NTUC Blog

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) – Developing Asia is expected to register a stronger-than-expected 3.9 percent growth this year as timely economic policies and programs implemented by Asian governments will keep the region afloat amid the global recession.

THE Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) is getting behind the high-level mission sent by the International Labor Organization (ILO) to Manila to investigate widespread complaints of violations of the rights of Filipino workers to freely organize themselves. We are absolutely supportive of the mission. We are hopeful that their findings and recommendations will…

Trade: President Obama has fired the opening salvo in a trade war with China by slapping 35% tariffs on its tires. But besides giving China a kick, this protectionism will harm Americans across the economy. Sec. 421 of the 1974 Trade Act, intended to control surges in imports.

MANILA, Philippines – Family planning advocates asked Catholic bishops yesterday to stop “distorting the truth” about the Reproductive Health Bill pending in Congress.

NIGHTMARE: Those having nightmares about possible automated cheating and failure of election in May 2010 may want to pore over our technical information on the matter. No need to define “cheating” as all Filipinos of voting age know what this fact of life — the usurping of the popular will — means.

BERLIN – The global economic crisis isn’t over yet, despite positive signals from Europe’s biggest economies, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned in comments published Saturday.

Claims of a breakthrough in the Doha round of global trade talks following last week’s ministerial in India appear to follow a familiar pattern for such meetings: namely, that such claims are a bit premature when you examine the details of what actually happened.

A year after Lehman collapse WASHINGTON, D.C.: A year ago, the financial system appeared to be on the brink of a meltdown and the future of American-style capitalism in doubt.

Mr Trichet (left) noted that central bankers from industrialised and emerging economies meeting at the Bank for International Settlements agreed that ‘we were observing a confirmation of some better indicators than previously anticipated.’

NEW DELHI (AFP) – – Ministers from key trading nations who agreed to resume stalled talks on a new global free-trade pact say big hurdles remain to clinching a deal that has eluded negotiators for years.

GOVERNMENT officials who are eyeing elective posts have already spent at least P117 million in taxpayers’ money on their so-called infomercials, according to the Commission on Audit (COA), and that is not even the grand total because not all the disbursements and contracts for these infomercials have been submitted to the COA auditors.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine economy escaped from the threat of recession as it grew 1.5 percent in the second quarter – beating most market estimates – as the government’s stimulus package boosted spending in infrastructure and social services during the period, officials said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – Encouraged by signs of improvement in the US and global financial markets, business sentiment turned bullish in the third quarter of this year.

MANILA, Philippines – More adult Filipinos remain optimistic that their lives will improve in the next 12 months, a survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) revealed yesterday.

WASHINGTON — Turnabouts in European and Asian economies, along with recent gains in the US, are raising hopes that the worldwide recession is drawing to a close. That’s not to say the coast is clear.

China’s much-vaunted stimulus package has exacerbated structural imbalances in the economy and may delay the country’s transition to a more sustainable growth model, according to some leading economists.

SINGAPORE: Asia is outpacing the United States and Europe in the rebound from the global economic slump, thanks to multibillion-dollar stimulus packages and robust demand from China, analysts said.

Director-General Ralph Recto last week triggered much speculation that there must be more than meets the eye behind his unexpected and sudden departure from the Arroyo Cabinet. While he publicly explains that he has decided to leave to explore his political options for next year, the natural object of people’s suspicion has been the recent…

The Chinese government has been forced to cancel the privatisation of a steel firm following worker protests, the country’s state-run media has reported.

The automation of the 2010 elections is a step in the right direction to insure that the results are accurate and will be known in a matter of hours. But it does not necessarily insure that the winners are the best and the wisest choices of the electorate. More important than automation is the education…

Tomorrow morning, the Senate economic affairs committee will conduct yet another public hearing. This time the subject of the hearing will be the various infomercials airing on television extolling the achievements of various government departments.

MANILA, Philippines – With several sectors of the economy bouncing back after a brief slump over the past several months, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has boldly stated that the Philippines will not slip into a recession this year.

HUNDREDS of workers who helped build Yorkshire’s power stations are facing an “asbestos timebomb”, experts claim.

THANKLESS JOB: During the week of Cory Aquino’s passing, I learned all over again what decades of hard-boiled journalism supposedly had taught me — that giving opinion in a newspaper column is akin to cleaning an estero as a matter of civic duty.

KATHMANDU (AFP) – When Anita Gimmi was unable to find work in her native Nepal last year, she borrowed 1,300 dollars and travelled to Qatar to take up a two-year contract with a cleaning company there.

WASHINGTON (AP) – US employers sharply scaled back layoffs in July, and the unemployment rate dipped for the first time in 15 months, sending a strong signal that the worst recession since World War II is finally ending.

The moment I got the news I never wanted to hear, there was nothing else to do but cry. I have written two columns expressing my support for former President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino after she started her battle with colon cancer. I had been praying fervently for a miraculous recovery for her, joining the rest…

WASHINGTON (AFP): The US economy showed signs of emerging from a long and brutal recession, according to data on Friday showing a narrower-than-expected  1.0% decline in output in the second-quarter.

Steady economic growth may have been President Gloria Arroyo’s biggest achievement in her nine years in office, but this did not solve the most pressing problems of this developing Southeast Asian country—joblessness, poverty and hunger.

While most of the focus today is on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, many of the people who should be accountable for the true State of the Nation will be more concerned about their seating arrangement, how they’ll look and what they will be saying during the ambush interviews post SONA.