CEBU CITY, Philippines – Net inflow of foreign direct investments (FDI) jumped 26.2 percent last year on the back of strong equity inflows as investors continued to plough back earnings to the country in re-cognition of the resilient domestic economy, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas officer-in-charge Diwa Guinigundo reported yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine seaweed production is expected to drop by 28.6 percent to 50,000 metric tons from last year’s 70,000 MT due to the prevailing El Niño weather phenomenon, driving up further the price of seaweeds and exerting additional cost pressure on local carageenan processors.

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines/11 March 2010 by Mike Baños—The largest workers’ party in the country, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP),  has joined the bandwagon calling on all Mindanaoans to vigorously oppose the privatization of the Agus-Pulangi Hydroelectric Complex.

LE HAVRE – Three seafarers have died of food poisoning on an oil tanker traversing the Channel between Britain and Europe, French maritime authorities said Wednesday.

LONDON – More than three-quarters of people across the world believe access to the Internet is a fundamental right, a poll carried out for the BBC indicated Monday.

MANILA, Philippines—Life could have been easier for Lilia Roseryo had she been a beneficiary of a microfinance program, a government blueprint to ease poverty.

I-TEAM REPORT: THINK ISSUES (Seventh of a series) CONCEPCION, TARLAC—It was a scene from Marlboro country come alive. The brothers Rocky and Joel Lopa, in full cowboy gear, came galloping on horseback at Hacienda Luisita as a security helicopter hovered overhead.

MILAN, Italy – The Philippine Labor Office in Milan is concerned about overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) whose health and career advancement are affected by misplaced priorities.

Gloria’s graft-ridden gov’t root of widespread poverty—Erap It is no surprise that the Philippines under President Arroyo is again still in the bottom list of corrupt economies.

BRAIN drain or the loss of skilled intellectual and technical employees has plagued government and private hospitals in the last two years, causing the permanent closure of 200 institutions across the country and the partial shut down of another 800.

The results of the mock presidential election held by the University of Sto. Tomas is out. It is no longer surprising that former Defense Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro topped the mock elections participated in by more than 13,000 students with 32.5 percent of the “votes” since he has emerged number in all surveys conducted in…

THE government will encourage companies in Mindanao, where power outages are happening daily, to shift their working hours at night when demand for electricity is lower, Executive Secretary Leandro Mendoza said Tuesday.

Thousands of workers of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. said the management has barred them from forming a union.

TOP government officials in the from of Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo, Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blan-caflor, joined European Union Ambassador Alistair MacDonald to launch the EU-Philippine Justice Support Programme (EPJUST). Also participating were Detlev Mehlis, the team-leader of the EPJUST program, and Bo Åström, the program’s police advisor.

PLDT not only stands for the country’s biggest phone company, said Ariel Ayala of Radio Veritas on Saturday.

SINGAPORE: Indonesia remains the most corrupt country in Southeast Asia and graft is getting even worse, a poll of businessmen said, dealing a blow to the president’s efforts to clean up the country. The Philippines, however, was not far behind and was ranked 13th on the list of 16 countries that included developed economies for…

Pass-through charges to increase by P200-P400 Already saddled with erratic power supply, customers of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) would also have to bear a hefty spike in their electric bill because of a surge in the utility’s power cost.

CEBU, Philippines – A group that has been leading in the fight against the controversial Reproductive Health Bill has announced that it is supporting the candidacy of Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Senator Manny Villar.

MANILA, Philippines – The Makati Business Club (MBC) has criticized the alleged “instability of government policies and regulations” after the government ordered Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. to pay back taxes.

I have always liked Vicente “Tito” Sotto III. For starters, when my Dad Louie Beltran passed away in 1994, Tito Sotto took over dad’s “Brigada Siete” on GMA 7. Tito Sotto did so with respect and sensitivity to our family.

MANILA, Philippines – Teachers’ groups yesterday opposed the appointment of Presidential Assistant for Education Mona Valisno as the new head of the Department of Education (DepEd), saying it would impede the reforms implemented by Secretary Jesli Lapus.

MANILA, Philippines – Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral reiterated yesterday that there is no evidence that condoms promote promiscuity or casual sex.

I had mixed feelings as I followed the international coverage of Toyota’s massive recall of several of its models, mostly those sold in the North American market.

MANILA, Philippines – The government must create three to four million quality jobs every year to bridge the employment gap in the country, the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Education (DepEd) has asked Malacañang to certify as urgent a bill filed in Congress seeking to make pre-school education mandatory in public schools.

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang admitted yesterday that hunger incidence has increased since President Arroyo assumed power in 2001, but said this could be the “only major sore spot in a sea of good news about the President’s economic legacy.”

MANILA, Philippines – Domestic violence is still “pervasive” in the Philippines despite the passage of a law that supposedly prohibits violence against women and children, the local chapter of a London-based human rights watchdog said yesterday.

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga , Philippines  – President Arroyo is leaving the presidency with more Filipinos overweight.

THE Board of Investments has extended the contingency list of the 2009 Investment Priorities Plan to the first half of the year after the National Economic and Development Authority declared the global financial crisis is not yet over.

Spending pattern in the Philippines is expected to change, once the country breaks the $2,000-per-capita income level, which may come soon.