MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) is now reviewing the ban on non-directed organ donation because of the rising number of patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) waiting for kidney donors.

MANILA, Philippines – Call centers will post growth again in 2011 albeit at a pace slower than the surge seen this year, an industry group said Friday.

Contact centers will add 70,000 employees in the Philippines next year, the Contact Center Association of the Philippines said Friday.

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – Negros Occidental had the most number of human rights violations in Western Visayas in the past 11 months of the year, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) reported.

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol — The military command here warned the youth from the lure of communists, as they alleged remnants of the rebel groups are trying to gain back its stronghold in the province.

The Government Service Insurance System has gained about $70 million from its investments in the global markets in nearly three years.

A ROUNDING-off error propelled two ordinary working Filipinos to the top of the taxpayers’ list last year, and way past the country’s richest tycoons who are worth billions.

THE Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) has approved higher toll rates at South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) starting January 1 next year but the operator of the expressway said that it deferred implementation until March as “goodwill” from the government.

THE controversial six pending reproductive health (RH) bills in the House of Representatives have been referred to a technical working group (TWG) for consolidation, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said.

THE call center industry expects  revenues next year to grow by up to  a fifth on the back of sustained strong demand from foreign firms that want to outsource services to the Philippines.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday that its board of governors had approved reforms that will shift more voting power to emerging-market countries like China.

I’ve been an anti-communist ever since I began writing columns and that’s with the blessings of my mentor and friend, the late Sir Max Soliven, publisher of The Philippine STAR, because he told me once that the Communist Party of the Philippines, the National Democratic Front and the New People’s Army (CPP-NDF-NPA) had more friends…

MANILA, Philippines – In a move to beat his self-imposed deadline of filling up all vacant government positions by the end of the year, President Aquino has appointed governors and city mayors belonging to the Liberal Party (LP) as heads of different Regional Development Councils (RDCs) nationwide.

A Philippines lawmaker has called on President Benigno Aquino III to make ending discrimination against GLBT Filipinos a priority for his Government.

DAVAO CITY — Software developers in this city are struggling to find replacements for experienced staff who have quit for higher-paying jobs.

RETIREMENT HAS been romanticized as a person’s reward for long faithful service to an employer, whether public or private.

Deliberations on the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill are still not among the priority agenda of the upper chamber next year, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said yesterday.

Kuwait has bared plans to increase the insurance benefit package for Filipino domestic helpers in the Middle East state, a Philippine Embassy report said yesterday.

THE latest data on overseas Filipino worker (OFW) remittances should dispel concern over a possible economic slowdown in the fourth quarter of this year.

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported that the country’s foreign portfolio investments or “hot money” hit a new record level of $4.18 billion as of end-November or almost 10 times the net inflow of $431.4 million in the same period last year as capital flows continued to flood emerging market economies…

THE Education department (DepEd) said it would have to close down schools in areas of high security risk if kidnappings should continue despite looking at redeploying principals and teachers in affected areas.

BUTUAN CITY, Philippines – Suspected New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas swooped down on a banana plantation owned by Dole Philippines in Barobo, Surigao del Sur last Tuesday morning and destroyed some 1,600 banana plants.

IN a bid to protect the public against abusive taxi drivers who either charge extra fee or refusing to accept passengers the Department of Transportation and Communications, has formally launched on Thursday its campaign to penalize erring taxi drivers.

BOCAUE, Bulacan – The P500-million domestic fireworks industry continues to thrive and withstand the impact of smuggling and competition from foreign brands that aggravated a decline in sales since 2000.

MANILA, Philippines –  The House of Representatives will closely monitor the implementation of the P22-billion conditional cash transfer (CCT) program next year

MANILA, Philippines –  Local and foreign businessmen have united to form an anti-corruption project that will receive a $1.4-million grant from Siemens AG.

MANILA, Philippines –  Nearly nine in 10 Filipinos look to 2011 with hope, buoyed by the reform agenda of President Aquino, with just one in 20 feeling apprehensive, results of a recent Pulse Asia survey showed.

ALL that gloom and rain for days at  Fontana Leisure Park in Clark, Pampanga did not dampen the enthusiasm of child representatives from 10 countries who participated at the recent first Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Children’s Forum.

Manila (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) – The Philippines is expected to hold on to its position as the world’s top call center destination as more companies from markets like the United States look to subcontract more of their requirements to help cut costs.

At least 160 Filipinas and one Indonesian were arrested for allegedly working illegally at an elite wedding reception at the World Trade Center in the United Arab Emirates.