MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine tourism industry thrived in 2009 despite the global tourism slump and several calamities that hit the country.

MANILA, Philippines – Mea culpa. President Arroyo’s spokesman took the fall yesterday for the unpopularity of his boss, saying the Chief Executive’s ratings, which remain at record lows with only six months left in her term, reflected his performance.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) yesterday dashed hopes of a possible increase in the take-home pay of minimum wage earners next year.

December 30, 2009, Quezon City — Union leaders from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao urged the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to conduct random inspection of companies to strengthen compliance with core labor standards in all enterprises — micro, small, medium or large.

MANILA, Philippines – For the world’s biggest rice importer, will 2010 be another 2008, a year plagued with skyrocketing rice prices amid squeezed supply?

MANILA, Philippines – As the holiday season draws to a close, Filipinos now gear up for the upcoming national elections. But as government officials raised the possibility of a power shortage next year, will the 2010 polls be done in the dark?

Despite the global economic crisis, trade between China and the Philippines would take off again and China was even expected to overtake Japan as Manila’s second-largest trading partner soon, officials said. After growing more than 30 percent annually for seven years since 2000, bilateral trade dropped by 6.7 percent in 2008 to $28.28 billion, Chinese…

THE Philippine Hospital Association said Tuesday it opposed a government proposal imposing a 90-day preventive suspension on hospitals and their employees with pending administrative cases on alleged fraudulent billings.

THE stock market rebounded from a global financial slowdown to end the year up 63 percent, making it one of the best-performing equities markets in Asia and positioning it for further growth in 2010.

DESPITE having evaded a recession, the Philippine labor market turned for the worse in 2009.

WHILE other Asian emerging economies shrank, the Philippines managed to evade a recession in 2009 amid the worst global slump in decades. But early in the year, the prospects were dim, especially after the government released the first-quarter growth results.

At about the time when things were winding down, Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations, the two respected and widely accepted pollsters published assessments of the 2010 presidential elections, two days apart, a fortnight ago.

Dear PAO, We have been renting a house for almost 20 years now. The owner of the house is in Canada. Rents are deposited to the owner’s account since then. The owner will be selling the house and has asked us if we can vacate the premises within the next six months. My question is,…

BAGUIO CITY: Increased spending and higher remittances from Filipino workers abroad would offset a projected cut in the country’s economic output, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) chief said Tuesday.

MANILA, Philippines – State auditors have tagged as highly irregular the electronic portal project of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) involving funds worth more than P30 million, even recommending the investigation of agency officials who “disregarded” rules on bidding in approving the questionable contracts.

MANILA, Philippines – The government is looking at a budget deficit of P293 billion next year, higher than the initial estimate of P233.4 billion, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines will continue to rely on coal as its main fuel to generate electricity in the medium-term, a power industry official said.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine economy, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), may grow by as much as four percent in 2010 along with the global economic recovery, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday that the country’s external debt went up by 2.5 percent to $53.1 billion as of end-September this year from $51.8 billion as of end-June this year.

Asean +3 to set up crisis safety net SEOUL —Fourteen East and Southeast Asian economies said on Monday that they have signed a plan to set up a $120-billion emergency fund known as the Chiang Mai Initiative, Asia’s first move to devise a safety net to shield itself from a financial crisis.

MINING INVESTMENTS in the Philippines reached $375 million—just a little more than half of the $650-million target for 2009, according to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB).

REGARDLESS OF JOB JEDDAH, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—The Foreign Ministry will issue permanent resident visas for wives and children of expatriate workers in the kingdom without considering their profession, Al-Yaum Arabic daily has reported.

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines’ largest fast-food chain Jollibee received a plaque of recognition from The Wall Street Journal Asia for being one of the top regional companies in the publication’s Asia 200 survey.

MANILA, Philippines – The Filipino public continues to be greatly dissatisfied with the performance of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

NEW DELHI—For about a decade, it was India’s call center boom that defined it as “the world’s back office,” much like neighboring China has been immortalized as “the world’s factory.”

GOVERNMENT agencies, state-owned corporations and city governments are among the biggest tax dodgers, according to Internal Revenue.

THE National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) said that the industry would be hard-pressed to hit a double-digit growth for mobile phone subscribers next year because the market has already matured.

Criminal and administrative charges were filed against the water utility regulator in greater Metro Manila and two water concessionaires serving the capital region for failing to build sewerage plants as mandated by law.

ONE YEAR AFTER PACT’S IMPLEMENTATION A year after its implemen-tation, the governments of the Philippines and Japan have expressed “general satisfaction” over the achievements of the controversial free trade agreement (FTA) they had forged.

MANILA, Philippines – Climate change is the biggest factor in the forced displacement of people as global warming is blurring the traditional distinction between refugees and migrants, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).