Dear PAO, I am working in a representative office of a Singapore-based company here in the Philippines. It has only two employees and is being funded by the head office in Singapore. The head office decided to close our office due to the high cost in maintaining it. Are the employees entitled to a separation…

A THREE-MEMBER mission from the International Labor Organization (ILO) will meet with lawmakers to discuss legislation related to the Philippines’ application of international standards on the right to organize, the Department of Labor and Employment said on Sunday. Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said the ILO mission with meet with the committees on labor and human…

A PARTY-LIST representative has filed a bill seeking the implementation of a community-based sex education program that will advocate both abstinence and contraception. Rep. Narciso Santiago of the Alliance for Rural Concerns (ARC) said there is a need for a comprehensive sex education program to provide full, complete, and accurate medical information on sexuality, contraception,…

The latest corruption tag on the Philippines by Germany-based watchdog Transparency International (TI) is seen as another blackeye on the country, a senior Filipino diplomat yesterday said.

Manila, Philippines — The chrysotile industry will be consulted next on the proposed national program for the elimination of asbestos related diseases (NPEAD). This was agreed on in a consultation spearheaded by the Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) held on 28 September 2009.

Quebec is the last place in Canada to mine asbestos, a known carcinogenic substance. The miners who used to work extracting the needle-like fibre might be coughing up blood and dying by the dozens, but Ottawa and Quebec City continue to promote the sale of asbestos.

A party-list representative in the House of Representative who was once a hardcore member of the communist rebel group is contemplating on filing a bill in Congress seeking the labeling of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) as a terrorist organization.

MANILA, Philippines – Countries in the Southeast Asian region, including the Philippines, are expected to post steady recovery in the latter part of 2009 and in 2010 if governments continue to put in place fiscal and monetary support, Standard & Poor’s said in its latest report on the region.

The International Monetary Fund foresees a stronger than anticipated recovery from the economic crisis, with global growth approaching three percent in 2010, world leaders said.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines ranked 12th in the Asia-Pacific and 51st out of 66 countries worldwide in terms of information technology (IT) competitiveness, according to a new study conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and sponsored by the Business Software Alliance (BSA).

MANILA, Philippines – German shipping firms are still hiring new Filipino workers in spite of the effects of the global financial crisis, a ranking official said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A reminder that the path to an economic recovery will be a slow and bumpy one emerged Friday from weaker-than-expected data on US durable goods orders and new home sales.

MANILA, Philippines – The plan of the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) to double the mandatory monthly contributions of its 7.4 million members from P100 to P200 would cost workers an extra P8.9 billion, Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago said yesterday.

Author David Michaels shows that the same techniques used to successfully delay legislation and regulatory action on cigarettes have since been used on any number of other public-health problems, including today’s major global warming concerns. A growing trend disingenuously demands proof over precaution, always disputing conclusions that might support regulation because industry has learned that…

The International Labor Organization (ILO) is sending a three-man mission to the Philippines to look into labor laws and policies that relate to the country’s application of international standards on the right of workers to organize.

Saying that graft and corruption are a fact of life in the Philippines, Transparency International (TI) in its Global Corruption Report 2009 traced the root of most of the biggest corruption-tainted projects in the country to multimillion-dollar foreign-assisted projects involving foreign firms.

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) needs to adapt various international best practices in banking supervision to better protect the interest of depositors, a senior legislator said over the weekend.

MANILA, Philippines – The National Food Authority (NFA) does not plan to import any more rice for this year, according to NFA administrator Jessup Navarro.

MANILA, Philippines – The decrease in the proposed budget for state universities and colleges (SUCs) in 2010 would not have much of an impact on their operations, Malacañang clarified yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines — After repeatedly failing to get the coveted seal of good housekeeping from the US, local authorities have teamed up with the private sector in a last-ditch attempt to unlock up to P400 billion in development funds under the Millennium Challenge Account.

MANILA, Philippines—The Quezon City Council is mulling a proposal to give a monthly old age stipend to retired public school teachers and city government workers once they reach the age of 70.

KIDAPAWAN CITY — Four out of 10 children and youth aged three to 25 in Central Mindanao are missing schools due to armed conflict, according to E-Net Philippines, a non-government organization based here.

SAN PEDRO, Laguna — A labor group in Southern Tagalog has denounced the arrest of a worker in Rizal province, whom authorities said was an active member of the New People’s Army (NPA).

Even as the Archbishop of Cebu, Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, along with the Catholic bishops, has threatened to withdraw electoral support from presidential contenders and congressional candidates who support the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey taken from July 2 to 5, with a respondent base of 1,200 shows that there is…

When my niece got pregnant when she was 14, she had to stop going to her old Catholic school because getting pregnant was against the rules. After giving birth, she tried to enroll in another Catholic school. When asked why she transferred from her other school, she told them the truth. They refused her admission.

The problem of juvenile delinquency, however, is not one that we should casually accept as something we could live with. Police reports about crimes such as theft, rape, and drug-related cases often involve offenders who are below 18 years of age, mostly school dropouts. Sen. Kiko Pangilinan authored the law that would give alternative punishments…

STATE subsidies to nonfinancial government owned- and controlled-corporations (GOCCs) rose by double digits in the first eight months this year, the Department of Finance said.

TUGUEGARAO CITY: The National Food Authority (NFA) Cagayan has announced the implementation of a two-tier pricing scheme for corn farmers in the province. Provincial Manager Armando Rey Villacorta said the two-level buying prices for clean and dry yellow corn grain took effect on September 14, 2009. The prices have been set at P12.30 per kilogram…

About 50 percent to 60 percent of Filipinos use generic drugs and more people now prefer less expensive but quality medicines, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Friday. “Five to six of 10 Filipinos are indeed using generic medicines now. This emerging generation of wise consumers is surely increasing and it has caused the…

CEBU, Philippines – The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) has warned delinquent employers of civil and criminal charges if they will continue to neglect the law on the prompt remittance of premium contributions.