MANILA, Philippines – For their invaluable contribution to the Philippine economy, the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) get little in return in times when they need it the most. Too often news of OFWs getting killed, wrongly imprisoned, being maltreated and other horrifying experiences they have to endure away from their loved ones. As in most…

MANILA, Philippines – Petron Corp. chairman Ramon Ang said the government should strengthen efforts to curb oil smuggling, claiming oil smugglers are now controlling 30 to 35 percent of the petroleum industry.

Generous incentives – fiscal and non-fiscal – await companies that would want to invest in renewable energy development under the Renewable Energy Law passed last year. This is so in consideration of the high investment requirement needed in putting up a renewable energy project.

MANILA, Philippines – The Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG) is planning to increase its membership contribution rate to further improve the agency’s financial capability and meet the demands of members for more loans and benefits.

MANILA, Philippines – A national teachers’ organization has opposed the Department of Education’s move to shorten class hours in public elementary schools in a bid to add more class shifts.

MANILA, Philippines – The booming business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in the country is expected to employ at least one million Filipinos by 2010, Malacañang said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines — The leadership of the House of Representatives will finalize the rules and procedures for the debates on the reproductive health bill so that voting could take place before the end of the 14th Congress, according to Majority Leader and Iloilo Representative Arthur Defensor.

Pundits are sounding the alarm of a likely rise in the ranks of the informal sector amid the economic crisis, as the slowdown leads to job cuts. The informal sector is a catch-all term for people who contribute to a country’s economic output, but whose contribution are not captured by official data.

A wholesale, blanket rejection of any reproductive health bill sends a message of bigotry and insensitivity. It is not a thoughtful response. It is not a Christian response. The fact is that many population and poverty issues must be addressed, and House Bill 5043—and some of its predecessors—is meant to address these issues. There is…

THE Oil Deregulation Law was responsible for “opening the floodgates” of oil smuggling in the country,” Petron Corp. said.

GOLDMAN Sachs said the Philippine economy would grow faster than its previous forecast because of stable remittances, substantial monetary stimulus and a manageable fiscal deficit. In a research note, the US investment bank said monetary policy would remain stable until the second half of next year, during which it expects the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas…

Trade: President Obama has fired the opening salvo in a trade war with China by slapping 35% tariffs on its tires. But besides giving China a kick, this protectionism will harm Americans across the economy. Sec. 421 of the 1974 Trade Act, intended to control surges in imports.

CHEATING: It is best that the possibility of automated cheating and of failure of elections in May 2010 is discussed this early, so the weaknesses of the computerized system are exposed and corrected.

MANILA, Philippines – The government has provided shelter aid to 120,000 low-income households annually since 2001, Vice President and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Chairman Noli de Castro said.

MANILA, Philippines – With just eight months before the presidential elections, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is now readying its legacy for the new administration.

MANILA, Philippines – Private hospitals will increase their administrative fees to recoup the losses incurred from the medicine price cuts.

MANILA, Philippines – An Ifugao woodcarver won over a dozen international artists who joined the third Delphic Games in Jeju, Korea.

MANILA, Philippines – The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) urged the government to exert more effort to attract investors, saying that the global financial crisis has slowed down foreign direct investments coming into the country.

MANILA, Philippines – I turned 40 last month. I am officially, incontrovertibly, cannot be denied, in midlife. In our former lives as human beings, we simply lived life chronologically. (For example, my 76-year-old mother doesn’t even remember undergoing menopause.) Sometime in the past few years, a series of symptoms have been assigned a new term:…

THE Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) expressed support on Sunday for the high-level mission sent by the International Labor Organization (ILO) to Manila to investigate widespread complaints of violations of the rights of Filipino workers to freely organize themselves.

The United States has called for a boycott of a dozen Philippine exports because of the widespread use of child labor in agriculture, tobacco, pig raising, fireworks and the making of child pornography.

ADVOCATES of the reproductive health bill yesterday urged Catholic bishops to stop blackmailing presidential aspirants and lawmakers into withdrawing their support for family planning.

MANILA, Philippines—In a move to consolidate the gains in the country’s labor relations and industrial peace, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) has embarked on a plan to speed up the disposition of pending labor cases.

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Labor and Employment on Saturday said it welcomed the visit of an International Labor Organization mission to probe the country’s compliance with labor rules, noting that the mission would be in consultation with the Philippine government.

MANILA, Philippines – A multi-sectoral group criticized the Department of Education (DepEd) yesterday over its program to reduce class hours in public elementary schools to address the problem of classroom shortage.

MANILA, Philippines – Family planning advocates asked Catholic bishops yesterday to stop “distorting the truth” about the Reproductive Health Bill pending in Congress.

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Manuel Roxas II debunked yesterday the claims of Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes that a power shortage would occur next year. “I am monitoring the power sector because this is one of the most sensitive parameters for investors,” he said.

MANILA, Philippines – Former socioeconomic planning secretary Ralph Recto appeared yesterday before a court to reaffirm an earlier pronouncement that oil products are overpriced by as much as P8 per liter.

MANILA, Philippines – Strong gold prices have encouraged several mining firms to ramp up production and explore new areas to be able to cash in on the gold bonanza which could last until next year or while the US economy remains in the doldrums.

MANILA, Philippines – The government’s budget deficit swelled to P210 billion as of end-August, only P40 billion shy of the revised fiscal gap ceiling of P250 billion for the whole year and a sharp 561.5-percent increase from the P31.7-billion deficit registered in the same period last year, the Department of Finance (DOF) reported yesterday.