PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino 3rd has earmarked P500 million for the training of fresh graduates as call-center agents. “I’m happy to announce that I have recently approved an additional P500 million under our stimulus package for [a] training program to be undertaken by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in partnership with your industry,”…

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered its forecast for the country’s growth to 4.7 percent this year and 4.9 percent next year along with other Asian economies warning in a report released yesterday that the region faces risks due to fallout from the eurozone debt crisis and a slowdown in the United States.

If there’s big spending, potential revenue sources should not be far behind. And the growing medical tourism is prize in sight. This should sum up why Metro Pacific Investment Corp. led by Manuel V. Pangilinan continues to buy (or acquire shares in) hospitals in the Philippines.

‘Never before has judiciary been subjected to lack of respect’ THE Chief Justice has had it. Saying enough is enough, Chief Justice Renato Corona on Thursday slammed Malacañang and some legislators for disrespecting and undermining the independence of the judiciary by attempting to slash its budget and threatening to impeach justices.

Transparency, lowering the cost of doing business particularly on power rates and a plan for President Aquino’s Private-Public Partnership (PPP) projects were the three foremost demands of local executives who converged for the 37th Philippine Business Conference (PBC).

The House committee on higher and technical education (CHTE), with its chairman, Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara presiding, convened the stakeholders in the education sector Wednesday in an effort to re-assess and strengthen the Study-Now-Pay-Later Program (SNPLP) of Commission on Higher Education (Ched) for it to be more responsive to the needs of tertiary…

The Department of Science and Technology (DoST), through the Information and Communications Technology Office, will be launching free training modules that will assess and beef up the skills of would-be business process outsourcing practitioners.

FOREIGN direct investments (FDI) to the Philippines fell in the first seven months of the year amid concerns over the Europe’s debt problems and a stalled recovery in the US.

IT’S official. The Aquino administration has settled for lower growth targets for this year and 2012, notwithstanding a new fiscal stimulus package for the remainder of 2011.

THE Philippine Army yesterday deplored the report released by the international group Human Rights Watch (HRW) over 13 “child warriors” captured in engagements with the rebel New People’s Army (NPA) in Davao and Surigao recently.

President Benigno Aquino III unveiled Wednesday a P72-billion stimulus package of public works and poverty reduction projects as a weakening global economy forced the country to cut growth forecasts.

Keppel Subic Shipyard on Wednesday released the initial report made by the task force created by the company to investigate the accident in which six workers died and several others injured.

THE HOUSE leadership terminated the questioning of an anti-reproductive health lawmaker after he accused the more than 100 authors of the RH bill of promoting “immorality, promiscuity and bestiality” because they were pushing condoms and pills in family planning.

TAURANGA, New Zealand: Fears grew on Wednesday that a ship stuck on a New Zealand reef would break up and release a new wave of pollution, as its two chief officers were charged over the nation’s worst oil spill.

SATISFACTION ratings of top government officials went down, the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey revealed on Wednesday.

After heading the International Labor Organization (ILO) committee on domestic workers in June this year, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is drumming up “multi-stakeholder support” for the ratification of the Domestic Workers’ Convention (ILO Convention 189).

MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Jejomar Binay urged yesterday local businessmen to enter into Public Private Partnership (PPP) with local government units (LGUs) in order to develop infrastructure and other projects.

MANILA, Philippines – Monetary authorities said yesterday the planned P72-billion fiscal stimulus package of the Aquino administration would help pump prime the economy amid a stable exchange rate and benign inflation environment.

The government unveiled a P72-billion package to stimulate the weakening economy but the details of the program showed that most of the projects were already incorporated in the 2012 budget and were reclassified as components of scheme.

MANILA, Philippines – Total foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows retreated 9.7 percent in the first seven months of the year due to the economic uncertainty in advanced economies led by the US and the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

Vice President Jejomar Binay yesterday pressed the adoption of a strategic urban development plan for Metro Manila, saying its absence has stunted the country’s development and has led to urban squalor in some areas.

The realization must have hit like a thunderbolt. The sustained decline in our rate of growth is due principally to the collapse in public spending since this administration took over.

MANILA, Philippines – State-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) has promised to withdraw its four petitions for increases in electricity rates totaling P4.88 per kilowatt-hour.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said only 34 percent of Filipino mothers practice exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of their babies.

MANILA, Philippines – The net satisfaction ratings of the top three government officials next in line to President Aquino slightly declined in the latest survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The Trade Union Congress Party (TUCP party-list) strongly supports members of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (Palea) on their protest action against the impending termination of 2,600 employees.

Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada, in a privilege speech on Monday, revealed that the Keppel Subic Shipyard did not have a good track record when it comes to on-site accidents.

MANILA, Philippines – The military yesterday denied a report by New York-based Human Rights Watch that the Army is falsely labeling children as combatants of the communist rebels.

MANILA, Philippines – Chief Justice Renato Corona yesterday challenged critics to make a comprehensive study of the case involving the retrenchment of thousands of employees of Philippine Airlines (PAL) before making any judgment.

Nearly 12 percent of some 196 new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients in the Philippines in August were overseas Filipino workers (OFws), a lawmaker said.