A huge number of electrical engineers, particularly from China, have sneaked into the country to work, drawing protests from their Filipino counterparts.

MANILA, Philippines – The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority has earmarked P100 million to “retool” workers in the semiconductor and electronics sectors, in an effort to equip them with new skills that they can tap when the industry picks up.

Rene Penas led march on Manila from Bukidnon to highlight plight of landless Malaybalay City – two unidentified armed men killed a leader of the Sumilao farmers, a group that actively pushed for agrarian reform, and wounded his two companions in an ambush late Friday night in Sumilao, Bukidnon.

Few countries have as many of their citizens living abroad as the Philippines, or depend so greatly on migration for their economic vitality, according to Migration Policy Institute.

COA rules vs Tayabas generosity TAYABAS CITY—Three months after local government employees here received a P132,000 bonus each, the prospect of returning the amount to government coffers is now causing the workers sleepless nights.

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Three unions of employees in the soft drinks maker Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines Inc. (CCBPI) have filed notices of strike at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) to stop alleged layoffs and union-busting, their leaders said.

CEBU, Philippines – Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri the other day lauded the Senate and the House of Representatives following their passage of the Home Development Mutual Fund Law of 2009, also known as the Pag-IBIG Fund.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Energy (DOE) has forwarded the financial statements of the oil companies to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) for audit, the country’s energy czar said over the weekend.

Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Chairman Leila de Lima has condemned the killing of the sister of a ranking communist leader and urged witnesses to come forward to shed light on the case.

But CBCP appeals for nonviolent demos vs Con-ass MANILA, Philippines—Leaders of the Catholic church are encouraging the public to hold demonstrations “in a peaceful, nonviolent way” to protest the House majority’s midnight passage of a resolution to convene a constituent assembly to amend the Constitution.

A peasant leader was killed Friday night by unidentified gunmen in Bukidnon province, the latest in a series of attacks against activists, police yesterday said.

SEVERAL tuna fisheries have collapsed and others are in steep decline as overfishing continues and world tuna stocks fall.

TORIL, Davao City: Transshipment is a relatively new phenomenon and Davao is the only place in the country where a fishery product may pass through without paying taxes on its way to auction destinations in Japan, Canada and the United States.

DAVAO CITY: Unload the chilled tuna, pack in carton boxes, put in refrigerated container vans, whisk to the international airport and from there to Manila, then fly them to Tokyo in time for the multimillion-dollar auction markets in Japan early the next morning.

TORIL: The Davao Fish Port Complex (DFPC) here, the country’s only transshipment point for tuna exports, has always been in the red.

Pornography and especially images depicting children being sexually abused and exploited are available on DVD’s under the tables of most street-side vendors in the Philippines and other Asian countries. The absence of a strong specific law that makes it illegal to make, copy, distribute or possess such materials damages the lives of thousands of children.…

MANILA, Philippines – A female neophyte lawmaker from the Buhay party-list group of Bro. Mike Velarde’s El Shaddai is the richest sectoral representative at the House of Representatives.

Net Worth: I asked Makati Mayor Jojo Binay in a forum yesterday his net worth and his prompt reply was P16 million. What was your net worth when you were appointed officer-in-charge by President Cory Aquino in 1986, I followed up, and he said P2 million.

MANILA, Philippines – Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales yesterday condemned the killing of one of the leaders of the farmer activists who walked all the way from Sumilao, Bukidnon in Mindanao to Manila in 2007 to seek justice.

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has delisted some four million voters for failing to vote in two consecutive polls in 2007 – the local and national elections in May and the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls in October.

ILLEGAL, unreported and unregulated fishing are pervasive in the high seas.

GENEVA–International labor experts on Saturday called on the Myanmar government to amend a provision in the country’s new constitution that could be interpreted as justifying forced labor.

The Arroyo government has failed to address the issue of the killings of lawyers and judges, the Hague-based Lawyers for Lawyers said on Thursday.

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s gross international reserves (GIR) reached a new record high of $39.319 billion in May as a result of government foreign borrowing and the increase in the price of gold, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

ASKING for a date through text messages could make a mayor liable for sexual harassment.

To the four Filipino youth who took home awards from the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair held in Reno, Nevada, age and economic standing is not a hindrance to success. Besting 1,563 students from 56 countries, Angeli Yap-Dy, 14, of Capiz National High School; Jovani Tomale, 16, of Davao City National High School; and…

Work sharing could be a relevant response to the global jobs crisis, according to a new ILO policy brief prepared for discussion at the International Labour Conference in Geneva from 3-19 June 2009. Work sharing policies and programmes can result in a “win-win-win” solution benefiting workers, employers and governments. ILO Online spoke with ILO working…

The deployment of Filipino nurses and caregivers to Japan is expected to pick up as the Philippine and Japan sign today a memorandum of understanding for school courses under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) on the Movement of Natural Persons, the Japanese Embassy in Manila reported Thursday.

MANILA, Philippines—The country’s rice production for the second quarter of 2009 may be 1 to 2 percent more than last year, according to Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap.

The “turf war” between the National Electrification Administration and Cooperative Development Authority over management control of thousands of electric cooperatives nationwide has reached Congress.