MANILA, Philippines – The anticipated implementation of open access in the electric power industry will be realized by the third quarter of 2011, a top energy official said.

Manila (4 November) — The Department of Labor and Employment and its tripartite partners in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry has agreed on the creation of a voluntary code of industry best practices which can best address the difficulties that workers and employees in this booming industry face.

MANILA, Philippines—Where will P1 million get you if you don’t have a job? The ground crew union of Philippine Airlines (PAL) Thursday said it was fighting for job security and not for a higher separation pay, in response to the PAL management announcement that retrenched employees would be getting almost P1 million in separation benefits.

THE LABOR department has vowed to reinforce centers for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) by deploying more employees abroad. This was one of the policy pronouncements in a document prepared by the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) for President Benigno S. C. Aquino III’s report on his first 100 days in office.

Support for regional recovery needed — ADB ASIAN policymakers should come up with policies that support the region’s economic recovery, and make governments more responsive and resilient to future crises, Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Haruhiko Kuroda said yesterday.

DOING business remains tough in the Philippines and easier in its Asian neighbors Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, the latest report by World Bank (WB) subsidiary International Finance Corp.  (IFC) revealed.

THE PHILIPPINES kept its spot in the bottom 10 of the World Economic Forum’s ranking of the world’s leading financial systems and capital markets for 2010.

THE GOVERNMENT was advised yesterday to further simplify business registration and tax payment processes to arrest the decline in the country’s competitiveness ranking recorded at the end of the previous administration.

The military yesterday claimed to have uncovered another purging campaign by the communist New People’s Army (NPA), targeting former rebels in the Visayas region, as revealed by captured documents and communist leaders in Negros areas.

CEBU, Philippines – The management of Visayan Electric Company assured that service will continue as before and that their customers will not be affected by the “unfortunate and irresponsible statements and actions” of the ALU and 156 “misguided union team members who have chosen a path of utmost disregard for the public they were hired…

CEBU, Philippines – About 500 business establishments in the Metro Cebu have been found violating the minimum wage law.

STATE-RUN Social Security SSS (SSS) said members affected by Typhoon Juan can avail of the pension fund’s salary and house repair loan programs. “We have a huge delinquency in short-term loans. But those affected by the recent typhoon can still avail of salary and house repair loans,” Emilio de Quiros Jr., SSS president, said in…

MANILA, Philippines – Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s biggest power distributor, is looking at nuclear energy as a possible power source over the long term in line with the company’s bid to return to po-wer generation, its top executive said yesterday.

SINGAPORE – The Philippines is taking on the challenge of leading the development of renewable energy (RE) in the region, an energy official said.

PHILIPPINE share prices set a new all-time high for the third consecutive day in anticipation of better-than-expected corporate earnings. At the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), the local composite index rose 15.44 points, or 0.35 percent to 4,397.3, just less than three points shy of the 4,400 mark. The broader all-shares index added 17.13 points, or…

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) on Thursday warned higher education institutions (HEIs) against raising their tuition, saying that there is a process to increase tuition that includes consultation with parents and students. Lawyer Julito Vitriolo, CHED executive director, made the warning after students of several private colleges and universities complained to them of tuition…

Do we Filipinos care about our kind and ourselves? Mull over these statistics, and form your own conclusion:

MANILA, Philippines – The Child Protection Unit-Philippines yesterday expressed concern over the high incidence of incest cases in the country.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines’ disaster preparedness and management measures remain deficient despite claims that the country has learned its lesson from previous typhoons, a multinational risk consultancy firm said.

Economists believe that the country’s gross domestic product may continue to accelerate at a surprising growth as inflation remains slow. In its quarterly report, “Philippines: Back to Normal,” New York-based think tank Global Source Partners projected that the country’s GDP may rise to 6.8 percent from its previous forecast of 6 percent.

There is an urban legend about a known society figure who had more than 10 children but remained as beautiful as a young girl even when she was already in her late 30s and well into her early 40s. The society figure’s beauty secret was supposedly simple: She never breastfeed any of her children, believing…

PHILIPPINE Airlines on Wednesday assured the 2,600 employees to be laid off in its outsourcing plan that they will receive at least P1 million each in separation benefits and free plane tickets for their families on any domestic or foreign destination.

MANILA, Philippines – The country slipped further in the global ranking of economies on the “ease of doing business” despite recent efforts to simplify procedures for acquiring permits.

A WIDE array of incentives for both local and foreign companies promoting green technology has been proposed in the House of Representatives. Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara of the Lone District of Aurora pitched for such measure on Tuesday, saying that the green technology in various fields—such as power generation, recycling, water purification, air purification, sewage…

A P10-million allocation for the compensation of persons wrongfully jailed has been proposed in the House of Representatives. Rep. Al Francis Bichara of the Second District of Albay made the proposal under House Bill 1138 which provides an indemnification of P60,000 a year of detention to persons detained and were acquitted or found innocent by…

FRESH from a favorable government ruling on its planned retrenchment, Philippine Airlines (PAL) on Wednesday said it would tap state-owned banks to finance the multibillion-peso severance package of close to 2,600 terminated rank-and-file workers. In a briefing, Jaime Bautista, PAL president and chief operating officer, told reporters that the company’s planned spin-off of in-flight catering,…

CEBU, Philippines – The members of the labor union of the Visayan Electric Company (VECO) voted yes to a strike last night. Majority of the 239 members of the Visayan Electric Company Employees Union – Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (VECEU-ALU-TUCP ) favor the staging of strike during the vote held outside…

The decision of the Federal Reserve to stimulate the US economy would mean higher capital flows into emerging market economies including the Philippines, monetary authorities said Thursday.

HERE is good news. The 3rd Quarter 2010 Social Weather Survey (SWS), conducted from September 24to 27, found that 38 percent of Filipino adults expect their personal quality of life to improve in the next 12 months. SWS calls these segment of the population the “Optimists.”

The labor code provides that regular employees cannot be dismissed without cause and due process. The stability of tenure of personnel is one of the 14 principles of management contributed by Henri Fayol. According to Fayol, employees work better when they are assured of job security and career progress. All their efforts and energies are…