When Saudi Arabia begins turning away migrant laborers, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) can turn to Australia and Canada for employment, the Philippine labor chief said Thursday. In an interview with GMA News Online, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the government is now exploring to take advantage of the “labor shortage” in Australia and Canada.

JEDDAH: Illegal housemaids in Jeddah have begun asking for huge salary increases following the decision to suspend recruitment of housemaids from Indonesia and the Philippines. Many families are reporting that the maids have threatened to walk out if their demands are not met, especially that Ramadan is one month away when demand for extra domestic…

WORKERS DEMAND higher wages. Companies offer rock-bottom rates. The government stands amid these conflicting interests, in the hope of mediating an acceptable outcome. This is how tripartism works: The business sector, labor groups, and the government–each represented respectively by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), the Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines (ECoP), and…

The Agriculture Department has approved a six-year, P16-billion rice mechanization program that will increase production of the crop by as much as 10 percent annually. The Philippine Center for Post-Harvest Development and Mechanization said it would implement the program from 2011 to 2016 to modernize the postharvest and mechanization processes on a large-scale basis.

Last Monday I wrote about House Bill 4853, otherwise known as the Security of Tenure Act. The proposed law was submitted for plenary discussion by the Committee on Labor and Employment of the House of the Representatives just before Congress went into recess early this month. HB 4853 has two counterpart measures in the Senate.…

The idea that a country’s political constitution could be related to its economic progress is not often in people’s minds. My own journey of awareness was a revelation even to me. I found out that some rules and designs in political constitutions often help to facilitate economic progress.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines has not been given a sugar allocation by the United States under its new tariff rate quota. The omission was noted by the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) which has asked the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to rectify the oversight.

Import growth slows further in April MANILA, Philippines (UPDATE) – Merchandise imports grew at their slowest pace in nine months last April on easing demand for electronic products, the National Statistics Office (NSO) reported Tuesday.

Theme: The impact of unsafe abortions on MDG 5: Improve maternal health sponsored by Marie Stopes International “I heard a nurse say ‘If you die, it’s all your own fault’”. Ana, a 35-year old Filipino, looks down as she recalls the day she was brought to the hospital in a pool of her own blood.…

Urges action on corruption, criminality RECOMMENDATIONS FOR AQUINO. Days before President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address, the Management Association of the Philippines has come up with over 200 recommendations for the enhancement of the country’s competitiveness.

http://www.jobstreet.com.ph/announcement/2011/j/jobstreet-jobgantic2011-edm-cl-bpo.htm

MANILA, Philippines—Benigno Aquino III won the presidency on a battle cry to crush corruption and ease deep poverty, but a year into his term he is seen by many to be straining under the weight of his own promises.

MANILA, Philippines – Businessmen disclosed yesterday that they are giving President Aquino a “barely passing mark” for his first year in office because although the new administration started on the right foot with the anti-wang-wang (siren) campaign, several administration officials got involved in controversies.

THE National Statistics Office (NSO) on Tuesday said it has revised the base year and weights for the consumer price index (CPI) to ensure that the key measure reflects the current situation.

After a momentary upsurge with the change in government, factory output in April again fell sharply due to the drop in production of basic metals industry mirroring the slowing economic growth, the government reported yesterday.

MANILA — Few things scare Philippine grandmother Maria Luisa Bernardo, who has dodged fires and fought off demolition crews in a tough Manila slum for more than half her life.

Megan McKee, University of Pittsburgh School of Law Class of 2012, worked as a legal researcher for the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law and is currently working in Lebanon. She writes about the need for greater rights for migrant workers in that country, especially for those employed as domestic workers…

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines—Three Filipino transsexuals have sued the government for discriminating against gays before the United Nations, it was revealed in a forum at the University of the Philippines-Baguio last week.Lawyer Evalyn Ursua, who represents Naomi Fontanos, Juliana Marian Giessel and Rio Moreno, said her clients still carried Philippine passports that identified them as males,…

MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Jejomar Binay continues to enjoy high approval and trust ratings among the top five national government officials, according to a recent Pulse Asia survey.

Fear not it’s National Poison Prevention Week (NPPW)! The mere mention of the word poison is enough to make us cringe. By poison, we mean a substance that can cause a disturbance to organisms, usually by chemical reaction, when a sufficient amount is ingested. Of course, there are the other potent things that can poison…

TAKING stern action against erring higher education institutions (HEI), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has directed 32 colleges and universities to phase-out or close their deficient courses after monitoring and evaluation showed they are not adhering to the standards and guidelines of the Commission.

MANILA, Philippines – Bureau of Immigration (BI) records showed that almost 200 Filipinos attempt to sneak out of the country daily to work abroad.

BUSINESS leaders of Cebu gathered yesterday at the Norkis Social Center to discuss what they described as ill effects of frequent increase in the minimum wage.

OZAMIZ CITY, Misamis Occidental, June 28 (PIA) – A daily wage increase of Php5 has been proposed by the different business groups in Misamis Occidental.

(New York) – President Benigno Aquino III of the Philippines has done little during his first year in office to carry out his campaign commitments to justice for rights violations and to dismantle “private armies,” Human Rights Watch said in a background paper released today.

THE Aquino administration does not intend to end the year with a budget surplus as registering one would be bad for the country’s economy, according to the Department of Finance. Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima told reporters that the government is doing a lot of catching up in terms of public spending after it underspent during…

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said the government should review the subsidies for biofuel because it contributes to higher food prices.

Manila, Philippines – Am I? According to somebody who shall not be named I have become an iPad addict, overnight. I’m neither agreeing nor disagreeing. As with any gadgets I’ve owned, the latest always steals away my time and attention the most. That is until a new and better one comes along. The remark I…

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines needs to expand its tax base and increase tax rates to significantly boost revenues and cut debt levels if it wants to win an investment-grade sovereign rating, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said on Friday.