Monthly Archives: August 2012

The Office of the Ombudsman has won the graft case filed against a labor arbiter after the Sandiganbayan found him guilty of violating Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The overseas absentee voting (OAV) law has been dismally implemented despite the huge expenses being proposed by the Commission of Elections (Comelec) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for that purpose, Sen. Franklin Drilon said.

MANILA, Philippines – Oriental & Motolite Marketing Corp., manufacturer of vehicle batteries, warned that it may close its plant in the country if the peso continues to appreciate and cut its export earnings.

The domestic sugar industry has warned of the possible influx of sugar from Thailand once the full economic integration of ASEAN comes into full effect in less than three years from now.

The Department of Labor and Employment on Saturday welcomed the defeat of an anti-outsourcing bill in the United States, saying it would benefit the Philippine business processing outsourcing (BPO) industry.

MANILA, Philippines – Despite having a Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program in place, achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will require more innovations and efforts from Local Government Units (LGUs).

MANILA, Philippines – The National Capital Regon (NCR) remained the biggest spender among the regions last year, accounting for over a third of the country’s domestic consumption.

MANILA, Philippines – The Sandiganbayan has sentenced an arbiter of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) in Cebu City to a maximum of nine years in jail for graft.

Government workers are not supposed to stage a strike, so weather forecasters used their lunch break last Tuesday for an unprecedented mass action to call for the release of their benefits. The employees of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration blamed their poor pay for the death of a worker who could not…

The US government through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and agencies affiliated with the United Nations (UN) has been actively pushing the government to promote artificial contraceptives primarily condoms and backs projects that support abortion and in effect violates the country’s sovereignty, Sen. Vicente Sotto III said yesterday in the second installment of…

We have indeed reached one of the most crucial stages of our life as a nation. We are facing a vital crossroad that will determine the kind of society we will have in the future. And this will depend on whether this administration will decide to take the road towards the culture of death or…

MANILA, Philippines – Rates charged by the Manila Electric Co. are the second highest in Asia and the ninth worldwide – largely due to the high cost of power generation, a study commissioned by the country’s leading power distributor showed.

Recent clashes between the military and the purported Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) breakaway group the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in the sourthern parts of Mindanao had displaced up to 45,000 people, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported yesterday.

Personal remittances from overseas Filipinos workers (OFWs) reached $11.3 billion for the first six months of 2012, up 5.3 percent from the figure registered for the same period last year, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) revealed. Remittances from overseas Filipinos sent for June 2012 alone totaled $

The uncertain global economic environment has hurt demand for Chinese goods Continue reading the main story China’s Premier Wen Jiabao has warned that the country’s economy is under pressure and that it is facing problems that may last for some time.

The first seven months saw portfolio inflows, also known as “hot” money, slowing down by 31 percent to only $1.833 billion versus year-ago inflows of $2.666 billion.

AN AUCTION for a second public-private partnership (PPP) project has been deemed a success by the government, which yesterday named two groups as the winners of contracts to build classrooms in three Luzon regions.

MANILA, Philippines – The chief of staff of Sen Vicente “Tito” Sotto III finally admitted that parts of his speech against the RH bill on Wednesday, August 15, were copied from a blog by a foreign author who calls herself the “Healthy Home Economist.”

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines dropped four places in terms of its overall innovation performance in a global survey amid lack of policies to encourage innovation and low spending for education and research.

MANILA, Philippines – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will look into the country’s progress on the fiscal and monetary side and assess the two-year old Aquino administration through a short staff visit, which will commence today.

MANILA, Philippines – The principal authors of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill have proposed at least 10 major amendments to the controversial measure in a bid to soften opposition to it and ensure its final approval in the House of Representatives in the coming weeks.

MANILA, Philippines – Thousands of jobs await Filipino fishermen in Taiwan, job recruitment industry officials reported yesterday.

The government has been urged yesterday to put into productive use coconut levy funds invested in some government corporations, including in the food and beverage giant San Miguel Corp. (SMC) which had accumulated to some P130 billion by putting these into a trust fund for relending to develop the coun-try’s antiquated infrastructure.

SINGAPORE—Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea are projected to be the world’s richest economies on a per capita basis by 2050 as the region’s rapid growth boosts wealth creation, a study showed.

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – The bodies of two small-scale miners were dug up from a landslide that struck a gold-rush site at the boundary of this city and Tuba town in Benguet yesterday morning. The bodies of Elmer Domines, 42, and Jonafe Pandosen, 61, were retrieved at around noontime yesterday.

President Benigno Aquino wants more evidence before supporting the Enrile-Belmonte initiative to amend the restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution. In several columns, I have presented the case for these amendments.

The Philippines can achieve a five to six percent nominal gross domestic product (GDP) growth by end of 2012 and six to seven percent by 2013, the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) predicted.

With three weather disturbances seen to hit the Philippine archipelago and pour more rain on flooded Central Luzon and parts of Metro Manila, less or zero weather advisories may be forthcoming as weather bureau experts protest their delayed hazard pay.

China’s product safety reputation took another hit today, as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced a recall of 23,000 Chinese vehicles made by Great Wall and Chery. The vehicles have engine and exhaust gaskets that contain asbestos, a known carcinogen that is prohibited in Australia. Both manufacturers have been directed to stop selling the…

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) program to run after self-employed and professional tax-evaders has resulted to an increase in its tax collections in 2011.