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).

MANILA, Philippines – Nine out of 10 Filipinos welcome the New Year with hope rather than fear, according to a recent survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

MANILA, Philippines – For almost the entire year, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has been preoccupied with the full automation of the local and national polls on May 10, 2010.

MANILA, Philippines – Almost all firms located in the economic zones operated by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) that closed shop because of the global financial crisis have already resumed operations and has even started hiring new employees, the government reported.

How do you get along with people? Well, listen to this story: Two people had adjoining farms, one raised wheat and had children and large dogs. The other raised sheep.

Good corporate governance among listed firms matter to stock market investors, a recent study by the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) revealed.

SENATOR Jinggoy Estrada has emerged as the top candidate for the Senate in the second Standard Today Poll, with Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago a close second.

SENATOR Benigno Aquino III has maintained a double-digit lead over Senator Manuel Villar Jr. in the race for the presidency, the latest poll commissioned by Standard Today shows.

PETER Drucker (1909 to 2005), the famous American management guru was vocal about the distinction between efficiency and effectiveness when he told us that “efficiency is doing the job right, effectiveness is doing the right job.”

DESPITE low interest rates, Philippine banks have remained liquid yet cautious in extending loans to consumers and businesses since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, resulting in a gradual slowdown of credit growth the following year.

The sinking of the ferry MV Baleno-9 near the Philippine city of Batangas, which has left at least three dead and 22 missing, is the latest in a long list of shipping accidents across the Philippines. Millions of Filipinos, many of them too poor to afford air travel, use the seas and waterways to travel…

They get the most of what there is to get Our elite of power and wealth are extremely diverse. Their members range from the genteel remnants of the colonial hacendero families to the grossest political-warlord clans such as the Ampatuans of Maguindanao, who are accused of slaughtering 57 people in just one morning.

MANILA, Philippines – Companies prepaid $975.8 million worth of foreign-denominated obligations in the first 10 months of the year to take advantage of the stronger peso and lower interest rates.

MANILA, Philippines – How do you keep sane when money flies out of the window and the bills just keep on coming? You look at your wallet and see nothing in it and then you count silently when the next paycheck would come and you realize instantly that you have a shortfall. It’s difficult and…

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is set to push for the further reduction of remittance fees this year to help advance the welfare of the families of Filipinos working overseas.

MANILA, Philippines – National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Roberto Rosales said among the Metro Manila police’s accomplishments he is proud of is the neutralization of the Alvin Flores robbery gang and 219 other crime gangs in 2009, but said he is still not satisfied and vowed to do more next year.

MANILA, Philippines – Thousands of jobs await highly skilled Filipino workers in Australia next year, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque announced yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – Seventy-nine members, or nearly one-third of the House of Representatives, are “graduating” from Congress on June 30, 2010 after the May elections.

Contact center executives concerned that a recovering economy may force up wages and benefit costs and staff turnover thanks to competition for labor from other employers need not worry about it.

FAMILY FACTOR: The Expat Explorer survey of HSBC was conducted last February to April among respondents from the US, Europe and elsewhere who have lived in more than two dozen countries and on four continents.

New leader to balance  present with  past MANILA, Philippines – In the aftermath of Ondoy’s devastation and amid the continuing fallout from the global economic decline, a vast majority of Filipinos—86%, according to a Pulse Asia survey—are entering 2010 with hope, much more than those who said they were optimistic about 2009.  

MANILA, Philippines – In a flurry of international recognition for the Philippines, two prestigious publications, CNN Traveller and Asia Spa, add three more accolades to the country.