SOLANO, Nueva Vizcaya , Philippines  – A prominent human rights lawyer here was shot dead by still unknown suspects who waylaid him in front of this town’s municipal trial court yesterday morning.

MANILA, Philippines – President Arroyo’s former professor in economics at the University of the Philippines has given her a grade of 1.0 for her poverty-reduction programs and 1.5 for her overall performance in steering the economy.

TACLOBAN — The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) central office has stepped in and assumed jurisdiction over the labor row at the Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corp. (PASAR), averting a strike at the only copper smelting and refining factory in the country.

ENVIRONMENTAL group Greenpeace yesterday called anew for an “energy revolution,” urging the Philippines and the rest of Asia to take serious steps in promoting renewable energy as doing so would boost the region’s economy and create jobs.

THE INCOMING government should initiate talks for a free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union or else risk being left behind by Southeast Asian neighbors which are negotiating similar pacts, a private think tank yesterday said.

MANILA, Philippines – This year, the country’s population growth rate has been pegged at 1.9 percent. The government needs to bring it down further to 1.3-1.4 percent for the population to stabilize, said Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral on Monday.

MANILA, Philippines – Some 17.3 million or 28 percent of Filipinos 15 years and older are smokers, according to the National Statistics Office.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Justice (DoJ) ordered all city and provincial prosecutors to follow provisions of Republic Act No. 9406 or An Act Reorganizing and Strengthening the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), which exempts its clients from the payment of docket and other fees.

Faye Ferrer talks about the day she went to an outlet of the largest and most popular drug store in the country to find out whether the staff would sell her a mercury-based thermometer. Administrative Order 21 of the Department of Health, issued in July 2008, calls for the phaseout of all mercury-containing devices by…

New voters will have a chance to register with the Commission on Elections from July 1 to 31.

PRESIDENT-ELECT Benigno Aquino III on Sunday vowed to “ascertain the facts” and review the Labor Department’s order approving the planned outsourcing of some 2,600 jobs of the money-losing Philippine Airlines, the first major labor case to test the incoming administration.

CEBU, Philippines – A libel case was filed before the Regional Trial Court against two labor union leaders who allegedly made defamatory remarks last year against the late Luis Alfonso Y. Aboitiz.

THE Arroyo administration remains hopeful that the incoming administration would consider using the controversial Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), subject to studies that would render it safe for operation.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY — The tuna industry is asking the national government to work out bilateral fishing access agreements with other tuna-rich countries since the closure of portions of the Pacific Ocean for six months now has slowed down their production.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Northern Mindanao employers and labor leaders have remained firm in their positions at the final consultation of the regional wage board on Friday.

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATE) – The former legal  officer of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines on Monday sued the Department of Education for incorporating sex education in the curriculum of elementary and high school students.

MANILA, Philippines—For many Koreans, Chinese and Iranians, going to school in the Philippines is cool, especially those who are eager to learn how to speak English.

The debate over sex education in public schools is getting sillier and sillier with every passing day. I suspect that much of the conflict has to do with the failure of both sides to come up with a common frame of reference.

AN important indicator of quality service is how employees relate to their customers. Yet it is not easy dealing with customers’ demands and often service workers need to exert extra effort in order to control their emotions and display appropriate facial expressions. The effort required is what is called “emotional labor.” Emotional labor is typically…

MANILA, Philippines—About 1,000 workers of media giant ABS-CBN decried the dismissal of their contract following their refusal to accept the company’s terms for regularization.

STATE-OWNED National Power Corp. (Napocor) is seeking higher rates to recoup deferred foreign exchange and fuel costs. In separate petitions jointly filed before the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), Napocor asked the regulator to allow it to recover from its customers a total of P8.8 billion in fuel and contracted independent power producer costs, and P8.5…

Legislators of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) lambasted the planned pilot testing in the region’s schools of the sex education module of the Department of Education (DepEd), which they deemed as a “unilateral imposition on the people of the Muslim autonomous region.” Officials and members of the ARMM’s Regional Legislative Assembly (RLA) said…

The controversial free trade pact between the Philippines and Japan is currently being reviewed by the World Trade Organization (WTO) to ensure the agreement’s transparency, the Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday said.

MANILA, Philippines – The vast tracts of sugar plantations in the so-called sugar capital of the country might not escape the harsh impact of the escalating climate change.

MANILA, Philippines – Monetary authorities see a slight uptick in inflation over the next few months in light of the wage increase approved recently by the regional wage board as well as higher commodity prices but will still be within the target range set by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

MANILA, Philippines – Lack of jobs and extreme poverty are the two biggest problems the incoming government will have to solve.

MANILA, Philippines – Total resources of banks operating in the Philippines grew by 9.4 percent in the first quarter of the year as the country’s banking industry survived the global financial crisis and continued to remain resilient despite the debt crisis in Europe, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported over the weekend.

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has agreed to waive the fees imposed on banks that use the Philippine Payments and Settlements System (Philpass) remit system as part of efforts to reduce the cost of sending money by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

The paramount importance of education can never be overlooked by anyone who holds close to his heart the welfare of our people and the future of our country.

MANILA, Philippines – A senior military official proposed yesterday a political settlement to end the decades-old communist insurgency in the country through the signing of a peace agreement to give rebels a graceful exit from the lingering conflict.