MANILA, Philippines – Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap told herbal industry leaders that the government would help increase linkages between raw material producers and manufacturers to ensure the quality, reliability and safety of Filipino herbal products.

MANILA, Philippines – A business group has expressed support for constitutional amendments only if it would improve the country’s economic interest and to be done only after the 2010 elections.

MANILA, Philippines – Government economic managers lowered yesterday the country’s economic growth projection for 2009 to between 0.8 percent and 1.8 percent from the earlier target of between 3.1 percent and 4.1 percent on account of the larger impact of the global financial crisis.

MANILA, Philippines – Consumer confidence took a major beating in the second quarter of this year as private households saw dimming prospects for the country and for their own families over the next six months.

THE International Monetary Fund expects the economy to contract by 1 percent this year, revising its forecast of a 1-percent growth because of disappointing first-quarter numbers.

TWO major business groups yesterday said they support efforts to amend the Constitution despite mounting opposition to the latest House initiative to push changes without the Senate before the 2010 elections.

MANILA, Philippines – The herbal industry is going after $1 billion in exports by next year, according to the Chamber of Herbal Industries of the Philippines Inc. (CHIP).

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Spotlight interview with G. Rajasekaran (Malaysia – MTUC)   Brussels, 11 June 2009 (ITUC OnLine): How is the economic crisis affecting the large migrant population in Malaysia? G. Rajasekaran, general secretary of the MTUC (1), talks about trade union initiatives designed to help them. He also denounces the exploitation suffered by domestic workers, a particularly…

KUALA LUMPUR — Airline executives Tuesday expressed hope of a turnaround next year after fresh estimates showed they may lose close to US$20 billion from 2008 to 2009 due to the global economic slowdown. With oil prices threatening to rise on expectations of a U.S.-led economic turnaround, delegates to the annual meeting of the International…

The consortium of Smartmatic and Total Information Management (TIM) that won the bidding for the May 10, 2010 poll automation project has committed to complete the canvassing and counting of votes not less than two days.

MANILA, Philippines – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has “agreed in principle” to adopt the recommendation of the Philippine government for “deep, early emissions cuts” at a special sideline meeting during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bonn, Germany, Presidential Adviser on Climate Change Secretary Heherson Alvarez said.

The revived Buy Pinoy, Buy Local campaign is slowly gaining support, with the House of Representatives and the Nacionalista Party (NP) led by Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. among the first ones endorsing it.

MANILA, Philippines – Administration congressmen’s push for Charter change through a constituent assembly (Con-ass) would worsen the economy and hasten the country’s fall into recession, GlobalSource, a New York-based think-tank, warned in a report.

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate and the House of Representatives have resolved all major issues concerning the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) bill and agreed to extend the coverage for five more years plus an allocation of up to P150 billion.

MANILA, Philippines – Foreign direct investment (FDI) outflows amounted to $27 million in March, a 118-percent decline compared with inflows amounting to $149 million in the same month last year.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines has slashed its investment target for the mining sector this year to just over $600 million from an earlier goal of up to $1 billion with slow initial inflows, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

MANILA, Philippines – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects the country’s economic growth to decline by one percent this year before posting a modest 2.25-percent expansion in 2010.

MANILA, Philippines – Global banking giant Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC) said it expects the Philippine currency to weaken to 53 against the dollar by the end of the year as the inflow of overseas workers’ remittances continues to slow down and the US economy remains in recession.

Over 18,000 girls and boys are engaged in mining and quarrying in the Philippines. For many generations, the search for gold in small-scale mining has been a means of survival for poor families. Girls in such work are particularly vulnerable.

More than 100 million girls are involved in child labour worldwide, according to a new ILO report for World Day against Child Labour 2009. The report warns that the global financial crisis could push an increasing number of children, particularly girls, into child labour. ILO Online reports from Moscow where migrant workers and their children…

The bicameral conference committee in a marathon meeting late Tuesday evening approved a joint resolution seeking a five-year extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), increased its fund allocation to P150 billion, and restored its compulsory land acquisition and distribution schemes covering all agricultural lands.

The Department of Education has mobilized its Center for Students and Co-Curricular Affairs (CSCA) to ensure transparency and accountability in the operation of Parents-Teachers Associations (PTAs) throughout the country.

Yesterday’s anti-Charter change rally in Makati, preceded by a string of daily rallies all over the metropolis and many parts of the country, hammers home a relevant point: It is not Charter change that we need, but jobs to keep our people from being drowned by the global crisis.

Following the successful Labor Day job fair that placed 10,000 workers nationwide, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will conduct a bigger three-day Mega Job Fair as the main activity during the celebration of the 111th Philippine Independence.

The country continued to suffer from an outflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) in March, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Wednesday.

The Philippine economy is expected to contract this year because of weak remittance inflows and export earnings despite the increase in government spending and lower interest rates, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday.

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government is ready to welcome a “high level mission” from the International Labor Organization (ILO) that will investigate the cases of extrajudicial killings, disappearances and harassment of workers’ leaders, unionists and labor rights advocates in the country, an official said.

Canada’s CBC ran a special entilted “Canada’s Ugly Secret” on June 10 about an industrial area in India known as “The Golden Corridor,” where chrysotile asbestos, exported from Canada’s Black Mine, in Quebec, is being processed in factories.