MANILA, Philippines – The economy, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP) may grow by just three percent this year from 4.6 percent in 2008, according to the latest study on the Philippines by Barclays Capital.

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has issued landmark guidelines formalizing electronic money transactions — the first of its kind of electronic innovation in the world.

MANILA, Philippines – The Quezon City government and the Federacion International De Abogadas (FIDA) recently signed an agreement to provide legal assistance to the city’s urban poor, especially those who are victims of gender-related violence.

Philippine society already accords high status to women. But many of them in the marginalized sector still undeniably need the protection and access to resources that will help them achieve their fullest potential as a human person. This is precisely the objective of the 1979 UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination…

MANILA, Philippines – The Arroyo administration has increased by P1 billion the funding for the emergency employment program to provide more jobs for poor citizens, Malacañang reported yesterday.

Catholic bishops are divided on what automation system should be adopted for the 2010 national polls, with one bloc preferring the position of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and the other bloc lobbying for the open election system (OES).

MANILA, Philippines – On the occasion of International Women’s Day yesterday, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) called on the government to improve protection of women’s rights and related programs in the country.

While the economic downturn has definitely hurt the country’s IT sector, several industry players are optimistic that opportunities still abound and that recovery will happen by 2010.

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Another calamitous jobs report and other bleak data suggest further pain ahead for the recession-battered US economy, and may push back a recovery from the worst slump in decades, analysts say.

Malacañang declared that there is no turning back on the full automation of the 2010 elections, as President Gloria Arroyo waits for the P11.3-billion supplemental budget for poll automation law to reach her desk.

SINGAPORE: Asian governments need to roll out fresh stimulus measures to stop their economies from sinking further as the region reels from collapsing exports, regional analysts said.

CONGRESS will invoke its oversight powers to stop private schools from unduly increasing tuition at this time of crisis, an official said yesterday.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (AP) – The research firm IDC said Thursday that worldwide personal computer shipments fell 1.9 percent during the fourth quarter and projected an 8 percent drop in the first half of the year.

BUTUAN CITY, Philippines – Two still unidentified gunmen shot dxCC Radio Mindanao Network broadcaster Nilo Labares late Thursday night, the latest in a series of media figures targeted, according to police.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. unemployment rate rose to a 25-year high of 8.1 percent in February as employers, buckling under the strain of a severe recession, axed 651,000 jobs, government data showed on Friday.

MANILA, Philippines – Six of the largest military hospitals in Saudi Arabia are in need of more than 4,000 healthcare professionals, technicians and medical personnel, making it the biggest market for overseas Filipino workers, a recruitment leader said yesterday.

WHILE some companies in South Korea are replacing Filipinos with local workers to cut labor cost, this is the exception rather than the rule, South Korean Ambassador Choi Joong Kyung said yesterday.

CEBU, Philippines – To help ease the impact of climate change, Cebu City Councilor Nestor Archival wants to include the school curriculums a subject on environment.

MANILA, Philippines – Metro Manila was ranked seventh “most vulnerable” to climate change among provinces and districts in Southeast Asia.

MANILA, Philippines – The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has expressed concern over the growing number of Filipinos losing their jobs as it admitted that the government does not have enough back-up plans for these retrenched workers.

Mining companies in the Philippines are cutting staff, putting some projects on hold and scrambling for cash as the global crisis financial drags down commodities prices, industry officials say. The economic slowdown could not have come at a worse time for the resource-rich southeast Asian country, which had been trying to rebuild the mining industry…

ZAMBOANGA CITY: Unidentified gunmen shot and wounded a broadcaster in the latest attack on journalists in the southern Philippines.

Metro Manila is the seventh most vulnerable to climate change among 132 provinces or districts in Southeast Asia, according to a new study.

Mining companies in the Philippines are cutting staff, putting some projects on hold and scrambling for cash as the global crisis drags down prices commodities, industry officials said.

22M women globally face retrenchments–ILO   Local job losses are outpacing the number of laid-off overseas Filipino workers (OFWs)—and causing greater worry for the government—the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said Friday.

MANILA, Philippines – Citigroup expects the Philippines to post a budget deficit of P197 billion this year or 2.4 percent of the country’s total economic output.

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines – Two men were buried alive while digging for the foundation of a house they were building in Alicia, Isabela Wednesday morning. Authorities said the bodies of Marlon Callawit, 27, and a certain Berlito were retrieved hours after the cave-in. – Charlie Lagasca, Philippine Star

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines – Two men were buried alive while digging for the foundation of a house they were building in Alicia, Isabela Wednesday morning.

MANILA, Philippines – The business process outsourcing industry is projecting a 200 percent increase in jobs this year as the world’s biggest companies struggle to cut down on costs by outsourcing some of their operations to countries like the Philippines where labor is cheaper.

Economists call it the underground economy. I think the more descriptive term is guerilla economy. Even after an economic crisis melts into a more normal economy, significant portions of our people remain in underground economy mode. It is as if we are in a perpetual state of war. I guess we are… war on poverty.