The military on Thursday briefed Asian diplomats on the wave of unsolved political killings after two damning reports implicated the nation’s top commanders.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo wants the special criminal courts to start trial of summary killings of activists and journalists.

BAGUIO CITY—Researchers of a Baguio hospital have started looking into medical problems that appear to be common among employees of call centers and other business process outsourcing (BPO) facilities operating at the Baguio City Economic Zone.

PHILIPPINE stocks fell by the most in nine years as Tuesday’s plunge in the Chinese stock market triggered a global equities selloff. Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Bank of the Philippine Islands slumped.

US Embassy officials met with the Task Force Usig on Wednesday and discussed the US government’s offer of assistance to find a solution to political killings.

The government is intensifying its campaign to promote the Philippines as an ideal retirement destination.

Malacañang hit yesterday what it called leftist propaganda to undermine the government’s efforts to end the unexplained killings in the country.

United Nations special rapporteur Philip Alston said the Philippine military was in “almost total denial” of its need to respond to allegations of its involvement in political killings.

MANILA, Philippines — Whatever the figure, the number of killings of journalists and leftist activists in the Philippines is “distressing,” and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should persuade the Armed Forces to “acknowledge” the fact and conduct a “genuine” investigation, United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston said Wednesday.

MANILA, Philippines — The defense and military establishments on Wednesday chose silence vis-à-vis the initial findings of United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston, but Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez came out with guns blazing.

MANILA, Philippines — Former Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo Wednesday said he was standing by the finding of the fact-finding commission on extrajudicial killings that certain military officials should be held accountable by virtue of “command responsibility.”

THE Armed Forces on Wednesday insisted that the hundreds of murders of activists are products of an ongoing purge within the ranks of the communist underground movement.

Extrajudicial killings in the country will not stop unless Malacañang and the Armed Forces acknowledge the reality of rights violations and reevaluate their counterinsurgency strategy, the UN special rapporteur warned on Wednesday.

A SWEDISH court has ruled in favor of the Philippine-based United Filipino Seafarers union in its dispute with a Swedish labor group after five years of litigation, records showed.

The government offered yesterday protection to victims of atrocities and harassment from the New People’s Army (NPA) and their front party-list organizations to encourage them to come out and testify against these leftist groups. The same protection was offered to families of these victims.

LONDON – A British woman who claims she contracted cancer from hugging her father, who worked with asbestos, is suing the Ministry of Defence for 75,000 pounds ($146,000).

The chief of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration would rather quit than chicken out of imposing a higher pay for Filipino maids employed abroad.

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court will be creating special courts to handle cases involving extrajudicial killings, Chief Justice Reynato Puno said.

Remittances from Filipino migrant workers coursed through banks rose 19 percent to $12.76 billion in 2006 from $10.69 billion in 2005, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported yesterday.

Twelve of the 17 members of the Philippine team won medals in the recently concluded 3rd International Mathematics and Science Olympiad held in Jakarta.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) has opposed a proposed measure that seeks to require nurses who graduated from government-subsidized schools to perform two years of compulsory services in the country before they can work abroad.

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

More than the remittances they are sending home, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are helping boost the country’s economy with their lavish spending.

Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said yesterday Filipino workers can cash in on the lower labor cost in the country and encourage more American firms to transfer operations here.

This story was contributed by Carla Kim of Manila Water Co, Inc. The views expressed in this article are the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), or its Board of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy…

E-mail your call center experiences (good and not-so-good) to secrtucp@ntucphl.org. We will post them here.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) slammed the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) for imposing a $3.50 or P175 “security surcharge” on departing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

xThere is a tremendous demand for well-trained Filipino front-liners in the tourism industry abroad. This is the positive trend noted by the Hospitality Staff Philippines Inc. (HSPI), a well-respected and reputable employment agency that specializes in this endeavor.

The Quezon City government will soon be taking over the responsibility of managing the $4.3-million Korea-Philippines Information Technology Training Center (KPITTC) located at the compound of the QC Polytechnic University in Barangay San Bartolome, Novaliches.