MANILA, Philippines – The country’s economic growth is set to slow sharply this year as the economy faces “strong head winds” from falling global demand and a drop in remittances from Filipinos working abroad, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday.

ASIA is likely to have 7.2 million more jobless people in 2009 than last year due to fallout from the global economic crisis, raising the region’s jobless rate to 5.1 percent, the International Labor Organization said Wednesday.

THE government will spend P82.79 billion on infrastructure within the first quarter to spur economic growth and create 900,000 jobs, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said yesterday.

A rising number of Filipinos are reportedly among the thousands of workers being laid off in South Korea because of the global financial crunch, an embassy report said yesterday.

‘A violation of Chinese sovereignty’ BEIJING—China Wednesday slammed the Philippines for laying claim to parts of the disputed Spratly Islands, calling the move a violation of Chinese sovereignty.

BALANGA City, Bataan: The call “to bury” the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) in Napot Pt. at the Bataan mountain town of Morong has snowballed with the gathering of anti-nuclear veterans and new generation of advocates in a symposium Monday for a new fight against the re-commissioning of what they call as the “Monster of…

Not all food supplements and herbal medicines being sold in the market are safe, local health experts warned during a recent forum.

Philippine furniture and home décor exporters are asking the government for aid, including a P1-billion export development fund and pegging of the exchange rate at P55 to the dollar, saying they faced “extinction.”

MANILA, Philippines – Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Ronaldo Puno warned local chief executives yesterday against charging “pass-through” fees from delivery trucks going through their areas of jurisdiction, saying they face criminal and administrative charges if they do so.

MANILA, Philippines – Some 500,000 jobs in various infrastructure projects all over the country will be available for workers, according to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

MANILA, Philippines – Transportation Assistant Secretary Alberto Suansing is expected to announce today a rollback in the minimum jeepney fare from P7.50 to P7.

MANILA, Philippines – Opposition Rep. Rufus Rodriguez disclosed yesterday that the much-publicized economic stimulus fund is worth only P10 billion and not P330 billion as administration officials claim.

MANILA, Philippines – Investors putting in big projects in the Philippines will be needing the approval of President Arroyo and at least three Cabinet officials to quality for fiscal incentives.

MANILA, Philippines – President Arroyo signed into law yesterday Republic Act No. 9520 or the Philippine Cooperative Code of 2008 that would strengthen thousands of cooperatives in the country and enable the system to contribute to economic growth.

For the poor, waiting to get an operation at the Philippine Heart Center (PHC) is apparently deadlier than surgery itself, a hospital official said Monday.

TOKYO: Japan warned Monday it was in the deepest economic crisis since World War II, after Asia’s biggest economy suffered its worst contraction in almost 35 years in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Report exceeds government’s target for 2008 Money sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFW) has slightly surpassed the government’s target for 2008, posting double-digit growth on the back of continued deployment of Filipinos abroad amid the global financial crisis, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

If you’re an organized person (bordering on being OC?), you probably draw up a daily checklist of things to do at home and at work, so that your life runs like clockwork. Without your checklist, your multi-tasking life could go haywire. Or you could go bonkers.

No matter where they live in our vast and wonderful planet, people are people. But if all humans share a common biologic backbone, the peoples of the earth display a remarkable diversity of cultural norms. Language, religion, family structure, governance, music, dance, sports, and clothing are all subject to amazing cultural differences. And the human…

MANILA, Philippines – There are 356 cases of domestic violence against police officers pending before the Women and Children Protection Center (WCPC), an official said yesterday.

It was like throwing a bucket of water at a house ablaze. The results might not be quite promising.

MANILA, Philippines – Speaker Prospero Nograles supported yesterday the proposed review and possible amendment or repeal of the Oil Deregulation Law.

MANILA, Philippines – Despite experiencing its “worst economic crisis,” Japan is still hiring Filipino nurses and caregivers.

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang urged the House of Representatives yesterday to hasten the approval of the P11.3-billion supplemental budget for the modernization of the 2010 elections that President Arroyo has certified as urgent.

HONG KONG — Asian governments should improve their social security systems and introduce tax incentives to encourage nationals to save less and spend more, a senior Asian Development Bank official said. Rajat Nag, managing director general of the bank, said the financial crisis was an opportunity to transform Asia’s export-led economic structure by expanding its…

Radio broadcaster and columnist Tony Calvento is in hot water after a 23-year-old writer-trainee filed charges of acts of lasciviousness and sexual harassment against him before the Pasig City prosecutors office yesterday afternoon.

FILIPINOS working abroad sent home $16.43 billion last year, 13.7 percent higher than in 2007, but December remittances grew at their slowest pace in two years as fewer people found jobs as nurses, engineers and housekeepers overseas.

MANILA, Philippines – The First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC) is protesting a plan to disallow non-trust entities such as investment houses, investment company advisors, insurance companies and stock brokerages in participating as administrator and investment manager in the implementation of the Personal Equity and Retirement Account (PERA) Act of 2008.

MANILA, Philippines – Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP), the country’s largest automobile distributor, announced they are studying the possibility of cutting the benefits of local executives and freeze wages amidst the slowdown in vehicle demand.

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said yesterday it has cut its rediscount rate by 50 basis points and will raise the budget for the lending facility for the second time in four months to spur lending amid the economic slowdown.