Senator Mar Roxas is batting for a two-year moratorium on the mandatory premium contributions of all workers to the Pag-IBIG Fund.

SYDNEY—Australia will cut its annual skilled worker migrant intake by 14 percent in an effort to preserve jobs for Australians after a spike in unemployment, the government announced Monday.

The government will start implementing the Unified Multipurpose Identification, or UMID, system by August to members of the Social Security System (SSS) and later to other government agencies, including the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the registered voters.

THE European Parliament has urged the Philippine government to strengthen the investigation and prosecution of extra-judicial killings in the country, European Union Ambassador to the Philippines Alistair McDonald said Monday.

BAGUIO CITY – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is examining old lease sites of a mining company in Benguet after it was found dumping untreated asbestos insulation panels in Mankayan town.

HONG KONG (AFP) — Japan on Wednesday posted a record trade deficit and Hong Kong said its economy would shrink by up to three percent in 2009 as recession woes deepened across Asia.

MANILA, Philippines – In an attempt to further encourage entrepreneurship, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) announced that it will implement the automatic renewal of business name registrations even without applications for renewal.

The Philippine economy is “not so free” because of pervasive corruption, a weak judicial system, restricted foreign investment, and a limited regulatory environment.

(1st of 2 parts) I have been receiving quite a number of e-mails requesting an analysis of contracts for the development and maintenance of business websites. Two young entrepreneurs, one from Silliman University and the other from Canada, emphasized the necessity for some degree of clarification on the matter.

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP)- Malaysia has slashed its work permit approvals for foreign workers by almost 70 per cent so far this year, faced with the twin threat of layoffs and recession, according to a report Sunday.

London (AFP) – World Bank president Robert Zoellick said Friday that 2009 was turning into “a very dangerous year” for the economy but warned G20 members against protectionist policies to fight the downturn.

MANILA, Philippines – The Makati Business Club (MBC), the country’s most powerful business organization, announced they are not in favor of mandating all contractors to strictly use locally made products for the infrastructure projects under the government’s pump priming program.

MANILA, Philippines – The accumulated bad loans of commercial banks continued to drop throughout 2008, ending the year with the total amount falling to 3.52 percent of the industry’s total loan portfolio.

MANILA, Philippines – Economic officials said the P40-billion recapitalization of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) could still be included in the stimulus plan if planners would agree to raise the deficit ceiling this year.

We all know we’re right smack in the middle of a global crisis because everyone has been making references to it nonstop—it’s practically coming out of people’s ears. Of course we’ve also become aware of the crisis because contrary to what some so-called experts so brazenly claim, we’re not deaf and blind. And we’re definitely…

MANILA, Philippines – With the end of the school year, Cora Villanueva, human resources director of Shakey’s, is gearing up for the influx of job applications from recent graduates who will apply for vacant positions at Shakey’s, considered one of the country’s preferred employers.

EVERSING its privatization policy, the government is taking majority control of Metro Rail Transit Corp. to give itself leeway in expanding the passenger capacity of the Metro Rail Transit 3 on Edsa, an official said yesterday.

HORSHAM, England: G20 finance ministers vowed Saturday to take “whatever action is necessary” on the world economic slowdown, after talks preparing for a key summit on fighting the crisis next month.

Worldwide sales of hi-tech “smartphones” grew at their slowest pace yet in the fourth quarter of 2008 as the financial crisis hit demand, a research firm said.

UNIVERSAL and commercial banks registered a modest improvement in their bad loan ratio last year, dropping to its lowest since the ratio peaked in 2001, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) now estimates the effects of the global downturn on the local economy to last at most one and a half years more, which was longer than its initial estimates.

PRESIDENT Arroyo has ordered all government agencies to save money so they can set aside P7 billion to hire 180,000 people displaced by the global financial crisis.

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang yesterday renewed President Arroyo’s call on government agencies to tighten their belts and use their savings to provide emergency employment to the poor to help tide them over in the coming months.

This is a story told by someone who shall remain anonymous to protect both him and the institution he heads.

THE United Nations (UN), and not the G20, should lead in creating a new financial architecture that would rise out of the current economic crisis, University of the Philippines Prof. Walden Bello said Saturday.

LOCAL gaming development is getting second-mention next to Singapore, and Filipino talents are drawing in clients.

METRO Laguna and Metro Cavite are the next top destinations for call center sites.

AMID worldwide gloom and doom, local call centers are upbeat this year and for the following years when they expect to corner 10 percent of the $130-billion global market by 2010.

MANILA, Philippines – Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) officials said a double-digit growth in remittances from overseas Filipinos is still possible in the first two months of the year, especially if the robust growth in labor export could be sustained for the rest of the year.

WE OFTEN HEAR IT SAID THAT we in the Philippines have no lack of good plans, programs, policies and laws, but our problem lies in enforcement and implementation. For example, we pride ourselves as being among the first in the world to have formulated a national strategy for sustainable development after the 1992 Rio Earth…