MANILA, Philippines – A senior military intelligence official yesterday claimed the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) is using the peace talks to consolidate its remaining forces.

MANILA, Philippines – The committee on constitutional amendments of the House of Representatives voted 6-1 and approved a resolution allowing the election of delegates for a constitutional convention (con-con) simultaneous with the May 2010 elections.

Over the last decade, the Philippines has become a favorite vacation spot for foreigners. These tourists love the country so much that many of them decided to invest their retirement savings and settle here.

HANOI—Vietnam is far ahead of Indonesia in IT development and is closing the gap with the Philippines, a senior official from the UN’s communications technology agency said Wednesday.

TUCP Statement to the Asia Region Tripartite Consultation on Draft Guides for the Preparation of  National Child Labour Policies and Action Plans and on Mainstreaming Child Labour Concerns in Broader Policy Frameworks 23-25 November 2009, Bangkok, Thailand Sis. Susanita Tesiorna Informal Sector Coalition of the Philippines (ISP/TUCP) On behalf of the Workers’ Delegates On behalf…

Drivers asked to follow traffic rules MANILA, Philippines–Highway cops have noted more than 9,000 vehicular accidents for the first three months of 2009, prompting authorities to step up its campaign against erring drivers.

MANILA – Employees of local carrier Philippine Airlines expressed fear that they could be the next casualties as the local airline struggle with its finances.

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) yesterday said it will file criminal charges against any individual found employing the services of foreigners in violation the country’s immigration laws.

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International yesterday blamed the Philippine military and separatist rebels for the gross human rights violations and worsening plight of thousands of civilians displaced by the armed conflict in Mindanao.

With about 12 million overseas workers the Philippines qualifies as a case study in mobility of labor. Of course it is not only the Philippines that exports skilled labor all over the world—the value of remittances in 2008 included the following top five countries: India, $45 billion; China, $34 billion; Mexico, $26 billion; Philippines, $18…

CEBU, Philippines – Good news to all City Hall and casual employees of Cebu City.

This is another case of dismissal based on breach of trust and confidence which is usually applied to supervisory employees. To be a valid ground for dismissal the breach must be willful and connected with the employees’ work. This is illustrated in this case of Randy, Ernie and Lando.

MANILA, Philippines – An international human rights organization yesterday urged the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child to give special attention to the execution-style killings of children by “death squads” allegedly operating in Davao City and other parts of the Philippines.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) launched yesterday a survey to determine the extent of the trend of “men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM),” which is changing the landscape of the HIV-AIDS epidemic in the country.

Growth opens more business for telcos MANILA, Philippines – There will be 30 million Internet users in the Philippines by 2012, driven by lower cost of access and wider availability of devices, according to a report by research group Nielsen.

MANILA, Philippines—An IT company is giving out tickets to Quentin Tarantino’s latest movie, “Inglourious Basterds,” and a day off in a bid to get its employees to register for next May’s elections.

MANILA, Philippines – Companies from the United States and Europe are looking at investing in the country’s retirement sector, with plans already on the table to set up “continuing care facilities” for retirees.

The Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC), which is made up of the biggest foreign trade groups in the country, has opposed a bill seeking to limit the number of casual workers hired by firms operating in the country.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) has urged the national government to instantly settle some P19.2 in unpaid dues it owes the state-run Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) in order to prevent the firm from becoming insolvent.

A militant lawmaker has asked Congress to investigate the contracts entered into by the Philippine government and local governments that reportedly allow foreign corporations long-term use of the country’s agricultural lands.

Foreign businessmen said they would block a pending bill at the House of Representatives that seeks to provide workers security of tenure.

The possibility of hacking into the automated election system is “practically nil,” a technical consultant to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Monday, disputing allegations made by several groups that the automated machines can be easily tampered with.

CEBU, Philippines – The management and rank and file employees of Coca-Cola Philippines-Cebu Plant inked a three-year Collective Bargaining Agreement yesterday.

To continue with last week’s loaded topic on fats, Dr. Angel Respicio Jr., nutrition adviser at The Sleeplab, Hawaii Medical Center-West, prescribes this formidable list of nutrients to ward off the Big C:

Military op-eratives in the United States have recently deployed its latest secret weapon in the war against terror: Barney the Dinosaur. The famous purple and green Tyrannosaurus Rex loved by children all over the world is now battling it out with the Al Qaeda. His mission for the US military is simple enough. Just really loudly sing his…

Doctors call it gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD. Millions of people call it heartburn, and many others have coughing, wheezing, or hoarseness without realizing that GERD is to blame. By any name, GERD is common, bothersome, and sometimes serious. But once you know you have GERD, and understand its mechanics, you can control it and…

MANILA, Philippines – Mindanao farmers asked the Departmetn of Health yesterday to work for the banning of aerial spraying of pesticides in banana plantations in the region, saying that this gravely affects their health and other crops.

MANILA, Philippines – The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) is projecting a 10-percent increase in mineral production value this year due to the improvement in the prices of gold, nickel and copper as the global economy starts showing signs of recovery.

MANILA, Philippines – The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) is optimistic that the remittance business in the Philippines will expand on the higher end of the single-digit growth this year.

MANILA, Philippines – An acclaimed economist of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is optimistic that the Philippine economy will make a strong recovery in the second semester of 2009.