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dinabaw

August 19th, 2008, 04:09 AM

The blogger from Mindanao

Monday, August 18, 2008

Once again, Mindanao has been getting screaming-headline treatment in the national media in the last couple of weeks. As usual, it’s mainly because there is expectation of general strife and mayhem in the proverbial Land of Promise.

Let’s make no bones about this: The only time media attention is focused in Mindanao is when there is something controversial, sensational, or contentious that’s breaking out (again!) in some part of the island.

And very often, it’s the kind of controversy that inevitably bolster the general perception That Mindanao is gasping at the throes of a major revolt; that it is a land where anarchists and barbarians hold court and threaten the supposed unity and sovereignty of the republic. Take your pick from the usual menu of news stories about Mindanao: Kidnapping, conflict, war, gunfight, poverty, etc. Thus, many among us, particularly those who have no physical or emotional connection with or to Mindanao, have gotten the impression that the Mindanao problem is nothing but a source of annoyance, a blight on our existence as a country.

This time, the intense media focus is over the controversial Memorandum of Agreement over Ancestral Domain between the peace negotiating panels of the Republic of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The people who fancy themselves as pundits and as some kind of ultimate specialists on the “Mindanao situation” have been furiously peddling so-called expert opinions on the “problem.”

I’ve read many of these commentaries and quite frankly, as someone who grew up in Davao City and who continues to have a strong emotional attachment to Mindanao, I find most of these as nothing but intellectual swashbuckling (the description that I feel is more appropriate is the solitary sexual activity that most male adolescents indulge in, which unfortunately is not suitable for use in polite conversation).

Most of the gobbledygook that’s being spewed out there—and I must add, mostly by people who are from and in Imperial Manila—have only polarized the issues to the point of irrelevance. I don’t necessarily think that one has to possess an umbilical cord to Mindanao to be deemed qualified to write about Mindanao, but I wish that some people would at least try to acquire a multi-dimensional perspective of the issues before shooting their mouths off. There is so much about the issues that can only be understood through a comprehensive appreciation of the complex social, cultural and historical context of the struggles of the island and its people.

There is so much more about the “Mindanao issue” than the MILF problem. There is so much more about Mindanao than all the bad things that mainstream media finds newsworthy. The problem is that the other “content” about Mindanao is not getting equal media space.

Fortunately, there is now the blogosphere, hailed as the “new media.” And a number of bloggers from Mindanao have been proactively using the medium to debunk the bias treatment that Mindanao and its people are getting from the mainstream media.

At the forefront of the advocacy is Oliver Robillo, a blogger from Davao City who breathes passion and affection into anything Mindanao. I was in Davao City for work over the weekend and had the opportunity of sitting down with Robillo over coffee.

Robillo has the necessary academic pedigree and consulting portfolio to make it big in Manila or even in other major global centers, but he continues to live in Davao, occasionally shuttling to nearby Cagayan de Oro and General Santos cities for the much-needed change of atmosphere. He is the proverbial “big fish in a small pond” doing various odds and ends, from business and information technology consulting, to column writing, to teaching, etc. But more and more, he is gaining reputation as the “blogger from Mindanao.” The description highlights his two main preoccupations: Strengthening the power and influence of blogging as the new media, and Mindanao. Incidentally, that’s how he is billed in this year’s Media Nation forum scheduled this week in Tagaytay, where he has been invited to talk about, well, what else, but blogging.

Robillo is more popularly known in the blogosphere by his nickname Blogie, which many assume he co-opted when blogging became a phenomenon. It’s not true, of course—I’ve known the guy for more than a decade now and he has always been known as Blogie even before blogs became a fad. He manages a number of blogs in addition to acting out the role as informal gatekeeper of Mindanao blogs and bloggers.

Robillo and the network of bloggers from Mindanao aim to present to the world what is true about Mindanao, from the point of view of the people who are from Mindanao. Robillo is quick to assert though, that their goal is not to paint a sugarcoated, sterilized, photo-shopped, mirage of Mindanao. “Only the truth about Mindanao,” Robillo empathically declares.

The network now comprises about 380 individual bloggers from all over Mindanao, and hopefully growing each day. The blogs run the whole gamut of interests and topics —from politics, to information technology, to photography, to culture and arts, to personal reflections on a host of topics. It’s a rich and dazzling buffet of content about Mindanao enabling and ennobling readers to acquire a more candid, personal, and ultimately—balanced and accurate— portrayal of Mindanao. In short, the much-needed context for understanding the “Mindanao issue.”

True to the spirit of the medium, the network is mainly a virtual community. Robillo, who also dabbles in events management, has put together several events that have enabled bloggers from all over Mindanao to physically converge in one location to discuss issues of mutual interest and benefit, such the annual Mindanao Bloggers Summit. Robillo is also at the helm of Word Camp 2008, the first summit of bloggers who use wordpress as platform, scheduled on Sept. 6 at the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde.

Clearly, there are more perspectives about and from Mindanao other than the self-serving rhetoric that’s being regurgitated by politicians with narrow interests and by near-sighted media organizations and personalities. But thanks the blogosphere and to Robillo and the other bloggers from Mindanao— we’re at least seeing glimpses of the real picture out there.

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=bongAustero_aug18_2008

junex

August 20th, 2008, 10:46 AM

Yaan mo, pag sa CNN naman ma news yan. Philippines naman ang dalhin, kaya damay din hehehe...

Weina

August 21st, 2008, 08:05 AM

153 dead in jetliner crash in spain

[dx]

August 28th, 2008, 08:50 AM

RP’s fight vs poverty lags in Asia (http://www.bworldonline.com/BW082808/content.php?id=001&src=2)

THE PHILIPPINES lags behind its neighbors in reducing poverty and is in the company of South Asian countries which have done a poor job in reducing the ranks of the poor in the past decade, an Asian Development Bank (ADB) study released yesterday showed.

The ADB report proposed a new way of measuring poverty in the region and said the poverty line should be redrawn above the proportion of the population living at less than $1.35 a day, instead of the old $1 a day benchmark of the World Bank.

Using this yardstick, there are 20.75 million-25.4 million poor people in the Philippines, or 24.1%-29.5% of the population, depending on which indicators, like prices of goods, are used.

Under $1 a day, only 13.6% of the country’s population would be considered poor. The World Bank itself has moved up its international poverty line to $1.25 a day and said there were more poor people in the developing world than previously thought; for instance because the cost of living in poor countries had been underestimated.

At the same time, however, it concluded that developing countries have been generally successful in reducing poverty.

The World Bank said 1.4 billion people were living below its new poverty line, from a little less than a billion using the old $1 threshold.

At $1.35 a day, the ADB said there were 843 million poor people in 16 countries it had studied using new statistical methods, instead of a billion.

The ADB study, part of its yearly Key Indicators publication, showed that poverty came down to 29.5% of the Philippine population in 2006 from nearly 36% in 1994, a reduction of six percentage points or about half a percentage point a year.

Indonesia, Vietnam better

This pales in comparison to Vietnam, which reduced poverty at an average of four percentage points a year, or Indonesia at nearly two points.

As a result, there are more poor people in the Philippines than in Vietnam, where the head-count is at least 13.4 million.

In Vietnam, only 16% of the population can be considered poor, significantly down from more than 60% 15 years ago.

India was slightly better than the Philippines at seven-tenths of a point in average annual reduction.

Among 13 countries compared, the Philippines had the same pace as Sri Lanka, and was better than Pakistan, Mongolia, and Bangladesh, where poverty even worsened.

Data show lower poverty reduction rates for the more affluent Thailand and Malaysia, but the ADB said this was misleading since poverty in both countries had been driven down to zero.

The Manila-based multilateral lender said "Viet Nam’s track record of reducing poverty is remarkable," while the "pace of poverty reduction has been very weak among the three South Asian giants, Bangladesh (especially), India, and Pakistan."

The World Bank, meanwhile, gave credit to China’s poverty reduction record, which allowed it to halve "extreme poverty," a "Millennium Development Goal," 15 years ahead of target.

Globally, the "overall rate of progress against poverty is fairly similar to past estimates," and the trend was a one-percentage-point reduction annually. This was slightly higher than previous estimates because of China’s "remarkable pace of poverty reduction."

"While the new data suggest that the developing world is poorer than we thought, it has been no less successful in reducing the incidence of absolute poverty since the early 1980s," it said.

No focus

In a phone interview yesterday, Domingo F. Panganiban, National Anti Poverty Commission lead convenor, said poverty reduction in the Philippines has been slower compared to its neighbors due to natural calamities, the lack of focus among local governments’ anti-poverty programs, and the unstable security situation in Mindanao, home to many of the country’s poorest provinces.

"We are bothered by typhoons which affect the vulnerable sectors like the fisher folk. These contribute to the problem of poverty," he said.

"The efforts being undertaken by the local government units are not very focused, so we intervene by giving them a database," he added.

Mr. Panganiban said census data were "too general" and did not reflect the realities in the communities. "These figures are not properly analyzed to guide the local governments. They should instead use the community-based monitoring system to focus on the needs of the people within their area," he said.

The anti-poverty chief said the Mindanao conflict, which has displaced tens of thousands of people, was also disrupting the government’s efforts.

The government has been giving out conditional cash transfers and providing skills training to ease poverty, Mr. Panganiban said.

The official Philippine poverty estimates were actually higher, at a third of the population in 2006, or 27.6 million or 4.7 million families, even with a lower threshold. This was an increase from 25.4 million individuals or 4.1 million families in 2000.

Based on the Family Income and Expenditure Survey conducted every three years, an individual needed to earn P15,057 annually to stay out of poverty, equivalent to P41.25 or less than $1 a day.

The latest Social Weather Stations survey, meanwhile, said 10.6 million Filipino families considered themselves poor.

Sought for comment, University of the Philippines economist Solita C. Monsod said the country was doing an "awful" job at reducing poverty, citing the estimates of fellow UP economist Arsenio M. Balisacan, who found that poverty worsened between 1997 and 2006 with even lower thresholds.

The UP estimates pegged the number of poor people at 26.9% of the population in 2006, from about a quarter in 1997.

"That starts from [the Estrada administration]," Mrs. Monsod said.

The ADB report also showed that rural areas in the Philippines had the least share in total poverty among 11 countries, but still high at 71%. Other countries had more than 80%.

The recent "shocks" in food prices have swelled the ranks of the poor, the ADB added, noting that rice is a staple for two billion Asians. In the case of the Philippines, a 10% increase in cereal prices meant a million more poor people, and more than two million if food prices increased overall, the study said.

Assuming per capita gross domestic product grew by 1.6% until 2020, poverty could go down to around 23% of the population, if the distribution of economic gains stayed the same or neutral, ADB projections showed. "Pro-poor" distribution would bring this down to 21.1%, but distribution in favor of the rich would have little effect.

"While the methodology used in generating these numbers could be criticized as simplistic, it is useful for reminding us that while sustaining economic growth is imperative for poverty reduction, policies that can also make growth more inclusive — captured [in terms] of the poverty outcomes based on either distributionally neutral growth (relative to pro-rich growth), or pro-poor growth (relative to distributionally neutral growth) — remain the gold standard that policy makers should pursue in so far as poverty reduction is concerned," the ADB said. — with Alexis Douglas B. Romero

crappypants

August 28th, 2008, 11:34 PM

It is the same with many latin countries ,their economies are bigger than us but the poverty incidence is high ,since the high disparity in distribution of wealth between the haves and have nots. maybe we need to become communists. kill all the hacienda landlords and give the peasants back the land.
i also saw in the news bank robbery in Makati ave. brazenly during daytime. :ohno: is it becoming common?
No mercy for those criminals, instant death with torture should be their punishment once caught to deter these criminals.
You don't need to resort to such just because youre poor. the problem is they;re not afraid ,emboldened with lax laws of punishment.
It's not even the poor perpetrating these crimes so hard times is not an excuse.

Juan Pilgrim

August 29th, 2008, 01:55 AM

The Economy
BY JESSICA ANNE D. HERMOSA

http://www.bworldonline.com/BW082908/content.php?id=052

SLOW PROCESSING TIME, disjointed incentive policies, and high business costs are making the Philippines lose out on foreign direct investments to neighbors like Vietnam, experts say.

Elmer C. San Pascual, Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) promotions head, singled out Vietnam as a fast-growing competitor for ecozone locators.

No longer China

"China is no longer the apple of the eye of manufacturing investors," Mr. Pascual said in a phone interview last Tuesday.

