Monthly Archives: January 2016

There are indeed so many aberrations in the coming presidential elections. Almost three months after the deadline for the filing of the Certificate of Candidacy for President (COC), we still do not have an official list of those qualified to run. This is quite unusual indeed especially considering that to be a qualified candidate for…

Philippine economic growth is forecast to slow to 5.8 percent in 2015 before recovering to 6.4 percent this year, the World Bank said in its latest report.

MANILA, Philippines – Total investments approved by the Board of Investments (BOI) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) recovered from 2014’s double-digit decline as these grew four percent last year on the back of sustained investor confidence in the country.

There are a lot of bad bosses out there. “As I like to say, there are different flavors of bad bosses,” adds Amy Gallo, an editor at the Harvard Business Review. When the flavor is “dumber than you,” it’s hard to know how to proceed. You don’t want to be disrespectful, but you don’t want…

The Philippine economy is expected to post growth of above 6 percent in the next three years, according to the World Bank. In its Global Economic Prospects (GEP) report, the Washington-based lender said the economy is expected to post a 6.4-percent growth in 2016 on the back of the May elections. Growth, however, is expected…

MANILA, Philippines — Remy Borlongan, 59, left the Philippines in April 1986, a couple of months after the Marcos dictatorship was toppled. Her husband had met an accident while riding a motorcycle. Not only was he unable to earn a living for their family, debts were also piling up. So even if it meant she…

MANILA, Philippines – Around 11.2 million Filipino families remained poor in the last quarter of 2015, the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) shows, but that number is the lowest since 2011.

DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte emerged as a possible presidential candidate last year largely due to insistent clamor from his supporters, who said that his successful campaign to keep crime incidence in the southern city to a minimum is precisely what should be replicated in the whole country. But after substituting as the presidential standard-bearer…

Does intensive internal training of employees lead to higher profits? In knowledge-based industries where the main asset is skilled professionals such as software engineers, the answer is yes, according to the research paper “Strategy, Human Capital Investments, Business Domain Capabilities, and Performance: A Study in the Global Software Services Industry,” by Joydeep Chatterjee, senior fellow…

THE PRICES of basic goods and services rose at their fastest pace in seven months last December, but at a rate that allowed the year 2015 to post the lowest full-year inflation of 1.4 percent in nearly three decades.

By Sanjena Sathian, January 6, 2016 Because redistribution of wealth can come in all shapes and sizes. Life at Jerry Kaplan’s home in Hillsborough, California, looks enviably comfortable: an automated gate, a stone fountain out front, a giant, Harry Potter–size chessboard in the side yard.

Aside from teaching, my work at De La Salle University (DLSU) involves creating and managing avenues for our industry partners to meet our new graduates and for the former to prefer them over their cohorts from other schools. This is a big challenge indeed as industry has its own character shaped by its raison d’être,…

For growth to go forward, it must be environmentally and socially concordant. The launch of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and agreements in Paris finally signalled the realisation that we can no longer achieve our economic ambitions by endangering the environment and society. But even as countries agreed on the need to nurture sustainability, it…

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) believes the country’s sound macroeconomic fundamentals would serve as inherent stabilizers to fend off external shocks brought about by the normalization of interest rates in the US and China’s economic slowdown.

MANILA, Philippines – Inflation kicked up to a seven month high of 1.5 percent in December from 1.1 percent in November amid the continued increase in food prices, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported yesterday.

We are now in the last six months of the presidency of Benigno Aquino III. Final evaluation of his administration’s impact on the nation is premature.

MANILA, Philippines – A recruitment consultant warns that falling oil prices may result in lower deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and a consequent decrease in dollar remittances as Middle East economies contract.

New infections in the country have skyrocketed, even as they’re declining worldwide. Cebu City, one of the hardest-hit areas, is struggling to control the drug use that’s spreading the virus. CEBU CITY, PHILIPPINES—The dealer’s hands move quickly as he dispenses small vials from the waistband of his shorts, his front pockets bulging from the weight…

The increase in consumer prices in 2015 slowed to 1.4 percent— compared to 4.1 percent recorded a year ago—due to cheaper gasoline, as well as food and utilities, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Tuesday.

MANILA, Philippines – A recruitment consultant warns that falling oil prices may result in lower deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and a consequent decrease in dollar remittances as Middle East economies contract.

There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke, and comprehensive smoke-free laws are the only effective means of eliminating the risks associated with smoking. Smoke-free legislation works, but, to correctly portray its impact, indicators should not be measured prematurely. The WHO/Europe evidence brief, ‘How can we best protect non-smokers from exposure to…

Five government agencies—namely: the Department of Education, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Finance–Bureau of Local Government Finance, the Department of Transportation and Communications, and the Public Private Partnership Center—have partnered with Kalibrr, a job-matching online platform, to enhance the agencies’ recruitment and contracting services.

See schedules here.

MANILA, Philippines – The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry may soon overtake dollar remittances from overseas Filipinos in terms of revenues given the continued strong demand for office space, a real estate market consultancy firm said.

Country’s population is projected to increase to 104 million this year as 1.5 million babies are expected to be born MANILA, Philippines – The country’s population is projected to increase to 104 million this year as 1.5 million babies are expected to be born, the Commission on Population (PopCom) said yesterday.

The current payment scheme being employed by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) has caused more Filipinos to spend more for inpatient medical needs, according to a study commissioned by the government’s think tank.

Mindanao faces the prospect of longer rotational blackouts at the start of the year as worsening right-of-way (ROW) issues continue to stall restoration work on bombed towers, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine electronics industry is seen sustaining its healthy state this year as more foreign electronics companies are being drawn to put up plants in the country, the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) said.