THE Philippines may cut its forecasts for this year’s exports and inflation as the global recession deepens, forcing the government to increase spending and threatening to widen the budget deficit, an official said yesterday.

A GROWING number of foreign shipping companies looking to cut costs amid a global slowdown in trade are laying up their ships in Philippine ports, maritime officials said yesterday.

Dear PAO, Good day. I am a Canadian and I read with great interest your answer that was published on January 12, 2009 in The Manila Times about dual citizenship and buying property in the Philippines.

A SENIOR official from the Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) on Thursday asked Malacañang to reduce the number of holidays in the country, saying the call center industry at this critical time is hurting and cannot afford the burden of increased holiday pays.

One of the biggest nickel mines in the country has suspended operations and cut more than 600 jobs, while Nissan Motor Philippines retired 15 percent of its workers.

Expansion plans of most local privately held businesses are held back by the shortage of skilled workers, according to an international business report.

MANILA, Philippines – The local automotive industry has created the Philippine Automotive Competitiveness Council Inc. (PACCI) to promote domestic manufacturing as well as ensure overall future competitiveness and to preserve jobs, the Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (MVPMAP) said.

MANILA, Philippines – Local industries may find it hard to expand their businesses this year because of lack of skilled workers, high cost of finance and reduced demand, according to a report by Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR) released by tax and business advisory firm Punongbayan & Araullo (P&A).

MANILA, Philippines – Moody’s Investors Service affirmed yesterday its positive outlook on the Philippines’ credit ratings, retaining the country on its path towards a possible upgrade in the actual ratings.

MANILA, Philippines – European companies operating in the country announced they will be cutting their working days by 26 percent to cope with the continued slowdown in the global economy, the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The government’s debt stock increased by 1.2 percent or P52.1 billion to P4.236 trillion as of end-November 2008 from the end-October 2008 level of P4.184 trillion, the Bureau of the Treasury reported yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines — Two persons were hurt after a five-hour fire razed a plastics factory in Valenzuela City early this morning.

So the people may know, and consistent with their constitutional right to information on matters of public concern (Section 7, Article III), the highlights of the debate in the Lower House regarding the RH bill also deserve some media attention like those Congressional hearings on government anomalies and corruption. The congressional action on this bill…

Corrupted to the core—and entirely—by a “cartel” of kickback-takers with support from the highest levels of the Philippine government.

MANILA, Philippines – College educators have expressed their support to a bid by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to lay out a two-year pre-university system, but said that there should also be a discussion of the alternative of putting an additional year or years in the 10-year basic education curriculum (BEC).

MANILA, Philippines – Political concerns, particularly the country’s standard on human rights which is different from the European Union’s, will be a contentious issue in the draft of the proposed Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) with the EU, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – Global research firm International Data Corp. (IDC) has lowered its growth rate forecast for the information technology services market in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan) this year to a ‘post-crisis’ forecast of 9.6 percent, from the previous forecast of 11.2 percent.

MANILA, Philippines – Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) officials ruled out the possibility that remittances would decline this year but admitted that inflows would not increase for the first time since the country started deploying workers abroad.

ANGELES CITY, Philippines — President Arroyo said yesterday she is convinced that the country, despite the exports slowdown and rising layoffs, remains outside the scope of the global recession.

It seems that worrying about your next job isn’t just limited to private sector employees anymore. Once Executive Order 366 (E.O. 366) or the Rationalization Plan of the government is implemented around 420,000 government employees, or 30 percent of the workforce in the bureaucracy, will be laid off. The executive order was issued in October…

The global financial crisis has cost 5,400 Filipinos abroad and 34,000 in the country their jobs, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said Wednesday.

THE government has spent close to half a billion pesos to place the previously unemployed or underemployed nationwide in various government projects, the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) reported.

The Philippines is expected to sustain economic growth this year and outperform many of its Asian neighbors, according to a report by Moody’s Eco­nomy.com Inc.

Former President Fidel Ramos said Tuesday that the time for Charter change has already passed, adding that the “Hyatt 10” incident in July 2005 should have been the “day of reckoning.”

Consumers will bear the burden of repairing the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant under a proposal put forward yesterday by Rep. Mark Cojuangco of Pangasinan.

Certain political issues as sensitive as human rights remain a stumbling block to forging an expanded economic, political and security cooperation between the Philippines and the European Union, a top diplomat said at the end of the first round of talks for a Partnership Cooperation Agreement (PCA).

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) — The Philippine export revenue declined by 40.4 percent in December 2008, providing evidence of a worse-than-expected impact of the global economic crisis on the country’s trade sector, the government data showed today.

MANILA, Philippines – Foreign direct investments surged by 68.1 percent to $232 million in November last year, a rare increase fueled largely by huge capital inflows into the mining sector.

Q: Do you believe in natural beauty? How is it possible to grow old with dignity? — Niña Gavino, Marikina, Rizal

BACOLOD CITY – Sugar cooperatives no longer have to pay the value-added tax (VAT) on their sugar produce with the signing into law of the Philippine Cooperative Code of 2008, Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri said on Tuesday.