Cost of education in the Philippines has been rising at a faster pace than that of food for nearly a decade, hurting the overall quality and performance of Filipino students, according to the National Statistical Coordination Board.

President Gloria Arroyo on Tuesday signed into law Republic Act 9653, otherwise known as the Rent Control Act of 2009, which authorizes a one-year moratorium on rent increases in residential units.

The domestic real estate market has already bottomed out during the first quarter of the year as home purchases have already pick ed up, the country’s biggest property developer said Tuesday.

MANILA, Philippines – More Filipinos are supporting the controversial Reproductive Health Bill, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) said.

MALDIVES – The Philippines ranked 8th among countries in the world with the most number of casualties due to tropical cyclones and other major disasters last year, according to the 2008 General Assessment Report (GAR) that the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) will launch in Manila next month.

THE global financial crisis has significantly reduced the Filipinos’ working hours this year, the World Bank says.

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FALSE REPORT: The lean season for rice (July to September) has set in, and with it a heightened interest in the cereal and its retail price.

KORONADAL CITY, Philippines  – Police and military operatives are on the lookout for child bombers reportedly being used by the al-Qaida linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) to stage bomb attacks while the South Cotabato province is celebrating its 43rd foundation anniversary from July 10 to 18.

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court (SC) has stopped a party-list group from sitting a representative in Congress.

MANILA, Philippines – Unioil Petroleum Philippines Inc. announced yesterday “real big time” price cuts of P4.75 per liter for gasoline, P3.50 for diesel and P1.50 for kerosene.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine banking system is facing potential drags on its bottomline as the operating environment remains difficult, squeezing banks’ interest rate margins, loan growth decelerating, and the cost of lending rising.

MANILA, Philippines – Over 100 projects involving renewable energy (RE) are now in the pipeline following the passage of the Renewable Energy Act late last year, a Department of Energy (DOE) official said.

MANILA, Philippines – The government decried yesterday the latest assessment of the World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) indicating that Filipino workers have low productivity that is why the country’s competitiveness ranking slipped three notches to 43 from 40 last year.

MANILA, Philippines – Treasury bill (T-bill) rates dropped across-the-board during yesterday’s auction on the back of strong investor appetite for government debt papers.

LEGAZPI CITY, PHilippines  – A leader of a jeepney drivers’ group in Bicol was shot and wounded during the nationwide transport strike yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The demand for nurses abroad has started to decline, while opportunities for graduates of technical courses like engineering are on the rise, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile said a giant multinational drug firm had tried to stop the signing of an executive order putting a cap on the price of essential medicine by offering an alternative program to health officials involving the giving away of five million discount cards to indigent Filipinos.

GMA Network Inc. announced on Monday that it signed a deal with its employees’ union that would pave way for their salary hike and improved benefits in the next three years.

LOCAL shoemakers are asking the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) to repeal a rule that requires adding mustard oil on toluene-based contact cement, which is more popularly known as “rugby,” an industry official said.

I ordered a pizza recently at a popular chain which I have been patronizing ever since it opened. Obviously their pizzas, especially the kind I’ve been used to ordering, are a long way of from what they used to be. Gone are the tons of toppings and instead of a zesty sauce you get more…

To be able to reach its 1 million target voters for the overseas absentee voting (OAV), the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is planning to tap religious organizations and a migrant workers group to help it entice Filipinos overseas to register for the national polls next year.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) yesterday expressed concern over the rise in violence in the country, labeling the current situation as that of “unpeace” that is not only “distressing but disturbing, and even tragic.”

A group of internet cafe owners are organiizing Icafe Pilipinas, a national industry association.

Being preoccupied with building a legacy to be left behind as a reminder of one’s greatness is not necessarily a bad thing. Some people become preoccupied with building grandiose structures and edifices, some endeavor to produce spectacularly magnificent (or conversely, spectacularly horrendous) works of art, others take on social projects of mammoth proportions, or labor…

THE indigent-holders of pre-need plans by the Legacy Group of Companies have been exempted from paying docket and filing fees by the Supreme Court.

SAUDI Arabia’s new draft law to protect domestic workers from abusive working conditions and unpaid wages “falls short” of international standards, Human Rights Watch said.

As many as 120,000 information technology experts will be tapped by the Commission on Elections and its private partners for the automation of the 2010 polls.

Software firm Oracle partners with AMA University MANILA, Philippines – Database business software firm Oracle is setting its sights to make the Philippines as a major source for database systems experts.

Huge commissions, more than the standard 10-percent hush money, being demanded by engineers belonging to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) from constructors undertaking government-funded infrastructure projects not only threaten the profitability of the construction industry but also result in poor-quality projects to the detriment of their target beneficiaries.