More power bill burdens are expected as state power assets holding firm Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (Psalm) said it is firming up the amount that it will charge consumers for so-called stranded debts and the stranded contract costs that runs into tens of billions of pesos that state firm National Power Corp.…

On the heels of a human resources summit of HR professionals in Asia, I wrote in this space last week about my observations about the industrial relations situation in Singapore, venue of the summit. I talked about how enviable the situation in Singapore was —how the Singaporeans have a massive surplus of jobs, how even…

The Bureau of Internal Revenue is making it easier for employees who lost their jobs for reasons beyond their control—such as death, sickness or physical disability—to not pay any tax on separation packages.

WASHINGTON – French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde appeared poised to become the head of the International Monetary Fund this week despite a strong challenge to Europe’s traditional hold on the job.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Misamis Oriental, June 27 (PIA) — The Php79.66 daily increase in wages is essential if workers are to cope with the increasing prices of commodities and cost of living.

MANILA, Philippines – Electricity users may end up paying 39 centavos per kilowatthour (kwh) more in their bills once the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approves the proposed universal charge (UC) of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM).

MANILA, Philippines – A party-list congressman on Sunday raised an alarm against a high number of Filipinos who got infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) through unprotected male-to-male sexual contact.

MANILA, Philippines — Health authorities have asked the House of Representatives to consult international medical experts before acting on a bill that seeks to impose stiffer penalties on abortion and widen the scope of prohibited acts.

Brussels, 24 June 2011 (ITUC OnLine): Trade unions are telling a key meeting of the United Nations program UNAIDS this week that, along with real commitments from governments to fill the US$ 8 billion funding gap, the potential impact of workplace-based activities in tackling the HIV and AIDS pandemic is still not being realised.

Foreign workers in Saudi Arabia send £17bn to families back home annually. But for some, the cost in physical and mental abuse is too high, writes Jason Burke Shortly after dawn, as the sun rises over the hills behind the city, tens of thousands of women will wake in the Saudi Arabian port of Jeddah…

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.

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – Human rights violations committed by the government and private parties against transgender Filipinos may soon be subject to international legal censure and corrective measures, if activists and lawyers succeed in getting the attention of the United Nations, pro-gay advocates said Saturday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines is considering the use of a $100-million fund budgeted for nuclear energy development, for other activities, a Department of Energy (DOE) official said.

WASHINGTON – Sen. Daniel Inouye has refiled in the US Senate a bill which seeks to revive the dying textile industry in the Philippines and generate some 200,000 jobs while at the same time opening up the Asian market for American textile.

As for online shopping scams, the criminal usually offers to sell an item online, then refuses to deliver the item once a buyer deposits the payment in the criminal’s bank account. MANILA, Philippines – The number of cybercrimes reported in the country each week has increased by at least 25 percent compared to six years…

MANILA, Philippines – Justice Undersecretary and Inter Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) head Jose Vicente Salazar said the problem of human trafficking extends far beyond the country’s borders and that there is an urgent need for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to discuss and formulate policies to ensure that human trafficking is put…

MANILA, Philippines – A research group yesterday said that the youth sector, apart from sex workers and migrant workers, is also considered as “high risk” to the infection of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). The study “Philippine Education Sectors’ Response to HIV, Drugs and Sexuality” showed that the HIV cases in the country continued to climb,…

LUBAO, Pampanga ,Philippines – Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo slammed yesterday the Aquino administration and warned of “danger signs” in the country’s economy because of what she claimed was a lack of leadership in government.

FITCH Ratings Inc. lifted the Philippines’ credit score to a notch below investment grade on the back of the country’s strong external finances and the government’s efforts to trim its fiscal deficit. In a statement on Thursday, Fitch said it upgraded the sovereign’s long-term foreign currency rating to “BB+” from “BB.” The long-term local currency…

(Ric Saludo’s colleague Marishka Noelle M. Cabrera contributed today’s column.) FOR the non-nerd, computer hacking is a nuisance at worst, perpetrated by losers with nothing else to do but wreak havoc in cyberspace just for kicks. But the fun is getting serious now, with hackers engineering security breaches in global corporations and institutions and exposing…

THE business community is opposing two bills seeking to institutionalize corporate social responsibility activities. While CSR should be embedded in every company’s “business DNA,” Ed Amistad, chairperson of the League of Corporate Foundations, said it should not be required by law and should remain as a voluntary activity.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines received another credit rating upgrade under the Aquino government, this time from London-based Fitch Ratings that upgraded the sovereign rating by one notch from the previous “BB” to “BB+” following the country’s strong economic growth. This is the fourth upgrade received by the Philippines since President Aquino assumed office in…

Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada yesterday urged President Aquino to certify as urgent the bill seeking to increase mininum wage for household helpers or “kasambahay” along with additional benefits, saying that the measure is long overdue. Estrada also twitted colleagues from the House of Representatives for apparently sitting on the bill, which has been…

NIXES 3 SECRETARIES WHO ALWAYS GIVE HIM ‘BAD NEWS’ President Aquino may be far removed from the reality of numerous problems the country faces, and the reason nothing moves in Malacañang. He yesterday bared in a speech of “two or three” of his Cabinet members who have brought him nothing but problems and “bad news,”…

A BOOMING stock market has expanded the Philippines’ billionaires list to a record 11, with the combined wealth of the 40 richest also hitting an all-time high, Forbes.com said on Thursday. Shopping mall king Henry Sy, 86, saw his assets surge 44 percent to $7.2 billion over the past year and remains the Philippines’ richest…

GOVERNMENT officials vowed to help 350,000 skilled Filipino workers who will be displaced by “Saudization,” a program in Saudi Arabia designed to cut unemployment of the Middle East country’s subjects.

President Benigno Aquino III has ordered the Trade Department to include the creative industries and disaster-mitigating and recovery projects in the 2011 Investment Priorities Plan, bringing to 13 the number of activities eligible for incentives this year from 11.

THE Philippines’ booming stock market lifted the fortunes of the country’s richest people to an all-time high, bringing their collective wealth to $34 billion against last year’s $22.8 billion, Forbes magazine says in its Web site. The number of Filipino billionaires also more than doubled this year to 11, with the country’s 32 tycoons getting…

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III’s closest ally and Liberal Party spokesman, House Deputy Speaker Lorenzo Tañada III, has attributed the President’s declining popularity to a “lack of clear direction, coherent economic road map and failure to stop the increase in the prices of basic commodities such as petroleum products.”

LAGAWE, Ifugao, June 24(PIA)- – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) here reactivated the Provincial Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (PTIPC) to serve as a forum for tripartite advisory and consultation among labor, employers, and government sectors in the formulation and implementation of labor and social policies.