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by Dharel Placido, ABS-CBN News, Jan 8, 2019 MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the health and finance departments’ proposal to raise the excise tax on tobacco and alcohol products, the Palace said Tuesday.

by Mary Grace Padin, The Philippine Star, Jan 8, 2019 MANILA, Philippines — State-run Social Security System (SSS) is still waiting for further progress on the status of a bill which seeks to amend the state fund’s charter.

by Ghio Ong, The Philippine Star, Jan 8, 2019 MANILA, Philippines — Three workers were hurt after a tank of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) exploded at a food park in Pasay City Sunday night.

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by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Becky Frankiewicz, Jan 7, 2019 We often hear employers and business leaders lament the unfortunate gap between what students learn in college and what they are actually expected to know in order to be job-ready. This is particularly alarming in light of the large — and still growing — number of…

by Mary Grace Padin (The Philippine Star) – Jan 5, 2019 MANILA, Philippines — The year 2018 signified major changes for the country’s fiscal system as the government started the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law.

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By Rene E. Ofreneo, Business Mirror, Jan 3, 2019 The campaign of the trade union movement to end the “endo” practice of hiring workers on a short-term basis has not yet succeeded in prodding a reluctant Congress to pass a law formally outlawing the controversial “labor-only contracting” (LOC) system and abolishing all other forms of…

by Jovic Yee, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Jan 2, 2019 Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the approved minimum wage increases throughout the country were short of at least P100 for workers to be able to cope with the rising cost of basic commodities.

by Gillian M. Cortez, BusinessWorld, Jan 2, 2019 THE labor department said equipping workers with data sciences and analytics (DSA) skills will be a good way of preparing enterprises for eventual automation, according to the findings of the JobsFit 2022 report prepared by one of its agencies.

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by Pathricia Ann V. Roxas, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Jan 1, 2019 MANILA, Philippines — A multi-sectoral group on Tuesday warned the public of 12 “dangerous, anti-Filipino, anti-youth, anti-NGO, and anti-democracy provisions” under the House draft federal charter principally authored by Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

by BEN O. DE VERA, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Dec 31, 2018 The rate of jobless Filipinos in the labor force declined to 5.3 percent in 2018 from 5.7 percent last year even as underemployment inched up, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

by Sheila Crisostomo (The Philippine Star) – Dec 30, 2018 MANILA, Philippines — The number of births in 2017 was the lowest in 10 years but more girls below 15 years have become mothers, the Commission on Population (PopCom) reported yesterday.

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by Janvic Mateo, The Philippine Star, Dec 30, 2018 MANILA, Philippines — Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. has suggested a new way to address trafficking of Filipino migrant workers: Seek the families of illegal recruiters.

by Raymund Catindig, The Philippine Star, Dec 30, 2018 TUGUEGARAO, Cagayan , Philippines — Three girls, aged 15 and 16, were rescued from a sex den in this city yesterday.

by Doris Dumlao-Abadilla, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Dec 29, 2019 After a tumultuous year that saw the local stock barometer initially hitting all-time highs but reversing later to bearish territory, local equities ended 2018 with the worst annual performance seen in a decade.

By Chito Chavez, Manila Bulletin, Dec 28, 2018 The militant group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) has debunked the government’s claim that nearly 500,000 workers have been regularized under the administration of President Duterte. Stressing the need to uplift the workers’ rights, KMU called Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello’s statement “far from reality and pure propaganda.”

by Camille A. Aguinaldo, Business Mirror, Dec 27, 2018 LABOR SECRETARY Silvestre H. Bello III said Thursday that the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECoP) has committed to a program of extending regular status to its employees.

By Perfecto Raymundo, Jr. – PNA, Dec 27, 2018 MANILA — In line with its mandate to protect the poor, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has served more than 4 million beneficiaries under its Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) this year.

by Reuters, Dec 26 2018 BEIJING — China issued on Tuesday a so-called “negative” list that specifies industries where investors, domestic or foreign, are either restricted or prohibited, as part of efforts to standardize market entry rules for all players.

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by Louella Desiderio (The Philippine Star) – Dec 26, 2018 MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is pushing for more non-electronics exports for next year to diversify the country’s merchandise shipments and help promote development in the countryside.

by Ian Nicolas Cigaral (philstar.com) – Dec 26, 2018 MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ adult population is likely to be cut by 9 percent due to migration, according to a new Gallup poll, which also sees an exodus of young talents already at home.

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by Jose Ramon G Albert, PIDS, Dec 26, 2018 Despite the Philippines recording an impressive average annual GDP growth rate of 5.3 per cent during 2003–15, this growth has not benefitted all Filipinos equally. Income poverty was estimated at a quarter of the population from 2003–12. This only reduced to 21.6 per cent in 2015.…