HongKong and Shanghai Banking Corp. will look at funding major infrastructure projects in the Philippines, as the private sector now takes the lead in building tollways and power plants.

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines—A labor group in Negros Occidental is appealing to President-elect Benigno Aquino III to prod Congress to legislate an across-the-board wage hike of P150 per day for workers in the private sector.

FOCUS Ventures, Inc., the local distributor of Chinese automotive brand Chana, may invest $8 million on a Philippine assembly plant if domestic sales go up significantly, an executive told reporters yesterday.

DAVAO CITY — This city’s information and communications technology (ICT) sector is developing a program that will promote other cities in the Davao region for outsourcing investments in the next five years.

WHILE GAINS in poverty alleviation may have been achieved, a government-sponsored profile shows much still needs to be done to bridge the income gap among Filipinos. Rich families spend less of their income in basic needs.

WASHINGTON—The mixed bag of economic data released on Tuesday shows a wobbly recovery in danger of being toppled over, analysts said.

THE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) expects better results in the next Labor Force Survey (LFS) once the agriculture sector recovers from El Niño, which caused job losses in the first few months of the year.

MANILA, Philippines – President-elect Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III hopes to give every Filipino access to health care by 2013. Speaking on ANC’s “The Rundown” Wednesday night, health experts believe, if the Aquino administration uses its resources right, it can achieve this goal.

MANILA, Philippines – The 12-year education cycle proposed by President-elect Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III will cost the Philippine government an additional P100 billion spread out in 5 years, Aquino’s education adviser said Thursday.

GENEVA, Switzerland – A Philippine labor official on Thursday said some 500 Filipino seafarers have fallen victim to pirates in the past 6 years, underscoring the growing problem of sea piracy in international waters.

Sen. Edgardo Angara stressed yesterday the need to immediately amend certain provisions of the Labor Code to increase national productivity and employment.

[This paper of the FSGO will be presented this afternoon at the Institute for Solidarity in Asia’s convocation to recognize ISA’s LGU partners, San Fernando, Pampanga, and Iloilo City and hear the solemn commitment of national government agencies to carry on with the work to achieve objectives under the ISA program. The meeting is at…

The murders of two journalists triggered a fresh wave of outrage yesterday over a relentless assault on media practitioners in the country, which is now known as the second most dangerous place worldwide for the media, given the many killings of journalists.

Yesterday, I attended the press conference of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers Inc. (Campi) on the August 19 to 22 CAMPI International Motor Show (PIMS) in Manila.

Every year at this time, we are reminded about the critical state of education in the country, with news reports repeatedly showing jam-packed classrooms, many of them still in a dismal state of disrepair, the perennial lack of books, teachers, and facilities all over the country. While the Department of Education tried to put on…

CAUTIOUS optimism prevailed in the consumer sector after the government raised this year’s economic targets on hopes of brisker household spending. Philippine economic managers on Tuesday revised the country’s growth target upwards following the better-than-expected expansion in the first quarter of this year.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Labor  and Employmnent (DOLE) projected yesterday a better employment situation in the coming months. Acting Labor Secretary Romeo Lagman said the employment situation, particularly for the agricultural sector would be much better with the onset of the rainy season.

MANILA, Philippines – Corruption and human rights issues continue to be neglected by companies despite ongoing interest in United Nations-led efforts to ensure ethical corporate conduct, according to the findings of a new United Nations (UN) survey that seeks to foster responsible business practices.

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine trade with Italy practically doubled in the past 10 years former Ambassador to Italy Philippe J. Lhuillier noted that when he arrived in Italy in 1999, Philippine – Italian trade was around $330 million-in favor of Italy. The Philippines exported $129 million and imported $201 million that year.

MANILA, Philippines – The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) has revised upward its year-end sales growth target to 11 percent from 4 percent.

MANILA, Philippines – Money sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) grew by 6.6 percent to $5.86 billion in the first four months of the year from $5.49 billion a year ago, due to a steady demand for professional and skilled Filipino workers abroad.

Dear PAO, I’m working for an ESL school in Cebu City. I just tendered my resignation letter a couple of weeks ago. It’s effective three months subsequently after I handed my letter of resignation. I wanted to avail a week leave within my remaining months of tenure in this school but they disapproved my leave…

The good news is that we have had nine years of uninterrupted economic expansion. The bad news is that the unemployment rate remains the same as it was nine years before.

THE number of rich Filipinos shrank over the last 10 years mostly because of rising expenses, the National Statistical Coordination (NSCB) said on Wednesday.

The government is expected to approve tomorrow the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 that would allow the country’s senior citizens to enjoy starting July the full 20-percent discount tax-free on goods and services that they would like to avail for themselves, including medicines.

MANILA, Philippines – More than 50,000 rank-and-file government employees who are co-terminus with President Arroyo could lose their jobs after she steps down from office on June 30.

MANILA, Philippines – The party-list group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) will push for a P75-a-day legislated wake increase in the incoming 15th Congress.

GENEVA (ILO News) – 17 June 2010 – Governments, employers and workers meeting at the annual conference of the International Labour Organization (ILO) today adopted a new international labour standard on HIV and AIDS – the first international human rights instrument to focus specifically on the issue in the world of work.

The collection of Southeast Asian countries known as ASEAN has, collectively, some of the most prolific child trafficking in the world. Why are Southeast Asian children so much more vulnerable to forced prostitution, slave labor, domestic servitude, and other forms of exploitation? Possibly, because ASEAN is failing to properly address the problem.

A P22 INCREASE in Metro Manila minimum wages will take effect on July 1 after the requisite order was published yesterday by the local wage board.