DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is set to look into the allegation of the 350-member International Solidarity Mission (ISM) that there is an increased militarization in certain parts of southern Mindanao.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines was unable to convince its Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) neighbors to re-classify sugar and include it in the highly sensitive list, a ranking government official said.

The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) is seriously considering to expand the granting of state incentives to projects outside of the Freeport zone to nearby areas in Olongapo City.

Short of saying that the World Competitiveness Report that ranked the Philippines at the bottom of 18 economies in the Asia-Pacific region this year was inaccurate, National Competitiveness Council (NCC) private sector chairman Cesar Bautista contested some of the criteria used.

Convenience in government processes as a come-on to investors to bring in foreign capital takes center stage in the new visa offered by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to which the business sector responded by giving employment to almost 20,000 Filipinos.

MANILA, Philippines – The bad news: hypertension is the foremost cause of deaths globally, according to a report presented by Novartis Healthcare Philippines. The good news: You can do something about it, and you can start by simply cutting salt from your diet.

Only Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera can explain what prompted her to file a motion to stop a court order for the government to proceed with an audit of the books of the country’s “Big Three” oil companies after Malacañang said yesterday it did not sanction the move.

Conflicting Proverbs Actions speak louder than words. The pen is mightier than the sword.

Many women mistakenly believe they have a vaginal yeast infection and are doing themselves more harm than good by treating it on their own, researchers reported at the International Society for the study of Vulvovaginal Disease meeting.

MANILA, Philippines – One worker died and three others were injured when a concrete wall collapsed on them as they were working at a construction site in Pasay City.

MANILA, Philippines – Inspite of the global financial crisis, the tobacco industry is coming out strong and bullish this season.

MADRID/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – World economic grouping OECD said on Monday the global economy had come out of “free fall,” offering hope of incipient recovery late this year to investors and markets unnerved by rising U.S. government debt.

The international journalist group Reporters Without Borders (Reporters San Frontiers or RSF) expressed alarmed over reports that a journalist and two human rights groups were on the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) “Order of Battle” list of surveillance targets in Mindanao in 2007 because of their alleged links to the Communist Party of the…

OUTSIDE of Metro Manila and Metro Cebu, Davao is set to be the biggest location for business process outsourcing (BPO) in the country.

Last March, the Commission on Human Rights headed by Chairman Leila de Lima held three days of public hearings on extrajudicial killings in Davao City.

DAVAO CITY: This month, an international fact-finding mission came here to investigate human rights violations in the Davao district of Paquibato and towns in Davao del Sur and Compostela Valley.

CHILDREN have a right, as recognized under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to a family. This means that children have a right to a family environment, with adults responsible for the child’s growth and development. Thus, nurturing child care is deemed of utmost importance for children to possess the qualities of independence,…

Administrator Arreza says fiscal perks could be granted to projects endorsed by the Olongapo City government The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) is currently working on the implementing rules for a scheme where investments in Olongapo City can also avail of some incentives granted to registered firms at the Subic Bay Freeport.

The country’s investment promotion agencies on Friday signed an accord that will lay the foundation for the development of the 2010 to 2014 Philippine Investments Promotions Plan (PIPP) within this year.

MANILA, Philippines – The bad loans of commercial and universal banks continued to drop at the end of the first quarter, falling to 3.56 percent in March from 4.52 percent in the same period last year and 3.73 percent a month earlier.

MANILA, Philippines – Jobs abound in the country, but there are only few takers. Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano said tourism-related companies and other commercial establishments nationwide are offering so many jobs, but only few are applying.

Published since 1989 by Switzerland’s Institute for Management Development (IMD), of which the Asian Institute of Management is a working partner, the annual World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) is a widely respected assessment of the world’s 57 most competitive “countries.” Thirteen of the 57 are economies in the Asia-Pacific. For years the USA has been No.…

Business sentiment in the Philippines improved, apparently buoyed by the so-called green shoots in the US, suggesting recovery from the global financial turmoil, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilinas reported on Thursday.

The House of Representatives on Wednesday unanimously approved on final reading House Joint Resolution 36, seeking to upgrade, rationalize and standardize compensation of all government employees and to be implemented initially in July.

The provincial government of Cebu yesterday slapped a complaint against the so-called “Big Three” oil companies with the Department of Justice (DoJ)-Department of Energy (DoE) joint task force and at the same time sought an investigation into the firms’ pricing of their petroleum products in the province after the provincial government allegedly found out that…

Brussels, (ITUC OnLine): As the H1N1 “swine flu” virus continues to spread around the world, the International Trade Union Confederation is calling for government action on a series of key workplace issues that are essential for reducing the risk of a severe pandemic and for preparing in case a severe pandemic does occur. 

MANILA, Philippines—Even as they are miles away from home, Filipinos in Italy still retain many traditions, including financial traditions. An ongoing research by the International Organization for Migration shows that some of them invest in the so-called “paluwagan.”

The most common ground cited for the passage of the RH bill is the alleged need for family planning of couples especially the poor. For this purpose, the proponents say it is necessary for them particularly the women to be properly informed of their sexual and reproductive health rights and to have access to reproductive…

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Federal Reserve expects the economy to improve in coming months, even as policymakers downgraded their outlook for all of 2009 and said the unemployment rate could approach 10 percent.

MANILA, Philippines – The European Union-Association of South East Asian Nations (EU-ASEAN) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) may pose difficulties for the Philippine rice sector while favoring that of Thailand.