As China took back income tax holidays it had promised to investors earlier, firms are becoming more interested in expanding in Vietnam, he explained.

Cesar B. Bautista, co-chair of the National Competitiveness Council, agreed, noting in a separate phone interview that straightforward policies and streamlined procedures for investors make Vietnam attractive to foreign investors.

Clear direction

"Vietnam has firm policies. Once they say one thing, the whole country moves in the same direction," Mr. Bautista noted.

"In the Philippines, one office will say one thing, while the another office will go another way," he added.

Tax incentives to exporters, for instance, vary under the Board of Investments and PEZA. Aside from these, there are several more investment promotion agencies that manage investment activities.

As a result, certain electronics companies have gone to Vietnam according to Mr. Bautista. He declined to go into details. Mr. San Pascual likewise said that computer assembly and related industries are finding Vietnam attractive.

No contest

Foreign direct investments to the Philippines in the five months to last May recorded a net inflow of $725 million, below the net inflow of $2.3 billion in the same period last year. For the entire 2008, the central bank has projected FDIs to hit $2.6 billion, down from an original outlook of $4.2 billion and slightly lower than last year’s $2.7 billion.

In comparison, Vietnam reported $14.7 billion worth of FDI in the same five months from $8 billion in the same period in 2007.

Aside from clear-cut investment policies, power costs are also to Vietnam’s advantage according to Mr. San Pascual.

"In the Philippines, it costs 10 cents per kilowatt hour. We’re the second [most expensive] in Asia. In Vietnam, it’s only 5 cents per kilowatt hour," he said.

Also, tax holidays for investors in Vietnam run up to 12 years, versus only eight years in the Philippines, Mr. San Pascual said.

Not the only factor

He clarified however that PEZA’s offering of a new set incentives for expansion projects of foreign investors already in the Philippines somewhat boosted competitiveness.

The country’s labor pool is also an edge.

"We know that Vietnam is quite weak in terms of high technology," Mr. San Pascual said, noting that investors choose the Philippines when their operations need engineers or skilled supervisors.

Mr. Bautista concurred, saying "Our climate is improving, our competitiveness is up. I don’t think power (costs) are the only factors investors look for."

Fighting chance

Business environment — the ease of exporting and importing, for instance — is the bottom line, he said.

He thus emphasized the need to "align policies" among government offices.

Antique Rep. Exequiel B. Javier, chairman of the House of Representatives ways and means committee, believes that the bill pending in his committee that seeks to consolidate and streamline investments incentives should further make the Philippines competitive.

"We can have a fighting chance against Vietnam," he said in Filipino in a phone interview.

"We’re not trying to attract ambient investors," he said, explaining that the bill hopes to attract those that will bring in long-term capital to the country.

In the meantime, PEZA has been focusing promotions efforts on companies that already have branches in the Philippines.

"Those that are here in the Philippines and with PEZA, we are monitoring their expansion," Mr. Pascual said.

For over seven years now, 60-65% of business ventures in PEZA are reinvestments, he said.

crappypants

August 29th, 2008, 05:36 AM

http://http://www.businessweek.com/globalbi...rss_topStories (http://www.businessweek.com/globalbi...rss_topStories)reminds me an article i found in the Vietnam forum.

le Reine

September 2nd, 2008, 07:31 AM

Kapag ito nanalo, ewan ko na lang talaga.

Joey de Venecia eyeing pa’s House seat (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20080901-157956/Joey-de-Venecia-eyeing-pas-House-seat)

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 05:03:00 09/01/2008

MANILA, Philippines—Like father, like son?

Businessman Jose “Joey” de Venecia III, who blew the whistle on the overpriced National Broadband Network (NBN) deal, said he just might follow the footsteps of his father, Pangasinan Rep. and former House speaker, Jose de Venecia Jr.

“If politics will propagate my message, my advocacy, my political opposition, I may consider running for office,” he said at the Balitaan sa Tinapayan forum in Sampaloc, Manila, Sunday.

De Venecia, whose revelation of alleged huge kickbacks in the government’s $329-million deal with China’s ZTE Corp. led to its cancellation, said he would likely run for his father’s seat, since it was the latter’s third and last term.

“My father said he’s tired of politics and wants to rest. I think it’s about time because he’s turning 72 and he’s been in politics for so long. He deserves to rest and have time for his family too,” said the younger man in Filipino.

De Venecia, who revealed the alleged participation of ranking government officials and First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo in the NBN deal, said it was time the Senate blue ribbon committee investigating the deal came out with its report.

But panel chair Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, in another interview, expressed surprise De Venecia wanted to end the NBN-ZTE probe when his father had yet to take the stand.

“I believe it is his duty to convince his father to appear in the Senate if he is really interested in getting at the whole truth,” Cayetano said.

De Venecia said he did not know if his father would appear at the Senate.

While his father had been present at several meetings on the NBN project, the younger De Venecia said he did not know the extent of his knowledge of the deal, specifically President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s alleged role in it.

“I really didn’t know her well, I never had a conversation with her, so I really don’t know what they talked about on the NBN-ZTE,” De Venecia said.

He said he would fight corruption in Congress, having witnessed it firsthand, and push for the formation of “new values.”

He said he had been traveling all over the country promoting his anticorruption crusade, “Back Off Tayo Sa Katiwalian Sa Gobyerno,” a take-off from what Mike Arroyo allegedly told him when they crossed paths as the NBN-ZTE deal was being crafted. Allison W. Lopez and Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.

RonnieR

September 2nd, 2008, 07:45 AM

susunod dyan si Jun Lozada.......

bitoy

September 3rd, 2008, 10:55 PM

Editorial

‘Nakakahiya’

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:04:00 09/03/2008 (http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/editorial/view/20080903-158311/Nakakahiya)

That most of the local officials of Pampanga province, especially the mayors and board members, are suddenly beside themselves with their non-negotiable demand for credible and clean leadership is not at all surprising. But their brazenness is still breathtaking. Simply put, their “campaign” is both shameful and shameless. In Filipino, “nakakahiya, walang hiya!”

We are referring to the petition purportedly initiated by Kapanalig at Kambilan ning Memalen Pampanga (Kambilan) for the recall of Gov. Eddie “Among Ed” Panlilio.

The petition, pushed by these same officials, is not unexpected and has partisanship written all over it. It is public knowledge that some of Panlilio’s political adversaries, from the time of his election, do not want him to finish his term. Right after his proclamation, they drove all over town waving their own version of the three R’s—recount, recall and requiem—like three swords of Damocles. Sure enough, a case for recount was filed shortly thereafter with the Commission on Elections by one of his rival candidates. (The Supreme Court forbade the recount while it deliberated on a related petition.) And the requiem? Panlilio himself has said that he has been told that a requiem (based on the Latin word for “rest,” and which in the Catholic Church’s lexicon refers to a Mass or service held especially for a deceased person) is being eyed by some of his enemies as a “last resort.”

Founded only last July, Kambilan can’t be the initiator of the recall drive; in fact, it can only be the front. This “non-profit and non-stock organization” is headed by the campaign manager of a losing candidate.

Candaba Mayor Jerry Pelayo’s statement that the Pampanga Mayors League will help gather the minimum 100,000 signatures needed for the recall petition gave Kambilan away: that is, it’s a skeleton that can’t come to life without the political networks of the very politicians unhappily watching Panlilio serve as Pampanga’s governor.

The recall petition is shameful and shameless because it is downright hypocritical. Pampanga today, despite being the home province of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, remains a “jueteng-free zone.” It remains, reportedly, the home base of the country’s most influential gambling lord. But Pampanga’s officials, except for Panlilio who is openly campaigning against this corrupting illegal numbers game, are not complaining. And they didn’t complain either when the province’s collection of lahar fees, prior to Panlilio’s term, was at unbelievable lows, amid talk that most of it was flowing into private pockets instead of provincial coffers. Neither did they care that the 2007 elections in Pampanga had been reduced, in the public mind, into a contest between jueteng interests and lahar money.

Disgusted and embarrassed by the prospect of having to vote “None of the Above,” conscientious Kapampangans looked for an alternative. They found a reluctant Father Panlilio who could not refuse because he had preached that the circumstances called for a strong moral stand for good governance, and they thought it was only he who had a fighting chance to win. The priest’s victory earned for the Kapampangans the nation’s admiration. It gave its people a new sense of pride, and Pampanga basked once again in a moment of glory. But most of all, it reassured all well-meaning Filipinos that there’s still hope for the country. Panlilio became the newest symbol of the Filipino people’s aspiration for a decent society.

Now that Panlilio has raised lahar collections from P2.41 million a month in 2006 to more than P17.57 million a month since June 2007, and insists on weeding out the underground lottery “jueteng,” Pampanga’s traditional politicians are scrambling to get him out. For a jumble of fuzzy reasons: loss of confidence in his leadership, gross negligence, perjury, failure to unify local officials, lack of clear directions and programs of actions, failure to deliver basic services, even non-attendance in meetings with the President. Well, the first time he went to such a meeting, he came home with a paper bag containing P500,000 and fell out of grace with Malacañang because he chose to tell the public about it.

The recall petition is not about good governance or transparency. It is about political opportunism and personal greed. At a time the Filipino nation is in desperate need of honest leaders, officials of the President’s province are doing everything to remove one. For shame.

nostalgicbabe

September 4th, 2008, 12:51 PM

^It was in fact President Arroyo's lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, who was Panlilio's election lawyer and helped the latter against Pineda's electoral protest. Presumably, Macalintal's assistance of Panlilio had the President's blessing. The article seems to be implying that because these local officials are from "the President's province", that she somehow has something to do with the recall. These innuendos are baseless. The local officials are their own men. They have their own interests independent of their alliance with the President. Moreover, local governments are constitutionally autonomous.

As for the P500,000, it should be remembered that Panlilio himself, when he first came out in the media, said that he did not think it was a bribe, as there were no conditions attached. Rather he had the impression that it was given as a financial assistance for his projects. The Inquirer also retracted an earlier claim that the President was present when the money was given. Even Panlilio could not clearly say who the money came from.

nostalgicbabe

September 4th, 2008, 12:59 PM

bitoy

September 8th, 2008, 07:25 PM

Arroyo names Chavit Singson deputy nat'l security adviser (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/118617/Arroyo-names-Chavit-Singson-deputy-natl-security-adviser)

MANILA, Philippines - Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita on Saturday confirmed that former Ilocos Sur governor Luis "Chavit" Singson has been appointed deputy national security adviser.

GMA Flash Report quoted Ermita as saying Singson's appointment papers were released by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's office on Friday.

The defeated senatorial candidate will replace retired Lieutenant General Pedro Cabuay.

Ermita said he will meet with Singson on Monday to discuss the appointment.

Singson's appointment as President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's No. 2 security adviser could lead to speculations about what's in store for National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzalez.

Considered as one of the most powerful Filipino politicians, Singson is not known for playing second fiddle to anyone, other than the President. He played a key role in events that led to the ouster of President Joseph Estrada in 2001.

His exposé which led to Estrada's impeachment and forced resignation also led him closer to Ms. Arroyo, who became the biggest beneficiary of the uprising by succeeding Estrada by virtue of her being vice president.

Singson is the fifth defeated administration senatorial bet to get a post in the executive department.

The other former Team Unity senatorial bets appointed include Vicente Sotto III (Dangerous Drugs Board), Prospero Pichay Jr. (Local Water Utilities Administration), Michael Defensor (task force on NAIA-3), and Ralph Recto (National Economic and Development Authority).Kimberly Jane Tan, GMANews.TV

Pasko na! regalo ni Gloria sa mga tauhan niya... more to come.. :lol:

le Reine

September 9th, 2008, 03:48 AM

eeekkkk!!! :puke: ano namang magagawa ni Singson sa posisyong yan. Sayang naman si Norberto Gonzales. Ok na yung unang apat eh pero si Singson... kadiri talaga. :puke:

DoggMann

September 9th, 2008, 04:00 AM

... ano bang mga pakialam nyo ... e sa prerogative ni arroyo yan ....

:D:D:D

red_jasper

September 9th, 2008, 04:15 AM

^^

Arroyo pays attention to criticisms on Chavit appointment
09/09/2008 | 08:41 AM

MANILA, Philippines - President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is paying attention to criticisms on her choice of former Ilocos Sur governor defeated senatorial candidate Luis "Chavit" Singson as deputy national security adviser, a Malacañang official said Tuesday.

