Strategic Conference on Social Welfare and Protection 06-07 July 2009, Manila A Trade Union Perspective UNIVERSAL SOCIAL PROTECTION: KEY TO RESTORING SUSTAINABLE GROWTH By Atty. ALEJANDRO C. VILLAVIZA, Vice President Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP)

POEA tightens deployment control of OFWs MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration has expanded the category of “low/semi skilled” to include 44 overseas jobs, effectively tightening its control over overseas Filipino workers leaving for these types of work abroad.

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The Philippines is teh 14th happiest place on earth, according to a survey by a British non-governmental group.

MANILA, Philippines – The global economic crisis is pushing more people into poverty, and the picture is even more grim in developing countries like the Philippines, according to the Asian Development Bank.

WE’VE HEARD it said that the Philippines is a rich country pretending to be poor.

TOKYO, July 6, 2009 (AFP) – A Japanese court on Monday ordered the state to pay 76 million yen (800,000 dollars) to the family of a former US military base employee who died of lung cancer after being exposed to asbestos.

French bank forecast MANILA, Philippines—Paris-based investment bank Calyon sees the Philippine economy growing by only 1 percent this year but avoiding the recession seen in most of its neighboring economies.

CEBU, Philippines – Concerned members of the Salcon Power Independent Union expressed that they are “increasingly disappointed” with the present activities and directions of their own union leaders.

Businessmen urge council to hasten review of Ordinance 007 that prohibits genetically modified organisms. BACOLOD CITY: Plans of expansion  in both the swine and poultry industry in Negros Occidental has been deferred pending a thorough review of the anti-genetically modified organism (GMO) law that the province of Negros Occidental has recently implemented.

Following the cancelation of the multi-million school feeding program, the Department of Education (DepEd) is now looking at other means to contribute to the health of public schoolchildren. 

It’s more expensive to maintain PCs that are more than three years old than buying new computers because of the system failures and security issues that are encountered, according to study done by Techaisle, a research firm. This was presented during the press meeting last June 3 held at the Intel office in Fort Bonifacio,…

AFTER Standard and Poor’s (S&P) kept its junk credit rating on the Philippines, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) asked investors to continue believing in the government.

MANILA, Philippines – Displaced workers at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) are to become entrepreneurs, as making businessmen out of workers who lose their jobs inside SBMA is the objective of an agreement entered into between SBMA and Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship (PCE).

MANILA, Philippines – Employment opportunities are getting brighter for jobless Filipinos and other health workers.

MANILA, Philippines—The bad news: As next year’s scheduled relocation of the United States military base from Okinawa, Japan to Guam gives Filipinos seeking overseas employment hope, they may not get priority for construction jobs, a recruitment specialist said Sunday.

NAGA CITY – Pushing their advocacy to put natural products in the mainstream market, practitioners of organic farming have opened a market here along the commercial strip of Magsaysay Avenue.

MANILA, Philippines – Foreign employers may find it more difficult to hire Filipino domestic helpers and other low skilled workers.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Founding Fathers left one legacy not celebrated on Independence Day but which affects us all. It’s the national debt.

DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines – Six regions in the country have excellent wind resources that can be harnessed to help boost national development.

MANILA, Philippines – The Civil Service Commission (CSC) has ordered a total smoking ban in all state health facilities, schools and universities.

Special Report: Can RP cope with full-blown Novel A(H1N1) epidemic?

This entire week, I have been preoccupied with women’s health issues as media have focused on the health of national women leaders.

MANILA, Philippines – A lawmaker stressed yesterday the need for Congress to approve the Collective Investment Schemes (CIS) measure, saying that this would unify different laws and regulations on unit investments trust funds and investment companies.

FILIPINOS working abroad remitted an average of P83,000 to their families in the Philippines over a six-month period from April to September 2008, up by 10.7 percent from a year ago, according to the National Statistics Office.

A FILIPINO maid was grabbed by the hair, had her head pushed to the floor and was ordered to bow 100 times for serving up a partly cooked meal, the Tsuen Wan Magistrates Court was told yesterday.

AN environmental group asked anew the Department of Agriculture (DA) to protect the welfare of Filipino consumers and farmers by prohibiting genetically modified organisms (GMO) crops in the country. 

Contoversial ordinance was crafted to turn Negros into ‘organic bowl’ BACOLOD CITY: After months of debate and growing opposition to the anti-GMO (genetically modified organisms) ordinance recently implemented in the Province of Negros Occidental, Gov. Isidro Zayco finally asked the provincial board council to subject the said law under a “thorough review.”

THE Philippine government has tapped a US-based expert to shed light on the possible revival of the mothballed Bataan nuclear power plant.

FOREIGN businessmen have called on the Philippine government to reconsider the imposition of a maximum retail price (MRP) on medicines under Republic Act 9502, or the Act Providing for Cheaper and Quality Medicines.