After over two years and several rounds of intense negotiations, the Philippines and the European Union have forged an expanded economic, political and security agreement.

The late Butil Party representative Ka Nellie Chavez did so many things in her life in a great and quiet way, mostly for the coop movement and the peasantry. But what she was proudest of was rejecting the legal ordure called the Con-Ass. On the day she refused to sign that trash of a resolution.…

MANILA, Philippines – President-elect Benigno Aquino III vowed to  prioritize the passage of the Freedom of Information Bill (FOI) once he assumes office.

MANILA, Philippines—The government service insurance system has reported an 18-percent jump in its assets in 2009 from a year ago, claiming to have accomplished this financial performance mainly through reforms in the collection of premiums from members.

MANILA, Philippines—The United States is experiencing a deep nursing shortage that is expected to further intensify in the face of the increasing need for health care primarily because of the aging American population.

APEC MINISTERS yesterday promised to hold off on imposing trade distorting measures designed to protect local economies until 2011. This comes as protectionist pressure still remains, along with high jobless rates, despite observations of a pickup in the global economy, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) trade ministers said in a joint statement released at the…

SWS poll finds 35% expect life to improve vs 9% who think otherwise LIFE IS LOOKING even rosier for Filipinos, with those expecting gains in the next 12 months far outnumbering compatriots of the opposite view, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.

Credit card transactions rose 4 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2010, helping boost consumer spending during the period, Bangko Sentral said Friday.

Two multinational companies are lending support to the campaign to stop the use of mercury in all Philippine health care facilities and institutions.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Education assured the public yesterday that classroom discussions on sex education would not be about the sex act but about the science of reproduction, physical care and hygiene, correct values and the norms of interpersonal relations to avoid premarital sex and teenage pregnancy.

The school crisis is on us once again. Everyone’s agitated about crowded classrooms; the lack of teachers; not enough textbooks. All tough problems, certainly, but not even the key ones. The more intractable problem we don’t talk about: it concerns the children who never even get to school—or who drop out before they’ve received enough…

THERE’S always energy in the air at conferences, workshops and events related to sexual reproductive health or maternal health. It must be the result of the tireless efforts of the advocates who have seen decades of opposition, but have remained unwavering in their stand on the issue.

BUSAN, South Korea: Finance ministers from the world’s biggest economies must balance efforts to shore up a fragile global recovery with the need to slash deficits when a G20 meeting gets underway later Friday.

The Department of Education (DepEd) clarified on Friday that it will not teach students about sex or intercourse per se but about the science of reproduction, physical care and hygiene, correct values and the norms of interpersonal relations to avoid pre-marital sex and teenage pregnancy.

An official of the Catholic Church has warned Filipino homosexuals not to seek employment in Saudi Arabia following the recent issuance of the Kingdom of a laws banning gay and lesbian workers in their country.

A coalition of sectoral organizations has asked apparent president-elect Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd to revisit trade agreements that had been entered into by the Philippines.

Even as he has yet to sit in his presumed-to-be new post as next President of the country, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III is already being beset by demands for him to act on issues that have borne controversy in the outgoing Arroyo administration.

Smartmatic’s counting system blamed; debugging urged At least 57 provinces as well as cities of the National Capital Region (NCR) were found to have erroneous certificates of canvass on account of these being the CoCs based on final testing and sealing (FTS) returns, not the May 10 returns.

CEBU, Philippines – The debate on the propriety of integrating sex education into the school curriculum is far from over and opposing sectors believe a thorough discussion is necessary to arrive at a reasonable resolution.

CEBU, Philippines – The Department of Education confirmed Wednesday that teachers shall be entitled to Proportional Vacation Leave (PVL) relative to their service during vacation time.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine embassy in Israel has assured that the imminent deportation of children of overseas Filipino workers in that country will be handled in the most humane way.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines has received a combined $10.9 million in grant from multilateral lenders for the replacement of chillers in a bid to reduce the application of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HCFCs) as refrigerants. These chemical substances are known to cause ozone depletion and global warming.

The Likhaan organization’s policy forum “Changing Course to Achieve the MDG5” held at a five-star hotel last week gravely noted the decline of contraceptive use among women who have more children than they want. A Guttmacher Institute study showed that the proportion of modern method users who obtain their supplies from the public sector declined,…

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is deploying 2,600 members of the Out of School Youth Toward Economic Recovery Program (OYSTER) for road repairs and clearing works to prepare Metro Manila for the rainy season.

MANILA, Philippines – With a growing number of Filipino families unable to meet basic needs, the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) is pressing for an immediate increase in the daily take home pay of workers nationwide.

Four provinces in the country have posted a zero dropout rate in the secondary level of schooling, the Department of Education yesterday bared.

MANILA, Philippines – Is it possible for Filipinos within my lifetime — I just turned 60 — to unite and raise a great President who can make us believe that ours can be a strong nation?

For better or for worse, the principal criterion for success or failure of the incoming President has been set way before his time, in the mill of public expectations and the various doctrines of developmental regimes. That criterion is poverty alleviation.

Principal economist Rana Hasan and consultant Karl Robert L. Jandoc at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) saw a dearth in the study of the linkages between trade liberalization and wage inequalities in Southeast Asian countries so they zeroed in on efforts to produce a paper entitled: “Trade Liberalization and Wage Inequality in the Philippines.”

Call centers in countries like the Philippines has provided thousands of jobs for Filipino workers. But, if a US senator has his way, the Philippines and other countries may bear the brunt of a proposed law to tax US companies who have overseas call centers.