Monthly Archives: August 2012

PARIS, France – Pascal Lamy, head of the World Trade Organization (WTO), confirmed that growth in global trade would remain below 4% this year and urged governments against protectionism.

Health experts on Thursday warned mothers to avoid giving milk formulas to their babies, saying that breast-fed infants are healthier, smarter and less susceptible to serious diseases. Dr. Howard Sobel, team leader of the Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition Unit of the World Health Organization (WHO), said that babies fed formula milk get sick…

The Philippine Labor department and the South Korean government signed an agreement that would expand the technical cooperation between them.

MANILA, Philippines – Local think tank Global Source Partners (GSP) cut its growth forecasts for the Philippine economy this year and next year due to the slower growth in the second quarter.

Unemployment across the 17-nation eurozone hit a record 18 million in July, the EU statistics agency says. Some 88,000 more people were added to the jobless total, but upwardly-revised data for June meant the unemployment rate remained at 11.3%. Eurostat said the 18,002,000 jobless total was the highest since records began in 1995.

Finally, someone high up in government has raised the alarm about the rise of on-the-job training (OJT) requirements as a cover for unpaid or underpaid labor. Vice President Jejomar Binay has rightly called our attention to a phenomenon that opens the door to the exploitation of Filipino students. Abroad, such internships have been called the…

The Philippines and South Korea will exchange notes on workers’ occupational safety and health (OSH) as part of efforts to enhance safety in the workplace, the Department of Labor and Employment said Thursday. The DOLE said the agreement between the two countries was formalized in a pact signed in the last week of July. The…

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections has no choice but to remove the Ang Galing Pinoy (AGP) from its list of accredited party-list organizations, Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes reported yesterday.

MANILA – The Philippine government is ready to support growth if needed, with the state stepping up spending on public infrastructure, ensuring that growth this year will be closer to the high end of a target of 5 to 6 percent, the economic planning secretary said on Wednesday.

MANILA, Philippines – The World Bank believes the Philippines is in a better position to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in three years due to the government’s Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program. In a preliminary assessment of the program, the World Bank said families covered by the CCTs spent 36% more on education and…

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine economy posted a 5.9% GDP growth in the second quarter, one of the highest growth rates in Southeast Asia, but IBON Foundation executive director Sonny Africa says the growth is still not being felt by most Filipinos. “It’s always good to watch the numbers but we have to ask :…

MANILA, Philippines – Even with high economic growth, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said the Philippines still has a long way to achieving a significant reduction in poverty. Neda Director General Arsenio M. Balisacan told reporters the recent second quarter growth of 5.9% and first semester growth of 6.1% is not an assurance…

MANILA, Philippines – 29-year-old Joey Santos is a veteran DJ in the Manila. He started his own music studio when he was 21 but had to work 3 jobs to support himself and his music. In recent years, his studio’s business picked up. He was able to quit his office job and pursue music full…

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) – The Philippine government will not revise its growth target of 5-6 percent for 2012 despite the slower on-year economic growth in the second quarter, a senior government official said today.

THE ECONOMY grew by 5.9% in the second quarter, at par with market expectations, the government yesterday reported, citing construction activities and state spending as the main drivers. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth — just a shade higher than the 5.86% median forecast in a BusinessWorld poll of economists — was slower than the previous…

The Philippine economy grew at a slower pace of 5.9 percent in the second quarter of the year, although the growth was still above analysts’ average forecast of 5.3 percent and the Southeast Asian average of 4.7 percent. With the second-quarter result, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said on Thursday that the country is…

The Philippine government is hoping that no Filipino domestic worker will be abused by 2016, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz told GMA News Online on Wednesday.

(Reuters) – A growing number of U.S. companies plan to shift some operations from China to Southeast Asia in the next two years as confidence in countries such as the Philippines improves, a survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore showed.

BACOLOD CITY, Aug. 28 (PIA) – Some 400 labor leaders, youth, and women members representing 50 unions from Mindanao, Visayas, and Luzon and 200 Bacolod-Negros members of the BDO Employees Association (BDOEA-NUBE), in separate meetings here called for decent work, equitable growth, protection and creation of employment, respect for the freedom to join unions of…

MANILA, Philippines – The service-driven Philippine economy has benefitted the country with jobs and huge remittances but development of other sectors is vital to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth, central bank officials said.

The National Competitiveness Council (NCC) is involving the private sector and civil society in formulating and monitoring budgets of localities and national government offices as part of the administration’s goal of improving fiscal transparency and accountability.

PUBLIC SPENDING should remain strong in the second semester as the government undertakes reconstruction efforts following recent calamities, a Cabinet official said.

MANILA, Philippines – Inspite of its huge funding, natural family planning (NFP), the only birth control method implemented by the previous administration, rose to only a few points, according to the non-government Likhaan Center for Women’s Health.

The Philippine growth probably eased from the fastest pace since 2010 as the faltering global recovery damps demand for Filipino workers and exports.

A prominent Catholic educators’ group on Wednesday said it is open to “rational, deliberate and conscientious” views of objectors in the academe to the Catholic Church stand on reproductive health (RH).

MANILA, Philippines – A total of 278 new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cases were diagnosed in the country in July, up 36 percent compared to the 204 reported in the same month of 2011, a member of Congress said Wednesday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said the Philippine banking system and other Asian banks are well shielded against the possibility of another global financial crisis.

MANILA – The local healthcare information management outsourcing sector expects its workforce to almost double this year as it continues to attract unemployed nurses. According to the Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing Association of the Philippines, the number of nurses hired by its member-firms would surge to 43,000 by yearend from 24,700 last year.

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has reported a decrease in the total number of extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances and torture in 2011 with 132 incidents and 215 victims, compared to the 183 incidents and 408 victims recorded in 2010.

An Indian outsourcing company is bringing 1,000 call center jobs to Texas. Matthew Zeitlin looks at why insourcing is replacing outsourcing. There is perhaps no better symbol of the globalization of the service economy than a customer service call from the United States that gets answered in India or the Philippines. NBC even managed to…