DAVAO CITY—A team of peace advocates from various parts of the world will visit war-torn areas in Mindanao, including Maguindanao, next week in a bid to press the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to respond to the plight of civilians displaced by fighting.

Sewer coverage in the East Zone is only about 16 percent at the end of 2008 while the rest of the concession area of Manila Water Co. is heavily dependent on individual or communal septic tanks that collect wastewater from households. Reports claim that untreated domestic wastewater has been a major cause in the pollution…

Squatter families who will benefit from the P50-million Presidential Special Fund (PSF) as housing assistance will now undergo high tech biometrics listing which was started by the Metro Manila Inter-Agency Committee on Informal Settlers (MMIAC).

A group of labor advocates yesterday voiced their opposition to the proposed amendments to the Migrant Workers Act, saying it does not address the concerns of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) but only encourages illegal recruitment and corruption in government.

Workers in Hacienda Luisita yesterday asked the visiting officials of the International Labor Organization (ILO) to also conduct an investigation into the massacre of their farmer colleagues by government security men inside the sprawling estate in Tarlac province nearly four years ago.

Some 100 workers of a garments factory that went on a temporary shutdown more than a week ago barged into the Mactan Economic Zone yesterday morning and held a picket at the gates of their company.

CEBU, Philippines – The Cebu Labor Coalition (CELAC) filed yesterday a petition for a P128.60 across-the-board wage increase for Central Visayas before the Regional Tripartite Wage Productivity Board.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Agriculture (DA) expects domestic rubber production to increase by 7.2 percent this year to 440,600 tons, as a result of stepped-up efforts to make the Philippines a major player in the global market for this high-value commercial crop (HVCC).

MANILA, PHilippines – A construction company will face charges after the second floor of a building under construction in Barangay San Jose, Quezon City collapsed Monday afternoon, killing a worker and injuring nine others.

MANILA, Philippines – A committee of the House of Representatives has approved a P2-billion allocation for the holding of a constitutional convention (con-con) at the same time with the holding of barangay elections in October 2010.

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang yesterday challenged private hospitals in the country to open their financial books to the public to back up their claims on why they need to raise their fees in order to recoup their losses from the implementation of the Cheaper Medicine Law.

MANILA, Philippines – The National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) bewailed yesterday a 13-percent cut in subsidies to state universities and colleges (SUCs) which the government plans to include in the 2010 budget.

MANILA, Philippines – Emissaries of the pro-life movement are reportedly meeting with three top presidential candidates in an effort to convince them not to support the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill pending in Congress.

BAUAN, Batangas: Global financial crisis maybe the reason why multinational companies in the light industries sector and different economic processing zone in the region has retrenched most of their employees in the early part of this year, but it’s not the same case with the 234 employees who lost their job last week in this…

Private hospitals have defied government’s reminder and pushed through Tuesday with their plan to hike their service fees, which they indicated may last for at least six months.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported Tuesday that the financial systems remain impaired, despite recent reports that the world was slowly recovering from the global economic turmoil.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday downgraded its economic forecast for the Philippines this year, adding that it expected modest growth next year on the assumption of peaceful elections and a smooth transition in government.

The jury is still out on office romance. A Workplace Romance Survey, conducted in the United States in 2006 and covering 493 human resource professionals and 409 employees (for whatever worth it may have, this is like the surveys on who is the leading presidentiable as of a certain date chosen with the result in…

Through the years, the advocacy to enact a Magna Carta for informal sector workers has gained ground and strength. PATAMABA’s Josephine Parilla says “Broad based policy advocacy for a rights-based legislation for informal workers . . . took a significant leap with the formation of MAGCAISA [Magna Carta for the Informal Sector Alliance] in October…

According to a presentation by Josephine Parilla, one of our country’s staunchest advocates of the rights, dignity and equitable treatment of workers in the informal sector and a moving spirit of PATAMABA (the Pambansang Kalipunan ng mga Manggagawang Impormal sa Pilipinas),these are what House Bill 1955 can offer to workers in the informal economy:

IF luring the informal sector entrepreneurs and workers to join the formal economy will add up to P100 billion to government revenues annually, why doesn’t the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) do something about it?

Dr. Victor Abola of the economics department of the University of Asia & the Pacific (UA&P), which has done an indepth study on the informal sector, has told The Manila Times that every year the government loses up to P100 billion in revenues from the informal sector.

The informal sector expands as more Filipinos become jobless and companies close down or downsize and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) sees more of this happening.

The survey on Sept. 5 and 6 conducted by the Social Weather Station (SWS) commissioned by businessmen led by Ramon “Boy Blue” del Rosario, chairman of the Makati Business Club, and former Sen. Serge Osmeña, a fellow political detainee of the late Eugenio Geny Lopez, founder of the then newly revived ABS-CBN after the Edsa…

Thirty-two distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were repatriated yesterday through the efforts of former President Joseph Estrada and Senate Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) will don the role of observer during the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) review of the Philippines’ implementation of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention No. 87.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The World Bank Wednesday urged the Group of 20 nations to step up aid to the poorest countries, saying they lack 11.6 billion dollars for critical spending to weather the global economic crisis.

A 25-year old construction worker died instantly while nine others were injured Monday after the flooring of a building undergoing construction collapsed in Quezon City. Initial investigation showed that the incident happended at around 1:45pm at a two-storey commerical building undergoing construction along Mauban Street in Barangay San Jose.

Economic growth in the Philippines is expected to pick up in the second half of 2009 on the back of higher consumer spending, an official of the National Economic and Development Authority said.

MANILA, Philippines – State-run health insurer Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) is getting P5 billion in fresh funds from the proposed P1.541trillion national budget for 2010, Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas announced yesterday.