MANILA, Philippines – Oil firms announced last night they would roll back the prices of gas by P1.50 per liter and diesel by 25 centavos per liter effective today.

MANILA, Philippines – Don’t be afraid of nuclear energy. Even the Pope favors its use.

But local financial system still healthy, says BSP   LOCAL banks took a bath last year, but emerged otherwise unscathed from the worst crisis to hit global lenders, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).In its report on the Philippine Financial System for the second semester of 2008, the BSP said the country’s financial…

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago wants the Department of Health (DOH) to conduct studies on the chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) disease and the number of Filipinos suffering from it.

The country’s hotel industry has not been spared from the effects of the global economic crisis as less people stay in hotels and serviced residences to make the most out of their hard-earned money.

Filipino woman overseas workers about to be deployed to the Middle East are being discouraged from sexual activity at least two months prior to their departure as they could be sent home upon arrival if found to be pregnant.

The Arroyo administration failed to convince the United Nations (UN) that it is doing its utmost to stop torture and protect the human rights of its citizen as the world body concludes a conference to assess the progress of its members in observing provisions to protect human rights, primarily commitments against the use of physical…

MANILA, Philippines—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s two-day visit to Egypt has yielded at least $1.2 billion worth of investments.

MANILA, Philippines—The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines continues to work on the strengthening of the country’s intellectual property environment, in a bid to be removed from the United States Trade Representative’s Special 301 Report Watch List.

MANILA, Philippines–The Philippines is set to become the next headquarters for Telecentre.org, a five-year international social investment program that assists in the establishment of multimedia telecommunications centers in developing countries.

NUSA DUA (AFP) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) called Monday for a fundamental “rebalancing” of regional economies in response to the global crisis, while predicting a “mild recovery” next year.

The World Health Organization says countries must not lower their guard in the response to the swine flu outbreak.

EU economies will contract by 4% in 2009, the European Commission has forecast – more than twice what it predicted at the start of the year.

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MANILA, Philippines – Despite the global financial crisis and the massive layoffs in the country, more workers are still buying their own homes.

A disturbing trend in our society today is the increasing number of litigations. Records show that courts and government agencies vested with quasi-judicial functions are swamped with numerous civil, criminal, political, labor, administrative, and a potpourri of other cases arising from legal conflicts and clashes of rights.

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) will not be able to implement the two-year pre-university level system for academic year 2009-2010.

NUSA DUA – More than 56,000 children in Asia will die as a result of the economic crisis gripping the world economy, the Asian Development Bank said Sunday.

The time is always right to do what is right. — Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest. — Mark Twain

NUSA DUA, Indonesia – Asian countries must boost domestic consumption and end their dependence on exports as external demand plunges amid the world economic slump, the Asian Development Bank chief said Sunday.   

MANILA, Philippines – Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto has reiterated that oil companies have been charging roughly P8 more per liter than the estimated gasoline price in the market.

MANILA, Philippines – The government is looking at building one grand central station in the North to make it more convenient for commuters to use the Light Rail Transit (LRT) and the Metro Rail Transit (MRT), one of the contractors of the project said.

NUSA DUA, Indonesia – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will boost lending to the region’s poorest nations by more than $10 billion over two years, warning Saturday that the global economic crisis is jeopardizing the UN’s goal to halve poverty by 2020.

MANILA, Philippines – The Congressional Planning and Budget Department (CPBD), the think-tank of the House of Representatives, said the government should review the Oil Deregulation Law to help curb smuggling in the country.

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has agreed to give banks some regulatory relief to facilitate borrowing at a time when the economy is bracing against the impact of the global recession.

STATE-RUN Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) said it approved a new loan program for its out-of-work members to mitigate the impact of the global financial crisis.

HAMBURG, Germany: From Yantian to Hamburg, world trade is in the doldrums and Christian Blauert, who heads the largest container terminal in Germany’s northern port of Hamburg, needs only check the webcams to know things aren’t getting better.

Ask 46-year-old Filipino woman how many children she has. “Ten,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified. “But I was supposed to have only six,” she added, snapping in a breath.

MANILA, Philippines – Washington has acknowledged that Philippine security forces are making progress in the fight against terrorism.

MANILA, Philippines – The worldwide mobile phone market started 2009 with an expected sequential downturn, exacerbated by the challenges of the worldwide recession.