MANILA, Philippines – The European Union (EU) and the Philippine government have agreed on the final text of a partnership and cooperation agreement (PCA) between the two parties, EU Ambassador Alistair MacDonald said yesterday.

A number of business opportunities have opened recently with the passage into law of Republic Act 9856, known as the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Act of 2009, and the issuance by the Securities and Exchange Commission, pursuant to Section 22, of the implementing rules and regulations. The tax authorities have yet to issue their…

LOCAL manufacturers of small-automobile spare parts may grab the lion’s share of the business to be generated under the Asean-Australia-New Zealand Free-Trade Area (AANZFTA).

SYDNEY, Australia—Weather-related catastrophes brought about by climate change are increasing, the top UN humanitarian official said Sunday as he warned of the possibility of “mega-disasters.”

MANILA, Philippines — A Filipino woman leading an Asian migrants group called on the International Labor Organization to pressure governments, as well as workers and employers group to work for a convention setting international standards for domestic helpers.

MANILA, Philippines—Filipinos in Portugal will soon be able to avail themselves of the Portuguese social security benefits in the Philippines, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

THE Philippines rose to 39th place—from its previous ranking of 43rd­—in the 2010 World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) of the Switzerland-based IMD World Competitiveness Center (WCC).

The Philippines ranks 39th out of 58 economies in the IMD’s World Competitiveness Scoreboard. [IMD is the International Institute for Management Development.—Ed]

Sen. Edgardo Angara proposed yesterday to amend the provision of Articles 27 and 88 of the Revised Penal Code which mandates imprisonment or house arrest of one to 30 days for minor offenders.

The honorable congressmen of the House of Representatives needed no more than two minutes to ratify a constitutionally mandated and long overdue bill which people have been awaiting for more than 14 years and they blew it big time.

Domestic truck assemblers have asked the government to delay for three years the tariff reduction on certain trucks and buses, as provided for under Manila’s commitment to the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).

WEAK US jobs data and fresh fears that Europe’s debt crisis is spreading across the continent pulled down the peso and Philippine share prices on Monday. At the Philippine Dealing System, the peso shed more than 50 centavos to close at 46.835 to the US dollar from last Friday’s 46.30 finish.

CANDON CITY, Ilocos Sur: Lawmakers from Northern Luzon are calling the new administrative order issued by the Department of Health (DOH) a “violation of the law.”

HO CHI MINH CITY: Southeast Asia is still years away from developing an innovative high-tech sector, industry players said Monday.

THE Commission on Higher Education said on Monday that the approved tuition hike of 339 higher learning institutions is “irreversible” despite threats of protests from parents and students.

MANILA, Philippines – The Wage Board has approved a P22 increase in the daily minimum wage for workers in the National Capital Region.

Despite the high cost of power generation, customers of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will see a reduction in their June electricity bills because of a decrease in transmission and system loss charges.

MANILA, Philippines – Several groups on Tuesday decried the decision of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board-National Capital Region to grant a P22 increase to the minimum wage of workers in Metro Manila, more than 2 years after the last wage order was issued.

MANILA, Philippines – Filipinos are tapping more loans to purchase household appliances as well as furniture and fixtures or to pay taxes as well as hospital and educational bills as the country’s economic output zoomed to its fastest level in almost three years.

MANILA, Philippines – President-apparent Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III must prove his worth by resolving the plight of Filipino migrant workers under the previous administration, an advocacy group said on Tuesday.

A TV campaign ad of the presidential candidate shows him leading a flock of people – actually mostly showbiz personalities – all bearing torches as they march up a hill. The scene is reminiscent of the biblical prophet Moses who parted the Red Sea with his cane allowing the Hebrew people to cross away from…

The Philippines was listed among the world’s most disorderly countries landing at the bottom 20 percent or at 130th of 149 countries ranked in the annual Global Peace Index (GPI) of the British-based Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).

To clear his office of a backlog of cases and petitions before he bows out of service on June 30, Justice Secretary Alberto Agra says that he has tapped 25 more lawyers to help him resolve the motions for review involving more than 700 pending cases.

Eating and digesting food are major functions of the human body. We eat to obtain energy to do our work. Our stomach and bowels need to properly digest and absorb the nutrients we eat. Here are 14 stomach-friendly tips to help your digestion:

DAVAO CITY — Mindanao’s situation appears to be improving with recent developments providing respite to alarming issues that have emerged in recent months. Foremost of these are security and power supply deficiency.

BUSINESSES should get behind the climate change issue, as measures to cut carbon emissions can be profitable too, former United States Vice-President Albert Arnold “Al” Gore, Jr. said in a forum in Manila yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The decade that opened the new millennium may be remembered as the decade for a sector whose acronym —OFW (for overseas Filipino workers) – is a Southeast Asian country’s trump card, or flagship, for economic development.

THE Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on Tuesday led labor in expressing deep disappointment over how “little” the approved wage hike of P22 for Metro Manila is.

MANILA, Philippines – Public school teachers urged the Department of Education (DepEd) yesterday to actively enforce their “no fee collection” policy and avoid confusion during the ongoing enrolment period.

MANILA, Philippines – Three of every 10 registered voters expect their lives to improve in the next 12 months, results of a recent survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.