With the deadline drawing near, the Philippines remains far from achieving the fifth Millennium Development Goal (MDG 5) of reducing maternal mortality rate and achieving universal access to reproductive health. “We have not made any headway in reducing maternal mortality in the Philippines,” admitted former Health secretary Esperanza Cabral during the Secretary’s Cup on Maternal…

Global investment bank JP Morgan has picked the Philippines as one of its three most-favored stock markets for 2013, marking the fourth straight year that the local bourse is expected to outperform most of its regional peers.

The Philippine economy must post an average annual growth rate of 6.7 percent for the per capita income to increase by two-fold after 15 years, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director general Arsenio Balisacan said.

MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino ordered yesterday the creation of special teams that would investigate human rights abuses committed by state and non-state forces, in order to ensure a focused probe and speedy resolution of all unsolved and new cases, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. said yesterday.

THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) is urging countries in Asia Pacific to roll out social protection systems to enable the poor to better withstand shocks such as economic crises and natural disasters.

Decisive policy action is needed to ensure the world is not “plunged back into recession”, according to the OECD. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which represents the world’s richest nations, also lowered its growth forecasts.

HONG KONG (CNNMoney) — Europe’s economy will contract next year and the United States will see slower growth than previously forecast, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned Tuesday.

Philippine stocks gained again on Tuesday, sending the benchmark index to a new high of 5,586.46, up 0.13 percent, as investors continued to take a favorable long-term view on local equities.

THE PHILIPPINE economy could grow by 5.3% next year, Citigroup, Inc. yesterday said, as public spending and low interest rates support consumption and investment.

PHILIPPINE GROWTH will likely be capped at 6% over the next two to three years given the weak global economy, economists yesterday said as they urged the government to boost development via other sources.

Invest in initiatives that help low-income groups Tycoon Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala has urged private enterprises to join the bandwagon on “inclusive growth,” saying business initiatives that help address inequality in the country can be profitable.

Big money is about to descend once again upon the media industry, if it hasn’t already. Election campaign seasons always bring the industry a windfall, via both legitimate political ads and illicit payments to buy favorable coverage from members of the press. The magnitudes are now so staggering that in the last election year of…

THE PHILIPPINES has been ranked 87th among 141 nations in terms of being the best for business, a development officials said reflected rising investor confidence.

COMPANIES should practice “inclusive business” to help the Philippine government’s push for inclusive growth, speakers urged in a conference at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) headquarters yesterday.

The Philippines has a huge market potential for increasing so-called inclusive businesses (IBs) that could help address poverty, a study prepared for the Asian Development Bank (ADB) disclosed.

MANILA, Philippines – If the Philippines wants to significantly increase Filipinos’ incomes in the next 15 years, it must post an average annual growth of 6.7% during the period.

TOURISM Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. is confident the Philippines would break the 4.5-million tourist forecast for this year, revealing that the Department of Tourism continues to grow at 9.9 percent yearly average and even reaching 15-percent gross on some months.

President Benigno Aquino III has ordered the creation of special teams to exclusively handle cases of extra-legal killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and other forms of human rights violations by state and non-state forces.

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MANILA, Philippines – Thirteen organizations whose nominees come from the same families have been accredited for next year’s party-list polls, according to the complete list released by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday, November 29.

DOHA: Pilipina domestics have been hot favourites of Qatari households for decades. There have occasionally been talks of exploitation of these hapless workers — like their counterparts from other countries — in Qatari as well as expatriate homes, but there have also been reports of how many of them were pampered by their employers and…

Editor’s note: Janet Walsh is the deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Women’s Rights division. You can follow her on Twitter: @JanetHRW. The views expressed are her own. “If I looked nice, he hit me,” Ana L., a mother of five in Colombia, told me.

More than six million youths worldwide have either stopped searching for a job or had to take up additional studies due to the intense competition in the labor market, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said.

Many countries have ratified ILO conventions on maternity protection, but pregnant women still face workplace discrimination. Marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (November 25), the ILO publishes guidelines on how to implement maternity protection policies.

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines – Three miners drowned when sea water flooded their tunnel on Tuesday afternoon in Barangay Palanas in Paracale, Camarines Norte, police said yesterday.

LONDON – The euro zone economy is on course for its weakest quarter since the dark days of early 2009, according to business surveys that showed companies toiling against shrinking order books in November.

Business activity in the eurozone continued to contract in November, a survey suggests. The Markit eurozone Purchasing Managers’ Output Index was little changed from October, up to 45.8 from 45.7. A reading below 50 indicates contraction.

Cristobal said industrial roadmap finished and Industry Development Council revived by first quarter of next year. At least three basic industries – iron and steel, petrochemicals and copper – may start a sustained industrialization of the economy, and consequently increase the share of manufacturing to 30 per cent of GDP by 2016.

MANILA, Philippines – The 2011 list of government’s top earners is quite different from 2010. The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor) chairman used to top it. Not anymore.

PRESS RELEASE UNAIDS reports a more than 50% drop in new HIV infections across 25 countries as countries approach the 1000 day deadline to achieve global AIDS targets In addition, the number of people with access to antiretroviral therapy increased by 63% in the last 24 months—AIDS-related deaths fell by more than 25% between 2005…