SUCs urged to diversify sources of income MANILA, Philippines – The budget of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for 2011 has been cut by P400 million.

US-based investment bank Goldman Sachs revised its 2010 Philippine economic outlook saying the economy will grow 7.4 percent from 4.2 percent after the stronger-than-expected rebound in the first six months.

BRUSSELS, Belgium—Civil society groups that gathered in Brussels for the Asia Europe People’s Forum (AEPF) have called for the cancellation of the free trade agreements between the European Union and the developing economies, particularly those with India and South Korea.

Manila, Philippines — Newly installed Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines Christopher Thornley never responded to the request of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), the Associated Labor Unions (ALU) and the Building and Woodworkers International (BWI) for an appointment to receive the trade union statement on asbestos and make a brief response to…

The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), the country’s largest trade group, is supporting a proposal for a 12-year primary and secondary schooling for children under the K-12 program of the Aquino administration.

THE loose definition of ‘mass housing’ has been a source of government revenue hemorrhage, according to a Department of Finance (DOF) official.

COTABATO City: The fisheries experts in the country disclosed on Tuesday that the supply of tuna in Mindanao particularly in the fishing grounds where fishermen from General Santos City used to capture has reached its critical level—which needs further study on how to make the supply sustainable. Regional Director Sani Maca-balang of the Bureau of…

Filipinos have higher initial expectations of President Benigno Aquino III than of his predecessor Gloria Arroyo when she first assumed power in 2001, according to a new survey by pollster Social Weather Stations.

MANILA, Philippines – The local economy may grow by 7.1% this year, beating official government estimate, on the back of higher consumption, investment spending and a strong service sector, a bank said.

ZAMBOANGA CITY: New Zealand has blacklisted the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), adding the two organizations to its list of international terrorist groups.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will send a resident advisor to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and other short-term technical assistance missions to the Philippines in support of capacity-building for reforms and upgrades in tax administration.

My son who is working for a British multinational bank in Singapore made the observation to me the other weekend that the regional financial sector seems bullish on Indonesia. He had been going to Jakarta as part of his regional responsibilities over the past few months and he can see why people in the know…

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday that the net inflow of foreign direct investments (FDIs) plunged 42 percent in the first seven months of the year due to a lack of major capital inflows and higher equity withdrawals.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has set up an online job search system to enable prematurely terminated Filipino household helpers and other workers in Hong Kong to find new employment.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas deputy governor Juan de Zuñiga Jr., also its general counsel, sent a lengthy rejoinder to my series on credit card overcharges. I had stated that he treats as case-to-case the many Supreme Court rulings to limit interest to only one percent and penalty to another percent a month. Too, that credit…

The recent proposal of DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro to add two more years to basic education has split households. Even in a recent survey conducted at the UST, results show that students surveyed are split on the idea.

Nordic countries Iceland (1), Norway (2), Finland (3) and Sweden (4) continue to demonstrate the greatest equality between men and women according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2010.

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) has urged establishments covered by new wage orders to quickly adjust their wage structures to correct any wage distortions.

A six month ban ‘is not’ something that ILO promotes, because migrant workers may be exposed to certain unfair conditions, Tim De Meyer said. A senior specialist for the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has said that the six month ban established by Macau’s new imported labour law could be “a case of discrimination” for migrant…

MANILA, Philippines—Goldman Sachs is keeping a bullish outlook on the Philippines, expecting remittances and the overall economy to grow faster than most expectations.

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—An international aid agency estimated that at least 250,000 people in Mindanao, driven from their homes by war and disasters, are starving and would need up to $26 million in food and other forms of help.

KUALA LUMPUR—One in three cases of tuberculosis in Asia-Pacific go undiagnosed, the WHO said Tuesday, as it approved a new machine that can identify multi-drug-resistant strains in just 90 minutes.

MANILA, Philippines—Putting the right people in the country’s barangay councils would chart how basic community problems—from petty disputes among neighbors to ensuring that a village is crime- and garbage-free—would be solved.

BAGUIO CITY—Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman declared full support for efforts to carry out population programs that have put her boss, President Benigno Aquino III, into trouble with leaders of the Catholic Church.

BERLIN, Germany—Health issues facing so-called “megacities” like Tokyo, Mumbai, or New York are poised to become a huge challenge for global policy as the cities grow, experts at the World Health Summit said.

MANILA, Philippines — The city of Manila will not spend a single centavo on the distribution of contraceptives to poor families, Mayor Alfredo Lim said over the weekend in reaction to the simmering public debate on the reproductive health bill.

WASHINGTON—Too much light at night appears to lead to weight gain, according to a report released Monday, based on studies of mice that provide fresh clues on obesity.

WASHINGTON DC, United States—Poverty, conflict, and political instability caused some billion people to go hungry this year, many of them children in Africa and Asia, according to the Global Hunger Index report released Monday.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras has ordered utilities that bought government assets to fast track the rehabilitation of power plants to mitigate the worsening power crisis in the country.

THE lucrative telecommunications industry will continue to experience a rise in traffic volume in 2011, although yields will decline, as network operators offer bucket pricing and unlimited pricing schemes, the president of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) said last week.