SINGAPORE will increase the levies for companies hiring foreign workers as the country attempts to depend less on overseas labor, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said Monday.

MANILA, Philippines – Nine women were reported raped each day in 2009, mostly in Metro Manila, according to Philippine National Police (PNP) statistics, Cotabato Rep. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza said yesterday.

Sales of vehicles powered by fuel cells running on hydrogen will surge over the next 10 years, according to a report released Tuesday by Pike Research.

A new study conducted by the Department of Education (DepEd) showed an alarming increase in the number of male students being sexually molested in schools.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) has created Task Force GenSan (Gen. Santos City) to facilitate the timely delivery of services and interventions for workers in the local tuna industry which is being severely affected by international fishing groups’ imposition of a two-year ban on tuna fishing.

Two months ago, I wrote about the campaign to phase out mercury-based healthcare materials like thermometers and sphygmomanometers (blood pressure taking devices) in hospitals and households. In that article entitled “Doing away with mercury”, I also talked about the Department of Health’s Administrative Order 21, issued in July 2008. The order mandated all hospitals to…

EXPORTERS are seeking the reinstatement of a “contingency list” in the 2010 Investment Priorities Plan (IPP) to allow them to recover fully from the global economic slump.

A major seafarers’ group has scored the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) for the agency’s failure to plug loopholes in maritime safety enforcement in the Philippines, saying that most of the memorandums it has issued  were meant to put the blame for the disasters on others.

Losses from ‘mild’ dry spell placed at P9B Potential losses of the agriculture sector from a prolonged dry spell are expected to increase in the coming months, according to the Department of Agriculture.

MANILA, Philippines – It is conventional wisdom to think that our competency in English gives us a clear-cut advantage in the BPO (business process outsourcing) industry. After all, English is practically our second language, so doing business with Westerners should not pose a problem at all. This kind of readiness has made us a worthy…

WASHINGTON (AP): Job creation in the U.S. is stuck on an uphill treadmill. So many jobs have been lost that the U.S. must run hard just to keep from losing more ground. Despite the election-year emphasis on job creation by both parties, the short-term outlook is bleak.

MANILA, Philippines – Operators of compressed natural gas-run buses are threatening to pull out of the Department of Energy Natural’s Gas Vehicle Program for Public Transport (NGVPPT) due to continuing negligence of the government to address the issues confronting the program.

MANILA, Philippines – The auto industry is asking the government to provide incentive packages to promote exports of vehicles, a move expected to boost local manufacturing and encourage more investments, the Chamber of Automobile Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) said.

MANILA, Philippines – An economist said the record remittances sent home by Filipinos abroad has yet to result to stronger economic growth due to reduced multiplier effect as a result of benign microeconomic environment.

MANILA, Philippines – The real lending rate in the Philippines continued to slide last year enabling the country to improve its ranking in Asia in terms of highest real lending rate, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

Still irked at having been declared persona non grata by the Davao City council, the Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (Anad) party-list and Bantay party-list Reps. Pastor “Jun” Alcover and Jovito Palparan, respectively, again hit hard at the city council members yesterday, charging that not only are council members sleeping with the enemies of the…

DAVAO CITY (22 February) -Thirty trade union leaders from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao completed recently the National Workshop on Productivity and Labor Management Cooperation (LMC), focusing on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Collective Bargaining.

Communist insurgents are demanding cash from politicians in exchange for “permit cards” that will allow them to campaign unmolested, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) yesterday said.

MANILA, Philippines – Forty-eight government agencies made it to the list of the top anti-graft champions of the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) for yearend 2009.

With the pool of foreign patients and health buffs seeking quality healthcare services and spa facilities abroad, it was only a matter of time until the Philippines positioned itself as one of the premier destinations for medical and wellness tourism.

I did not quite get Rep. Rufus Rodriguez’s point when he asked the President to declare a state of emergency in Mindanao due to the rotating brownouts.

MANILA, Philippines – Chief Justice Reynato Puno says distrust of foreigners and differences in approaching human rights prevent the integration of member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

MANILA, Philippines – Campaign donations from Philippine-based enterprises are expected to be “fewer and smaller” this year than in the 2004 presidential elections, according to a recent survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

MANILA, Philippines – Businesses believe nothing much has improved in the government’s efforts to stamp out corruption, a survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

MANILA, Philippines – The ratio of soured loans of universal and commercial banks to the industry’s total loan portfolio fell to its lowest level in 13 years last year on the back of the country’s resilient economy that enabled household and corporate borrowers to pay their outstanding financial obligations, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)…

MANILA, Philippines – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday it expects the economy to grow around 3.25 percent this year, slightly lower than a growth estimate it made in November, powered mainly by consumer spending.

A new study conducted by the Department of Education (DepEd) showed an alarming increase in the number of male students being sexually attacked in schools.

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The tuna fishing ban in the Pacific Ocean will directly affect some 500 workers in the country’s local fishing industry, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said Saturday.

BAGUIO CITY – At least 57 percent of the over 20,000 vehicular accidents that occurred nationwide last year is due to human error, thus, the need for a more aggressive driver and road safety education, Assistant Secretary Arturo C. Lomibao of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) said here Saturday morning.