But Press Secretary Jesus Dureza stressed that even as claims by the political opposition are being taken into account, this does not mean that President Arroyo would act on them.

"Alam nating may nagkukuwestiuyon, we are listening to their views, di natin binabalewala ang kanilang punto de vista, even the opposition (We know there are those who question her choice of Singson. We are listening to their views. We are not discounting their viewpoints, even those of the opposition)," Dureza said in an interview on dzXL radio.

Here (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/119046/Arroyo-pays-attention-to-criticisms-on-Chavit-appointment)

CGYanon

September 11th, 2008, 08:24 PM

Red tape drags RP further down in competitiveness (http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=news1_sept11_2008)

By Roderick T. dela Cruz

THE Philippines has the most number of procedures for starting and closing a business, making its economy among the least competitive in the world.

Of 181 countries surveyed in a joint study by the World Bank and the International Finance Corp., the Philippines ranked 140th, and behind other developing Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia and Vietnam.

The country’s ranking in the Doing Business 2009 survey was four notches below its 136th place in 2008.

Singapore topped the list of 181 countries surveyed, while Congo was placed at the bottom.

Rounding out the top 10 list were Singapore, New Zealand, the United States, Hong Kong, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia and Norway.

The study said the Philippines had the most number of procedures for starting a business at 15, compared with only one procedure in Canada.

The Philippines was also listed as one of the countries where it is most difficult to close a business, taking as long as 5.7 years to resolve a bankruptcy.

Southeast Asian countries that ranked high in the 2009 list were Singapore at 1st place; Thailand, 13th; Malaysia, 20th; Brunei, 88th; Vietnam, 92nd; Indonesia, 129th; and Cambodia, 135th.

In the region, the Philippines only ranked higher than Laos (165th) and East Timor (170th).

The report ranked 181 economies based on 10 indicators of business regulation that record the time and cost to meet government requirements in starting and operating a business, trading across borders, paying taxes, and closing a business.

But the study says the rankings do not reflect such areas as macroeconomic policy, quality of infrastructure, currency volatility, investor perceptions, or crime rates.

“Economies need rules that are efficient, easy to use and accessible to all who use them. Otherwise, businesses are trapped in the unregulated, informal economy, where they have less access to finance and hire fewer workers and where workers lack the protection of labor law,” said Michael Klein, World Bank/IFC vice president for financial and private sector development.

The report says that while the Philippines allows entrepreneurs to reserve the company name and register online, the procedures still requires payment in person.

But it also noted reforms at the port. “The Philippines introduced new scanners, reducing the level of physical inspection at the ports. In addition, traders can submit customs declarations electronically through value added service providers,” it said.

The study says East Asia and the Pacific region had the greatest momentum in reforming business regulations. The study identified 26 reforms between June 2007 and June 2008 that make it easier to do business in 24 economies in the region.

“Countries in the region are clearly committed to reform agendas,” said Dahlia Khalifa, a co-author of the report. “Regardless of their stage of economic development, they are recognizing the role that regulatory reform can play in staying competitive while boosting entrepreneurship and job creation.”

China, one of the world’s emerging markets, landed in 83rd spot but was cited for reforms in making it easier to get credit, pay taxes and close a business. The study says Thailand implemented reforms that protect investors, making it easier to get credit, pay taxes and trade across borders.

filcan

September 12th, 2008, 03:13 AM

^^no business=no work, no work=find work overseas... :sigh:

IslandSon.PH

September 14th, 2008, 04:43 PM

RP postpones Clark terminal construction; bidders now 9:bash:

The Philippines postponed an auction to build and operate a $142-million terminal at Clark, the former US Air Base north of Manila, after some potential bidders requested more time, Clark International Airport Corp. president Victor Jose Luciano said.

The auction will take place on October 3, three weeks later than originally planned, Luciano said in a phone interview. The number of potential bidders has dropped to nine from 11 after three of the groups merged, he said.

The government is sticking to its plan for a terminal capable of handling 7 million passengers a year even after some of the bidders suggested building it in phases as passenger traffic increased, Luciano said.

The terminal will be the second at Clark, which now serves mostly budget carriers flying within Asia. The government is expanding Clark because Manila’s airport has exceeded capacity and has less room to grow. (Bloomberg)

diz

September 14th, 2008, 06:45 PM

The government is unwise. It should have listened to the bidders.

stanleymalls

September 14th, 2008, 06:59 PM

^^ HHHHHUUUUWWWWWAAAAAATTTTTT? :crazy:

Err. Just Err........ :hahano: The articles are just.......... Oh well...... 'Pinas talaga oh.....

bitoy

September 16th, 2008, 10:09 AM

Singson: RP could be another Iraq (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20080915-160878/Singson-RP-could-be-another-Iraq)

MANILA, Philippines—New Deputy National Security Adviser Luis “Chavit” Singson on Monday warned that a prolonged war in Mindanao could turn the country into another Iraq.
“Hindi pwedeng giyera ng giyera, tatamaan ang civilians … tingnan mo yung Iraq, hindi mahinto. Patayan nang patayan. (Prolonging the war will only result in civilian casualties. In Iraq, the war doesn’t stop. People are always getting killed.) We have to convince both sides to go back to the negotiating table,” Singson told reporters at the Kapihan sa Manila hotel forum.

The former Ilocos Sur governor, appointed recently by Malacañang to the sensitive post, has been getting flak for his supposed lack of qualifications.

His designation was reportedly part of the “political payback” to losing 2007 senatorial candidates like Ralph Recto, Tito Sotto and Prospero Pichay—all of whom now hold various appointed positions.

Singson denied his appointment was political payback, claiming his connections with former and present governors would be crucial in his latest job.

His connections, he said, would have been useful in the 2000 Sipadan kidnapping involving an American missionary couple had he been allowed to intercede.

“Abu Sabaya used to call me a lot during the Burnham kidnapping. In fact they announced through Radio Mindanao that Abu Sabaya wanted to release Burnham and the nurse through Gov. Chavit Singson but the military didn’t want me involved,” Singson said in Filipino.

“I have a lot of experience in sensitive situations. I know I can help the country so I accepted the post,” said the former Vigan police chief, adding it was a “sacrifice” for him to take the post.

Singson said he would not take over the job of ailing National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales even if he were asked.

“Malaking disadvantage sa akin dahil matrabaho yan. Sa special missions lang ako (It’s a big disadvantage for me because it’s a lot of hard work. I prefer to be in special missions),” he said, adding that he had business interests to protect.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://static.flickr.com/3173/2552972488_7970dd24cf.jpg

SPECIAL MISSION -- :lol:

Maxxclip

September 16th, 2008, 10:25 AM

Weina

September 16th, 2008, 10:48 AM

Some of Philippines banks are exposed to Lehman. BDO is the first casualty....Another thing, Philamlife might be affected due to it's parent's company AIG financial difficulties. More bad news to come....this freefall market is slowly killing us:ohno:

Weina

September 16th, 2008, 11:21 AM

More trouble ahead
RP won’t be spared impact of Lehman collapse

THE PHILIPPINES SHOULD BRACE for more capital flight and debt market turbulence in the wake of US investment bank Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy filing and rival Merrill Lynch & Co.’s agreeing to be taken over, analysts and economists yesterday said.

DUTCH tourist Marinus Hoogedoorn of Holland poses for a compatriot in front of a Lehman Brothers annex office along New York’s Sixth Avenue in this photo taken on Sunday. The troubled Wall Street investment bank yesterday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the largest casualty to date of the global credit crisis. — AFP

Global markets were shaken on Monday following one of Wall Street’s worst-ever weekends: Lehman became the largest casualty of the global credit crisis, Merrill Lynch would go to Bank of America for $50 billion, and insurer American International Group, Inc. sought some $40 billion from the US Federal Reserve.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index dove 4.15% or 109,96 points to 2,536.16, shaken again — like it has been on other occasions this year — by news tied to the credit crisis.

The peso fell back to P47 per US$1 territory, closing at P47.095 as investors dumped the currency for dollar-denominated assets abroad.

"There was a selling avalanche. The worst is not over yet as the plot is simply starting to thicken," Tristan E. Valerio of Lucky Securities, Inc. said.

With smaller lenders already having failed and others also on the verge of going under, the crisis is nowhere nearing an end, analysts said.

Domestic banks and corporations are not expected to take a direct hit but they may have to review their asset portfolios — some of which may have exposure to the US debt market, if not directly to any of the troubled American firms.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando M. Tetangco, Jr., sought to downplay the impact, saying "Some banks have exposure to Lehman by way of structured products but the amount is small relative to capital and spread out among several banks."

But Emmanuel Leyco, a public finance professor at the Asian Institute of Management and a former Wall Street credit analyst, said "We will be affected and this is serious. People will be rethinking and will be more cautious when it comes to credit instruments."

Marcelo E. Ayes, senior vice-president at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said "The problem is the systemic risk. That’s the bigger issue. Risk aversion will worsen ... I don’t think there’s a precedent similar to this one."

The continued volatility will be marked by investors pulling out of emerging markets such as the Philippines in an attempt to recapitalize ailing US firms or just seek safer havens.

"More funds will be going out of emerging markets so we cannot expect much for funding sources," said economist Victor A. Abola of the University of Asia and the Pacific.

"There will be less funding locally and less investments in the Philippines," another banker said.

The sentiment could spill over to the local debt market, with Philippine credit default swaps — the cost of insuring debts — already expanding to more than 300 basis points from 250 overnight.

Jose L. Vistan of AB Capital Securities, Inc. said investors were worried about the plight of the other US financial institutions as Fed resources were not unlimited.

"The future looks bleak for the global economy," he said.

Nevertheless, equities analysts said there was still hope.

"If there will be a big buyer for Lehman, investors’ panic might stop and a rally might take place although the possibility of the market reversing its bearish note looks dim right now," said Harry G. Liu of Summit Securities, Inc.

"There has to be something positive that should happen; something that will show investors that there is nothing to be panicky about."

Mr. Valerio said that since there was a steep decline, a stock market bounce was possible although this should be supported by some positive news.

Market expectations prior to the Lehman news were already pessimistic. Analysts expected share prices, already down 32% in the first half, to continue falling for the rest of the year.

Foreign investors have also been dropping local stocks, with the bourse recording net foreign selling of P15.18 billion in the first half, a reversal from net foreign buying of P64 billion in the same period last year.

Capital markets expert Gamaliel C. Pascual, Jr., a senior advisor at Regina Capital Development Corp., said "I have been reassured thrice by the US government but I’m not feeling any more comfortable."

He was referring to the US federal government’s earlier efforts to resolve the crisis by rescuing Bear Stearns and mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. — reports by Maria Eloisa I. Calderon, Kristine Jane R. Liu, and Gerard S. dela Peña
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW091608/content.php?id=001&src=2

nostalgicbabe

September 16th, 2008, 02:11 PM

Pasko na! regalo ni Gloria sa mga tauhan niya... more to come.. :lol:

We already know that Chavit is an ally of the President. There is nothing new with that. How about asking what Chavit can do to help the peace process? It seems to me that he is being judged instead based on his connection with Erap's ouster or his alleged doings as a politician. If he can help in resolving Moro secessionism, then there is no problem with GMA's having appointed him.

bitoy

September 17th, 2008, 12:42 AM

^^gusto ko bigyan sya nga ng "Special Mission" - ipadala sya sa Basilan at sana ma-kidnapped sya ng mga MILF o Abu Sayaf at huwag ng tubusin ng gobyerno...then mapapanood na lang sa TV kung paano pinugutan si Chavit ng mga rebelde.

:lol: misyon ipasibol!

We already know that Chavit is an ally of the President. There is nothing new with that. How about asking what Chavit can do to help the peace process? It seems to me that he is being judged instead based on his connection with Erap's ouster or his alleged doings as a politician. If he can help in resolving Moro secessionism, then there is no problem with GMA's having appointed him.

You better find out what kind of a person Singson really is. :lol: Pag kalaban ni GMA, sira sa iyo ang credibility ng isang tao, pero pag kakampi, ok lang sa iyo.... :D

Singson mentioned what he can do already on the news. But GMA should be handling the peace process in the south since this is a very serious problem.

icarusrising

September 25th, 2008, 08:13 AM

US: Religious discrimination contributes to RP conflicts (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/122644/US-Religious-discrimination-contributes-to-RP-conflicts)
09/24/2008 | 09:06 PM

MANILA, Philippines - Ethnic, religious and cultural discrimination against Muslim minorities contributed to persistent conflicts in some provinces in the Philippines, a United States report said.

