Monthly Archives: March 2015

It’s graduation time for many schools this week. The Commission on Higher Education reported that 553,706 college students will graduate this school year. Let’s hope the figures don’t pull up the unemployment rate which was 6.6% in the first quarter of 2015 from 6.00% in the fourth quarter of 2014 (according to the National Statistics…

MANILA, Philippines – Prices of basic goods are seen to remain stable even as the government approved a pay hike for minimum wage earners in Metro Manila, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said.

SOCIAL Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman said so herself. Even the Aquino administration’s conditional cash transfer (CCT) program can’t keep up with inflation. Soliman admitted the CCT is not enough to help the poor cope with high food prices.

Can the Philippines compete with its next-door neighbors in the Asean? Property analysts are one in saying yes, but they also admitted of the presence of some major hurdles on the way. Property analyst Enrique M. Soriano III, Ateneo program director for real estate and senior adviser for Wong+Bernstein Business Advisory, said: “No doubt, the…

The Philippines ranked ninth out of 142 countries in terms of gender equality, according to the recent World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2014. As one of the top 10 countries, the Philippines keeps company with high-income Nordic countries, such as Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Perhaps surprisingly, several low-income countries such as…

On Jan. 13, 2015, the Supreme Court, through Justice Leonen, ultimately put to rest the issue over the classification of Poverty Eradication and Alleviation Certificates (PEACe) Bonds as deposit substitutes, subject to taxations.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Finance has acknowledged the expanding role of microinsurance in the financial safety net framework, especially for the poor who are most vulnerable to natural catastrophes.

MANILA, Philippines – Prices of basic goods are seen to remain stable even as the government approved a pay hike for minimum wage earners in Metro Manila, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said.

/PRNewswire/ — With the latest economic growth rate at 6.1%, second only to China, a growing service sector, and rising foreign investments, the Philippines remains one of the world’s bright spots. (Figure 1) Given the country’s strong economic performance, real estate services agency KMC MAG Group believes that the local real estate market is in…

The Philippines is among the happiest countries in the world based on the results of a global survey ranking countries in terms of positivity, which was released on the United Nations’ International Day of Happiness last Friday.

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara has called for a review of the country’s migration policies to make them more responsive to the present needs of overseas Filipino workers (OFW).

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Suspected New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas torched construction equipment being used in a government road project in La Paz town, Agusan del Sur Friday.

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara has called for a review of the country’s migration policies to make them more responsive to the present needs of overseas Filipino workers (OFW).

NIMBYs in the twenty-first century SINCE the publication of “Capital in the Twenty-First Century”, Thomas Piketty has won many plaudits for his work on inequality. The book has so far sold more than 1.5m copies. Its arguments have been praised by Nobel-prize winners and politicians alike. Last year it won the Financial Times’s business book…

More evidence that breast-feeding babies changes their lives for the better FOUR extra points of IQ, an extra year’s education and a significantly enhanced income at the age of 30. Those are the benefits of having been breast-fed, according a study just published in Lancet Global Health by Bernardo Horta of the Federal University of…

Regional trade deals aren’t as good as global ones but they are still beneficial AFTER years of missed deadlines, the coming months will be decisive for international trade talks. Much hinges on whether Congress gives the president “trade promotion authority” by waiving its right to reopen trade deals that have already been approved by America’s…

by Fiona MacPhail, UNBC, March 21, 2015 The Philippines ranked ninth out of 142 countries in terms of gender equality, according to the recent World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2014. As one of the top 10 countries, the Philippines keeps company with high-income Nordic countries, such as Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.…

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Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz is urging the over 12,000 Filipinos who are illegally staying in Jordan to take advantage of the the 60-day amnesty period approved by the Jordan Ministry of Labor to correct their status.

DOST is planning to roll out its free public WiFi Internet access project across the Philippines beginning this July. It is a good concept, but don’t get your hopes up just yet. Note this is free and is a government project.

(Bloomberg) — Nuchnart Sakvisetchaikul got married four years ago in Bangkok at the age of 33. She has one child and doesn’t want more, an increasingly common trend among a population that is rapidly growing old.

From the Department of Social Welfare and Development Sec. Soliman announces during this morning’s briefing that more than 300,000 children of Pantawid Pamilya will graduate from high school this March.

AN OFFICIAL of the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said Thursday the Philippines is already facing a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) “epidemic” given the “fast and furious” spread of the disease.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno is appealing for more funds to reform the judiciary, stating that the budget appropriated to the Justice department is inadequate. This pronouncement came after she refused to comment on the President’s remark that the judiciary was guilty of too much meddling of political issues.

MANILA, Philippines – A total of 41,728 classrooms will be repaired or constructed across the country this year as part of the government’s preparation for the full implementation of the K to 12 program, according to the Department of Education (DepEd).

MANILA, Philippines – Over half a million minimum wage workers in Metro Manila will benefit from the newly approved P15 wage increase, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said the other day.

MANILA – The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) indicated on Thursday that, statistically, as many as 12,500 Filipinos believed infected with the disease are not yet included in the records of the Department of Health (DOH).

People breastfed as infants have higher intelligence scores in adulthood, and higher … People breastfed as infants have higher intelligence scores in adulthood, and higher earnings, according to a study published Wednesday that tracked the development of 3,500 newborns over 30 years.

Experts say even the ASEAN integration should take the route of inclusive growth, or else it will do more damage than good MANILA, Philippines – Unless the ASEAN economic integration takes the road of inclusive growth, the vulnerable sectors of society will be left behind.

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