PRIETO DIAZ, Sorsogon — More and more local governments and NGOs are reforesting their coastlines with mangroves. They can learn from this Pacific town how to do it by the hundreds of hectares, both to save the earth and spur the economy. It’s a success story of environment protection leading into different livelihoods.

MANILA, Philippines – The government is fine-tuning its code of conduct for state workers, including setting guidelines for social networking. Malacañang’s announcement came after the disparaging tweets by Assistant Secretary Mai Mislang about the wine served for President Aquino’s toast with Vietnamese President Nguyen Ming Triet. Mislang had also posted her unflattering opinion of Vietnamese…

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate committee on finance has endorsed the proposed Corporate Governance Act of 2010 for approval, a measure intended to put an end to the reported abuses committed by officials of state-owned firms.

MANILA, Philippines (PNA) — An estimated two million household workers stand to benefit from the proposed Batas Kasambahay, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada said on Tuesday as he prepares to sponsor the measure this week.

Runaway overseas Filipino workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are not only growing in number, they are also getting bolder. This was the assessment of Philippine labor officials in the KSA, who are getting worried over the development.

The advancement of technology in this millennium age has introduced a lot of flourishing careers with attractive compensation for the Filipino people. The development is growing rapidly because of the emergence of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services particularly in the call center industry. The unemployment rate that used to be a top problem in the…

TOKYO, Japan—The six major Asean countries have rebounded from the global economic crisis with average expected growth of 7.3 percent this year, and six percent over the next five years, the OECD said Tuesday.

MANILA, Philippines—Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo on Tuesday called on all local government officials across the country to allow for more participation of indigenous peoples in policy-making through the appointment of IP representatives.

SAN JOSE, Saipan – Thousands of overseas Filipino workers in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) are urging US President Barack Obama to protect legal foreign workers from mass deportation after November 2011.

MANILA, Philippines – After sailing through the House of Representatives almost untouched, the country’s proposed budget of P1.645 trillion for 2011 faces possibly major changes when it reaches the next stage: the Senate.

WASHINGTON DC, United States—Migrants are continuing to send sizeable sums of money to their home countries despite the economic downturn, with 2010 remittances totaling some 325 billion dollars, a World Bank report said Monday.

Manila—The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority called on students seeking technical training to first check the schools for accreditation before enrollment.

MANILA, Philippines—The government’s key shelter agencies have committed to double production of housing units to narrow the housing gap nationwide, according to Vice President Jejomar C. Binay, who also heads the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC).

MANILA, Philippines—A “gaping disconnect” between government claims and reality on the ground is putting disaster preparedness in the Philippines on the brink of disaster, a multinational risk consultancy firm said in a recent report.

DAVAO CITY—A local migrants’ center has called the attention of authorities over what it called a big number of families abandoned by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and whose plight has been largely overlooked by government and nongovernment welfare organizations.

THE POOR may need microinsurance, but they will not buy just any product that’s presented to them. They need to clearly understand what they are paying for and what they are getting, said Craig Churchill, team leader of the International Labour Office’s (ILO) Microinsurance Innovation Facility.

G20 MEMBERS have continued to implement protectionist measures, affecting countries such as the Philippines, despite promises to keep markets open amid weak economic recovery, a London-based think tank said.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines earned a spot among the world’s 10 most-improved economies in easing trade across borders in 2009 and 2010 by improving its electronic customs systems, IFC and the World Bank announced.

The government should take prompt and decisive steps in codifying a legally binding set of standards on corporate social responsibility (CSR) tailorfit for the local mining industry, as a way to rebuild public confidence and ease strident protests against certain mining operations resulting from domestic environmental disasters such as the 1996 Marcopper toxic spill, a…

Vice President and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) chairman Jejomar Binay yesterday said key shelter agencies have committed to double the production of housing units annually to narrow the country’s current housing gap.

The proposed law effectively clipping President Aquino’s authority in granting excessive bonuses and allowances to government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCC) executives is seen to be approved by the Senate soon.

THE Philippine government has been offering fiscal incentives to investors, which have become redundant since these incentives are provided under different laws with differing provisions, Rep. Gloria Arroyo of Pampanga second district said Monday.

WASHINGTON, D.C.: The 11 displaced overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have sought shelter in Los Angeles to escape harsh working conditions in far away Mississippi in the US East Coast have denounced the inaction by Philippine labor officials on their request for assistance.

MANILA, Philippines – Local businessmen are worried that the Philippines will be left behind by its ASEAN neighbors as the government continues to drag its feet on the negotiations for a possible bilateral agreement with the European Union.

MANILA, Philippines – After a decade of fast growth, the information technology-business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry is undergoing a paradigm shift that is redefining the business model for many of the industry’s leading services providers.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association (PIRA) is advocating for major amendments to the country’s 36-year-old Insurance Code, which could not only update and improve the performance of insurance industry.

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is asking the City Council of Manila to revoke an executive order that declared total commitment and support to only natural family planning methods.

Big Banker is watching you—more closely than ever. With lenders still skittish about making new loans, credit bureaus and others are hawking services that help banks probe deeply into your financial closet. The new offerings include ways to look at your rent and utility payments, figure out your income, gauge your home’s value and even…

The controversy over the peace bonds is obscuring the bigger picture of the challenges of Philippine development and of the need for innovative ideas from both government and citizen organizations (my preferred term for civil society which I have always understood from my study of Marx and Hegel as a negative concept) to lift our…

MANILA, Philippines—The increase in minimum wages in five regions outside Metro Manila and the strong inflow of foreign capital are expected to exert upward pressure in consumer prices in the coming months, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cayetano W. Paderanga Jr. said.