Monthly Archives: September 2012

US firms are expecting increased growth in trade and investment in the Southeast Asian region in the next five years, with 83 percent of Philippine-based American businessmen indicating interest to expand operations here.

American companies in the country are keen on expanding in the Philippines but still view corruption as a major concern, a recent survey showed. Results of the Asean Business Outlook Survey showed that 83 percent (58 percent to expand and 25 percent to expand significantly) of the respondents indicated that their companies were planning to…

BANGKOK — In western Thailand, bulldozers will soon clear land for a highway into Myanmar. In the Philippines, another Manila-area toll road is getting under way. Indonesian leaders promise more railways and airports. Singapore has unveiled plans for a new subway line.

Doubling the value of exports of goods and services to $120 billion by 2012 could generate 9.1 million jobs, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said Monday. “[As] per our estimates: if we double our exports, it could add an additional 9.1 million job opportunities,” Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said during Monday’s budget hearing…

PUBLIC SPENDING may have increased significantly as of July but the government still has a lot of ground to cover if it is to achieve full-year targets, Budget department data showed. Capital outlays hit P148.7 billion in the January-July period, up 39% from the previous year. The figure, however, is just 39.72% of the P374.4-billion…

WE LIVE in highly interesting and challenging times. On one hand, we have global economies still trying to recover from an economic downturn that started back in 2008 with the global financial crisis. Concerns around the economies of the euro zone as well as the US continue to be front and center in many perception…

MONETARY POLICY remains appropriate but authorities will consider various scenarios, among them a fresh easing by the US Federal Reserve, during a review next week, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) chief said. “At the moment, our assessment is that our stance of policy is appropriate,” central bank Governor Amando M. Tetangco, Jr. yesterday said…

The government is being urged to spend more on education and skills training, and to keep granting conditional cash transfers to the poor in the run-up to 2015 to ensure the Philippines reap the economic benefits of its entry to the so-called “demographic window.”

Boosting the labor-intensive manufacturing sector could hasten poverty alleviation and help achieve inclusive growth in the country, the top official of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) said Monday.

MANILA, Philippines – Due to a number of recent economic shocks, including fuel and rice crises, a senior research felllow at state-owned think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) said it may be difficult to bring down the country’s poverty rate to 16.6% by 2015.

The economic growth figures released by the government last week validated the resilience of the Philippine economy in the face of global uncertainties. The country’s GDP grew 5.9 percent in the second quarter of 2012, faster than most Asian economies. This was above the average 4.7 percent in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)…

DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 3, 2012) – The National Commission on the Indigenous Peoples has began preparing for the full implementation of Indigenous Peoples Maternal, Neonatal, Child Health and Nutrition Project (IP MNCHN Project) in selected provinces in the southern Philippines.

MANILA, Philippines – As senators continue to deliberate whether to pass or not the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) Bill, a group of experts urged legislators to consider the stake of the youth in the debate. In a roundtable discussion among experts from the fields of education, adolescent health, law, demography and social sciences on August…

“REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT” used to be a buzzword in academic and policy circles from the late 1960s through the 1980s. That it has faded in recent years reflects perhaps a general sense of disappointment with the country’s regional development that has become more lopsided than balanced.

MANILA, Philippines – Japan is hiring over a hundred more Filipino nurses and caregivers, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported yesterday. Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said representatives of Japan International Corporation for Welfare Services (JICWELS) and different health care facilities are set to interview applicants in the next two weeks.

MANILA, Philippines – Twenty years after the Philippines signed the Asean Free Trade Area (AFTA) agreement, the country may still not be ready to join the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015.

DAVAO CITY—The Philippines should increase its domestic productivity to more effectively address the labor-generation and poverty-reduction problems, or risk being be pulled down by criticism that its recent high gross domestic product (GDP) percentage was not benefiting its population, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said.

BERLIN, Germany – The head of Europe’s financial bailout fund, Klaus Regling, said the eurozone crisis could be over in “one or two years” if member states stick to their pledges, in an interview to be published Monday, September 3.

Jobseekers often lose the chance of getting a good job just by coming to the interview unprepared or wearing the wrong clothes or accessories. The information site Money-zine.com said, “Perhaps the biggest mistake made by some interviewees is going to an interview unprepared. If you’re looking for a job, then it is in your best…

MANILA, Philippines—A workplace safety group has called on the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) to investigate the death of four plumbers in a grease trap in Ali Mall.

ATENEO TEACHERS’ STAND Having studied House Bill No. 4244 and the amendments proposed by its authors, we conclude that it is rights-based and supportive of state obligations to promote health under the Constitution and international covenants.

(NaturalNews) Most Americans are familiar with the dangers and health hazards associated with asbestos exposure, but a new study has found that inhaling tiny nanofibers generated by the nanotechnology industry can be just as harmful.

MANILA, Philippines – The labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) yesterday sought a deeper investigation into the death of four workers who reportedly drowned in a Quezon City mall’s septic tank.