Monthly Archives: October 2012

A recent article published by Emirates 24/7 indicates that a substantial number of Filipino domestic workers in the UAE currently receive less than minimum wage. Minimum wage for Filipino domestic workers is set at $400 per month but many recruitment agencies advertise positions for DH900 (approximately $250.00). The brief report features interviews with several domestic…

SINGAPORE – Southeast Asia is becoming one bright spot in a world of gloomy corporate earnings, with strong profit growth powered by a population of 600 million people increasingly willing, and able, to spend in their fast growing economies.

It’s a 2012 campaign mantra: On Day One, the new president will reboot the economy by spurring businesses to grow and thrive. Both mainstream candidates have vowed to achieve this, in part by eliminating onerous regulations to “unleash” the long-suppressed power of American industry.

A coroner in Great Britain is voicing concern about the number of construction workers at a nuclear power plant who have died of mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a form of respiratory cancer linked to exposure to asbestos.

A Roman Catholic Church leader attacked on Wednesday as “morally unacceptable” a United Nation’s proposal to legalize prostitution in the Philippines to stop the spread of the deadly AIDS disease and said the government should create decent jobs for Filipino women instead.

MANILA, Philippines – Three medical advances are now raising the hope that there will be a cure in the future for HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) which has infected 34.2 million people across the globe, an official of the Department of Health (DOH) said.

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LEGAZPI CITY – In the near future, poor families in Masbate’s fishing communities would no longer be living in scarcity while relying mainly on fishing for their daily subsistence but would be heading towards a more meaningful life through a highly profitable venture in seaweed farming.

The government of Indonesia is hosting the fifth Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) in Yogyakarta, which comes on the heels of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction on Oct. 13. Both events show global concern about disasters.

A proposed new version of the Reproductive Health bill was introduced at the House of Representatives last week in an effort to fast track the passage of the measure. Below is a copy of this proposed version, with additional words bold-faced and deleted portions placed inside braces.

ASIAN RISK REDUCTION CONFERENCE YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia—The Philippines is one of four disaster-prone countries in the Asia-Pacific region that have reduced their vulnerability to disasters despite their poverty, according to two United Nations (UN) agencies.

GENEVA, Switzerland – Women are closing the gender gap with men in health and education but struggle to get top jobs and salaries, data from a study of 135 countries showed on Wednesday, October 24.

A recent discovery in South Africa could herald a new approach to combating HIV and AIDS and creating an AIDS vaccine. A “unique change” in the outer covering of the human immunodeficiency virus found in two HIV-positive women enabled them to generate antibodies that can kill up to 88 percent of HIV types from around…

MANILA, Oct 24, (AFP): The Philippines announced on Wednesday it had lifted a five-year-old ban on its nationals working in Jordan that was imposed amid concerns over poor labour conditions.

MANILA, Philippines — The collapse of US apparel manufacturing has been good to Fely Curameng, a Filipina peasant-turned-factory boss. Through windows in her air-conditioned office, she looks out upon of an army of bent backs. A hive of workers on the factory floor hunch over automatic sewing machines. The staccato of needles firing thread into…

No Filipino household workers have been deployed to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia despite the lifting of the ban imposed by KSA last year on Filipino and Indonesian household workers, the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) said.

Many domestic workers in Europe do not enjoy as much legal protection as other workers. ILO Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers – which will come into force in a year’s time – offers a chance to improve the lives of the millions of people who work in this profession.

MANILA, Philippines – The compromise reproductive health (RH) bill that the House leadership presented last Wednesday “is not a watered-down version,” Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, a principal author of the measure, said yesterday.

A “watered-down” reproductive health (RH) bill would be acceptable to some of its supporters as long as it achieves its purpose of swaying opponents and ambivalent lawmakers into backing the controversial measure, according to a representative.

MANILA – (UPDATE2- 5:17 p.m.) For the second year, the Philippines barely improved in its performance as a business-friendly location, according to an annual World Bank survey. It actually slipped two notches in the 2013 Ease of Doing Business report, but because two countries were added to the list, the Philippines remained as is.

IF I WERE to rewrite the changes in the taxes on cigarettes and liquor, I would do the following: simplify the law; impose equal if not higher taxes on liquor and distilled spirits than on cigarettes; and reduce the deadweight loss (the loss in efficiency associated with any tax except lump sum tax). I would…

Imelda Marcos and Joseph Estrada are two of the best-known names in the Philippines. Both have been ousted from the presidential palace – Mrs Marcos as the wife of President Ferdinand Marcos, and Mr Estrada when he himself was president.

MANILA, Philippines – More than 50% of local government units nationwide are controlled by political dynasties, a political analyst said Tuesday. Professor Prospero de Vera of the University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP NCPAG) said dynasties are more pronounced at the local level than at the national level since…

(Updated 8:25 p.m.) Filipino tourists can now work in New Zealand for up to a year following an agreement signed by the two countries on Tuesday, the second day of President Benigno Aquino III’s two-day visit there.

A FAILURE to implement reforms has meant the Philippines not having improved in the World Bank and International Finance Corp.’s latest global Doing Business report. World Bank to conduct consultations about its strategyChanges in project evaluation soughtProgress to be toutedRural projects identifiedWB forecast raised anew.

PUBLIC SATISFACTION with the Aquino administration has rebounded after a two-quarter decline, according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey that also found the government scoring better on specific issues. The poll, conducted last Aug. 24-27, found 72% of respondents satisfied, 10% dissatisfied, and 17% ambivalent with the administration’s performance, yielding a “very good” net…

It is remarkable that the Philippine economy has been showing dynamism this year so far, even with a sluggish world economy. This implies that the energy driving our economic growth lately is coming from within. Indeed it is internal demand—that is, we Filipinos ourselves purchasing our goods and services—that has provided the current impetus for…

The ongoing euro crisis is “the business of everyone,” as it affects everyone, including emerging economies where “we still have a lot of poverty to address,” said Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima.

President Aquino said on Monday that economic growth in the second quarter of this year was higher than originally announced, or more than 5.9 percent, prompting an upward revision in terms of growth for that period.

Slowing growth in many Asian countries has accentuated labour market challenges in a region that has the world’s largest youth population, and where precarious work is widespread.