The US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor made this assessment in its International Religious Freedom Report 2008, dated Sept. 19 but posted on the US Embassy website Wednesday.

The report said that despite religious freedom in the Philippines, Muslims still complain “that the Government has not made sufficient efforts to promote their economic development.”

“Some Muslim religious leaders asserted that Muslims suffered from economic discrimination," it said, adding that ethnic, religious, and cultural discrimination against members of the Muslim minority by members of the Christian majority exists in the country.

“This, combined with economic disparities, contributed to persistent conflict in certain provinces," it said.

It said that historically, Muslims have been alienated socially from the Christian majority, and some ethnic and cultural discrimination against Muslims has been recorded.

"Young Muslim professionals reported that some employers stereotype Muslims as being less educated. Some Muslims reported that they had difficulty renting rooms in boarding houses or being hired for retail work if they used their real names or wore distinctive Muslim dress.
Therefore, many resorted to adopting Christian pseudonyms and wearing Western clothing," it said.

However, it said the government promoted interfaith dialogue to build mutual trust and respect among various religious and cultural groups. It also said amicable ties among religious communities are common, and many participate in interdenominational efforts to alleviate poverty.

Also, it noted that last March 12, President Arroyo created the Council on Interfaith Initiatives to strengthen government's existing institutional arrangements for interfaith activities.

The Council replaced the National Committee on Interfaith Cooperation as the highest policy-making body for the Government's interfaith initiatives.

Also, the US said the government "generally respected religious freedom in practice," and there was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom by the government.

It said the US government discusses religious freedom with the Philippine government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.

"The Embassy actively encouraged the peace process between the Government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front and maintained active outreach with religious leaders and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to engage them in interfaith activities," it said.

In its report, the US said Islam is the largest minority religion, and Muslims constitute between 5 and 9 percent of the total population.

Groups that together constitute less than 5 percent of the population include Seventh-day Adventists, United Church of Christ, United Methodist, the Episcopal Church in the Philippines, Assemblies of God, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and Philippine (Southern) Baptists. Domestically established denominations include the Philippine Independent Church (Aglipayan), the Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ), and the Members Church of God International.

Christianity is the majority religion among indigenous peoples.

Between 12 million and 16 million indigenous persons adhere to Catholicism or Protestantism, often incorporating elements of traditional indigenous belief systems.

The 1987 Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and other laws and policies contributed to the generally free practice of religion.

According to the US, the Philippine government permits religious instruction in public schools with the written consent of parents, provided there is no cost to government.

Local public schools give church groups the opportunity to teach moral values during school hours. Attendance is not mandatory, and various churches share classroom space.

Approximately 14 percent of the Mindanao student population attended Islamic schools (madrassahs). Government officials estimated the number of Islamic schools at more than 2,000.

Government's National Ecumenical Consultative Committee (NECCOM) fosters interfaith dialogue among major religious groups, including the Roman Catholic Church, Muslim groups, Iglesia ni Cristo, Aglipayan, and Protestant denominations.

Also, the Philippine government observes Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter, All Saints' Day, Christmas Day, and Eid al-Fitr as national holidays, the US noted.

On the other hand, the US noted the Code of Muslim Personal Laws recognizes Islamic law (Shari'a) as part of national law.

"However, it does not apply in criminal matters, and it applies only to Muslims," it said.

It added some Muslim community leaders (ulamas) argued that the Government should allow Islamic courts to extend their jurisdiction to criminal law cases, and some supported the MILF's goal of forming an autonomous region governed in accordance with Islamic law.

"As in other parts of the judicial system, the Shari'a courts suffered from a large number of unfilled positions. All five Shari'a district court judgeships and 37 percent of circuit court judgeships remained vacant. Aside from budget restrictions, judicial positions on the Shari'a courts were particularly difficult to fill because applicants are required to be members of the Shari'a Bar in addition to the Integrated Bar of the Philippines," it noted.

Still, it noted there were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the country.

The US added there were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of minor US citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the US, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned to the US.

Also, it said amicable ties among religious communities are common, and many participate in interdenominational efforts to alleviate poverty.

It cited the Interfaith Group, a NGO which includes Catholic, Islamic, and Protestant representatives, continued to support the Mindanao peace process.

The Peacemakers' Circle Foundation, a loose coalition of various religious and faith-based groups, focuses on building and strengthening interfaith relations in selected communities through dialogue.

Also, there is an active Bishops-Ulamas Conference in Mindanao that brings together Catholic bishops and members of the Ulama League of the Philippines from Mindanao to hold dialogues on addressing local issues of peace, order and inter-cultural solidarity.

"Leadership of human rights groups, trade union confederations, and industry associations typically represents many religious persuasions," the US said.

For its part, the US said its government discusses religious freedom with the Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.

US embassy officers regularly met with representatives of all major religious groups to discuss these problems and concerns, while the US government actively supported the Government's peace process with Muslim insurgents in Mindanao.

The Embassy also maintained active outreach with NGOs. In July 2007 the Embassy hosted the visit of an American imam who conducted an interfaith summer camp for Muslim, Christian, and Lumad (indigenous people of Mindanao) high school student leaders, as well as interfaith outreach seminars for Christian and Muslim community leaders and clergy.

"For fiscal year 2007, 60 percent of the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID) $69 million budget for the country went to programs in Mindanao, mostly in the ARMM. USAID programs were instrumental in supporting the peace process and helped foster an environment for greater religious tolerance. One example of such an effort was a multiyear USAID program that helped 28,000 former MNLF members make the transition from fighting to productive farming," it said.

The Embassy also sought to help religious leaders broaden their cultural understanding through the Mission's exchange programs.

During the period covered in this report, the Embassy sent both Muslim and Christian leaders to the United States on International Visitor Program (IVP) grants.

It also used two student exchange programs, the Youth Leadership Program, and the Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Program, to enable Muslim students to study in the United States and learn about religious tolerance and pluralism from the perspective of American youth.

During the 2007 academic year, the YES Program sponsored 40 secondary students from the ARMM to spend the academic year living with an American family.

In April 2008, through the Youth Leadership Program, 21 Muslim, Christian, and Lumad students attended a 4-week student exchange program with an American university. A Citizens Exchange Program sent six Muslim leaders from the country to the United States for a month to meet with Americans engaged in interfaith dialogue. - GMANews.TV

Maxxclip

September 25th, 2008, 09:09 AM

nostalgicbabe

September 25th, 2008, 10:19 AM

:lol: misyon ipasibol!

You better find out what kind of a person Singson really is. :lol: Pag kalaban ni GMA, sira sa iyo ang credibility ng isang tao, pero pag kakampi, ok lang sa iyo.... :D

Singson mentioned what he can do already on the news. But GMA should be handling the peace process in the south since this is a very serious problem.

So what exactly do you have against Chavit? Na-convict na ba si Chavit? For cases in connection with Erap's plunder case, I know he cannot be charged because he has received immunity in exchange for being a state witness. But for offenses otherwise committed, he can be prosecuted and convicted. So, meron na ba? Is the best you can do to tell me to "find out what kind of person Singson really is"? Whoopee.

bitoy

September 25th, 2008, 04:08 PM

^^ I'm sure what you don't know won't hurt you! :lol:

icarusrising

September 26th, 2008, 10:55 AM

RP inaction over Rome Statute hit (http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20080926-163072/RP-inaction-over-Rome-Statute-hit)

By Tetch Torres

INQUIRER.net
First Posted 12:52:00 09/26/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippines has been catering to the “whims and desires” of the United States which is why it has not lifted a finger to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, a lawyers’ group has claimed.

"This decision by the Philippines not to be part of the International Criminal Court is, we believe, dictated more by politics and power alignments than by a true intent and desire to join the international community in the prosecution of crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes and crimes of aggression," lawyer Marcial Magsino, Integrated Bar of the Philippines governor said during the International Conference on the ICC Friday.

"We are an ally and staunch supporter of the United States of America, and though it is not a declared foreign policy of the Philippines, we have always aligned our decisions in the international arena with the whims and desires of the US. US and Israel's decision in 2002 to "unsign" from the Rome Statute with no sign that they will again sign in the foreseeable future, strongly indicates that the Philippines will not affix its own signature to the treaty anytime soon," Magsino said.

From the human rights stand point, the IBP said the Philippines decision to sit on the ratification of the Statute was disappointing.

It said that being a sovereign nation and a member of the international community, the Philippines must respect and recognize the universal concept of human rights enshrined in the 1987 Constitution.

The Philippines was one of the countries that drafted the 1998 treaty. Ousted president Joseph Estrada signed it in December 2000, but President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has not submitted the document to the Senate for ratification despite requests for Malacañang to do so.

The Rome Statute was signed in Rome in July 17, 1998 and became effective in July 1, 2002. It establishes the ICC which is aimed at punishing perpetrators of international crimes.

As of July, 2008, there are 106 signatories to the Rome Statute.

nostalgicbabe

September 26th, 2008, 12:33 PM

^^ I'm sure what you don't know won't hurt you! :lol:

You honestly think that's witty?

Points for trying anyway.

stanleymalls

October 2nd, 2008, 06:10 AM

Title : Philippine animation studios facing stiff competition from China, India
By : Channel NewsAsia's Philippine Correspondent Christine Ong
Date : 02 Oct 2008 0017 hrs (GMT + 8hrs)

MANILA: Philippines used to be known as the animation capital of the world, but the rise of animation industries in China and India has provided stiff competition for the country.

Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, Slam Dunk, and One Piece are some of the well-loved Japanese animation series which Filipinos helped to create. For more than twenty years, Japan's Toei Animation has outsourced anime jobs to the Philippines .

Nestor Palabrica, general manager, Toei Animation Philippines , said: "Toei Animation decided to set up a studio here due to the cost. It was very cheap to have trace and paint which is the process that needs a lot of ‘not-really artists’.

"Aside from that, it's the distance between Japan and the Philippines . We are only four hours away from Japan. Eventually, they learned that we can be a reliable production studio for them because we deliver the work to them on time and we were able to deliver the quality of work that they expected."

Filipino animators are also sought after by major animation studios like Walt Disney, DreamWorks and Warner Brothers.

Marlyn Montano, managing director, Holy Cow! Animation, said: "We have a very good sense of humour and to tell a story in action you have to be always animated. We have Western affinity, we can catch up with jokes and stuff and that's very needed in producing animation."

Back in the 1980s, Philippine animation studios were supplying 90 per cent of all the outsourced animation work worldwide.

Local animation studios are confident that they will soon be able to return to their glory days and perhaps even exceed that level by producing and developing more animated features of their own.

Local animators are now beginning to develop more original content for the global market. Industry leaders are confident that the technical expertise, creativity and adaptability of Filipinos will help to even the odds against lower-cost animation from China and India.

Grace Dimaranan, managing director, Top Peg Animation & Creative Studio, said: "We already have 25 years of experience in animation so that's 25 years of quality creative talents against those new players. Our work cannot be matched by those produced for half the cost."

The industry currently employs 10,000 animators, graphic artists, and digital media specialists. Global animation revenue is expected to surge from US$60 billion to US$80 billion by 2010.

- CNA/so

Weina

October 3rd, 2008, 07:28 AM

RP unit may be hit as Fujitsu rethinks hard drive business (http://www.bworldonline.com/BW100308/content.php?id=006)

TOKYO/MANILA — Japan’s Fujitsu Ltd. yesterday said it was reviewing its loss-making hard-disk drive (HDD) business, which includes an investment in the Philippines, following a newspaper report it is likely to be sold to a US company in a multi-million-dollar deal.

"We are exploring various possibilities for our HDD business," a Fujitsu spokesman said, adding that nothing concrete had been decided.

In the Philippines, the hard drive operations are handled by Fujitsu Computer Products Corporation of the Philippines.

The fully-owned subsidiary, located in Carmelray Industrial Park in the province of Laguna, was established in 1995. The Fujitsu Ltd. website states that the unit employs nearly 6,000 workers: 5,200 operators and 748 engineers, staff & technicians.

A company official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he could neither confirm nor deny the report.

Fujitsu, in a statement posted on its website, said "At the current time, there is no factual basis for this media report."

The Nikkei economic daily said the company was considering selling the manufacturing operations to Western Digital Corp. of the United States, the world’s second-largest maker of hard-disk drives.

The Japanese firm aims to reach an accord by the end of the year, the newspaper said without naming sources.

