Bad News

I met her while lining up for coffee at the neighborhood Starbucks in Salcedo Village. It was almost 10 in the evening when I took a break from the grim images of a Japanese doomsday being played over and over again on CNN.

THE Philippines is no longer the world’s biggest importer of rice as the government lower its importation targets to less than a million metric tons (MT) this year.

Philippines—Washington believes the Philippines is “unlikely” to meet its second Millennium Development Goal (MDG) or achieving universal primary education by 2015, according to a report of the US embassy in Manila furnished the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

MANILA, Philippines – Two top international accounting firms are now under fire for their role in the financial meltdown that is up to now causing untold difficulties to economies and people everywhere. The last time a large accounting firm got into similar trouble was when Enron fell apart and Arthur Andersen, its accounting firm, subsequently…

DAVAO CITY, Dec. 21 (PIA) — After the pilot voluntary code of good practices on decent work in the Business Process Outsourcing industry, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE XI) launched yesterday a voluntary code in the banana industry as well.

“Honey, I’m going to the office,” is a remark we may not hear as much if more people have their way. Three out of five workers around the world said they don’t need to be in the office to be productive, according to a study out yesterday from Cisco. The “Cisco Connected World Report” collected…

A top government official, meeting with a group of senior journalists over lunch yesterday, inquired: Since we’re all Filipinos who want what’s good for our country, why can’t media just report the good things that government is doing, instead of always looking for what went wrong and criticizing?

Around 50 suspected armed members of the New People’s Army (NPA), attacked Victorias Milling Company Inc. (VMC) and damaged property worth around P600,000, the police said.

WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday that downside risks to global recovery have intensified due to recent turbulence in sovereign debt markets and continued financial sector weakness.

WASHINGTON – Singapore, New Zealand and Saudi Arabia would see their populations triple if everyone who wants to move there were allowed to, a poll released Friday by Gallup shows.

Out of 100 countries, the Philippines ranked a poor 63rd in a Newsweek magazine study of the world’s best countries in terms of health, education, economy and politics. In Asia, the country was the third to the bottom in the Newsweek ranking in its latest edition.

MANILA, Philippines – Some 17.3 million or 28 percent of Filipinos 15 years and older are smokers, according to the National Statistics Office.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Education (DepEd) has activated its annual Oplan Balik Eskwela (OBE) Information and Action Center where parents, students and the general public can seek assistance on matters concerning the start of classes.

Like many people, I’ve become cynical of politicians’ promises so I have a suggestion. Each of the presidential aspirants must commit to 10 major policy changes he will implement within the first two years of his presidency. The commitment should be made publicly, in the form of a covenant with the people.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines dropped from 48th to 50th in ranking among 55 of the world’s leading financial systems and capital markets, according to the World Economic Forum Financial Development Report 2009.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines went down two notches in the most recent IT competitiveness index by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a division of the UK-based publication the Economist.

DESPITE the tax and credit reforms the Philippines instituted the past year, the country fell three ranks to place 144th in a list of 183 economies in the 2010 Doing Business Report as it remains one of 10 places in the world investors find most difficult to start and close a business.

The Philippines’ progress in governance and anti-corruption over the past decade failed to make improvements and was still behind its neighboring countries, the World Bank reported.

The United Nation’s Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) issued a stinging slap on the face of the country’s anti-drug czar President Arroyo after it named the Philippines a major transshipment point for methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu and ranked it among the top five sources in the world of the illegal drug.

Because it dismantled labs MANILA, Philippines—The branding of the Philippines as a top producer of shabu stemmed from its law enforcement agencies’ success in dismantling illegal drug operations and clandestine laboratories, a Malacañang official said Saturday.

GENEVA—Because of its exposure to natural hazards, the Philippines is one of the unsafest places on earth.

Funds parked at the Bangko Sentral continued to rise in May despite a series of rate cuts aimed at increasing lending to businesses.

Household savings rates of Filipinos have been declining over the years because of the impact of a growing young population on the economy, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) reported Thursday.

WASHINGTON – The Philippines is 114th among 144 countries in the world rated for their state of peace in the face of global recession and growing political instability.

About P80 billion worth of funds lay idle in the banks in the first quarter of 2009, as news of global economic recession forced families of migrant Filipino workers to save their money instead of spend them, resulting in a dismal 0.4-percent growth in gross domestic product during the period.

Affluent Filipino consumers are holding back on spending because of economic uncertainties they anticipate in the next 12 months caused by the financial turmoil, according to Nielsen Company survey.

DESPITE the current economic slowdown, listed companies raised the amount they paid out to stockholders at the end of the first quarter this year, based on data released by the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

MANILA, Philippines—The Bureau of Internal Revenue believes that several corporate taxpayers have been dodging payments of their tax obligations.

MANILA, Philippines – Only about three million Filipinos are registered as individual taxpayers with the Bureau of Internal Revenues (BIR), the Department of Finance (DOF) announced yesterday.

NINE out of 10 Filipinos in Metro Manila have cut down on their spending out of fear they will make less money as a result of the economic crunch, but are optimistic the economy will get better, a survey says.