MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines, which provides a significant number of the world’s commercial sailors, said Saturday it would contribute $20,000 to a U.N. trust fund to support Somali security forces in their fight against piracy.

MANILA, Philippines – He may be down, but he’s definitely not out. Former House speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., who formed Lakas-CMD in 1992 but was forced to quit following his falling out with President Arroyo, has launched a so-called “conscience hotline” for “lost” party members.

Her handlers portray her as a hardworking president, but after eight years in power, Gloria Arroyo is looking more like being long on show and short on substance.

TWO in every five Filipino families below the poverty line do not have electricity in their homes, according to the National Statistics Office (NSO).

The government expects to complete the country’s rural electrification program or the electrification of all Philippine barangays (villages) before the yearends.

MANILA, Philippines – Global warming is slowly pushing the world to the brink of destruction but the Philippines is doing its share to lessen the impact, according to Presidential Adviser on Global Warming and Climate Change (PAGWCC) Heherson Alvarez.

BANKS have cut further their lending rates after a series of reductions in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) interest rates, an official said.

PHILIPPINE imports continued to slip for the eight consecutive month in May, but at a slower pace, as purchases of electronic products abroad slightly recovered, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said.

THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is considering a second-stimulus package that would be incorporated in the 2010 national budget to ensure President Arroyo’s pump priming program is sustained.

But new score still below investment-grade MOODY’S Investors Service said it has raised the Philippines’ credit ratings one notch, citing the country’s healthy financial system and its ample dollar surplus despite the global economic crisis.

MANILA, Philippines – Businesses should continue to pursue innovation even when the economy is bad, according to the head of the government’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO).

9 years of Arroyo: A review A few hits here, a few misses there (Editor’s Note: On the occasion of the ostensibly final State of the Nation Address of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on July 27, the Philippine Daily Inquirer presents this review of her governance which runs into its ninth year by the time she…

MANILA, Philippines—Belgium is set to regularize the stay of undocumented migrants, including an estimated 2,500 Filipinos, the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Friday.

THE UN Development Program on Thursday said the Philippines has not done enough to curb the rise of HIV infections in this largely conservative Roman Catholic nation of 90 million people.

THE government said imports reached a seven-month high in May, signaling more raw materials are being produced for export in the coming months.

7th in a series on GMA’s 9th State of the Nation Address MANILA – Meralco’s stockholders’ meeting in 2007 saw an angry Winston Garcia on stage, perorating about the “inefficiencies” of the power retailer. That episode had been interpreted as government getting back at a perceived foe: the Lopez family.

POVERTY SITUATION IN THE PHILIPPINES IN 2007 (Selected Non-Income Poverty Indicators from the 2007 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey)

MANILA, Philippines — President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has not been remiss in pointing to employment as one of the main welfare issues, along with poverty, health and education, in her State of the Nation Addresses (SONAs) since 2001.

BANGKOK (AFP): Asian economies will likely bounce back from the global economic slump in 2010 but fears remain over the sustainability of growth if there  is no wider recovery, the Asian Development Bank said Thursday.

GENEVA – TRADE safeguards used by countries to protect their industries risk doing more harm than good in the current global economic crisis, the WTO said on Wednesday.

MANILA – The Philippines is seen to perform better in the second half of the year, especially after posting a positive growth during the worst of the global downturn.

To strengthen the delivert of the government’s Comprehensive Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (CLEEP), the Department of Labor and Employment in partnership with the Department of Energy and the United Brotherhood of Uniformed Personnel will jointly conduct the Third Serbisyo Caravan for Displaced Workers at Building 64, Celery St., FTI Complex, Taguig City tomorrow, July…

MANILA, Philippines – Moody’s Investors Service has raised its sovereign rating for the Philippines to Ba3 from B1 previously, noting the country’s high degree of resiliency against external shocks.

THE report of the Presidential Task Force for Education (PTFE) containing updates, recommendations and action plans on different issues and concerns in the Philippine education system was presented to the Cabinet at its meeting held at Aguinaldo Hall, Malacañan Palace on December 8, 2008. This was subsequently approved by President Gloria Arroyo.

Alleviating poverty, curbing HIV, managing climate change   Because of global recession, the Philippines has not kept up with meeting the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations, a UN official said Thursday.

Remittances may not be as ‘robust’ – bank   The Philippine economic growth forecast was most likely to be revised downward this year because of the expected drop in remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), Asian Development Bank said.

Last Sunday, I fired our two live-in house helpers after discovering that, instead of keeping an eye on the house while we were out, they themselves went out and then sneaked back in the wee hours of the morning. When confronted, they did not deny that they had done it before. Because we have live-in…

Spain, despite suffering from the global economic crisis, was still in need of foreign nurses including Filipinos, the Department of Foreign Affairs announced Wednesday.

Genetic modification may be the only viable way to produce sufficient quantities of rice in the future as drought, climate change and dwindling acreage impact yields, experts said in a new report.

To reinforce the attainment of the UN Millennium Development Goals by the 192 Member States of UNESCO, the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) was declared with UNESCO as the implementing agency.