The sale price is estimated at ¥70-100 billion (US$660-950 million), it said. The annual revenue of the business is about ¥330 billion.

Fujitsu has been trying to focus on core growth areas. Last year it announced it would end production of plasma televisions, a technology the company was the first in the world to sell, as competition had grown fierce.

The company intends to sell all of its hard-drive operations together, including a domestic plant and overseas factories in Thailand and the Philippines, the Nikkei said.

It will ask Western Digital to continue to employ its roughly 15,000 workers, the paper said.

Fujitsu lists three more Philippine subsidiaries: Fujitsu Philippines, Inc., which focuses on ICT solutions; Fujitsu Die-Tech Corporation of the Philippines, which manufactures press dies and plastic dies; and Fujitsu Telecom Systems Philippines, Inc., which provides telecom engineering requirements.

The website also lists two local affiliates, Fujitsu Ten Philippines, Inc., which produces automotive audio and electronic control systems; and Fujitsu Ten Solutions Philippines, Inc. which focuses on software and hardware design. — main report by AFP

-sharkleman125-

October 4th, 2008, 03:42 AM

AIG to divest stake in Philamlife

abs-cbnNEWS.com | 10/03/2008 9:29 PM

The American International Group (AIG) will sell its non-core assets to pay off a massive loan from the US government. Its Philippine subsidiary, the Philippine American Life Insurance Co. (Philamlife), has been identified for possible divestment along with some of Philamlife's affiliates.

"[AIG is] selling valuable assets including Philamlife," Philamlife president and CEO Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. Cuisia told ABS-CBN News in a phone patch.

Cuisia explained that "It's not something that [AIG] would have wanted to do, but because they have to pay this loan to the Federal Reserve that they are selling highly valuable assets around the world.

Cuisia stressed, however, that "AIG's divestment decision is not a reflection of their subsidiaries' business or historical performance."

AIG, once the world's largest insurer, accepted a federal bailout last month after losses in the financial products unit drove it to the brink of collapse.

AIG's chief executive officer Edward Liddy announced Friday that they will refocus on its core property and casualty insurance business.

Selling the life insurance operations would be a reversal for Liddy, who previously said that staying in that business was a priority.

Philamlife, the largest and most profitable insurance company and the undisputed market leader in the Philippines for over 60 years, is a crown jewel for AIG and will surely attract local and international interest.

Several groups, including the Yuchengco Group, have already expressed interest in acquiring Philamlife.

Despite an impending change in ownership, the company assured policy holders that it will still be able to fulfill its obligations to premium holders and investors.

In a statement, Cuisia said that "Philamlife remains to be a stable and strongly capitalized organization. Our policyowners and clients can be assured that their interests are protected because of the company's financial strength. A change of ownership will not in anyway diminish policy owners' benefits and security."

AIG's financial woes

AIG's sale of its assets would end a controversial US government bailout of AIG, once the world's largest insurer.

AIG needs to raise cash quickly to repay the $61 billion it has drawn from the $85 billion emergency facility from the US Federal Reserve. The lifeline from the Federal Reserve allowed AIG to avoid bankruptcy after taking massive losses on mortgage derivatives.

But it needs to pony up fast as the US central bank has the right to take an almost 80 percent stake at the end of the loan's 2-year term, thus, heavily diluting current shareholders and investors.

"AIG plans to retain its US property and casualty and foreign general insurance businesses, and to retain a continuing ownership interest in its foreign life insurance operations," the company said in a statement.

The Blackstone Group and JP Morgan will be AIG's global coordinators for the divestiture program, AIG said, adding that its "property and casualty businesses generated approximately $40 billion in revenues in 2007.

AIG chairman and chief executive Edward Liddy said in a statement: "We are refocusing on our traditional strengths in property and casualty underwriting.

Libby said AIG had "already been contacted by numerous strong, stable parties, and we expect that buyers will recognize the value of these properties."

He added, "Our goal is to emerge from this process as a smaller but more nimble company that is solidly profitable and has good long-term growth prospects."

Undisputed market leader

The Yuchengcos, another major local insurance player and one of the elite families in the Philippines, earlier admitted that they were interested in buying AIG's business in the Philippines if it is put in the auction block.

Cuisia, however, said there are others who have expressed interest in Philamlife, too.

Potential buyers of Philamlife stand to gain the undisputed market leader in the life insurance sector and a household name.

Philamlife currently has total assets of P108.3 billion as of December 2007 account for one-third of the entire industry’s P367 billion.

Trailing behind are Sun Life of Canada (Phils) Inc. (P67 billion), Filipino-owned Insular Life Assurance Co. Ltd (P57 billion), Philippine AXA Life Insurance Corp (P33 billion) and Manufacturers Life Insurance Co (Phils) (P20 billion).

Philamlife also has the highest capital base (P1.65 billion), most investments (P86 billion), and highest networth (P21 billion).

In 2007, revenues amounted to P36.7 billion, reflecting a 14% growth, while the P7.4 billion new business from life insurance operations was higher by 57.6 percent versus the previous year. Benefits payments totalled P6.6 billion.

The bulk of the company's invested assets are concentrated in marketable Philippine government securities, corporate bonds, and blue chip equities.

With Philamlife’s size and reach, prospects of its instability, arising from association with financially bleeding bleeding parent AIG, and direct exposure to financial instruments based on toxic mortgages in the US, sent chills to the entire industry last month.

Officials of the company and the Insurance Commission, the industry regulator, immediately assured the public that Philamlife remains financially safe, stable, and that each financial product offered to the public is a separate legal entity, meaning their clients' money is not co-mingled with AIG's.

The Philippines is the AIG’s oldest market. AIG’s American founder, C.V. Starr, established Philamlife in 1947 on the heels of the devastation of World War II to provide an alternative to traditional foreign aid. It grew rapidly.

Philamlife's endowment policies mobilized savings from the local population and provided funds to promote national development. In the 1950’s, when there was a acute housing shortages, Philamlife was involved in developing middle income housing. -- with AFP, Reuters, Lala Rimando of abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak, and Liza Reyes of ABS-CBN Business.

as of 10/04/2008 3:51 AM

IslandSon.PH

October 7th, 2008, 01:30 PM

BBC apology demanded for ‘racist’ show

By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 16:39:00 10/06/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) should apologize for airing a segment of a comedy show last month that was a "racist, humiliating, and disgusting" portrayal of a Filipina domestic helper, a lawmaker at the House of Representatives demanded Monday.

Akbayan partylist Representative Risa Hontiveros also asked the Department of Foreign Affairs to file a complaint against the British government so that the latter would "look into the issue and correct the sickening joke."

Hontiveros was referring to a skit shown on "Harry and Paul" aired on BBC on September 26 that was also posted on
youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL9KrTGx28E
In the skit, a postman approached comedian Harry Enfield, who was agitated and was shouting at someone, and asked him what was going on.
It turned out that the co-host Paul Whitehouse was seated on a chair on his lawn and beside him was a gyrating young girl in a grey uniform and an apron.

Harry then told the postman that he was shouting at his Filipino maid to do her job and get his friend Paul to mate with her.

He kept ordering the girl to gyrate and dance in front of Paul and even instructed her to "hump him." When an indifferent Paul stood up to go inside the house, Harry scolded the Filipina telling her to get out.

The scene ended with the postman sidling up to the Filipina and whispering to her as they walked off together.

"It was revolting. It was a disgusting and insensitive and racist attempt to satirize a scene of exploitation," Hontiveros said.

She added that the show "trivializes an act of abuse commonly experienced by Filipina workers abroad."

"This has to be corrected, otherwise, it would become easy for other media outfits to use Filipina workers abroad as an object of sexual ridicule. …The media should be a partner against human trafficking and not an unwitting promoter of abuse because of insensitive and racist portrayals of women in trafficking," she said.

Weina

October 10th, 2008, 10:36 AM

Reduced foreign aid expected next year (http://www.bworldonline.com/BW101008/content.php?id=051)

THE PHILIPPINES should brace for less official development assistance (ODA) allocations, as developed countries shore up funds to prop up their besieged economies, which are expected to feel the brunt of the spreading financial crisis next year, economists warned in separate phone interviews yesterday.
Goverment should be more selective in the use of reduced aid funds, economists said.
Goverment should be more selective in the use of reduced aid funds, economists said. — BW File Photo

Consequently, the Philippine government should maximize the use of more limited ODA by focusing on the development of strategic infrastructure and on improving farm productivity.

"The financial crisis would lead to the realignment of the budget of developed economies to focus on their internal needs, which could mean that ODA will be smaller," University of Asia and the Pacific economist George N. Manzano said.

Gilbert M. Llanto, senior research fellow of the Philippine Institute of Development Studies, issued a similar warning, saying the government should be stricter in screening projects for prospective foreign aid funding.

"We need to use ODA funds to address growth constraints in poverty reduction. Government agencies should work harder on setting priorities in project preparation," Mr. Llanto said.

For his part, University of the Philippines professor Benjamin E. Diokno said that with lower level of ODA, projects in agriculture and infrastructure must be given priority. "Priority should be productivity-enhancing projects in agriculture such as farm-to-market roads and irrigation facilities, since most of the poor are in the countryside. Lower food prices [due to better facilities and improved productivity] will also benefit the urban poor," Mr. Diokno said.

He added that investment in labor-intensive infrastructure projects would also yield wider benefits.

"We need to create jobs now, especially in rural areas. The multiplier effect will be higher because workers have higher propensity to consume," Mr. Diokno explained.

Mr. Llanto said infrastructure like bridges and roads, as well as power, water and irrigation facilities, spur economic activity.

Conversely, "it will be a constraint to growth if [lack of such infrastructure is] not addressed," he said.

An annual review conducted by the National Economic and Development Authority last year showed that ODA reached $9.747 billion from the previous year’s $9.477 billion.

Infrastructure got 57% of the total, at $5.532 billion, while agriculture, agrarian reform and natural resources received the second largest share of 17% at $1.672 billion. — Louella D. Desiderio

IslandSon.PH

October 10th, 2008, 11:53 AM

Remittances to fall – IMF

Recession unlikely in emerging economies

By Maricel E. Burgonio, Reporter

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said remittance inflows to the Philippines are likely to decline because of a slowdown in advanced economies.

“Economies like the Philippines and also in Central America, the Caribbean, perhaps in emerging Europe as well, will be affected by slowing inflows from remittances, in a similar way to slowing demand for their export goods,” Charles Collyns, the IMF deputy director, said recently in a transcript from a press conference in the US.

Collyns, though, assured that the emerging economies would not suffer the major downturns and even recessions that happened du*ring previous global business cycles.

“But, overall, as we have said, we nevertheless believe that the outlook for [the] emerging economies is for a significant slowdown, but still leaving growth at fairly robust rates,” he said.

Remittances of overseas Filipino workers coursed through banks rose by 24.6 percent or $1.4 billion in July this year, bringing the remittance level for the first seven months of 2008 to $9.6 billion. The January-July level of remittances was higher by 18.2 percent than that during the same period in 2007.

Total remittances, meanwhile, are projected to grow 11 percent to $16.6 billion this year, slightly higher than the earlier forecast of 10 percent growth to $16.2 billion, according to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Remittances coursed through banks would account for $16 billion of the expected total remittances for 2008.

Bangko Sentral said current account is expected to reach $2.6 billion this year, lower than the earlier projection of $6.9 billion. The current account reached $1.7 billion in the first half of 2008 from $3.580 billion in the first half of last year.

The current account covers trade in goods, services, income and current transfers. Trade in goods—exports and imports—makes up the bulk of the current account. Electronics are the country’s major exports.

icarusrising

October 11th, 2008, 04:12 PM

Global financial crisis will hit OFWs hardest
(http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/1010&112008/headlines02.html)
By Jennifer A. Ng
Reporter

THE current crisis gripping global financial markets will hit the country’s overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) the hardest and may cause OFW remittances to fall, a labor expert from the University of the Philippines (UP) said on Thursday.

Dr. Rene Ofreneo, professor and former dean of the UP School of Labor and Industrial Relations (Solair), said the government’s goal of sending out 1 million OFWs a year under the 2004-2010 Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) will not be met as investor and consumer confidence will decline due to the financial meltdown.

“The Philippines is very vulnerable to the crisis and the No. 1 [sector] that will be hit is the OFWs,” Ofreneo told a forum in Quezon City.

The fact that the crisis is widespread and will spare no market where OFWs are usually deployed is proving to be problematic for Filipino laborers, he said.

