plant inside the freeport may lead to massive blackouts in Luzon within the next five years.

For occupying and converting Sabsaban Falls into an eco-tourism resort without a clearance from the Palawan Council Sustainable Development (PCSD), charges have been filed against the ABS-CBN Foundation (ACF) and 18 local government officials, PCSD legal chief Adel Belena said.

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MANILA, Philippines — Improving women’s access to jobs and economic opportunity could significantly boost worker productivity in the Philippines and the rest of the East Asia and the Pacific region by as much as 18 percent. A new World Bank report entitled, “Toward Gender Equality in East Asia and the Pacific,” said that while gender…

Dole Philippines will send its first ever shipment of Cavendish to the United States, the Department of Agriculture said Monday. The company is prepared to ship the bananas as soon as the US releases the paper work covering the deal, according to a Dole official who asked not to be named, as he is not…

The Philippines urged Canada this week to recognize the academic degrees earned in the Philippines to boost the hiring of Filipinos. Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said this would help fill the projected one million job vacancies across Canada by 2021 in sectors such as mining, oil, and health care.

“We need to be exporting our products, not our jobs,” says Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) who, with Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), recently introduced the Bring Jobs Home Act (S. 2884 and H.R. 5542). Union and community activists are building support for that bill, as well as the Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act (H.R.…

Filipino students may be outperformed by their Asian peers in international science and mathematics tests, but young Pinoy scientists are showing that, in terms of actual work, they can do better.