A center for autistic and special children will soon be established in every province of the country. Pangasinan Rep. Gina de Venecia said House Bill 4447 mandates the creation of centers which will give, among other things, free special therapy sessions or interventions to children with autism and hearing and speech impairment.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) has joined hands with Jollibee, the country’s biggest and first global fast food chain, to assist disadvantaged Filipino youth become more employable, productive members of society. Last week, Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with the Jollibee Foods Corporation on…

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) announced that the P2-billion reintegration loan program administered by the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) is available to both active and former members of OWWA who want to start or expand their small and medium business projects.

CEBU, Philippines – A 55-year-old welder accidentally fell from a building where he was working Friday night. The victim, Desiderio Avanceñe, a native of Barangay Barili and a resident of Barangay Sambag 1, fell from the rooftop of a building owned by a bank along Osmeña Boulevard. The building is still under construction.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Budget and Management has released P251.6 million to implement the Department of Education’s Madrasah Education program. The program aims to enhance the educational development of Filipino Muslims.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) have forged a partnership to help farmers and fishermen grow their business. The two agencies will help farmers and fishermen in business licensing, trade facilitation and export market exposure.

Despite the lack of evidence suggesting that contralateral prophylactic mastectomy improves overall survival among women with breast cancer, recent years have seen an alarming increase in the number of women choosing to undergo the procedure.

FDI LAGGING: The development contribution of Foreign Direct Investments in the Philippines is lowest in Southeast Asia. Just two decades ago, the country was well on its way to becoming a major player in Asia together with China, Thailand and India.

Manila, Philippines – The Department of Tourism’s (DOT) “Limestone” domestic tourism advertisement has bagged the Bronze award in the Outdoor Lions Category in the prestigious Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Manila, Philippines – House Minority Leader and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman has challenged before the Supreme Court the legality of Republic Act 10149 or the GOCC Governance Act of 2011 signed by President Aquino last month. Lagman said “scandalously huge salaries, allowances and perks” of some government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) “should not be tolerated…

Hundreds of Filipino teachers protested in front of the United States Department of Labor (DOL) in Washington DC after the agency banned Maryland’s Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) from hiring foreign teachers. The US DOL reaffirmed its decision that the PGCPS willfully violation H-1B visa rules by requiring around 800 Filipino teachers to pay…

NEARLY 80 foreign companies with offices in the Philippines have been tagged as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender- (LGBT) friendly in a database managed by a human resource development expert and gender rights advocate.

LONDON — The world economy should expand steadily this year and the next thanks mainly to prospering emerging powers, a Reuters poll showed, but fiscal troubles lurking in Europe and potentially the United States risk blowing this view apart.

By the time this article is published, the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) is already abolished. It was last June while I was meeting with some heads of business associations and foreign firms in the country when one of the attendees, an official from the Office of the President, disclosed that the CICT…

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In June 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the indictment of a Maryland couple on charges that they held a Filipina domestic worker in servitude. The couple lured the victim—an impoverished, uneducated mother of eight—by promising a salary that could support the victim’s children in the Philippines.

Chief Justice’s satisfaction mark goes up – SWS poll SATISFACTION ratings of both President Benigno Aquino 3rd and Vice President Jejomar Binay have dropped by five percent, the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey revealed on Friday. Approval marks of other high officials also skidded, except that of Chief Justice Renato Corona whose score inched…

They’re supposed to act as fiscalizers in the upper chamber, yet they appear to be nowhere in action, most of the time. Those considered to be in the ranks of the “opposition” in the Senate have posted the most number of either absences or official leaves of absence in the last First Regular Session of…

Philippine job losses from unrest in the Arab world and the Japan quake have had little overall impact on the amount of money the huge Filipino overseas workforce sends home, the Central Bank said yesterday. Cash transfers rose 6.2 percent from a year earlier to $7.9 billion in the five months to May, slightly down…

Marriage is losing its luster for many in the Philippines, with an increasing number of couples starting families out of wedlock, the government census office said yesterday. More than 37 percent of the 1.78 million babies born in Asia’s Roman Catholic outpost in 2008 had unmarried mothers, it said in a statement, citing results of…

MANILA, Philippines – The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) welcomed the recent resolution from the United Nation Security Council, denouncing the recruitment of child warriors.

GOVERNMENT continued its thrust for its reproductive health agenda by reiterating previous family planning memorandum. The Department of Health (DOH) released Administrative Order 2011-0005 yesterday that consists of guidelines on ensuring quality standards in the delivery of family planning program and services.

Changing World MANILA, Philippines — A not too subtle assumption of the RH bill is the need for population control. Under the guise of promoting maternal health or limiting illegal abortions, some proponents of encouraging the distribution of artificial contraceptives are at bottom trying to limit the birth rate. They want to reduce population growth…

MANILA, Philippines — TESDA and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) signed last week in Makati City a letter of understanding for a partnership project in mainstreaming gender sensitivity and life skills in vocational training.

The United States’ Department of Labor on Thursday (Friday in Manila) announced it is offering a $15-million grant to fight child labor in some sugarcane plantations in the Philippines. In a news release, the DOL-Bureau of International Labor Affairs said recipients of the grant will be “qualified” groups that will implement technical assistance projects that…

MARAWI CITY, Philippines – Six minors who were illegally employed in Lanao del Sur were rescued by elements of the 65th Infantry Battalion, authorities said. The minors said they were recruited by a relative from Marawi City in June. However, they had no idea they would be hired as porters for a beverage retailer.

President Benigno Aquino III has approved this year’s Investment Priorities Plan listing the industries to be given incentives and added six to it.

Private sector workers in Central Visayas can expect an increase in the minimum wage this year. “Our closest timeline is within this year,” said Exequiel Sarcauga, chairman of the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board in Central Visayas after a meeting yesterday.

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) approved the extension of trading hours at the bourse to be implemented in two phases starting October explaining the move was timely as the global economy is improving while it is expected to improve liquidity at the Exchange.

First of two parts (Ric Saludo’s colleague Bill Huang contributed this guest column.) WITH the successful auction of Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) bonds in April— $416 million in three-year and five-year bonds with dollar and euro denominations—the government has taken an important first step in mobilizing OFW remittances for investment. And in the nick of…