MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said the reduction of the value added tax (VAT) from 12 percent to six percent would complicate tax administration.

MANILA, Philippines – Washington-based The Institute of International Finance Inc. (IIF), the world’s only global association of financial institutions, believes that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will keep its key policy rates at record lows until the middle of next year on the back of a benign inflation environment.

MANILA, Philippines – So you want to keep doing your part to save the earth, but run out of places to plant trees in, and all your incandescent bulbs are now CFBs. Here are three easy steps that require little effort, but count a lot.

WASHINGTON — World Bank president Robert Zoellick singled out for special mention the Aquino administration’s campaign to stamp out smuggling and tax evasion.

MANILA, Philippines—Health Secretary Enrique Ona is pleased with the results of the recent Pulse Asia survey showing that seven out of 10 Filipinos were in favor of using contraceptives.

Associated Labor Unions (ALU) Building and Woodworkers International (BWI) Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) 9 December 2010, Manila, Philippines CANADA, STOP EXPORTING CHRYSOTILE ASBESTOS TO ASIA! The Quebec government in Canada is preparing to give a loan guarantee of $58 million to rescue the asbestos industry and allow the opening of the new…

I would like to appeal to the bright boys at the Palace to already make a pronouncement this early on whether or not President Benigno Simeon Aquino is inclined to uphold Proclamation No. 1841 issued by his predecessor on July 21, 2009.

A retired bishop says Filipinos have distorted the whole meaning of Christmas with our emphasis on consumerism. Now we associate Christmas with Santa Claus, gifts and food on the noche buena table.

MONTREAL—Jeong-Rim Lee went to high school near a cement factory that used asbestos in its mixtures, in the central South Korean city of Daejeon. Then, a few years later, she took an apartment just a few hundred metres from the same factory.

MANILA, Philippines — A Filipino migrant rights group on Wednesday called on the Philippine government to deploy more welfare officers who could efficiently attend on various cases of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), particularly in Saudi Arabia and in other mideast countries where cases reported daily averaged from seven to 10 cases.

CEBU CITY, Cebu, Philippines — To strengthen the implementation of its integrated coastal resources management project (ICRMP), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 7, in coordination with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) 7 has cited the best practices of local government units (LGUs) in Cebu and Siquijor.

MANILA, Philippines—A total of 1.7 million Filipinos use illegal drugs, particularly the amphetamine-type stimulant “shabu” but the trend is on the decline, according to the latest narcotics report of the United Nations.

MANILA, Philippines—Despite the proliferation of motorcycles on major roads, a large number of accidents still involve cars, statistics from the Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group show.

LOS ANGELES – Dozens of Filipino hospital workers in California sued their employer Tuesday alleging they were the sole ethnic group targeted by a rule requiring them to speak only English.

DAVAO CITY — When the South Cotabato governor told media last week that only the courts could stop the provincial government from implementing an open-pit mining ban, he was virtually telling the national government the next recourse to solve the problem.

Having had a chance to teach in four education levels: elementary, secondary, college, and graduate school, I have come to appreciate the critical importance of a skills focus, over and above knowledge orientation, which, in my day, seemed to be the end-all and be-all of schooling. Orientation and values, it seems to me, are largely…

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA), the flag carrier’s ground crew union, said on Wednesday morning that a majority of its members voted to go on strike to protest the airline’s alleged union busting and individual bargaining negotiations with its members.

LOCAL DEMAND for electronics as well as for engineering products and services is expected to ride on a projected 9.1% rise in spending on information and communications technology (ICT) next year, experts said at the start of an industry conference yesterday.

THE PHILIPPINES may have surpassed India in terms of call center employees and revenues, but it has yet to take a similar lead in other segments of outsourcing, an official said yesterday.

CEBU, Philippines – There won’t be any retrenchments at the Cebu Country Club Inc., after all.

The Palace mocked the wearing of black arm bands by justices throughout the country to protest the huge cuts in the budget for the judiciary and com-pared it with the mass actions of militant college students who are complaining about the slashed allocations for state universities and colleges.

CEBU, Philippines – With the sudden increase in the number of persons with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the Department of Health (DOH) 7 is organizing a continuous information dissemination regarding the disease.

The Supreme Court (SC) majority yesterday voted to declare unconstitutional President Aquino’s Executive Order No. 1 creating a truth commission which was tasked to investigate anomalies during the Arroyo administration.

MANILA, Philippines (PNA) — Labor and Employment (DoLE) Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz on Tuesday announced workers not given their due holiday bonus can now report their employers through the DoLE’s national and regional telephone hotlines.

MANILA, Philippines – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is forecasting the Philippine economy to grow by a slower 4.6 percent in 2011, following an estimated 6.8 percent growth rate in its gross domestic product (GDP) this year.

First of two parts The protests and recrimination over the supposed cut in the budget of state colleges and universities may have been addressed by the Senate’s realignment of contraceptive funds from the Department of Health to the SCUs. The move should also help mollify two restive sectors: SCU students and educators, and Catholic Church…

Dear PAO, I worked for an IT firm. During the time I was interviewed, I was told by the Human Resources (HR) Representative that I will be hired as a probationary employee and they will hire me as a regular employee after the probationary period. So, I signed the contract and worked with this firm.…

HONG KONG (AFP) – East Asia will post slower growth next year due to a wobbly US recovery, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) warned Tuesday, adding that greater exchange rate cooperation could help safeguard the region.

MANILA, Philippines – While local carrier Philippine Airlines is dealing with a threat of strike among its ground crew members, another work stoppage looms and the Lucio Tan-led airline is also involved.

MANILA, Philippines – The local auto industry is looking at a slower growth next year after posting a robust sales growth of over 30 percent this year.