Maasin City, Southern Leyte, Dec. 23 (PIA) -– The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE ) met the members of the Sagip Batang Manggagawa Quick Action Team (SBMQAT) here, December 22 in order to re-orient them and present the issues and problems in the program implementation against child labor and child trafficking throughout the province.

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine National Police announced the strengthening of its human rights arm through the release of a human rights manual that is meant as a guide to every policemen on the field.

There is much optimism about how the vast sums they send home could help finance development but weak international protection leaves migrant workers at risk of abuse.

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THIS REFERS to Mark Dia’s letter. (“On Ferraris and use of ‘militant’,” (Inquirer, 11/22/10) The letter raises the potentially problematic appreciation by the international arena of the term “militant” when applied to various groups in the Philippines where it has quite different senses. This is pointed out in the 2010 book “Primed and Purposeful: Armed…

MANILA, Philippines—Over 1.5 million households outside Metro Manila have no access to safe, clean drinking water, according to the Department of Interior and Local Government.

MANILA, Philippines – About seven in 10 Filipinos see a “happy” Christmas this year, based on the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey results.

The satisfaction rating among Filipinos with the way democracy in the country works has risen, a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey revealed on Wednesday.

VATICAN CITY—The Vatican on Tuesday sought to clarify the pope’s controversial comments about condoms and HIV, saying he by no means suggested condom use could be condoned as a means of avoiding pregnancy.

It has been known for decades here and in the US that pork barrel funds are a major source of corruption. The going “kickback” or “tongpats” on public works projects is 30 percent. It could go up to 80 percent for ghost projects. The accepted practice is for the pork barrel sponsor to designate the…

MANILA, Philippines – Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez had her hands full in 2010, including parrying an impeachment complaint.

Campaigners are protesting against plans to re-open the world’s largest asbestos mine, the Jeffrey Mine in Quebec with the help of $58 million from the provincial government. The mine would export upwards of 6 million tonnes of chrysotile asbestos to less industrialised countries over the next 25 years.

MANILA, Philippines – Call centers began in the Philippines as plain providers of email response and managing services. Operated by a company, a call center is an extensive workspace that serves as a telemarketing venue where the products and services of a particular company are being promoted to clients by call center agents, often called…

Majority of Filipinos are hopeful of good things to come next year, a recent survey conducted by a market research firm showed. According to the results of Synovate’s Asiabus October 2010 survey, 51 percent of respondents “foresee their personal financial situation to be better” in the next 12 months, while 39 percent said they expect…

MANILA, Dec. 22 (PIA) — A study on safety standards for nuclear energy will begin next year, the Department of Energy (DoE) said yesterday.

State subsidies to non-financial government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) slightly dipped at end-November. Data from the Bureau of Treasury showed that for the first 11 months, the national government gave out a total of P16.323 billion in financial support to state-owned firms, or three percent lower than the P16.84 billion last year.

MANILA, Philippines – Globe Telecom has expanded its investment in the use of information and communications technology (ICT) for education with the creation of the Global Filipino Schools (GFS) program, a competency-building initiative to help students, teachers and school heads in select public high schools nationwide.

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Edgardo J. Angara has called on the government to use science and technology (S&T) to “engineer resilience” into the country’s agricultural systems in order to remain competitive in the face of natural calamities.

MANILA, Philippines – GCash Remit, the domestic cash pick-up service of Globe Telecom, was tapped by the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for the pilot implementation of the government’s Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program in the far-flung areas of Balabac and Taytay in Palawan, and Burdeos,…

MANILA, Philippines – Investments registered by the Board of Investments (BOI) went up by 93 percent this year to P299.39 billion from only P155.417 billion a year ago.

The government will expand the number of beneficiaries and augment its health-related infrastructure on the back of excessive reserves of the state health insurer.

MANILA, Philippines – Following the swift approval of the P1.645-trillion national budget for 2011 by Congress, the Aquino administration would adopt the policy against reenacting budgets, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said.

MANILA, Philippines – The poor and elderly nationwide can look forward to better access to health care in the coming year with the availability of eight new mobile clinics for the use of government-run hospitals.

With the economy expected to slow and a million new workers joining the labor force next year, the job prospect for the new, young workers do not appear rosy. The labor market is facing another tough year. It would have to create a million new jobs just to be where it is right now —…

LISTED Chemrez Technologies, Inc. and Dole Asia Ltd. have expressed interest in a newly developed organic control for crown rot, a disease found in bananas.

MANILA – President Benigno Aquino unveiled on Tuesday the Philippine military’s new counter-insurgency plan focusing on measures to cut poverty to defeat Maoist and Muslim rebels.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) chief on Wednesday said at least 600 municipalities all over the country have no fire trucks.

The government must present viable projects and create implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for foreign investments to attract investors in 2011, Sen. Edgardo Angara said.

THE national budget for 2011 totals P1.645 trillion but Congress actually approved only P933.5 billion. The balance of P712 billion is composed of automatic appropriations which were not included in the national expenditure program submitted by Malacañang to Congress, otherwise known as the President’s budget.

YEAREND REPORT MANILA, Philippines—Major sea accidents had been routinely followed by high-profile congressional inquiries that bore little fruit in ensuring maritime safety in the Philippines.