MANILA, Philippines –  US investment bank Citigroup has upgraded the country’s growth forecast this year after the Philippines posted its strongest economic growth in 34 years last year.

The world has gone topsy-turvy for former Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo and Chief Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio. For sounding the alarm against the rushed-hushed plea bargain of plundering military comptroller Gen. Carlos Garcia, they are now the ones in trouble. Their successors have charged them before the Sandiganbayan with indirect contempt. If found guilty, they can…

As members of the Lower House of Congress continue to deliberate and discuss the proposed RH bill, they should not confine themselves within the legislative chambers and the many pro and con arguments being adduced therein. As representatives of the people, they should continue listening to the many voices still being articulated outside the Batasan…

MANILA, Philippines – There have been well-intentioned attempts of government agencies and legislators to provide measures for the protection of the most vulnerable of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), the so-called household service workers or domestic helpers. Practically all of them are women and are breadwinners for their respective families. Especially in East Asian countries like…

MANILA– A Labor official forecasts a 3-percent drop in deployment of overseas Filipino workers last year, blaming a nugatory policy on departure in the country’s major airports as one of the causes.

There looms a peril far more threatening in scope and magnitude to the political unrest in the Middle East and other parts of the world. And if the recent floods and landslides that struck the Bicol Regions, Visayas, and Mindanao are any indication, it would seem that the alarm sounded by the Philippines’ foremost policy-making…

MANILA, Philippines – A spokesman of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said on Wednesday that President Aquino should seek funds from the private sector for returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Libya.

MANILA, Philippines – More focus in reaching adolescents is needed, said UNICEF, as investing in the world’s 1.2 billion adolescents can break cycles of poverty and inequity, and reduce the risk of HIV in the country.

Filipino students have deteriorated in the field of science and math. At an educator media forum, a University of the Philippines (UP) expert said this is because local education persisted in using an obsolete discipline-based curriculum in math and science already rejected as early as 1993 by Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

A STUDY on the infection rates of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) revealed that the Philippines is one of seven countries that have seen an increase in such cases, which now involve people as young as 15.

MANILA, Philippines – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday urged the Aquino administration to broaden its tax base and strengthen tax administration by overhauling its excise tax system on sin products and rationalizing its fiscal incentives to raise much needed revenue to bankroll social and infrastructure spending.

MANILA, Philippines – The grim projection is out: At the rate the Philippines is ravaging its natural resources, it world be the first Southeast Asian country to lose its forests within the first half of the present century.

DepEd is still searching for quality preschool curriculum and its corresponding teacher training. Can they work on this before the school year starts in June? Quality kindergarten teaches you all you need to know — HOW TO LIVE. Usually, parents keep looking for preschools with scholastic materials for the three R’s instead of social materials.…

MANILA, Philippines – The government is closely monitoring oil prices as political unrest in some parts of the Middle East and Africa continues to threaten supply and raise concerns over possible price manipulation by local oil firms.

AFTER posting unprecedented growth in 2010, branded consumer food manufacturers expect a challenging year ahead amid steep rises in commodity prices.

I wrote in this space the other week about the plight of Filipino seafarers, particularly new merchant marine graduates who aspire to get jobs on board ships through local manning agencies.

An advocacy group batted yesterday for the immediate passage of two Senate bills which could effectively cut electricity cost to the end-users by as much as P2 per kilowatthour.

THE Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) has tagged Quiapo district in Manila as among the 33 “notorious” Internet and physical piracy “hot spots” requiring intensified anti-piracy efforts.

OIL companies implemented a hefty increase in pump prices amid soaring oil prices abroad.

NEW DELHI—India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani said Tuesday the country needed equitable growth at all levels to include millions of Indians residing in slums and villages in the mainstream of progress.

MANILA, Philippines – Once a lavish exporter of logs. Now a heavy importer of this wood product. Also, a big chunk of the country’s lumber and other forest products, on top of the imported logs, is now sourced from Asian and Pacific countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea) and…

THE PHILIPPINES’ growth potential has increased but policy and fiscal reforms are needed, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in reports released yesterday.

The Department of Health (DOH) said the rise in the number of Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cases among Filipino adolescents could become “tomorrow’s epidemic.”

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines has been cited as one of the emerging Asian economies where price pressures are building most rapidly as rising incomes in the region boost demand and as prices of imported oil and other commodities post faster rates of increase.

THE ECONOMIC IMPACT of continued unrest in the Arab world can be managed, observers said, particularly if a surge in crude prices is contained.

MANILA, Philippines – Workers at the GSIS Family Bank have put management on notice of an imminent strike on Tuesday over issues arising from the lack of a binding labor agreement with management.

PRESS RELEASE TRADE UNION CONGRESS OF THE PHILIPPINES RAFAEL E. MAPALO, National Spokesperson Mobile: 0928.504.70.52 Fax:     921.97.58; Fax:     433.22.08 Email:    secrtucp@ntucphl.org; tucp.education@gmail.com website: www.ntucphl.org TUCP to file P55 wage increase in NCR The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, the largest labor organization in the country, will file a P55-75 across-the-board wage petition…

ALBAY Gov. Joey Salceda has shown how a government should deal with a crisis involving OFWs.

THE government should help the 3,000 workers coming home from Libya find employment and other sources of income. There are concerns that the political fallout from the Taiwanese deportation row would also result in more jobless OFW returnees as Taiwan threatened to become more stringent with their hiring policies of Filipinos. But I am less…

In an effort to combat cyber crimes, the National Bureau of Investigation is recommending for the regulation in the use of laptops, SIM cards, and other devices which are being used to connect with the Internet.