CEBU, Philippines – The Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-ibig Fund) Mandaue Branch has noted a decrease of around 6,000 in membership this year because of the massive retrenchment among companies in Cebu, particularly in the Mactan Export Processing Zone at the height of the global financial crisis.

CEBU, Philippines – Starting January next year, all employees, whether permanent, temporary or provisional, all self-employed persons, regardless of trade, business or occupation with an income or salary of at least P1,000 a month will be mandated to apply as members of the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-ibig Fund).

CAIRO (AP) — The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nudged its 2010 forecast for global oil demand slightly higher Tuesday, a week before it’s due to meet, but cautioned that the pace of the global recovery may affect consumer appetite for its chief export.

MANILA, Philippines – There is no recovery in sight yet for the world airline industry as the International Air Transport Association (IATA) revised its financial outlook for 2010 to an expected $5.6 billion global net loss, larger than the previously forecast loss of $3.8 billion.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Further evidence that manufacturers are helping the US economy slowly recover emerged Tuesday in a report that industrial production rose a better-than-expected 0.8 percent in November.

MANILA, Philippines – Singapore-based DBS Bank Ltd. sees the economy growing faster at 4.8 percent next year from the scaled down rate of one percent on the back of strong consumption brought about by robust remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

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MANILA, Philippines – I don’t know about you, but all this talk about massacres, martial law, re-election and sports heroes gone awry has left me wanting for more substantial, feel good stories. Even the amazing feat of 2009 CNN Hero of the Year Efren Peñaflorida received no less than one full day of our undivided…

Last month Health Sec. Francisco Duque urged President Arroyo to issue an executive order banning aerial spraying of fungicides. Four causes were cited in his memo:

MANILA, Philippines – The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) has registered its opposition to House Bill 6342, otherwise known as the alternative mining bill.

THE country’s latest employment statistics again presented a mixed-picture and a policy paradox: While the economy generated more jobs in October, the unemployment rate nevertheless still worsened, the National Statistics Office reported Tuesday.

COPENHAGEN—The Philippine proposal for a “deep and early cut” in global carbon emissions has gained momentum here at the United Nations climate change summit, where some 115 heads of state will gather on Thursday in a bid to seal a crucial legally-binding deal to combat global warming.

State pension fund Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) said it is working closely with the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to address members’ issues that were brought to the attention of the CSC and subsequently communicated with the pension fund for appropriate action.

COPENHAGEN: United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon heads to global climate talks on Tuesday warning that negotiators face a race against time to prevent the meeting ending in catastrophic failure after developing nations staged a five-hour walkout.

MANILA, Philippines – Money sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) went up by 6.7 percent to $1.53 billion in October, the highest monthly remittance level recorded so far, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Oil-rich Abu Dhabi pumped $10 billion into its indebted neighbor Monday, sending stocks soaring while sparing Dubai and the rest of the Emirates federation the humiliation of an imminent default by one of the struggling Arab boomtown’s star companies.

MANILA, Philippines – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has revised downward its growth outlook for the Philippines this year to one percent, from an earlier forecast of 1.6 percent, citing that the economy “performed even worse than expected” in the first nine months.

MANILA, Philippines – Voters can still register for next year’s elections until Jan. 9 after the Supreme Court voided the Oct. 31 deadline set by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

MANILA, Philippines – The National Statistics Office (NSO) reported yesterday that the number of jobless Filipinos increased to 7.1 percent in October from 6.8 percent last year.

MANILA, Philippines – Senators Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and Manny Villar are the top choices of Filipinos as the next president, the latest survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

MANILA, Philippines – Trouble is brewing in the Philippines’ first nationwide poll automation, and the signs are slowly unfolding.

No, the title of this column does not refer to that Michael Jackson movie which was shown recently. It is the title of a presentation on HIV/AIDS made by the National Epidemiology Center of the Health Department last week. The data presented on HIV/AIDS prevalence in the country was not only sobering; it was depressing.…

Nacionalista Party president and standard-bearer Sen. Manny Villar yesterday welcomed Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza as the party’s guest senatorial candidates.

GENEVA (ILO News) – An “early exit” from support measures adopted in response to the global economic crisis could postpone a jobs recovery for years and render the fledgling economic upturn “fragile and incomplete”, a new report by the research arm of the International Labour Organization (ILO) says.

CALIFORNIA, United States — The California Nurses Association (CNA) stepped into the national spotlight on the health care debate when the influential organization joined forces with two other nurses’ unions to form the alliance National Nurses United (NNU).

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has again qualified for financial support from the US Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) in 2010, according to Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo.

MANILA, Philippines—An increase in the price of rice has forced the government to cut back on its planned purchase of the grain, deciding instead to buy 509,950 metric tons of the grain, mostly from Vietnam.

The demand for Filipino domestic helpers in Taiwan had dropped dramatically, with Indonesians and Vietnamese taking a bigger share of the market in that country mainly as a result of the direct hiring program pushed by the government.

Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) announced that it would widen its coverage and increase the contribution rate of all members to improve its services.

TAIPEI: Investments infused by Taiwanese investors into the Philippines this year more than doubled compared to last year, according to the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO).