by Helen Flores (The Philippine Star), 19 Oct 2020 MANILA, Philippines — Nearly half of Filipino adults find the government’s assistance to the jobless amid the COVID-19 crisis “inadequate,” according to a recent mobile phone survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

by Ben O. de Vera, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 18 Oct 2020 MANILA, Philippines — The special allowances and hazard pay of health and medical professionals in the fight against COVID-19 will not be taxed as long as the country is under a state of national emergency.

by Ben O. de Vera, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 18 Oct 2020 MANILA, Philippines — Amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the Social Security System (SSS) has again given employers and the self-employed some more time or until Dec. 1 to remit their mandatory employee contributions to the state-run pension fund.

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by Sheila Crisostomo (The Philippine Star), 18 Oct 2020 MANILA, Philippines — Two weeks after classes started under the distance learning system in public schools, an expert from the Philippine Psychiatric Association (PPA) is already seeing signs of mental stress among students and their parents.

by (Philstar.com), 17 Oct 2020 MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice released Saturday to the public the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020’s implementing rules and regulations, which seeks to further clarify provisions in the controversial law which has been criticized for being overbroad.

by Daxim L. Lucas, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 17 Oct 2020 The central bank remains upbeat on the prospects of dollar remittances from the Philippines’ estimated 10 million expatriates, including 2.2 million contract workers, despite the pandemic-induced slowdown this year.

by Ben O. de Vera, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 17 Oct 2020 The recent tax measures introduced to shore up government revenues took a hit from the pandemic-induced recession, resulting in a lower take thus far, the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) said.

by Agence France-Presse, 16 Oct 2020 Pandemic restrictions saw an unprecedented fall in greenhouse gas emissions in the first half of 2020 — larger than during the 2008 financial crisis and even World War II — experts said Wednesday.

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by Agence France-Presse, 16 Oct 2020 COPENHAGEN, Denmark — European countries have unveiled tough new measures to try to curb a surge in coronavirus infections which the World Health Organization warned Thursday is of “great concern”.

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by Roy Stephen C. Canivel, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 15 Oct 2020 MANILA, Philippines — Mining company OceanaGold Corp. has laid off nearly 500 workers on Wednesday, more than a year after the government held off on the approval of its mining contract in Luzon.

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by Philippine Daily Inquirer, 15 Oct 2020 MANILA, Philippines — With Europe seeing a rapid spike in new coronavirus cases partly due to “pandemic fatigue,” the Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday advised the public to accept that “little sacrifices” have to be made to avoid a surge in infections.

by Gabriel Pabico Lalu, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 15 Oct 2020 MANILA, Philippines — Marikina 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo has insisted that allowing traditional jeepneys to operate again would help solve the high inflation rates within the transportation sector.

by Darryl John Esguerra, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 15 Oct 2020 MANILA, Philippines — More than 254,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have been sent home amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 chair Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Wednesday night.

by Darryl John Esguerra, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 15 Oct 2020 MANILA, Philippines — Some 3.5 million workers have been displaced by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said Thursday.

by Reuters, 15 Oct 2020 LONDON — Global carbon dioxide emissions fell by 8.8% in the first six months of this year, the biggest drop for a first half-year period, due to the effects of coronavius-related restrictions, a study showed on Wednesday.

by Gabriel Pabico Lalu, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 15 Oct 2020 MANILA, Philippines — Despite 71 percent of Filipino families saying they got financial assistance from the government, a recent survey revealed that at least two-thirds claimed they received aid only once.

by Daxim L. Lucas, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 15 Oct 2020 MANILA, Philippines – The country’s dollar reserves rose to their highest level in history for the 12th consecutive month and, more importantly, breached the $100-billion threshold at the end of September due to the central bank’s currency market operations and the national government’s foreign loans.

by Catherine Talavera (The Philippine Star), 14 Oct 2020 MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Small Business Corp. (SB Corp) have rolled out a loan assistance program for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the tourism industry.

by Ma. Aurora Geotina-Garcia (The Philippine Star), 14 Oct 2020 (First of two parts) Economic recovery: Yes, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Economy recovery: Is there light at the end of the tunnel? was the theme of the second online SharePHIL Summit held last Aug. 28, following the first online summit…

by Boo Chanco (The Philippine Star), 14 Oct 2020 Shortly after we went on lockdown in mid-March, Dr. Maui Bondoc-Hermosa posted a notice that said her “online eye clinic is now up and running. I can help with eye emergencies, any eye pain/discomforts, do visual acuity tests, second opinions. Send a message to facebook.com/docmaui.eyeMD.”

by Mary Grace Padin (The Philippine Star), 14 Oct 2020 MANILA, Philippines — Congress should immediately pass two pending fiscal reforms to address the urgent needs of pandemic-hit businesses as identified by a recent World Bank survey, according to the Department of Finance (DOF).

by Lawrence Agcaoili (The Philippine Star), 14 Oct 2020 MANILA, Philippines — Multilateral lender International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the Philippines is expected to suffer the biggest blow from the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 pandemic in the region with a deeper economic recession this year despite the projected less severe global contraction.

by Ben Serrano (The Philippine Star), 14 Oct 2020 BUTUAN CITY, Philippines — Five treasure hunters were reportedly buried alive when the tunnel they were digging in Purok Casting, Barangay Bayan, Marihatag, Surigao del Sur collapsed on Monday.

by Andrew J. Masigan (The Philippine Star), 14 Oct 2020 For a country whose annual per capita income is $3,3484, the cost of living in the Philippines is just as expensive as it is in Poland and Hungary where per capita income is $15,595 and $17,463, respectively. Why is this?

by Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star, 14 Oct 2020 How much is one congressional district’s pork barrel? Almost the same cost to print 22 million schoolchildren’s weekly lessons for a year. Or to feed 18 million poor families for a day or two. Or to vaccinate Metro Manila’s 12.8 million residents against COVID-19.

by Sheila Crisostomo (The Philippine Star), 14 Oct 2020 MANILA, Philippines — Around 3.6 million Filipinos are suffering from mental disorders amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to initial results of a Department of Health (DOH) survey.