A new International Labor Organization (ILO) book launched on Wednesday in Geneva and Manila suggested that the multibillion-dollar business process industry (BPO), generally call centers, should now be open to listening workers’ “collective voice” and engage “social dialogue” to improve working conditions in their “high-strain” workplaces.

Dagupan City (21 July) — The Department of Labor and Employment-Regional Office 1 is set to implement an intensive inspection strategy program called Project Labor Enforcement and Action Program (Project LEAP) starting August this year.

June 30 was a total high for me. Although I watched the inaugural rites only on television, I was in awe and proud to be a Filipino. And hopeful that finally righteousness will reign in our country. I know in my heart that integrity, courage and loyalty to God and country are the criteria in…

MANILA, Philippines—The Supreme Court recently affirmed its 2007 ruling that sugar plantations are covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, or Republic Act No. 6657.

Over 20% in the last three quarters — SWS HUNGER CONTINUES to haunt many Filipino families, with the Social Weather Stations’ (SWS) overall measure barely improving and more claiming to have frequently lacked anything to eat.

VIENNA – Fewer than 10% of injecting drug users (IDUs) get practical help to prevent them from spreading HIV to others, according to research presented at the world AIDS conference on Tuesday.

BEIJING — That warm glow and soft purring emanating from South Korea was the International Monetary Fund (IMF) trying, yet again, to put the Asian financial crisis behind it.

Despite the effort by the country’s call center companies to alter the outsourcing industry, turnover rate in the country’s call center has gotten so worst that it hits 60 to 80 percent, according to the Call Center Association Philippines (CCAP).

The EcoWaste Coalition, a waste and pollution watchdog, held a mock wake called “Kaluksa” in front of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Quezon City recently following the death on June 24 of a one-year-old baby girl who mistakenly drank silver cleaner in Paco, Manila.

A car nearly rammed into the side of ours as we were driving home along NLEX after a weekend sortie. The other car had been abruptly crossing from the rightmost lane to the leftmost where we were, rudely cutting other motorists, and didn’t slow down until we honked the horn at him. He would’ve hit…

In 2008 Winston Garcia caused the filing of libel charges against several newspapermen, including this columnist, who had echoed questions raised by public school teachers against him.

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has upgraded its economic forecast for developing Asia to 7.9 percent from the previous 7.5 percent after first-quarter data showed broad-based growth in the region.

MANILA, Philippines – Monetary authorities believe that there is no compelling need to tweak its key policy rates due to benign inflation outlook which prompted the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to slash this year and next year’s inflation forecasts.

MANILA, Philippines – The aggregate net earnings of listed firms in the first quarter this year surged 113.9 percent on improved performances across all sectors, data released by the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) showed.

MANILA, Philippines – The mining industry accused yesterday the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) as being against the development of the country’s God-given natural resources after the prelates asked President Aquino to put an end to large-scale mining.

MANILA, Philippines – The Climate Change Commission (CCC) is set to forge an agreement with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to put in place aggressive adaptation measures to protect communities from strong typhoons this rainy season.

MANILA, Philippines – He did it before; can he do it again? With his appointment as Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) secretary, corporate executive Jose “Ping” de Jesus has been pulled back to government service with a tough task: to perform once again the miracle of cleaning up a huge bureaucracy the way he…

MANILA, Philippines – Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson yesterday blamed administrators of the Angat dam in Bulacan for the water crisis in the concession area of Maynilad Water in the western sector of Metro Manila.

The government plans to strengthen the sugar industry by increasing output within the next five years in preparation for the zero tariff regime in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations by 2015.

Honorary Lithuanian consul Rafael Evangelista was jolted from his Subic base reverie and had to fire off an e-mail to announce that he was very much alive, thank you, contrary to an item here on Monday.

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday said he will uncover more “landmines” left by the previous administration and present a true picture of the government’s financial status during his first State- of-the-Nation Address next week.

VIENNA—Nowhere in the world is the HIV virus spreading faster than in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where more than 80 percent of those infected are under 30 years old, UNICEF said Monday.

The Philippine economy will grow at a faster pace of 4.5 percent next year, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday, revising its earlier forecast of 4 percent in terms of the gross national product for 2011.

MANILA, Philippines – The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), is urging President Benigno Aquino III to intervene in the Philippine Airlines (PAL) labor dispute.

HEALTH Secretary Enrique Ona on Monday said his department would push for the passage of the reproductive health bill, setting the stage for a confrontation between the Aquino administration and the Catholic Church.

PARIS – The first six months of 2010 brought a string of warmest-ever global temperatures, but connecting these dots to long-term climate change patterns remains frustratingly difficult, experts say.

The framers of our Constitution and those who conceived the party-list system in our country had the best intention to guarantee that only those “truly belonging to marginalized and underrepresented sectors, such as labor, peasants, fisherfolk, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, elderly, handicapped, women, youth, veterans, overseas workers and professionals” represent these sectors.

THE PALACE yesterday announced a slew of appointments to key agencies and offices as the Aquino administration entered its third week in office.

MANILA, Philippines—Three more party-list groups were proclaimed winners in the May 10 polls by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Monday but their first nominees still can’t take their seats when Congress opens on Monday.

SUPPORTING the access of entrepreneurs to credit may help a city become more competitive, according to a study by the Asian Institute of Management Policy Center.