With the anticipated decline in the number of OFWs to be deployed, remittances are also seen to suffer. He noted that one-fourth of all OFW remittances come from North America.

“A decline in remittances will then cause consumption spending to slow. Restaurants will be hit, and consumer goods,” said Ofreneo.

The UP labor expert said even the government’s goal of creating 1 million jobs every year is now under threat, as most of the firms in the business process outsourcing (BPOs) sector are servicing the overseas financial sector.

To enable the Philippines to weather the financial crisis, Ofreneo said the government should now adopt a different develop paradigm.

“Where do you go? You go back to the internal economy. You now have to rely on internal strengths. We now have to revive our local industries and our agriculture sector,” he said. “It’s time to go back to basics.”

stanleymalls

October 11th, 2008, 07:44 PM

^^ Wawa naman mga OFWs natin. Tsk tsk tsk.....

Dapat ang gobyerno ang magbigay sa kanila ng benefits.

IslandSon.PH

October 14th, 2008, 05:18 AM

Provinces getting poorer

Gap between NCR, rural area worsens

By Darwin G. Amojelar, Reporter

A “significant” gap in economic output for nearly two decades between Metro Manila and the low-income regions worsened poverty incidence in the country, a government study said Monday.

“The unequal distribution of the level of regional economic activity in the country has been apparent through the years, as majority of the economic output is concentrated in NCR [National Capital Region, or Metro Manila] and the two adjacent regions of Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog,” Romulo Virola, secretary-general of the National Statistical Coordination Board said.

These three regions, out of 17, produce about 53 percent of the total national output or gross domestic product (GDP). GDP refers to the total value of goods and services produced in a country in a year.

Virola said the per capital gross regional domestic product, or GRDP, of the 17 regions from 1988 to 2007 “clearly reveals the persistence of a significant output gap across time between the NCR and the rest of the regions, and even relative to the national per capita GDP.”

Per capita GRDP measures the level of economic development of a region in a year.

“NCR remains as the most well-off region and outperforms the national economy by a big margin,” Virola said, adding that the region has the biggest average per capita gross regional domestic product of P29,647.829 over 1988 to 2007.

Metro Manila’s per capita gross regional domestic product is 139.3 percent higher than the national average of P12,390.22. Central Luzon’s per capita gross regional domestic product is P10,926.93 and Southern Tagalog, P13,086.12.

The poverty incidence in Metro Manila in 2006 was only 10.4 percent. In Central Luzon, it was 20.70 percent and in Southern Tagalog, 20.90 percent.

The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) posted the lowest per capita output among the regions with P3,601.97, followed by Eastern Visayas, P5,826.18; Bicol, P5,641.84; and Caraga, P6,012.13.

These regions also posted the highest poverty incidence: ARMM, 62 percent; Caraga, 53 percent; Bicol, 51 percent; and Eastern Visayas, 48.50 percent.

Unlikely convergence

“The growth rates of per capita GRDP of the regions and of the national per capita GDP suggest fluctuations that prevent convergence toward a common path in the near future [to have sustained income growth],” Virola said.

Economic convergence occurs when this disparity disappears and the endpoint is equality of per capita GRDP across regions.

“The unlikely convergence of the regions certainly calls for a sound review of existing regional economic policies and for the implementation of strategies to achieve the goal of economic growth that is not only sustainable but also equitable,” Virola said.

Currently, the overall economic progress of the regions, as measured by per capita gross regional domestic product, suggests “lack of convergence, as the paths of [their] per capita GRDP do not indicate that their endpoints will meet at some point in the near future.”

Virola said only the Cordillera Administrative Region, with per capita gross regional domestic product of P14,756.93 and Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal and Quezon have some chances of catching up with Metro Manila.

“The rest of the regions follows a path that is still far too below the NCR path,” he added.

Virola noted that a steady long-term growth in per capita output of an economy would signify relative improvement in living standards and attainment of economic growth.

Weina

October 16th, 2008, 09:29 AM

Zero growth likely next year (http://www.bworldonline.com/BW101608/content.php?id=004)

EXPORTS will likely post zero growth next year or even contract by 2%, scenarios considered by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) showed.

Macroeconomic assumptions revised last month by the DBCC show that at best, exports could grow by 4% in 2009.

Jonathan L. Ravelas, Banco de Oro Unibank market strategist, said the outlook was “realistic”.

“The major component of [Philippine] exports is electronics. If the biggest users are the Americans and they can’t buy, what will happen to your exports?,” he said.

The DBCC said exports growth this year could be limited to 4%, with the worst and best case outlooks at 2% and 8%, respectively.

The government last week reported that exports in the seven months to August grew by 4.4%. Electronics, which make up the bulk of shipments, were down 1.65%. Shipments to the US were down 14.4% for the month.

Philippine Exporters Confederation president Sergio Ortiz-Luis said “It (exports growth) is anybody’s guess … We have to reassess the situation but we are meeting the target of 3% to 5% this year.”

venntro

December 8th, 2008, 09:27 AM

Ford lays off 30 executives in RP: report (http://http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/12/08/08/ford-lays-30-executives-rp-report)
Agence France-Presse | 12/08/2008 2:24 PM

The Philippine branch of Ford Motor Co. has fired 30 executives in a cost-cutting measure in the face of the global financial turmoil, a company official was quoted as saying Monday.

Ford Philippines group president Rick Baker was quoted in the Manila Standard newspaper as saying the job cuts, which include three vice-presidents, were equivalent of 15% of the company's corporate workforce in the Philippines.

The move affects both Ford Philippines and its affiliate Mazda Philippines, the newspaper said.

Ford and Mazda will save between P5 million and P7 million (between $102, 400 and $143,560) a year through the retrenchment, said Baker.

"We are implementing this realignment to have a much leaner and efficient workforce," Baker was quoted as saying.

Executives of Ford Philippines also will now share responsibilities with the Mazda affiliate, the report said.

Officials of Ford Philippines couldn't be reached for comment.

The U.S. car company, along with General Motors Corp. and Chrysler, are pleading with Washington lawmakers for a bailout package worth billions of dollars to save them from bankruptcy.

earlat

December 28th, 2008, 01:19 AM

Low revenue collections threaten $250-m World Bank loan to RP :ohno::ohno:
By Roderick T. dela Cruz

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business5_dec27_2008

The World Bank may cancel a $250-million program loan for the Philippines, if the government fails to cite improvements in revenue collection by the end of the year.

In recent programming discussions between the National Economic and Development Authority and the World Bank, the Washington-based lender said unless progress on the revenue and governance triggers could be reported and demonstrated by the end of the calendar year, the second phase of the development policy support program would expire this year.

The bank in December 2006 approved the first sub program loan of $250 million, which sought to help reduce public sector deficit and debt by strengthening tax administration, improving budget execution and fiduciary performance and strengthening the finances of the power sector.

In April 2008, the Finance Department said while it was interested to pursue the sub program 2 of the development policy loan, it was still reviewing the national government’s overall financing plans.

The government needs to raise about P75 billion representing 1 percent of the gross domestic product to finance the budget deficit this year.

The budget deficit hit P66.7 billion in the first 11 months of the year, a turnaround from a P12.6-billion budget surplus recorded during the same period last year, as the government increased expenditures for social services to protect the poor from the impact of the global economic downturn.

The economic downturn has also hurt revenue collection during the period, as companies reported slimmer profits this year.

Despite the higher deficit figures, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said the government was on track with its revised deficit target of P75 billion for 2008.

The World Bank said if the Philippine government wanted a new development policy loan program, it should respond to the bank’s July 2008 letter to start the process.

Documents showed that Finance was more interested in budget-support or national program support type of loans that can disburse quickly and pursue higher loan amount.

:ohno::ohno:

stanleymalls

December 28th, 2008, 06:55 PM

Senate slashes budget of 21 state universities :ohno:
By Jess Diaz (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)

The Senate has cut the 2009 budgets of 21 state colleges and universities in the provinces by P323 million.

However, it increased the subsidies for next year of most government-owned tertiary level schools. The increases range from a low of P634,000 to a high of P362 million. A large number of these schools received an additional P1 million.

The University of the Philippines (UP), the country’s premier state university, received the biggest increase of P362 million from the Senate. That raised its 2009 budget to P6.8 billion.

Sen. Edgardo Angara, who recommended the reductions and augmentations as Senate finance committee chairman, was UP president during the Marcos years.

UP’s subsidy next year is equivalent to the combined budgets of 47 state colleges and universities from the Ilocos Region, the Cordilleras, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, all the way down to Southern Tagalog and the Bicol Region.

The Eastern Samar State University, located in one of the poorest provinces in the country, received the smallest augmentation - P634,000. That increased its 2009 budget from P144.5 million to P145.2 million.

In the Ilocos provinces, the Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University lost P9 million in the senators’ version of the 2009 national budget.

All five state schools in Cagayan Valley suffered collective reductions of P89.5 million. The Batanes State College lost P3 million, Cagayan State University, P9 million; Isabela State University, P30.5 million; Nueva Vizcaya State University, P18 million; and Quirino State College, P29 million.

In Central Luzon, the budgets of Bataan Peninsula State University, Pampanga Agricultural College and Ramon Magsaysay Technological University were cut by P9 million, P2 million and P14 million, respectively.

In the Bicol Region, Bicol University lost P3 million; Camarines Sur State Agricultural College, P29 million; and Partido State University, P19 million.

There’s only one state school in Western Visayas that suffered a cut of P3 million – Capiz State University. Capiz is the home province of Sen. Mar Roxas.

In Central Visayas, the 2009 budgets of Cebu Normal University, Cebu State College of Science and Technology, Negros Oriental State University, and Siquijor State College were slashed by P12 million, P6 million, P9 million, and P23 million, respectively.

In the Leyte-Samar provinces, Samar State University lost P14 million; while in the Zamboanga peninsula, J. H. Cerilles State College lost P19 million.

In the Davao Region, University of Southeastern Philippines was stripped of P44 million and Davao Oriental State College of Science and Technology, P4 million.

Mindanao State University in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao lost P21.5 million.

House Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora, a member of the House panel in the bicameral conference committee on the budget, told The STAR that there would be a “showdown” between senators and congressmen on the Senate-approved cuts for state schools.

“We have no problem with the suggested augmentations. It is the reductions that will be sticky and contentious. They (senators) cannot expect congressmen in the provinces and districts where the affected schools are located to agree to those cuts,” he said.

“For instance, how can you expect Congressman Tony (Antonio) Cerilles (of Zamboanga del Sur) to support the P19-million reduction for a school named apparently after one of his relatives?” he asked, referring to J. H. Cerilles State College.

In addition to schools, the Senate reduced the subsidies of four specialty hospitals in Quezon City by a total of P347.5 million.

The Philippine Heart Center suffered the biggest cut of P181 million. Senators reduced its budget from P417 million as approved by the House to P236 million.

The National Kidney and Transplant Institute, also known as Kidney Center, lost P117 million, bringing its 2009 funds down to P198.5 million.

Even the specialty hospital for children, Philippine Children’s Medical Center, was deprived of P47.5 million. That reduced its budget to P251 million.

The Lung Center of the Philippines suffered the smallest reduction of P2 million. Its budget was cut to P161.6 million.

Senators slashed various appropriations and realigned the reductions to their pet projects and favorite agencies.

"ZukiChirO"

December 29th, 2008, 09:26 AM

Sabah claim: ‘No need to negotiate with Manila’
By MUGUNTAN VANAR

KOTA KINABALU: There is no need for any negotiations with Manila to get it to drop its claim on Sabah because Malaysia was formed in 1963 with international blessing, Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri said.

He said Malaysia’s position was clear as the formation of Malaysia was based on the Cobbold Commission assessment report for the formation of the nation in 1963 and was recognised by the United Nations.

“I think the question of negotiating should not arise as we resolved this matter in 1963 when Malaysia was formed,” Rahim told reporters after launching his ministry’s nationwide Information Dissemination and Public Diplomacy programme here.

He was asked to comment on a call by Parti Bersatu Sabah to include state leaders in negotiating teams to get the Philippines to drop its Sabah claim “once and for all.”

He said the Philippines’ claim was based on a civil agreement that was superseded by the Sabah people’s wish to join the Malaysian federation based on the findings of the Cobbold Commission and also the United Nations.

However, Rahim added that within the Asean framework they had mechanisms to settle various disputes through an amicable and peaceful manner.

diz

December 29th, 2008, 09:54 AM

I don't think this is bad news as it is a very peaceful answer.

