by BenarNews staff, 26 Feb 2020 Government officers intercepted 110 Filipino women who were to have been trafficked to the Middle East as workers via the southern Philippines and Malaysia, the Philippine immigration bureau said Wednesday.

By Elijah Felice Rosales, Business mirror, 26 Feb 2020 THE country’s trade chief is eyeing to craft a policy that requires all manufacturers to localize at least 50 percent of their products to support the purchase from domestic suppliers.

by Gaea Katreena Cabico (Philstar.com), 26 Feb 2020 MANILA, Philippines — While the Philippines is not beset by high levels of deadly micro-pollution, the country still has a very polluted air, a report on air quality worldwide suggests.

By: Karl R. Ocampo, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 26 Feb 2020 Using excess tariffs from the rice imports that arrived in the country last year, the country’s agriculture chief said the government was ready to jump-start its crop diversification program to help rice farmers troubled by low palay prices.

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by Vann Marlo M. Villegas, Business World, 26 Feb 2020 IMMIGRATION officials barred more than 100 undocumented Filipinos from leaving the country through the Zamboanga International Seaport, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

by Ratziel San Juan (Philstar.com), 25 Feb 2020 MANILA, Philippines — The World Health Organization in its latest situational report observed the rise of stigmatization and stereotyping of certain populations in reaction to the global outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19.

by Evelyn Macairan (The Philippine Star) – 25 Feb 2020 MANILA, Philippines — A mass deportation of Chinese nationals working in Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) firms is shaping up as China’s crackdown on telecommunications-related crimes entails the cancellation of their passports, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said yesterday.

by Gaea Katreena Cabico (Philstar.com), 25 Feb 2020 MANILA, Philippines — The resolution imposing a ban on “unnecessary” single-use plastics in all government offices is inadequate and may lead to more frequent use of plastic items, environmental groups said Tuesday.

By: Jhesset O. Enano, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 25 Feb 2020 MANILA, Philippines — The National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) has approved a resolution that mandates the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to prepare and to implement the banning of “unnecessary” single-use plastics in all government offices.

By: Nestor P. Burgos Jr., 25 Feb 2020 ILOILO CITY, Iloilo, Philippines — More than 300 workers on Boracay Island have lost their jobs after establishments catering mainly to Chinese tourists stopped operating due to the new coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak coming out of mainland China.

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by Rhodina Villanueva (The Philippine Star) – 25 Feb 2020 MANILA, Philippines — The National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) has approved a resolution imposing a ban on single-use plastics in all government offices nationwide.

By: Maricar Cinco, Roy Stephen C. Canivel, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 24 Feb 2020 More than a hundred workers of Honda Cars Philippines Inc. (HCPI) were holed up on Sunday inside the car factory in Santa Rosa City, Laguna province, shocked at the announcement that the Japanese company’s 28-year-old production plant in the country would close…

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By: Daxim L. Lucas, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 23 Feb 2020 MANILA, Philippines — With 43 percent of Filipino women executives holding senior management positions, the Philippines ranked first among 32 countries surveyed in having the most number of women executives in top leadership roles, according to the Grant Thornton International’s 2020 Women in Business report.

1 patay matapos mabagsakan ng sako-sakong asukal sa Negros Occidental Isang kargador ang namatay habang dalawa ang sugatan nang madaganan sila ng sako-sakong asukal sa storage area ng isang milling company

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by Louisse Maureen Simeon (The Philippine Star), 22 Feb 2020 MANILA, Philippines — Farmers lost around P68 billion due to the effects of the Rice Tariffication Law, which saw the influx of more imported rice.

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By MADELAINE B. MIRAFLOR, Manila Bulletin, 21 Feb 2020 While consumers have saved more than ₱30 billion because of the influx of cheaper, imported rice in the market, Filipino rice farmers claimed they incurred nearly ₱70-billion loss since the implementation of rice importation under the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL).

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by Czeriza Valencia (The Philippine Star) – 21 Feb 2020 MANILA, Philippines — Foreign investment pledges approved by the country’s main investment promotion agencies surged to an all-time high of P390.11 billion in 2019, more than double from P179 billion in 2018, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed.