MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang reiterated yesterday that it would not stop the condom distribution program of the Department of Health (DOH), saying it is legal and consistent with public policy.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine National Police (PNP) yesterday admitted that there are human rights abuses in the organization but has assured the public that it is not tolerating such abuses and is now in the process of cleansing its ranks.

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) was asked yesterday to investigate six party-list groups for alleged links to President Arroyo.

MANILA, Philippines – An election watchdog group on Monday began its formal battle against purportedly bogus party-list groups by filing a complaint before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) against six groups it said were government fronts and were actually headed by administration figures.

RP’s 10 biggest banks post combined profits of P50b The 10 largest banks in the Philippines posted a combined net income of close to P50 billion last year amid the recovery of the global economy in the fourth quarter.

THE Export Development Council (EDC) will recommend the removal of the mandatory export requirement so that micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) could also avail of perks granted to businesses that ship their products abroad.

What should electricity consumers believe of the brownouts, yellow and red alerts and invocation of emergency powers supposedly to address the power crisis?

MANILA, Philippines – Awash with dollars from $18 billion in overseas Filipino workers’ (OFW) remittances a year, the Philippine economy is now afflicted with the Dutch Disease, a malady that sees the decline of local industries, fuels an overvalued peso, makes exports costly and imports cheap and results in jobless growth.

MANILA, Philippines – The Board of Investments (BOI) is proposing to include the vertical mass housing component in the list of investments that will receive tax breaks from the government to spur the construction of more tenement style, low cost medium rise mass housing projects in Metro Manila.

THE government is using $8 million from the $19-million Global Fund grant to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria to buy condoms from the United Nations, Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral said Sunday.

The term of Reynato Puno as Chief Justice of the Republic of the Philippines is coming to a close. Sill, true to his vision of expanding and upgrading the Filipino people’s access to justice, he led another summit on Friday, March 12—this time on family courts. Why a summit on family courts, one might ask.…

I have lately been asking fellow economists and other friends what they think to be the three most critical impediments to achieving high and inclusive (broadly beneficial) economic growth in the Philippines. The runaway winner in my little survey has been the new big, bad G word (no, not globalization; that was the old one):…

ROME, Italy – The “Patronato” or agencies helping migrants in Italy regarding immigration laws are busy informing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) about “Direct Hiring 2010” or “Milleproroghe”.

One of the world’s largest studies of the contraceptive pill has found that women who have taken it can expect longer lives and are less likely to die from any cause, including cancer and heart disease.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Only 16% of the country’s total labor force will benefit from any legislated wage increases, Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr., chairman of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), claimed on Thursday.

MANILA, Philippines – Wealthy Filipinos spend more than rich Singapore and Hong Kong residents do, especially every month on groceries, travel and utilities payment, a survey by payments technology firm Visa International Inc. revealed.

MANILA, Philippines – The World Bank on Monday raised its 2010 economic growth forecast for the Philippines to 3.5% from 3.1% due to a recovering global economy and increased private consumption and public spending.

MANILA, Philippines—Chemical manufacturer CAWC Inc. has shut down its manufacturing plant in Pasig City after a fire hit the facility on Thursday, leaving two workers injured.

Berlin, Germany: The gathering in Berlin this week is for child protection experts and defenders of abused and sexually exploited children. I am here to represent the dedicated Filipinos and all others who have worked to protect children and bring their abusers to justice. The meeting, organized by ECPAT Germany has brought together experienced people…

SINGAPORE: Construction workers from Bangladesh, hotel staff from the Philippines, waitresses from China, shipyard welders from Myanmar, technology professionals from India—Singapore has them all.

Lakas-Kampi CMD presidential bet Gilbert Teodoro has presented ways that would allow mining operation to continue and help provide communities with livelihood without hurting the environment.

DAVAO CITY: Communist insurgents killed a gold mine worker and abducted his two brothers in a raid on a village in the southern Filipino province of Compostela Valley, security officials said on Sunday.

Dear PAO, I am graduating from college this March 2010 and I intend to work immediately after graduation. Our university sponsored a job week program and my classmates and I were able to submit our employment applications to prospective employers. I came across a list of requirements of one of the companies and it states…

Criminals, beware. It is not bad enough to be imprisoned for doing a crime since prisoners also have to endure the sickening situation of prison and detention centers in the Philippines, a US report said over the weekend. The US State Department 2009 Country Report on Human Rights Practices on the Philippines released Thursday (Friday…

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MANILA, Philippines – Two months before he leaves the Supreme Court (SC), Chief Justice Reynato Puno batted for further development of family courts that handle cases involving women and children.

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna, Philippines — Still a biotechnology “mega-country”. The Philippines planted genetically modified (GM) corn in 450,00 hectares in 2009, sustaining its ranking in the league of the world’s biotech “mega-countries”.

My articles on artificial contraceptives never fail to elicit controversies. Sometimes there are even “violent” reactions that have nothing to do at all with the realities and the facts brought out and backed up by research and studies. Obviously these reactions come from people who could not accept anything contrary to what they have already…

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) confirmed yesterday the existence of 700,000 double registrants nationwide.

LEGAZPI CITY, Albay, Philippines – Local government units’ (LGUs) should exercise political will in implementing best practices to stop the spread of HIV or the human immuno-deficiency virus, which leads to the fatal AIDS, an official of the Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC) said.