The Philippines should never complain about a territory it clumsily let go of...

red_jasper

December 30th, 2008, 07:17 AM

Crack found on portion of Magallanes flyover; collapse feared
12/30/2008 | 01:00 PM

MANILA, Philippines - Authorities on Tuesday barred heavy vehicles from passing through the south-bound lane of the Magallanes flyover after a crack on the flyover indicated the possibility of a collapse.

Radio dzBB's Lito Laparan said officials from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) have placed delineators to separate the two lanes and prevent heavy vehicles from traversing through the flyover which links Pasay and Makati Cities over the possibility of collapse.

Heavy vehicles going to Baclaran and Roxas Boulevard can pass through the other side of the flyover instead, but light vehicles can still pass through the south-bound lane, the report said.

The resulting arrangement snarled traffic, which extended all the way to Guadalupe in Makati City. - Johanna Camille Sisante, GMANews.TV (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/141728/Crack-found-at-portion-of-Magallanes-flyover-collapse-feared)

filcan

December 31st, 2008, 04:25 AM

^^ the good news from this is that at least we know they are monitoring the bridges.

kiretoce

January 9th, 2009, 06:09 AM

RP tops list of drug users; Government t challenges UN report (http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2009/jan/09/yehey/top_stories/20090109top1.html)

The Philippines ranked No. 1 in Southeast Asia as the country with the most number of drug users based on the 2008 World Drug report released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), however, is not convinced about the finding.

Based on the UN report, prevalence of amphetamine abuse in the Philippines was found to be at 6 percent of the population aged 15 to 64 years old. Amphetamine is a “racemic compound or one of its derivatives [as dextroamphetamine or methamphetamine] frequently abused as a stimulant of the central nervous system but used clinically especially as the sulfate or hydrochloride salt to treat hyperactive children and the symptoms of narcolepsy and as a short-term appetite suppressant in dieting.”

The number for the Philippines is far greater than that of second-placed Thailand with 0.8 percent, followed by the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, or Laos with 0.7 percent, Cambodia with 0.6 percent and Myanmar and Vietnam each with 0.2 percent.

The report said that from the 20,000 drug users in the Philippines in 1972, the number climbed up to 6.7 million in 2004, meaning that one in every 29 Filipinos aged 10 to 44 was on drugs.

It added that the preferred illegal substances of Filipinos were methampethamine hydrochloride, popularly called “shabu,” and marijuana.

Not believable

The UN report, however, was disputed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency chief, Dionisio Santiago, who on Thursday said there could be some errors in the data submitted to the UN by the Philippines’ Dangerous Drugs Board and which were made as basis of the report.

Santiago announced that he would commission an independent research group to conduct a new survey in order to correct the alleged errors contained in the data that the drugs board had given to the United Nations.

The alleged errors, he said, could have arisen from the UN report concluding that 6 percent of Filipinos aged 15 to 64 were drug abusers, when that number could have wrongfully included those who have tested and tried illegal drugs only once.

Santiago branded the UN report as unfair because, he said, comparing the population of the Philippines (around 90 million) with that of China (more than one billion), chances are there were more users in China than in the Philippines.

Push for death penalty

He raised the need to reimpose the death penalty even only on those individuals who would be proved guilty of drug trafficking.

Sen. Francis Escudero is stopping short of meting out capital punishment to the traffickers and their supposed backers in high places.

Instead, he batted for identifying and seeking the prosecution of government lawyers who may have become protectors of drug rings.

Toward that end, Escudero said, the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, which he heads, would review heinous-crime cases, the hiring and firing of prosecutors, the rules on inhibition and the track records of prosecutors on drug cases filed and dismissed. The review, he added, will start once Congress resumes its session on January 19.

bitoy

January 9th, 2009, 11:11 AM

The report said that from the 20,000 drug users in the Philippines in 1972, the number climbed up to 6.7 million in 2004, meaning that one in every 29 Filipinos aged 10 to 44 was on drugs.

not good...:ohno:

lightsaber46

January 19th, 2009, 07:30 AM

Monday, January 19, 2009
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2009/jan/19/yehey/prov/20090119pro1.html

Sayyaf demands $5 million
for Red Cross hostages

International Committee of the Red Cross says it would not pay ransom to the kidnappers

By Al Jacinto, Correspondent

ZAMBOANGA CITY: Abu Sayyaf militants holding three Red Cross members are planning to demand $5 million in exchange for the freedom of the hostages, reports said Sunday.

The Deutsche Press Agentur quoted unidentified Filipino military intelligence officials who said the militants, led by Albader Parad and Abu Pula, were planning to ransom off the hostages. It was unknown how the military knew about the plan and the German news agency gave no details about the military report.

But the International Committee of the Red Cross to which the three belong said it would not pay ransom to the kidnappers holding the three —Swiss national Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino Jean Lacaba—in the hinterlands of Sulu province.

The aid organization said the hostages made a phone call on Friday and said they were unharmed.

“The three abducted colleagues have been able to call the International Committee of the Red Cross directly and they said that they are unharmed, so that’s good news. And there is no further information available on their whereabouts precisely or who is holding them,” Roland Bigler, ICRC spokesman in Manila, said.

lightsaber46

January 19th, 2009, 08:10 AM

P200-b stimulus plan hangs as Congress delays budget

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=news1_jan19_2009
By Joyce Pangco Pañares and Christine F. Herrera

THE government has identified 3,200 infrastructure projects, worth at least P60 billion, that it will implement in the first six months of the year as part of an economic stimulus package that aims to spur growth and generate at least 35,000 jobs.

But funds for the projects are still uncertain because Congress has yet to pass the government’s P1.425-billion budget, which covers the economic stimulus plan amounting to P200 billion.

“Time is of the essence here,” Public Works Undersecretary Ramon Aquino said. “We want to make sure that these projects are implemented quickly.”

Aquino said the Public Works Department had doubled the amount that local district directors may disburse without clearance to cut red tape.

“Before, our district directors could only release funds for projects worth P50 million and below, but that amount has been doubled to P100 million,” he said.

Aquino said bidding for all the projects must be finished by next month. Public Works directors must be resourceful in solving problems relating to road right-of-way, and those failing to comply with the spending plan would be re-assigned.

“Sanctions will be imposed on officials who fail to implement projects quickly, and resources will be shifted from slow to fast-moving projects,” he said.

Among the projects identified for financing were the Halsema Highway and Bontoc-Tabuk-Tuguegarao Road in the Cordilleras; the Baler-Casiguran Road and Dingalan Port Road in Central Luzon; the Marikina-Infanta Road in Calabarzon; the Iloilo East Coast Road and Calbiga-Tacloban Road in the Visayas; and the Basilan Circumferential Road, Surigao-Davao Coastal Road, and Iligan Circumferential Road in Mindanao.

But the spending plan may only be implemented once Congress approves the P1.4-trillion budget that is still pending in a bicameral conference committee. The budget was supposed to have been passed by Dec. 17, but it was overtaken by Congress’ Christmas break.

“We need to work double-time,” Speaker Prospero Nograles said on the eve of the resumption of congressional sessions, noting that Congress would have only 21 session days before it went on a month-long recess from March 6 to April 12.

Nograles said the bicameral conference committee had been meeting Mondays to Wednesdays, but its leaders, Senator Edgardo Angara and Quezon Rep. Junie Cua, had the option of meeting on Thursdays and Fridays too.

If Congress fails to pass the budget on time, the Executive department will have to operate on a reenacted budget of P1.2 trillion, which does not include the P200 billion that was allocated to finance priority projects.

The budget is one of several priority measures that include a new law extending the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, which expired Dec. 31, 2008; the reproductive health bill, and a proposal to amend the Constitution.

The House and Senate also have to act on bicameral conference committee reports on amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Law, the investment and incentive code, corporate reform act, oil deregulation law, cyber-crime act, reforms of food and drug laws, the Philippine lemon law, rent control law and anti-squatting law, among others.

espresso1018

January 19th, 2009, 09:07 AM

Congress needs to pass the 2009 budget as soon as possible so the government won't be working under a reenacted budget. Congress is still in recess. Kita mo nga naman kung gaano "kasipag" sa pagbabakasyon ang mga yan tapos sasabihin inutil ang presidente eh sila nga itong pabandying-bandying lang. Well, the bill is with the bicameral conference committee and all the members of the committee need to do is reconcile the differences in the versions of the upper and lower house. Bilis bilisan na bilis bilisan na dapat yan.

kyle@1008

January 19th, 2009, 03:04 PM

lightning099

January 21st, 2009, 07:34 AM

Intel announces RP operations shutdown
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines – Intel has announced to employees its plan to shut down its more than two-decade-old test-and-assembly facility in the Philippines.

The company made the announcement via email sent to employees around 10 a.m. Wednesday, several sources confirmed with INQUIRER.net.

INQUIRER.net also tried to contact Intel officials and its local PR agency but they were not ready to give any official statement at the time of this writing.

According to sources, the announcement was half-expected as Intel announced its first batch of lay-offs in November last year.

The rest of the employees were informed about succeeding "phases" in layoffs and that they will get their separation packages in three months' time.

Since then, Intel's local office has also conducted job fairs and education seminars, such as starting small businesses.

This morning's email confirmed the eventual shutdown, although there was no definite timeline indicated when exactly Intel's facility in General Trias, Cavite will close.

Intel's manufacturing facility still employs some 3,000 workers.

Intel is also reportedly shutting down at least three more facilities in other countries aside from the Philippines due to weakened demand brought about by the current global economic downturn.

The US-based chipmaker set up its manufacturing facility in Makati City in 1974, then transferred in Cavite.

Last year, Intel announced a joint venture, called Numonyx, with Switzerland-based STMicroelectronics. The Cavite facility handles flash memory manufacturing.

In Asia Pacific, Intel is widely believed to be consolidating its investments in China and Vietnam.

OtAkAw

January 22nd, 2009, 04:25 AM

^^Really sad news, foreign investors leaving us for China and Vietnam :(

RonnieR

January 22nd, 2009, 04:22 PM

Intel to close down four more sites - Malaysia, Philippines and US plants are affected.

By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 09:14:00 01/22/2009

MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) Intel Corporation confirms plans to close the assembly test facility operations in the Philippines, the company said.

The company said this is part of a plan to “restructure some of its manufacturing operations and align its manufacturing capacity to current market conditions.”

“The company will consolidate and streamline some older capacity without impacting the deployment of new, leading-edge 45-nanometer and 32-nanometer manufacturing capacity,” it said in a statement.

The company said it will close two existing assembly test facilities in Penang, Malaysia and one in Cavite, Philippines, and will halt production at Fab 20, an older 200 mm wafer fabrication facility in Hillsboro, Oregon.

Also, wafer production operations will end at the D2 facility in Santa Clara, California, it said.

Intel said these actions would affect between 5,000 and 6,000 employees worldwide.

“However, not all employees will leave Intel; some may be offered positions at other facilities. The actions will take place between now and the end of 2009,” it said.

bitoy

January 22nd, 2009, 06:20 PM

Microsoft resorts to first layoffs, cutting 5,000 (http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090122/ap_on_hi_te/earns_microsoft_8)

SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. said Thursday it is cutting 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months — more than 5 percent of its work force — a sign of how badly even the biggest and richest companies are being stung by the recession.

The layoffs appear to be a first for Microsoft, which was founded in 1975, aside from relatively limited staff cuts the software company made after acquiring companies.

The company announced the cuts as it reported an 11 percent drop in second-quarter profit, which fell short of Wall Street's expectations. Microsoft shares plunged 8 percent in morning trading.

The biggest names in the technology sector have been no stranger to layoffs lately. Giants such as chip maker Intel Corp. and even Google Inc. are among the companies that have pulled back on jobs to hunker down in the recession.

Even with $20.7 billion in cash on hand, Microsoft said its business prospects were hurt by the deteriorating global economy and lower revenue from software for PCs. The holiday quarter of 2008 was the worst the PC market had seen since 2002, with computer shipments declining about a half of 1 percent, according to IDC, a technology research group.

Making matters worse, the one type of PC consumers have warmed to in tight times — the low-cost, low-power "netbook" — actually cut further into Microsoft's earnings. The tiny portable computers run on Windows XP, which is older and less profitable for Microsoft than Windows Vista.

In a memo to employees, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer acknowledged that Microsoft is "not immune to the effects of the economy. Consumers and businesses have reined in spending, which is affecting PC shipments and IT (information technology) expenditures."

