CEBU CITY — The Trade department has pressed the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) to issue guidelines for the formation of economic zones in the provinces that will also cater to non-exporters, as part of the current administration’s efforts to spur business activity outside Metro Manila, a Cabinet official told journalists here late last week.

Manila, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday said it will strive to modernize, reform and redeem the integrity of the agency through a five-year program.

A “philosopher” once said, “Most people are really good. It’s just their behavior that is in question.” This is like saying most people are good; it’s just that they sometimes kill others with a gun.

If men could speak through this column, they would say: 1. Our habits and routines are set in stone. Please don’t even think of changing what we like to wear, do and eat. Tossing out those grimy sneakers will result in civil war.

1. All men are babies. 2. To men, all women are (or should be) mommies. 3. Men hate asking for directions, even if they’ve driven 50 kilometers into the mountains the wrong way. They think they have a GPS somewhere in their lower intestines. Otherwise, the GPS is the wife, who does the asking.

BALI, Indonesia — The Philippines won a gold, a silver and several bronze medals in the International Math Competition held here from July 18 until yesterday. Taking home a gold medal from the math tilt was Gene Go, Jr. from the Zamboanga Chong Hua High School, who started joining international math contests only this year.

Manila, Philippines – The House of Representatives will pursue with greater vigor the approval of vital socio-economic and reform bills during the second regular session of Congress, to improve governance and uplift the lives of Filipinos, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said yesterday.

The peso on Friday finished at its strongest level in more than three years, on robust inflows of foreign exchange, as investors trooped to emerging markets, encouraged by positive news coming from Greece.

Medals from international math and science competitions keep on pouring for the Philippines as the country’s contingent reaped three bronze medals in the recently concluded 52nd International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in Amsterdam.

LESBIAN, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) communities in Baguio City slammed President Benigno Aquino III for his “poor leadership”. “We do not count on any of the promises made by Aquino particular to our sector, yet we still hold this administration accountable to the sins of commission and omission that resulted in the violations…

The National Conciliation and Mediation Board in Region 7 is exhausting all efforts to prevent a recurrence of the bloody strike in 2007 and 2008, at the port of Dumaguete City.

MANILA, Philippines — Funding for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) treatment-related research and development reached an estimated $2.46 billion in 2009, according to a United Nations (UN) report which contained data collected for the first time on global investments in HIV treatment research.

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Vice President Jejomar Binay is urging President Benigno Aquino III to certify House Bill No. 553 – the Magna Carta for Household Helpers – as urgent. Binay, chairman emeritus of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, said the bill can ensure the “freedom, equity and security” of domestic workers.

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The month of August is believed to be a dark period, according to Chinese belief. The dreaded seventh lunar month in the Chinese calendar is the Hungry Ghost Festival. “It is that period when the yin energies reach a momentary balance with the yang. The yin forces become very strong and dominating during this period,…

OVER 25,000 government employees may lose their pension and other benefits unless some government agencies and local government units pay P2.38 billion in contributions and loan payments, the pension fund said Thursday.

THE Palace has made good its threat to withhold pork barrel from the lawmakers who voted against two bills that President Benigno Aquino III had certified as urgent, with 17 congressmen getting nothing from their P35-million allotment for the first half of the year.

CATHOLIC Church leaders said that the youth have been very supportive of its campaign against the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill.

CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga, Philippines – A worker of Hanjin Heavy Industries Corp.-Philippines died when he got thrown off a speeding forklift at the company’s ship repair yard at the Subic Bay Freeport, police said yesterday.

Unless the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and the Supreme Court steps in, chances are we will soon be hiring lawyers based on their ability to blabber instead of their skills at being a lawyer. In like manner we might as well elect Senators on the basis of their interrogation skills as well as being…

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang deplored yesterday as baseless the report of the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) that the Aquino administration has done nothing to solve extrajudicial killings. Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said that the government had solved four of the five cases that occurred under President Aquino’s term.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Energy (DOE) said it has received 30 new proposals for renewable energy (RE) projects with an aggregate capacity of almost 6,000 megawatts (MW), more than half of which are hydropower with 3,593 MW.

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A non-government organization is urging the Office of the President to save the lives of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who are facing executions by assisting them with “blood money.”

The Philippine government’s ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Afghanistan is “ineffective” as the number of OFWs going there continues to swell, a Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) official said.

BUTUAN CITY, July 21 (PIA) –- About 60 representatives from government line agencies, non-government organizations, Pag-Asa Youth Association of the Philippines (PYAP), business sector, academe, religious, youth-serving organizations and among other youth sectors of the region participated in the Regional Consultation on the Philippine Youth Development Plan (PYDP) 2011-2016 in Caraga spearheaded by the National…

In spite of the current controversy surrounding the LTO and its technology partner, Stradcom, drivers’ licenses continue to be renewed in Land Transportation Offices located in malls and other public places. NBI clearances, prior to the current situation, were also issued in many satellite facilities around the country. Similarly if one needed an authenticated birth…

Having been Ambassador to the Commission of the European Communities in Brussels, I continue to have an interest in developments in the EU particularly in trade and investments.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines has the highest income inequality in the Southeast Asian region, with roughly 10 percent of the country’s population accounting for a third of total income, according to a study conducted by Stratbase Research Institute.