MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) should go after factories polluting Manila Bay instead of small fishermen and the urban poor, a militant fisherfolk group said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines–The Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) of the Department of Agriculture plans to strengthen partnerships with the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (Biotech) and state universities and colleges (SUCs) to increase the value and competitiveness of traditional crops intended for local and world markets.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) will evaluate developments in the economy before filing a wage petition this year.

Editor’s note: The first part reported that the Botika ng Barangay was not as widespread as President Gloria Arroyo recently said. The village drugstore, which is a source of affordable medicines, has yet to expand to the poorest provinces in the Philippines.

MANILA, Philippines – The problem of effective enforcement of environmental laws does not only concern the police and prosecutors, but the judiciary.

MANILA, Philippines – More highly skilled workers are likely to get employed in Algeria despite the prevailing global economic crisis, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported yesterday.

CEBU, Philippines – In celebration of its 55th founding anniversary, Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines yesterday urged the workers to be vigilant and prepared to face the worsening global economic crisis.

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino doctors and dentists can now practice in other countries that are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

DAGUPAN CITY , Philippines  – Only 10 out of 100 seminarians go on to become priests, and of those ordained, two percent would usually ask for dispensation.

MANILA, Philippines – High school and college students can now look forward to employment in government and private companies even before they graduate.

Majority of Filipino investors are worried about their jobs as companies are likely to defer expansion plans this year amid the global economic crisis, a Dutch investment bank reported.

FOREIGNERS have started buying shares of listed Philippine companies and other peso-denominated financial assets in March due to the country’s favorable economic data. In a statement, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said net foreign portfolio investments—which is incoming less outgoing foreign money—posted a net inflow of $32.2 million in March from the $198.7-million net outflow…

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s balance of payments (BOP) slipped into a deficit level of $472 million at the end of March as government debt payments used up foreign exchange, paring down the first quarter balance to a $1.732-billion surplus.

MANILA, Philippines – Local automotive parts makers are looking at expanding their market and selling their products in Taiwan as they participated in the recently concluded 2009 Taipei International Auto Parts (AMPA) show.

WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund on Thursday forecast a prolonged, deep global recession in a crisis “nobody is escaping,” with recovery slow and difficult.

Religious group leaders Mike Velarde of El Shaddai and Eddie Villanueva of the Jesus is Lord Movement cannot join the moral force initiated by Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno if they run for public office in 2010.

THE Bataan nuclear power plant, which never produced a single watt of electricity but cost taxpayers $155,000 a day for more than 30 years, has been sold for scrap for $2.859 million.

The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System has finally approved the request of Manila Water Co. Inc. to extend its concession agreement by another 15 years from 2022 to 2037, Manila Water president Jose Rene Almendras said yesterday.

Brussels, 15 April 2009 (ITUC OnLine): A trade union initiative for integrating social justice within the transition to a low carbon economy has been launched by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in the negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 

Many Filipinos and other workers in the Asian region are still living poorly, trying to make both ends meet with P90 a day, the International Labor Organization (ILO) reported Tuesday.

Happiness could benefit your health more than giving up smoking. In the Scottish Borders they are trying out a new and quite unusual kind of medicine – happiness.

Commissioner Louis Michel, member of the European Commission responsible for Development and Humanitarian Aid, said in Brussels that “Europe has already made humanitarian responses to the food crisis through emergency aid. The “Food Facility”is the development response – 1 billion euros over 3 years to get agriculture back on its feet.

MANILA, Philippines – Publicly traded Apex Mining Co. Inc. is cutting costs by laying off 150 employees – including managers –out of its 1,955 workers at the Maco mine in Compostela Valley in Mindanao.

MANILA, Philippines – Youth groups said yesterday the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) should investigate schools increasing their “miscellaneous” fees, not just monitor tuition hikes.

Dear Professor Cruz: I wished you did not say “(i)t is clear that we have no choice but to add at least one more year to our 14-year education cycle” (Mini Critique, “High School in College”, Philippine STAR, April 2, 2009, p. A-17). People tend to take you authoritatively.

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US recession has deepened, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday, as fresh data showed industrial output slumped to a decade low in March and annual inflation fell for the first time in 54 years.

MANILA, Philippines – Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap said yesterday that the Philippines well do well to delay by five years the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) which is scheduled for implementation next year.

MANILA, Philippines – Broadcast giant GMA Network Inc. and energy firm Aboitiz Power Corp. (APC) are the two new entrants to the Philippine Stock Exchange’s (PSE) elite roster of listed companies in the PSEi, the main index of overall stock market performance.

MANILA, Philippines – As inflationary pressures drop this year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) decided yesterday to cut its policy rates by another 25 basis points, bringing the cumulative reduction to 150 basis points since December 2008.

The global financial crisis has forced Philippine economic managers to lower the country’s economic targets from 2009 until the end of President’s Gloria Arroyo’s term in 2010 and beyond.