Measures such as cash transfers or health insurance programmes can sometimes determine whether a child spends the day studying and playing, or working and being deprived of a fair chance at a decent future.

MANILA, Philippines—International experts cited Philippine achievements in promoting microinsurance, even as they called for global efforts to protect consumers as the industry continues to develop.

MANILA, Philippines – Approximately two million people die each year due to work-related diseases while 160 million more are afflicted by non-fatal occupational illnesses, a new report of the United Nations labor agency said.

LOS ANGELES—More than 100 Filipino domestic workers and their supporters yesterday (Friday in Manila) held a “cupcake party” in front of the state building here to show their support for a bill that will grant domestic workers in California basic labor rights, such as overtime pay and breaks.

The countdown to the last 1,000 days to the 2015 deadline of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has begun. On April 5, the world marked the beginning of the critical last mile of the MDGs.

LONDON – Over years of campaigning for rights and recognition, domestic workers are finding a stronger voice through visual arts by using every medium and platform they can access as tools for their campaigns.

26 April 2013 – Approximately 2 million people die each year due to work-related diseases while 160 million more are afflicted by non-fatal occupational illnesses, says a new report by the United Nations labour agency, which has called for an “urgent and vigorous” global campaign to tackle the growing problem.

According to a new ILO report, prevention is key to tackling the growing number of work-related diseases, which claim an estimated 2 million lives per year.

MANILA, Philippines – Rescue workers retrieved yesterday the body of a backhoe operator who was buried alive with three other men at a sanitary landfill in Rodriguez, Rizal last Friday.

MANILA, Philippines – Poverty figures released the other day were only up to the first semester of 2012, and the situation is getting better, Malacañang said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines is a “rising star” in a gloomy world economy and could grow by as much as eight percent by 2016 if reforms in governance and business policies continue, a unit of debt watcher Moody’s Investors Service said.

THE PHILIPPINES has been branded as “Asia’s rising star” by Moody’s Analytics, with the country’s growth expected to outstrip much of the world in coming years. In a report released yesterday, the research arm of credit rater Moody’s Investors Service called the Philippines “among the brightest parts of a generally gloomy global picture.”

Set to be ‘one of world’s fastest growth rates’ The Philippines has grabbed the spotlight amid a lackluster global economy, with a think tank describing it as a “rising star” poised to record one of the fastest growth rates in the world and a credit-rating firm raising its growth forecast for the country.

Farmer Rene Ravalo loads coconuts onto a truck in the Philippines for the 30-minute trip to market on a road built last year. It previously took half a day for a water buffalo to inch the goods down a mountain track.

THE CAT is out of the bag: the strong economic growth in 2010 and 2012 failed to pull many poor Filipinos from the poverty trap. Poverty incidence at the national level has remained unchanged. And that’s the good news! The bad news is that, by island territories, the improvement in the poverty situation after two…

When it rains, it pours. Coming on the heels of a report from the National Statistical Coordination Board that poverty alleviation in the country remains a pipe dream is an observation—from a government think tank no less—that job-creation facilitation programs are not enough to prop up employment in the Philippines.

NEDA DIRECTOR General Arsi Balisacan and the Philippine Statistical System, particularly the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) and the National Statistics Office (NSO), are to be congratulated for a more timely release of the country’s poverty statistics.

IT’S back to the drawing board for the government’s development planners following the findings of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) that the administration’s poverty-reduction program has failed.

Poverty level remains unchanged since 2006 – govt survey Poverty level remains unchanged since 2006 – govt survey. A street dwelling couple with their mobile cart-home looks for a place to settle down before nightfall along Sto. Domingo Street in Quezon City on Tuesday. Economic indicators may show the country is getting richer, but the…

Although elsewhere the prospect for high growth this year was seen ranging no more than 5 percent in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), the sovereign-credit watcher Moody’s Investor Service anticipates accelerating local output as high as 7 percent.

(Updated 4:30 p.m.) Philippine output this year and the next is seen settling within the government’s growth goals, driven by the construction and business process outsourcing sectors and domestic demand, a unit of debt watcher Moody’s Investors Service said Wednesday.

On the average, 28 out of 100 Filipinos live in poverty ,unchanged for the past six years. This translates to 26 million very poor Filipinos. “The poverty rate would have been higher if not for the implementation of the conditional cash transfer program,” NEDA Director General Arsenio Balisacan said.

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s foreign debt stood at $60.3 billion at the end of 2012, a $1.4-billion reduction from the $61.7-billion level in the third quarter, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said yesterday.

Through massive investment in human development and poverty reduction, the government is still hopeful that the results of the next poverty statistics will improve, particularly on the proportion of poor Filipinos, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said in a press briefing on Tuesday.

After government data showed that poverty levels in the Philippines have remained unchanged since 2006, Malacañang on Tuesday asked Filipinos to give the Aquino administration three more years to promote inclusive growth in the country.

In a statement to the IMFC in Washington, ILO Director-General Guy Ryder says international policy response efforts are not matching growing global concern over growth, job creation and poverty reduction.

A CHAPTER of the IMF’s World Economic Outlook released last week and presented at a series of seminars in Manila analyzes growth takeoffs in dynamic emerging markets and developing economies during the past 60 years. The chapter considers the economic and structural conditions and policies of emerging markets and developing countries that have taken off…

There’s more sobering news on the state of the country’s environment, according to an environment official during Monday’s celebration of Earth Day: The Philippines has the second-lowest forest cover in Southeast Asia and its biodiversity is among the most threatened in the world; despite the country having one of the most extensive coral reef areas…

THE Philippine environment is “still under intensive care” and without people’s support, and government’s efforts are not enough to preserve it, Environment Undersecretary Demetrio Ignacio Jr. said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – A surge in foreign investments would drive long-term growth, but it may also hurt the economy, according to British bank Barclays.