by Louella Desiderio (The Philippine Star), 8 Jul 2021 MANILA, Philippines — Around 10 percent of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have closed as of June amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the latest survey of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

by Christina Mendez (The Philippine Star), 8 Jul 2021 MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine population has reached 109 million based on the 2020 Census of Population and Housing gathered by the Philippine Statistics Authority, Malacañang said in a proclamation yesterday.

by Janvic Mateo (The Philippine Star), 8 Jul 2021 MANILA, Philippines — The results of a review on the basic education curriculum in the country have been submitted to Education Secretary Leonor Briones, according to a Department of Education (DepEd) official.

By Ben O. de Vera, 8 Jul 2021 Growth forecasts for the Philippines collected by Barcelona-based FocusEconomics showed below-target consensus expectations averaging 5.6 percent for 2021, mainly due to sluggish mass vaccination against COVID-19.

(Philstar.com), 8 Jul 2021 MANILA, Philippines — Figures released by President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration fail to capture the reality that many Filipinos continue to experience poverty and hunger five years into his term, new research shows.

Read more here.

by INQUIRER.net, 8 Jul 2021 MANILA, Philippines — A recent study found that many Filipino students are still struggling in terms of learner control amid a shift to online learning due to the pandemic.

by Louella Desiderio (The Philippine Star), 7 Jul 2021 MANILA, Philippines — Mall and building owners have expressed support for the proposed establishment of “safe spaces” as a means to create herd immunity in areas where the private sector has control like office buildings, factories and malls, according to presidential adviser for entrepreneurship and Go…

(Philstar.com), 7 Jul 2021 MANILA, Philippines — The Anti-Red Tape Authority on Wednesday reminded government workers to observe proper office hours and set up public assistance desks in their facilities to give continued service to the public.

By Marlon Ramos, 7 Jul 2021 MANILA, Philippines — A disgraced magistrate of the Sandiganbayan, who was sacked in 2014 for corruption in fixing an earlier criminal case of convicted plunderer Janet Lim Napoles, has won a reprieve from the Supreme Court.

Read more here.

Read more here.

(Philstar.com), 6 Jul 2021 MANILA, Philippines — More people died by suicide last year as the pandemic began and dragged on, with the Philippine Statistics Authority reporting a 57% increase in the country’s suicide rate in 2020 compared to the preceding year.

by Raul J. Palabrica, 6 Jul 2021 Barring a significant resurgence of COVID-19, there is reason to be optimistic that social and economic activities in the country would return to near prepandemic levels by the third quarter of this year.

By Ben O. de Vera, 6 Jul 2021 The declining number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines augurs well for economic recovery and the return of jobs lost amid last year’s pandemic-induced steep recession.

Read more here.

by Janvic Mateo (The Philippine Star), 3 Jul 2021 MANILA, Philippines — Following the release of a World Bank report outlining the poor performance of Filipino students in key literacy subjects, an official of the Department of Education (DepEd) gave assurance Friday that reforms are underway to improve the quality of education in the country.

By Linda B. Bolido, 5 Jul 2021 @InquirerBizUnknown to many, the Philippines pioneered mobile money, adding it to applications for cellular phones. Angelito Villanueva, chair and founder of FinTech Alliance.ph, executive vice president and chief innovation officer at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. and chief digital transformation officer for the Yuchengco Group of Companies, said Filipinos…

Increased dependence on technology, new concepts of identity, a demand for real experiences and a rise in consumer rating are some of the top priorities of consumers in the next 10 years, according to the Dentsu Consumer Vision 2030: The Age of Inclusive Intelligence, a futuristic study by global marketing services group Dentsu International.

by Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star), 5 Jul 2021 MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines now plays a key role in setting global labor standards as it officially assumed the chairmanship of the International Labor Organization (ILO) government group.

by Delon Porcalla (The Philippine Star), 5 July 2021 MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education needs to initiate what a key official of the House of Representatives described as a “curriculum overhaul” after the World Bank (WB) reported that 80 percent of Filipino children suffer from literacy problems.

by Lawrence Agcaoili (The Philippine Star), 5 Jul 2021 MANILA, Philippines — More companies are planning to expand their operations and hire more workers as the economy continues to reopen and recover from the pandemic-induced recession, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

by Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star), 5 Jul 2021 MANILA, Philippines — The upcoming elections and land-related permits are seen as stumbling blocks for the development of solar projects, which are the fastest to deploy to boost supply to aid in economic recovery and avert possible brownouts in the grid, according to solar developers.

Read more here.

Read more here.

By Maricar Cinco, 5 Jul 2021 MANILA, Philippines — Can private companies charge employees for the vaccines of their dependents? Or should they also shoulder the cost of the additional jabs?

by Elizabeth Marcelo (The Philippine Star), 5 Jul 2021 MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has won an international award for its policy against the use of lead and lead compounds.

by Janvic Mateo (The Philippine Star), 4 Jul 2021 MANILA, Philippines — Human rights organizations must improve their communication strategies to respond to an “information warfare” that has left their sector tarnished and broken in a short period of time.

Read more here.

by Doris Dumlao-Abadilla, 3 Jul 2021 As part of business continuity initiatives amid the prolonged pandemic, leading pizza chain operator Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures Inc. has reshuffled its store workforce to bring employees closer to their place of work and limit their commuting time to no more than 30 minutes.