Monthly Archives: February 2014

More than anyone else, it’s farmers who are caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the debate over genetically-modified foods or organisms (GMOs). In any discussion of biotechnology, there is much opposition and controversy. On one side are the scientists and researchers who put forth the lab tests and field…

MANILA, Philippines – Work on easing the restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution is now officially among the top priorities of the 16th Congress, with Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. expecting to see everything completed within the first half of the year.

MANILA — Young Filipinos are becoming more sexually adventurous as the traditionally powerful Roman Catholic Church loses its influence to the Internet and smart phones, according to a study released on Thursday.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—A non-governmental organization focused on the development of human resource as a primary driver of business and national economic growth, is wary of the seeming unpreparedness of the Philippines once the integration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), as one economic community, commence in 2015.

MANILA, Philippines – In terms of primary education and health, the Philippines is the 3rd least competitive among 10 Southeast Asian countries, according to the 2013-2014 World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Competitiveness report.

Is teen pregnancy trending in the Philippines? According to the recently released 2013 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study (YAFS4), the number of young mothers in the country has more than doubled over the past decade.

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Labor officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) announced on Thursday an P18-daily wage increase for minimum wage earners that would take effect this month.

MANILA – Construction workers are in high demand in Singapore amid a construction boom in the city state. A Singapore-based building and construction company has already set up a training center in the Philippines to help fill the 200 construction jobs needed every month.

MANILA – The shift in the academic calendar of the University of the Philippines (UP) System (except UP Diliman) from June-March to August-May paves the way for its “internationalization.”

As Hong Kong’s policy to scrap visa-free travel privileges for Philippine diplomatic and official passport holders took effect Wednesday, the Department of Labor and Employment assured overseas Filipino workers there of government protection.

MANILA, Philippines – Investments approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) surged by 250 percent in January from a year ago amid increased interest from companies to do business here.

We continue today with the second and final part of the letter sent by a reader, lawyer Deo G. Contreras, Jr., about the state of Philippine mining. The letter which appeared in the column last Tuesday ended with the need for mineral and metal processing plants or refineries, and particularly mentioned the fate of the…

Tokyo: Seaborne radiation from Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant will wash up on the West Coast of the US this year. That’s raising concerns among some Americans including the residents of the San Francisco Bay Area city of Fairfax, California, which passed a resolution on December 6 calling for more testing of coastal seafood.

WASHINGTON – More than $410 billion in illicit money crossed the borders of the Philippines from 1960 to 2011, with customs fraud related to imported goods surging in recent years, according to a study by a US-based anti-graft watchdog group released on Monday.

MANILA, Philippines — Bottoms up! After ranking 15th in the world’s top porn-watchers according to an adult website, Filipinos are now involved in another kind of bottom, shot glass bottoms.

MANILA, Philippines – There’s nothing wrong with breastfeeding in the workplace. In fact, it boosts morale, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said.

MANILA, Philippines – The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) reported yesterday a 22 percent drop in net income last year due to a surge in the number of retiring members.

MANILA, Philippines – The rapid outflow of foreign portfolio investments or hot money in the first three weeks of January may slow down soon as investors start looking again into the country’s strong macroeconomic fundamentals, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said yesterday.

State spending on infrastructure fell by over a fifth in November last year, but the 11-moth tally was still up, according to Department of Budget and Management (DBM) data.

MANILA, Philippines – Managers working in the oil and gas industry are the highest paid employees in the country, according to JobStreet.com’s annual salary report. Managers in the oil and gas industry receive an average monthly salary of P74,297.

MANILA, Philippines – An anti-graft watchdog yesterday said the Philippine government was cheated of $3.85 billion in tax revenues in 2011, part of massive illicit money flows that totaled more than $400 billion in the past five decades.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) yesterday allayed fears of the possible invasion of foreign workers in the country due to the impending ASEAN economic integration.

MANILA, Philippines – The government has assured farmer-groups that the program of distributing lands to farmer-beneficiaries will not end when Republic Act 9700, the CARPER Law, expires in June.

In administrative law, rulemaking is the process that executive agencies use to promulgate regulations. While the Legislative Department first sets broad policies and mandates by passing statutes/laws, it is upon these agencies to implement these laws and create a more detailed regulation through rulemaking.

The research arm of an international credit watcher lauded the Philippines path toward good government and appropriate policies, and said this would support the growth of the country toward the next year.

MANILA, Philippines—“Illicit funds,” estimated at $410.5 billion, flowed into and out of the Philippines between 1960 and 2011, a significant portion of which occurred through smuggling, said a report published Tuesday by a Washington-based research and advocacy group.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has firmed up a poverty incidence target post-2015, which is up for final approval within the quarter, a ranking official said.

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine economic expansion may not settle within the government’s 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent target this year, GlobalSource Partners said, amid a lack of new growth drivers.

We have a lengthy and quite comprehensive discussion contributed by a reader, Atty. Deo G. Contreras, Jr., about the state of Philippine mining. We will be featuring it in two parts so as not to miss on any important narration. Please read on.

MANILA, Philippines – Public satisfaction with the Aquino administration dropped further in the last quarter of 2013 but remained “very good,” the Social Weather Stations (SWS) said in its latest report.