AT least 40 Filipinos are stranded in Malaysia for failure to pay the penalties for overstaying, the Department of Foreign Affairs reported over the weekend.

Filipinos out of work have risen to 7.7 percent of the country’s available workforce and if the figure included those considered underemployed, about one in 10 Filipinos does not have a decent job, government data released yesterday showed.

Borrowers with delinquent loans from any government financing institution (GFI) or housing agency may now apply for loan restructuring and condonation under a new program that aims to save their homes from foreclosure, Vice President Noli de Castro, chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), announced yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has expressed concern over the government’s swelling budget deficit.

MANILA, Philippines – Families of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are saving more of their family income as consumers brace against the full impact of the economic slowdown.

MANILA, Philippines – Seven out of 24 pre-need firms with existing dealer’s licenses have incurred a trust fund deficiency as of Dec. 31 last year.

MANILA, Philippines – Catholic Church leaders urged the members of the House of Representatives to support the passage of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reform (CARPER) after the senators gave their commitment to approve the measure.

MANILA, Philippines – The National Statistic Office (NSO) reported yesterday that there are now 2.855 million jobless Filipinos in January as the local unemployment rate increased to 7.7 percent owing to the global economic crisis.

Chinese women who ate mushrooms and drank green tea significantly cut their risk of breast cancer and the severity of the cancer in those who did develop it, an Australian researcher said Wednesday.

MANILA, Philippines—For Asia to overcome the global economic crisis, the region needs to develop more robust social protection systems for its people, a top ranking United Nations official visiting here said Wednesday.

IN AN EFFORT TO MITIGATE rising unemployment, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ralph G. Recto is pushing for the quick deployment of retrenched overseas Filipino workers to countries that are not as severely affected by the global financial crisis.

BANGKOK – The Philippines and Indonesia will be the only economies in Southeast Asia to record growth this year but that growth will be sharply slower than in previous years with Indonesia hit by falling prices of commodities, the bulk of its exports.

Edited version of address at the Employment and Social Policy Committee, International Labour Organisation, 17 March 2009.

President Arroyo, who staked her claim for a mandate through the fraud-ridden 2004 elections by capturing the votes in the Visayas and Mindanao, is now overwhelmingly rejected in both regions with a net rating of net negative 33 in the Visayas and a net negative 40 in Mindanao, the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey…

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Manny Villar welcomed yesterday the results of a survey conducted by University of the Philippines students where he topped the list of presidential contenders.

MANILA, Philippines – Fresh college graduates will have jobs to look forward to as the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) announced yesterday the availability of over 50,000 local jobs.

This is a case which explains why dishonesty in the government cannot be totally eradicated. Even if dishonesty is a grave offense that calls for dismissal from the service, there are still instances when the government employee is not dismissed because of “mitigating” circumstances like in this case of Marcos.

Burmese rubies and jades are famous for their quality, and sold all over the world.

As job opportunities dry up in the US and the rest of the western world due to the brutal financial crisis, some Filipino executives, who left early on for greener pastures, are returning home in search of work.

MANILA, Philippines – The leadership of the House of Representatives yesterday vowed to act swiftly on the bill extending the Rent Control Act once Congress resumes session next month.

MANILA, Philippines – The European Parliament has adopted a resolution calling on the Philippine government to strengthen its investigation and prosecution of unexplained killings in the country.

MANILA, Philippines – More than half of Filipinos are dissatisfied with the performance of Mrs. Arroyo, giving her a “bad” net satisfaction rating of negative 32 percent, according to the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations Inc. (SWS).

MANILA, Philippines – Toyota Auto Parts Philippines Inc. (TAP), a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP), is planning to reduce the output in transmission plant due to the slowdown in the global demand for automobiles.

MANILA, Philippines – Remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) went down slightly by 0.1 percent to $1.260 billion in January from $1.264 billion a year ago as Filipino workers abroad began to feel the pinch of the global economic crunch, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

They say you know you’re getting old when everything hurts and what doesn’t hurt, doesn’t work.

Q. I’m 28 years old. I injured my knee while playing basketball.   There   is pain in my right knee that doesn’t go away. Can I take glucosamine supplements for my knee?

If you met an accident and were bleeding heavily, you probably wouldn’t think twice about seeking immediate medical care. The same goes if you suddenly doubled over with stomach pain or felt severe pressure or pain in your chest that wouldn’t go away. But what happens when you experience symptoms that don’t seem quite so…

THE global economic turmoil is taking its toll on the Philippine shipping industry as shown by the contraction in passenger and cargo growth last year.

SEN. Edgardo Angara over the weekend stressed the need to immediately amend certain provisions of the Labor Code to increase national productivity and employment.

The Social Security System (SSS) announced Monday that it is offering an emergency fund for workers who lost their jobs because of the global financial crisis.