Reyes, Recto meeting on fuel pricing ends in deadlock The government said private audit  firms could do the examination on the books of oil companies to make their pricing more transparent. Presidential spokesman for economic matters Gary Olivar said Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera already gave an explanation why she opposed an impending audit by government…

MANILA, Philippines – Talks between the Department of Energy and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) on the alleged overpricing of oil companies ended at a “deadlock.”

CLARK FREEPORT – The National Labor Relations Commission has ordered a company owned by Hong Kong businessman Jack Lam here to reinstate the six Filipinos it dismissed in July 2007 and pay them their back wages.

ParaÑaque City Mayor Florencio Bernabe Jr. has ordered the reorganization of the council for the protection of children in various villages.

The Supreme Court has ordered the Government Service Insurance System to pay the family of a judge who died in 2001 of cardiopulmonary arrest, a cardiovascular disease that the tribunal considered as compensable ailment.

THE officers of a hotel workers’ union have filed a disbarment case against retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruben Reyes, claiming the controversial former justice participated in the resolution of a labor dispute more than a month after he had retired.

After more than five years of negotiation, delegates from 59 countries to an International Maritime Organization (IMO) conference signed the Hong Kong Agreement regulating the recycling of ships on 15 May 2009. For the ILO, the agreement is an important step to make ship breaking decent work. ILO Online spoke with manufacturing specialist David Seligson…

LONDON (AFP)–The world is sitting on a “powder keg” of social unrest, which risks exploding as human rights are eroded by the global economic slowdown, Amnesty International warned Thursday.

MANILA, Philippines – There are now 5.53 million motor vehicles operating in the country and the number is expected to grow by 4.6 percent in the coming years, according to an expert from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

MANILA, Philippines – The policy-making Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) cut policy rates by 25 basis points to 4.25 percent for the overnight borrowing rate and 6.25 percent for the overnight lending rate, BSP Governor Amando M. Te-tangco Jr. announced yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The worst is still far from over for the global air transport sector, with international traffic data for April showing a 3.1-percent decline in passenger demand and a 21.7-percent fall in cargo volume compared to the same period last year.

MANILA, Philippines – Electricity rates are likely to go down by P1 per kilowatthour (kwh) once the twin power reduction bills authored by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile are passed, the lawmaker said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines must prepare to be competitive now instead of hoping for a further delay in the full implementation of the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA), Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines may slip into a recession this year as economic growth – as measured by the gross domestic product (GDP) – inched up a mere 0.4 percent in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period in 2008, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) reported yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate approved Wednesday night Joint Resolution No. 26 seeking to increase the salaries and benefits of government employees to make them competitive with those of the private sector.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Education (DepEd) said that only a minimal number of private elementary and high schools raised tuition fees for school year 2009-2010, easing problems of a surge in migration of students from private to public schools.

MANILA, Philippines – The House of Representatives has approved the bicameral conference committee report on the proposed new rent control law.

A lawmaker warned that the country might soon face a shortage of about 20,000 to 30,000 tons of natural rubber annually as rate of replanting and new planting programs slows.

The country is three months away from a technical recession after the economy shrank by 2.3 percent in the first quarter compared with the final three months of last year due mainly to the government’s failure to deliver a massive pump-priming commitment.

PERTH, May 29 (Reuters) – Oil rose to a new six-month high above $65 a barrel on Friday, on track for its largest monthly percentage gain in more than a decade, after government data showed a surprisingly sharp drop in U.S. crude inventories and OPEC left output steady.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US consumer confidence leapt in May to an eight-month high, the Conference Board said Tuesday in a report offering fresh hopes of an end to the prolonged recession.

MANILA, Philippines – With the signing of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Renewable Energy Act, the Philippines would be able to generate up to $10 billion in fresh capital from renewable energy development projects over the next 10 years, said Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes.

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang has approved a P13 per kilo support price for yellow corn then ordered the National Food Authority (NFA) to purchase 300,000 metric tons of corn this main harvest season to encourage corn farmers to increase their production.

A United Nations official yesterday said there is an urgent need to raise awareness among Filipinos on the need to bring to “zero level” the problem of corruption which remains a serious problem in the country.

Before the end of 2009, St. Luke’s Medical Center will open the P9-billion 600-bed St. Luke’s Medical Center hospital at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

(Editor’s note: The following is the Board of Investment’s faxed letter dated May 19 but sent on May 26. We publish it in toto and unedited but minus the barely legible “graphical representation” mentioned in paragraph 11.)

The Senate has passed the measure updating and upgrading the Salary Standardization Law, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said Wednesday.

The head of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) bids committee has called for vigilance in the 2010 polls, saying “nothing is fool proof” as he oversaw the transmission testing yesterday of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines.

Private schools pursue demand for tuition hike Malacañang appealed to teachers not to push through with their planned strike on Monday, saying this would be another burden to the people.

MANILA, Philippines—With less than a year before the May 10, 2010 elections, the Commission on Elections is working on a tight schedule to procure the technology to automate the 2010 polls, as it comes to the final leg of the bidding process for the P11.2 billion automation project.