After the chest-thumping and finger-pointing over the speedily approved 2011 budget dies down, it’s Question Hour. While the media, the politicians and the pundits may find much to debate over the quick passage in Congress of the P1.46-trillion proposed General Appropriations Act, including some controversial outlays and cuts, the more pragmatic may prefer to move…

We know Christmas is around the corner because there are a lot of things associated with the season that begin to manifest themselves around this time of the year such as those ubiquitous twinkling lights and lanterns. Sadly, no thanks to global warming, we haven’t been waking up to nippy mornings yet despite the fact…

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s financial system remained sound and stable amid the strong capital inflows being experienced by emerging markets including the Philippines, monetary authorities said over the weekend.

MANILA, Philippines – The Aquino administration would likely be able to cap this year’s budget gap at P325 billion, according to the latest Market Call, a joint capital market research report issued by First Metro Investment Corp., the investment arm of the Metrobank Group and the University of Asia and the Pacific.

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines –Two men were electrocuted while pruning trees inside a subdivision in Angeles City on Monday, police said.

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino children continue to live in dangerous times under the Aquino presidency, human rights activists claimed Sunday.

MANILA—Italy, the United States, Greece, Belgium, and the United Kingdom top a list of two dozen rich countries that let their most vulnerable children fall even further behind, with enormous consequences not only for the kids themselves but for the economy and society at large, said a new United Nations report.

MANILA, Philippines –  The world’s leading food companies brag about their billion dollar brands. Nestle, the world’s leading food company, has 28 brands with sales of almost $1 billion a year. Nestle brands are either No.1 or No.2 in the market: Nescafe, Maggi, Kit Kat, Milo, Nido, Nesquik, Pure Life, Nespresso, and Purina.

MANILA, Philippines –  Private think-tank Forensic Law and Policy Strategies Inc. has urged government to watch its debt levels as it enters into contracts under the so-called public private partnership (PPP) scheme.

MANILA, Philippines – Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo topped the list of Cabinet members with the biggest real estate properties worth more than P55 million. Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras came in second with P48 million followed by Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala with P46.676 million. The figures were based on the Cabinet members’ Statement of Assets…

Susana Danio, a Filipina maid from Pangasinan, recently won a legal battle in the United Kingdom over being unfairly dismissed by Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece, reports ABS-CBNNews.com. The London-born princess, heiress daughter of US duty-free billionaire Robert Miller, was ordered to pay Danio almost £7,500 (about P500,000).

NEW DELHI: The chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday the debt crisis in Europe remained serious but he tipped Ireland to recover rapidly after its weekend bailout.

FEATURE Bacteria that thrive on arsenic have been scooped from a California lake, a discovery that redefines the building blocks of life and offers new hope in the search for other organisms on Earth and beyond.

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) has approved new training regulations for at least eight courses in the fields of jewelry making, land surveying and barbering.

President Aquino issued a blanket assurance to Cabinet members against a shake-up yesterday, saying he does not plan to remove any of his officials from their respective positions.

LICAB, Nueva Ecija — Scarlet Taguinod, 41, wakes up at 4 in the morning everyday to prepare food for her family and wash their dirty clothes.

In the wake of a public opinion survey showing that nearly seven of 10 Filipinos favor the reproductive health (RH) bill, an influential Catholic priest urged the Church to “walk the talk” in fighting the measure, with “armies” of natural family planning educators in every parish.

CEBU, Philippines – The City Council is urging Congress and the Civil Service Commission to study the impact of reported practices of some government agencies and local government units in outsourcing personnel from private manpower agencies.

CEBU, Philippines – Retiring employees may now be automatically enrolled to the Lifetime Member Program without personally going to PhilHealth office.

MANILA, Philippines –  In a meeting with energy and power players and industry stakeholders, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), the largest business organization in the country, lauded AES Philippines, owner of the Masinloc power plant, for its initiative to fast track the upgrading of its power plants.

MANILA, Philippines –  The information and communications technology (ICT) industry helps government bring more jobs and opportunities to Filipinos whose lives also improve with more access to technology, President Aquino said at the formal opening of an industry-led ICT exhibition in Pasay City last Thursday.

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines—A group supporting the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has warned bishops opposing six reproductive health (RH) bills being pushed in Congress that they face imminent defeat, urging them to work and pray to win more lawmakers to their side.

MANILA, Philippines – Parañaque Mayor Florencio Bernabe has been cited by the Local Government Academy for the city’s efforts to fight and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

CEBU CITY, Philippines  – The regional office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) must seriously look into its own findings that 22 percent of 2,200 establishments it had inspected in Metro Cebu did not implement the recent adjustment in the minimum wage.

MANILA, Philippines—Claiming that working the night shift could cause cancer, an occupational health and safety NGO on Saturday scored the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) over its decision to allow pregnant women to work the late hours.

More and more people are developing some form of asthma with the worsening air pollution in Metro Manila. Even the most powerful person in this country is not exempted from this horrific situation. We are told that P-Noy’s sinusitis has gone from bad to worse not necessarily from smoking but because of air pollution. Maybe…

Philippine media, especially television, will have to account for the big Information Gap in our country. Media are the principal means for acquiring information and a look at those top rating television shows will show that more emphasis is placed on what the Filipinos want rather than on what they need to know.

VOW OF POVERTY: Having witnessed the ostentatious display of overflowing wealth among officials in the past, I was appalled by reports that many members of the Official Family of President Noynoy Aquino are poor by today’s standards.

MANILA, Philippines—The Aquino administration would make do with whatever amount Congress had allocated for its budget for responsible parenthood, Malacañang said Saturday.

MANILA, Philippines – An estimated 1.54 million people in the ASEAN region have been infected with the HIV virus as of end 2009 from 1.58 million in 2007.