DESPITE high-profile raids and publicity stints, the Philippines has fallen short of addressing violations of intellectual property rights (IPR) in the country, according to the US government. In its Special 301 Report released April 30, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) retained the Philippines on its Watch List, citing Manila’s “ineffective enforcement of…

SENATOR Manuel Roxas II maintained his lead in the vice presidential race while Senator Loren Legarda continued to lose ground to Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, the latest Manila Standard survey showed.

THE Labor Department on Friday ordered Philippine Airlines’ management to recall all the notice of terminations  it issued to an estimated 3,500 workers last week, and following a mediation hearing presided by Undersecretary for Labor Relations Rosalinda Baldoz.

Instead of a wage increase, a package of jobs and livelihood is what President Arroyo will unwrap today as the nation marks Labor Day.

On the occasion of Labor Day, Makabayan senatorial bet and Nacionalista Party guest candidate Satur Ocampo yesterday said that the next presidency should strive hard to make up for the serious neglect workers suffered under the Macapagal-Arroyo administration. He said that next presidency’s top priorities should include higher wages and benefits for laborers.

Trumpets ‘achievements’ for the sector in final Labor Day speech Painting herself as a champion of laborers while trying to appease the workers’ displeasure over her administration’s anti-labor policies, President Arroyo, in her last Labor Day speech yesterday, enumerated to various labor groups and workers in attendance at the event her “achievements” for the benefit…

Dear Fellow Communicators, As an observer of language, I came across a very instructive case study recently of how a revealing, off-the-cuff press statement of a presidential candidate, Sen. Benigno Aquino III, was fudged in translation and in paraphrase by certain media outlets that reported it. The concern of Jose Carillo’s English Forum being primarily…

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Saturday directed Labor Secretary Marianito Roque to speed up the ongoing tripartite negotiations on wage hikes as well as to immediately address the pending labor cases before the National Labor Relations Commission.

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

This is to inform the general public that the Mining in Cantilan article that came out on April 11, 2010 was prepared with the intention of documenting the then ongoing protest action in Cantilan, Surigao del Sur led by Mayor Tomasa Guardo. The protest action which was participated in by local community members opposed mining…

BETS ALL SEE OVERSEAS CONTRACT WORK AS MERE STOP-GAP MEASURE HOW do the presidential candidates propose to deal with Philippine poverty? We ask the eight leading contenders for the presidency of the Philippines to give us a brief, 500-word reply to this and related questions about jobs and job-creating investments. We provided a brief background…

ON Labor Day and a few days before Filipinos troop to the polls, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) challenged all presidential candidates to bare their plans to create badly needed new jobs and arrest mounting unemployment.

MANILA, Philippines – The Climate Change Commission (CCC) yesterday urged young Filipinos to actively involve themselves in the global fight against climate change. In the Philippines, the CCC identifies the youth as one of the sectors vulnerable to climate change since they will be the future inhabitants of the planet.

MANILA, Philippines – The Trade Union Congress Party (TUCP), the largest workers’ party in the country, and its sister organization the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) Labor Center, led government, employer and union representatives and other sectors yesterday in calling for the promotion of safety among workers, including the banning of asbestos in…

CEBU, Philippines – The call to stop mass layoffs and labor contractualization rang loud and clear in protests on Labor Day yesterday as the demand to reform the wage fixing system and abolish the wage boards were also highlighted in the protests led by the partylist Partido ng Manggagawa.

MANILA, Philippines – The Caloocan City government said it will create a master list of all its residents in order to help them find a fitting job.

They’re more than icebreakers and bonding activities – they can actually increase productivity in the workplace and boost company morale. Here’s how to make the high last.

VOTING DETAILS: Pass on these notes on election procedures for May 10 culled by Kenneth Yu from a seminar arranged by barangay captain Ralph Diaz (sorry, his barangay was not identified):

The Noynoy Aquino phenomenon – the emergence of a reluctant presidential candidate who is now poised to become the next Philippine president – has spawned another phenomenon. This phenomenon can be called SURVEY PHOBIA or the irrational fear of survey results.

Experts are calling for an infusion of about 10,000 primary care physicians into medically underserved areas over the next several years, even as medical students’ interest in primary care has waned.

MANILA, Philippines – Where have the jobseekers gone? Fewer new graduates and other jobseekers turned up in various job fairs held nationwide yesterday in commemoration of Labor Day. Labor Undersecretary Lourdes Trasmonte said a total of 270,190 local and overseas jobs were offered to Filipinos looking for new or additional employment.

MANILA, Philippines – Workers nationwide will get a much-awaited increase in their daily take-home pay after the May elections as a belated Labor Day gift, the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) said yesterday.

THE PHILIPPINES remained the world’s fourth highest recipient of remittances from nationals in 2009, even as these flows face risks from high unemployment rates in host economies, the World Bank said in a report, Migration and Development Brief, posted on its Web site last April 23.

Its’ not just the Malacañang decision to subordinate the timing of Labor Day–—a sacred date internationally observed on May 1—to holiday economics that  is the problem. Telling workers and employers to go on holiday on May 3, the Monday after, so as to encourage workers and their families to “enjoy” a longer weekend and, it…

Let me echo the call of former Chief Justice and FEU alumnus Art Panganiban for all voters to make enlightened choices in the upcoming May 2010 elections. And I cannot overemphasize the importance of the need for clean, honest and orderly elections in a democracy such as ours. The vote of the people is “sacred…

A major group under the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), the biggest workers’ organization in the country, is not participating in today’s celebration of Labor Day. But the Associated Labor Union (ALU) has announced that it is supporting the Liberal Party’s presidential candidate Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and his running mate Sen.…

MANILA, Philippines – Despite recent economic strides, the majority of the country’s population is still poor, with the ranks of  the impoverished, seemingly continuing to outpace economic gains.

CEBU, Philippines – The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines has announced its support to Liberal Party standard bearer Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Quino and his runningmate Sen. Mar Roxas.

The skirmish in the hikes in charges of Manila Electric Company (Meralco) intensified further when the operator of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) tossed accountability on the distribution firm’s independent power producers (IPPs) as the ones contributing substantially in the hike in its generation charges.

The environmental benefits of electric cars are being questioned in Germany by a surprising actor: the green movement. But those risks don’t apply in the U.S., the American electric-car lobby asserts.