MANILA, Philippines—Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz on Wednesday said that “outsourcing is already with us,” defending her decision to allow Philippine Airlines (PAL) to spin off three noncore services that will result in the layoff of 2,600 workers.

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines—An official of a sugar millers’ group said the prospects of the country’s ethanol industry remained dim as sugar planters preferred to convert their crop to sugar, which provides them higher income.

The Senate appears inclined to put the Reproductive Health (RH) bill on the back burner until heated debates on it boil over as leaders of the chamber said yesterday the bill is not among the priority measures in the Senate.

Child abuse in this country is now a problem staring us in the face. From child labor, to violence against children, to sexual abuse, trafficking, neglect and exploitation, we have them in spades. What is happening and why is it happening and how are we going to solve it involves a plethora of factors that…

Will students now plagiarize big-time given Vinuya? But, they do not work in an-SC-pressure-cooker-type environment and should be taught charity, compassion, balance and fairness, in an uncertain, imperfect world—of fallible beings, where malice and intent should not be dismissed as irrelevant. We await UP’s explanation as to how it could make ex-Justice Vic Mendoza appear…

FOR a man who once served as Health secretary in the Arroyo administration, Francisco Duque 3rd asserted on Thursday that he is following the “daang matuwid [straight path]” of President Bengino Aquino 3rd in his current position as chairman of the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

The website of Bulletin carried a picture of a man protesting the SLEX rate and he carried a sign that read: SLEX Dapat Serbisyo Hindi Negosyo. My reaction was simply, ano siya… sinuswerte?

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Agriculture (DA) plans to revitalize the local prawn industry as Japanese traders expressed renewed interest to source prawns from the Philippines.

MANILA, Philippines – Laboratory tests show that 69 percent of household enamel paints sold locally exceed the standard for lead levels in paint set by the United States, the group EcoWaste Coalition said yesterday.

YOKOHAMA – The Japanese government has sent a delegation to the Philippines to help Filipinos find jobs here as nurses and caregivers.

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – Here’s good news for workers in Central Luzon. The Central Luzon Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board (RTWPB3) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) here announced on Wednesday that the wage board has approved an increase of P24 in the daily minimum wage of workers in the…

BAGUIO CITY — Daily wage earners in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) got an early Christmas present after the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) here approved Thursday a P12 increase in their daily wage effective Jan. 1, 2011.

Manila, Philippines – “Galvanized iron flies and can injure or kill in accident,” said the chrysotile industry. “That’s like winning in lotto although the probability of being hit by a lightning is higher,” retorted the unions.

WHEN the Supreme Court announced in 2008 the rules on the writ of habeas data, many lawyers expressed skepticism about the value of another addition to the country’s already overloaded court procedures.

Cite ‘clear danger to labor rights’ MANILA, Philippines—Saying there was a “clear and present danger to labor rights,” the country’s biggest labor groups have set aside their differences to ask President Benigno Aquino III to reverse the labor department’s ruling allowing the retrenchment of 2,600 workers of Philippine Airlines (PAL).

STRONG GOVERNANCE and sustained vigilance against corruption are vital if countries in Asia-Pacific are to spread benefits of economic progress to their citizens, Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Haruhiko Kuroda said yesterday.

FIVE ASIAN cities, including Manila, have obtained “good” clean air assessment in a pilot test of the Clean Air Scorecard developed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia), a statement said Tuesday.

THE country’s merchandise exports posted an all-time high with a growth of 46.1 percent in September 2010, according to the preliminary results of the Merchandise Export Performance released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on Wednesday.

EMPLOYMENT in various economies, including the Philippines, recovered unevenly across sectors in the first half, and is expected to continue doing so till yearend, the Geneva-based International Labour Organization (ILO) said in a report released yesterday.

Yokohama — Pacific Rim leaders meeting in Japan this weekend will pledge not to introduce new trade and investment barriers until 2013, according to a draft Apec statement.

DESPERATE PALACE GETS CLINTON TO ENDORSE DOLEOUTS President Aquino and his allies in the Senate may be in for a big disappointment as opposition from senators swelled yesterday on the huge P21 billion funding of the doleout conditional cash transfer (CCT) program despite a desperate Palace bid of having visiting former US President Bill Clinton…

Sen. Joker Arroyo yesterday twitted President Aquino for defying the previous administration’s “holiday economics” style. If the executive department doesn’t want to follow, they should move to repeal the law, he said.

A coalition based in the United States and engaged in protection of intellectual property has tagged several areas in the Philippines as “notorious” markets for “pirates.” In its comment submitted to the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) for the 2010 Special 301 Out of Cycle Review of Notorious Markets, the International Intellectual Property…

During the past week, I was privileged to interview three of the most fascinating and powerful tycoons in the Philippines—Roberto V. Ongpin, the CEO of Alphaland, PhilWeb, ISM and Atok Big Wedge Mining; Ramon S. Ang, the president of San Miguel Corp. and CEO of Petron Corp., and Manuel V. Pangilinan, the chair of PLDT,…

DESPITE resources provided by the government in srecent years, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said the deteriorating quality of faculty members in the country’s college and university are still among the factors affecting the quality of tertiary education.

Overfishing in Southeast Asian seas has left garoupas and sea bass in dire straits, searching for mates on denuded seabeds, according to experts alarmed by declining catches. Marine scientists and fishermen say that popular fish species—especially the large and valuable ones—have been caught indiscriminately, causing numbers to plunge dramatically.

WASHINGTON, D.C.: The 11 displaced overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) now stranded in Los Angeles on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) vehemently denied receiving any help from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) based in Washington, D.C. The workers, who are believed to be victims of human traffickers, said that the only assistance they have received since…

CEBU, Philippines – VECO Employees Union-Associated Labor Unions-Trade Congress of the Philip-pines (VECEU-ALU-TUCP) president Casmero Mahilum said that during mediation, the management remained steadfast in its stand not to reinstate him from service.

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s exports continued to surge, posting a double-digit growth of 46.1 percent to $5.314 billion in September – the highest in almost 30 years – as global recovery boosts demand for locally-made electronic products, the National Statistics Office (NSO) reported yesterday.

(Conclusion of series on P-Noy’s K-12 Educational Plan) Since President Noynoy Aquino decided to work out the K-12 educational mandate, major business conglomerates have expressed their strong support to help implement it. The most recent is the Aboitiz Foundation who signed a memo of agreement with Education Secretary Armin Luistro. Executives of the country’s top…