POWER DISCOUNTS for senior citizens will finally push through as the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) promises to pass final rules by this month.

THE SUSPENSION of allowances, bonuses and incentives at state-owned firms will be extended for a month after a deadline passed last Dec. 31, a Malacañang official said.

THE GOVERNMENT strategy for the local automotive industry will focus more on exploiting the domestic market rather than encouraging exports, a senior Trade department official said.

MANILA, Philippines – The heads of foreign diplomatic missions in the Philippines and international financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) see bright prospects for the country in 2011.

MANILA, Philippines – The Government Service Insurance System, the state-owned pension fund for government employees, has urged remitting agencies to comply with the increase in contributions to the Employees Compensation Insurance Fund (ECIF).

MANILA, Philippines – The forcible uprooting of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) eggplant planted at the UP Mindanao campus has earned the ire of academics and scientists who were appalled at what they describe as an “invasion,” saying it amounts to an “assault on the quest for truth.”

MANILA, Philippines – The local stock market had a dream run last year, rampaging to new record highs with many investors convinced that the global economy is on the mend and that emerging markets in Asia hold much promise.

The signing of the 2011 National Budget in Malacañang last December 27 is a great way for President Noynoy Aquino III (P-Noy) to start 2011 on the right note. In a way, the 2011 Reform Budget is P-Noy’s way of putting his money where he promised during the 2010 presidential campaign.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) figured prominently in the headlines in 2010 due primarily to two unfortunate incidents: the bloody hostage crisis at Rizal Park last Aug. 23 and the fire tragedy in Tuguegarao City last Dec. 19.

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s population is expected to balloon to 95.8 million this year, the Commission on Population (PopCom) said. The National Statistics Office has not yet released the results of the census conducted in May 2010 but the population for the past year was estimated at 94.01 million.

MANILA, Philippines—Employers in Malta , a small country in the Mediterranean , have expressed desire to hire Filipino caregivers, seafarers, and service industry workers, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said in a news release.

QUEZON CITY — It was originally a gabfest, but three delegates from the Philippines may have had enough of the talks and are itching for something more solid action from government delegates in the annual Global Forum for Migration and Development.

MANILA, Philippines – The auto industry was supposed to receive a boost this year as the government crafted a new Comprehensive Motor Vehicle Development Plan (CMVDP). The plan was simple enough – encourage more firms to manufacture vehicles locally rather than sell completely built imported units. After endless consultations, the Arroyo administration signed the CMVDP,…

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported that the country’s net foreign portfolio investments or ‘hot money’ hit a new record level of $4.4 billion as of the second week of December as capital flows continued to flood emerging market economies including the Philippines.

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang has started winding up the operations of the 10 agencies under the Office of the President abolished for duplication of functions.   

MANILA, Philippines – The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) was an agency rocked by leadership changes that was caused by politics and the presidential polls last May.

MANILA, Philippines – The year 2010 was a rare one that saw the election of an unlikely president, Benigno Aquino III, who won a six-year term to high office in the country’s first automated polls.

MANILA, Philippines – A top Catholic cleric called yesterday for an intensified effort to rid the country of graft and corruption in 2011.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported yesterday that employment prospects abroad remained bright for construction workers and other highly skilled Filipino workers in the coming year.

MANILA, Philippines — Eighty one percent of companies inspected by the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) nationwide have complied with the labor standards for 2010.

THE MANILATIMES 2010 YEARENDER FACED with a budget deficit, President Benigno Aquino 3rd is reviving a scheme first implemented by his late mother to pursue big infrastructure projects using private-sector financing. In his first State of the Nation Address (SONA), the President highlighted the need to harmonize public and private sector initiatives to spur economic…

LOCAL share prices and the peso ended the year on a positive note, with the benchmark stock index breaching the 4,200 level in light trading ahead of the New Year holiday.

AS this year draws to a close and the next beckons in firecrackers and booze, let us look back on the momentous events of 2010 and see if our nation moved forward, never in a straight line, but hopefully advancing somehow. No doubt the biggest development, if not accomplishment, of 2010 for Filipinos is the…

WHILE nine out of 10 Filipinos are optimistic for 2011, employment opportunities in the country remain grim as shown by the 152-percent increase of overseas employment certificate in process with household service workers accounting for the majority of said applicants, lawmakers said Thursday.

2010 YEARENDER A new administration and a new set of legislators took the helm in 2010, raising hopes that the country would be able to leave the supposedly stained legacy of the immediate past leadership through reforms spelled out by President Benigno Aquino 3rd. Then President Gloria Arroyo, however, would not be denied her place…

CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga, Philippines – A worker was seriously injured in a blast that ripped through a makeshift firecracker factory in Baliuag, Bulacan Wednesday afternoon, police said.

MANILA, Philippines – The Save the Industries Act, the bill that was supposed to save the ailing garments industry of the country, failed to pass the US Congress, the Board of Investments (BOI) said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The year 2010 had been a disappointing year for the agriculture sector.

MANILA, Philippines – The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) announced that starting Jan. 15, the flagdown rate of taxicabs would be P40 from the previous P30.

Last Tuesday was the Holy Innocents Day, when King Herod ordered the killing of all the children in Bethlehem because the Magi did not return to him to inform him where the Messiah was in Bethlehem. The poor innocent little children of Bethlehem became the first Martyrs who died in the name of our Lord…