The electronics industry has again called on the government to bring down electricity rates to make the country’s exporters more competitive amid an expected recovery of global demand.

MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) Imports in March fell from a year earlier at a record pace, hit by weak demand for electronics parts largely used in export products, deflating optimism that global demand may be picking up.

SWINE flu is spreading more widely than official figures indicate, with outbreaks in Europe and Asia showing it has gained a foothold in at least three regions.

MADRID (Reuters) – World economic recovery will be slow and rising unemployment could bring the threat of social crisis and protectionism, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said in an interview with Spanish Sunday newspaper El Pais.

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – “It is now almost 20 years since we received our lands under CARP but we are not better off than when we were still working with the previous landowner,” lamented Francisco Gevero, a 60-year-old agrarian reform beneficiary (ARB) from San Antonio Farms, Hacienda Caridad, Manapla, Negros Occidental.

RP sailors on foreign ships to hit .5M in 5 years MANILA, Philippines—Remittances from Filipino sailors increased by 5.52 percent (or $41.851 million) to $800.535 million in the first quarter versus $758.684 million in the same period in 2008, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said Tuesday.

Some people assume that science and religion are in conflict with each other. Medicine, they say, is based on fact while religion is based on faith. But after carefully reading the Bible, I am amazed at how much medical knowledge can be found in the Good Book.

Health experts agree that a worldwide influenza epidemic (pandemic) is inevitable. The only unknown is when it will occur and how severe it will be.

HANOI (Xinhua) – The 9th Foreign Ministers’Meeting of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) witnessed a launching ceremony for the Stockpile Phase of ASEM Initiative for the Rapid Containment of Pandemic Influenza here today.

The government expects to double the country’s renewable energy capacity in the coming decade with the signing of the implementing rules and regulations of the Renewable Energy Law.

Two out of three Filipino children are infected with intestinal worms. And while biannual deworming is being conducted in schools all over the country, simply treating the infections will not eradicate the problem.

The government finalized yesterday the implementing rules and regulations for Southeast Asia’s first and most comprehensive Renewable Energy Law.

Despite Malacañang’s disbelief, we in the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) found highly credible the results of a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey indicating that joblessness among adult Filipinos may have hit a record high of 34.2 percent in the last three months.

FARMERS belonging to different organizations on Monday filed a complaint against House Speaker Prospero Nograles at the office of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) for ordering on Friday the demolition of their camp site at the gates of the Batasan Complex and injuring 10 farmer activists in the process.

South Korea has called on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) for more investments in developing new and renewable sources of energy.

After two confirmed cases of the Influenza A(H1N1) virus in the Philippines, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) issued guidelines to help prevent the disease from spreading in the workplace.

Joint Administrative Order on GHS

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ngPilipinas (BSP) expects the country to post net inflow of foreign portfolio investments this month, following substantial net outflows in the past months.

MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) The Philippine National Police (PNP) has created a special task group tasked to put an end to political killings and election-related violence, less than a year before the 2010 elections, PNP Chief Director General Jesus Verzosa said.

MANILA, Philippines –Malnutrition is still one of the major health problems in school children and could be considered deadlier than the swine flu plague, a partylist representative said today.

Whoever said that Filipino women do not suffer the same abuse as their counterparts in the Middle East, India and Africa must either be insensitive males or simply clueless.

THE Philippines is proposing a gradual reduction in sugar tariffs in Southeast Asia as a “middle ground” between Filipino farmers’ plea for protection and the country’s commitment to bring down trade barriers, Trade Secretary Peter Favila said over the weekend.

Any stranger or first-time visitor to Laguna and Quezon will be instantly awed at the sight of endless rows of tall and lush coconut trees which dominate the landscape. But the thick tree cover all around seems to camouflage the acute ills that beset the coconut industry in these provinces and the entire country.

By the time this column sees print, the possibility looms that the brouhaha over the Hayden Kho sex video scandal may no longer command as much public attention as it did the week just past.

Another dubious purpose of the RH bill is to check the alleged alarming increase in our population. The bill uses “population management’ instead of the coercive sounding “population control” to make it more agreeable and acceptable. But whatever it is called, it is based on false and misleading premises.

What is influenza A (H1N1) is a new strain of virus that resulted from the reassortment of 4 viruses from pigs, human and birds. can cause pneumonia, which can be fatal – no vaccine yet discovered to protect human

Read the background-of-balikatan in PDF format   Read the FAQ about Balikatan in PDF format

May 2009  Good Practice Note:  Asbestos: Occupational and Community Health Issues   1.  Summary  The purpose of this Good Practice Note is to increase the awareness of the health risks related to occupational asbestos exposure, provide a list of resources on international good practices available to minimize these risks, and present an overview of some of…

CEBU, Philippines – PhilHealth recently adjusted its basic benefits by 35 percent to allow members bigger coverage.

CEBU, Philippines – With several taxi groups in Manila planning to increase rates to cover for the expense in implementing the “Special Taxi Metering System,” the City Council is asking the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board to consider moving the date in implementing the system.