Ballmer said Microsoft cut operating expenses by $600 million in the quarter, but that it wasn't enough.

The layoffs, starting with 1,400 on Thursday, will affect workers in research and development, marketing, sales, finance, legal and corporate affairs, human resources and information technology, and mostly in Redmond, Wash., where the company is based. Ballmer also said changes would occur in departments that handle support, consulting, operations, billing, manufacturing, and data center operations, but he did not say whether layoffs are planned in those cases.

Microsoft won't stop hiring entirely. Ballmer said the company will add new jobs to support "key investment areas" over the next 18 months, so the total number of employees will drop by 2,000 to 3,000. Microsoft employs 94,000 people overall.

"I would have expected a more aggressive cut," said Cowen and Co. analyst Walter Pritchard. "They're trying to have their cake and eat it too, in terms of not cutting and hoping to have everything they were going to have before."

The software maker is trimming costs for travel, contractors and vendors, and said it will scale back a massive expansion to its Redmond campus.

Microsoft said its job cuts will reduce operating costs by $1.5 billion as it prepares for lower revenue and earnings in the second half of the year. The company says it is unable to offer profit and revenue guidance for the rest of the year, because of the market volatility.

Microsoft said profit in the last quarter fell to $4.17 billion, or 47 cents per share, from year-ago earnings of $4.71 billion, or 50 cents per share.

Total revenue edged up 2 percent to $16.63 billion.

The results missed Wall Street's forecast for earnings of 49 cents per share on sales of $17.08 billion.

Microsoft makes most of its profits on sales of the Windows operating system and its Office package of software, which includes programs such as Word, PowerPoint and Excel. Revenue and earnings shrank in both of those divisions.

A bright spot for Microsoft is software for corporate server computers, where revenue is still rising. Gartner analyst Neil MacDonald noted that the server business can thrive in a downturn because back-office software can help companies improve efficiency and save money.

Microsoft shares fell $1.57, or 8.1 percent, to $17.81 in morning trading.

lightsaber46

January 23rd, 2009, 02:36 AM

RP fears 60,000 IT job losses
Agence France-Presse
First Posted 19:40:00 01/22/2009
Filed Under: World Financial Crisis, Unemployment, Infotech

MANILA, Philippines— Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said up to 60,000 jobs could be lost in the Philippines' key electronics sector due to the global economic crisis.

Intel, the world's biggest computer chip maker, announced plans Wednesday to close plants in Malaysia, the Philippines and the United States, with the loss of 1,800 jobs in its assembly test facility in Cavite province south of Manila.

Texas Instruments, another big US player in the sector, told the government last month it was laying off 400 workers from its semiconductor factory in the northern resort town of Baguio due to the global financial crisis.

The cuts highlight the poor state of the electronics industry and could be the beginning of a wave of job losses in the sector.

"The impact of the economic downturn on our business was more severe than we anticipated and the outlook is uncertain," Intel Philippines said in a statement explaining the closure of its facility.

The laid-off employees "will be offered a severance package," and various "transition services" the company statement said without giving details.

Intel was once one of the biggest exporters in the Philippines and one of the first to set up semiconductor manufacturing facilities in the country 35 years ago, investing about a billion dollars over that time, according to its website.

"The semiconductor industry is already getting hit," Roque told ABS-CBN television in an interview.

"We have seen this as early as three months ago," he said.

"We expected that we'll be getting hit in the first semester of this year," he added.

Roque said the government is giving counseling and retraining to "about 60,000 workers that could be affected nationwide."

The labor department is "getting daily notices now not only of retrenchments but on the reduction of work shifts, reduction of working hours, and compression of the work week," he said.

Plants employing 19,000 people have so far reduced shifts or working hours, he added but did not say how many had been laid off.

"We have to admit that this is not business as usual in the Philippines for the electronics sector and in the garments sector as well," Roque said.

"These will be the two particular areas that would be affected by the global financial crisis."

The electronics sector accounts for about 70 percent of the Philippines' exports and employs 480,000 workers.

Roque said Manila expects the business process outsourcing sector to take up some of the slack, with a "nominal growth" in the call center industry creating about 130,000 jobs this year.

The Philippines also hopes to send its workers to "hotel jobs in Bulgaria and even manufacturing jobs also in some countries like Australia."

crappypants

January 23rd, 2009, 09:07 AM

tsk tsk kawawa naman mga kababayan na mawawalan ng tarbaho.
wala bang unemployment compensation ang gobyerno sa pilipinas habang silay naghahanap ng ibang tarbaho.
kaya habang may tarbaho sila ay magtabe sana para sa mga rainy days.

kiretoce

January 24th, 2009, 03:42 AM

Fired for "un-Australian toilet habits" (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24956534-5006786,00.html)

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,6454965,00.jpg

A man who uses water instead of toilet paper says he was sacked for his "un-Australian" toilet habits.

Amador Bernabe, 43, is a machine operator in Townsville on a working visa from the Philippines, the Townsville Bulletin reports.

On Thursday, he claims his foreman followed him into the bathrooms questioning his toilet hygiene.

Mr Bernabe said his employer, Townsville Engineering Industries (TEI), sacked him yesterday for not going to the toilet the Australian way.

"I went to go to the toilet and I took a bottle of water when my foreman saw me and he said, 'you can't bring the water in there'," Mr Bernabe said.

The foreman followed Mr Bernabe into the toilet despite his protests.

"I said it's my personal hygiene. I didn't break any law, I didn't break any rules of the company, why can't I do this, and he said he would report me to the manager.

The next day, Mr Bernabe says he was called into the manager's office.

"He asked me what had happened and I explained to him and he said if I didn't follow the Australian way I would be immediately terminated and I said 'sir, then you better terminate me'."

The move has angered union bosses and politicians on the Australia Day weekend.

Australian Manufacturing Worker's Union state organiser Rick Finch said the incident was shocking.

"I think it is atrocious, an invasion of a person's rights and cultural beliefs," he said.

"If it wasn't so disgusting it would almost be laughable."

Greens spokeswoman Jenny Stirling praised Mr Bernabe for standing up for his rights.

"I commend the man for standing up for himself and I encourage the employer to have further talks with the union and the employee and I am sure commonsense will prevail," she said.

"I would like to see how Australians feel when they go to Europe where in places they don't have toilet paper."

TEI could not be reached for comment.

diz

January 24th, 2009, 03:51 AM

Using toilet paper is not the Australian way, ignorant fucks.

Toilet paper originated in China, where they still believe it's better to wash your anus than to simply wipe it.

Dirty bastards.

RonnieR

January 24th, 2009, 03:54 AM

^^ I don't know how to react.... so funny....and yet it's true, how about using bidet? :lol:

kiretoce

January 24th, 2009, 01:33 PM

tonight

January 24th, 2009, 01:44 PM

^^
we have another record but in crime :ohno:

RonnieR

January 24th, 2009, 03:22 PM

RP in world records book for most murders (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/145768/RP-in-world-records-book-for-most-murders-says-Gordon)

The Philippines is in the Guinness Book of World Records of 2009 for the most number of recorded murders, Senator Richard Gordon claimed Saturday.

In a press statement posted on the Senate website (www.senate.gov.ph), Gordon said this is one record the government has to erase.

"Our country has a penchant for setting world records on almost anything under the sun, but this record of having the most murder cases recorded tells something really serious in our country's public and order situation," he said.

"We should shudder at this world record because it shows that the best legacy our generation will leave behind is our reputation for succeeding at killing people than making our country safe," he added.

He claimed that in the 2009 Guinness Book of World Records, the Philippines had 3,515 homicides in 2004, and is the country with the highest number of murders for the latest year available in the records of the United Nations.

The country has set several records before, including recent ones as largest sticker wrap in the world, longest pastillas, most number of people tooth brushing, longest beer bar, and longest barbecue, longest longganisa, he said.

Gordon said that while most of the records the country sets symbolize the unity, cooperation, creativity and diligence among the citizens, the negative record could only stain these achievements because of the gravity of the issue involved.

"We have heard of studies branding our nation as one of the most corrupt countries, or one of the most dangerous places for journalists, and now we have this record on being number one on murders," he said.

Is Sen. Gordon sure about this? it stated that 3,515 in 2004....Look at Brazil, 55,000 homicides in 2006
Brazil murder rate similar to war zone, data shows
September 25, 2006

BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) - More than 150 Brazilians were murdered each day last year on average, putting Brazil on a par with some war zones in terms of its homicide rate, the Justice Ministry said on Monday.

Some 55,000 Brazilians died of homicide in 2005 -- a few thousand more civilians than in three years of war in Iraq, according to leading estimates.

Brazil, a continent-sized nation of 185 million people starkly divided into rich and poor, has had notoriously high crime rates for years. Millions of poor live in urban slums and unpoliced rural areas where guns are easy to come by.

Though the murder rate is high, Marcelo Durante, coordinator of the Justice Ministry's report, said homicides have fallen slowly in recent years thanks in part to an initiative to collect guns from the streets.

Citizens have voluntarily turned in thousands of weapons in places like Rio de Janeiro, the famous beachside city whose urban slums have some of the highest crime rates in Brazil.

A referendum in 2005 to ban gun sales failed, in part because some voters had lost faith in police.

"It was the states that collected the most guns that saw crime rates fall most," said Durante, "but we have to remember it's not just about guns."

Other kinds of violent crime in Brazil are far more common than statistics show, Durante said, adding that urban surveys suggest only a quarter of all robberies and 15 percent of all rapes are reported nationwide.

"At least with homicide, we can be a little more confident most of the crimes are getting reported," he said.

Murders also declined in Brazil's largest city of Sao Paulo in recent years, Durante said. Earlier this year, however, a gang known as First Command of the Capital launched a series of attacks on police, banks and buses in which about 200 police, gangsters and innocent civilians were killed.

Ph Man

January 25th, 2009, 06:12 AM

maybe because they counted murders and not homicides.

in the meantime, one source said industrial park locators in Laguna will cut off as much as 30,000 jobs this year. hindi naman kaya nakikipagsabayan na lang ang mga kumpanya mag lay-off dahil pagkakataon na nila maalis ang mga delingkwenteng tauhan?

lightsaber46

January 25th, 2009, 07:44 AM

or to get rid of the Labor Unions; and their CBAs', just a thought :)

Ph Man

January 25th, 2009, 01:29 PM

that's what happened to Colgate-Palmolive. kaya ngayon wala activity sa manufacturing facility nila sa Estrella, Makati. when CP decided to automate its manufacturing operation, there was high resistance from its workers. they got used to excessive overtimes so they earn too much from the OT. plus they have an agressive labor union. now that they have machines to do their tasks, overtime is not needed anymore. translates to lesser pay for them. the management wanted to give them salary raise, but that doesn't really solve the problem. after few years, CP decided to move their manufacturing facility in Thailand. some of their managers/supervisors were sent off.

lesson: for multinational companies, labor unions are a big liability!

kyle@1008

January 25th, 2009, 02:36 PM

^^ spoken like a true Big Boss Kiki, no wonder you're underlings fear you...

Ph Man

January 25th, 2009, 07:01 PM

hindi naman. just heard it from someone. ;)

lightsaber46

January 26th, 2009, 05:33 AM

Financial slowdown accelerates worldwide
World
Sunday, 25 January 2009 23:09
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5102:financial-slowdown-accelerates-worldwide&catid=51:world&Itemid=67

WASHINGTON—The world economy is deteriorating more quickly than leading economists predicted only weeks ago, with Britain on Friday becoming the latest nation to surprise analysts with the depth of its economic pain.
Britain posted its worst quarterly contraction since 1980 on the heels of sharper than expected slowdowns reported from Germany to China to South Korea. The grim data, analysts said, underscores how the burst of the biggest credit bubble in history is seeping into the real economies around the world, silencing construction cranes, bankrupting businesses and throwing millions of people out of work.

“In just the past few days, we’ve had a big downward revision, we’re seeing that an even bigger deceleration is on the way than we thought,” said Simon Johnson, former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund and a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
The depth of the troubles, analysts say, indicates that nations may need to spend more than the billions of dollars already planned on stimulus packages to jump-start their economies, and that a global recovery could take longer, perhaps pushing into 2010.

Analysts are particularly concerned about the slowdown in China and the recession in Europe. There is mounting concern about the stability of the euro and the British pound, which dropped to a 24-year low against the dollar on Friday. Analysts are fretting about the possibility of a debt default in a euro-zone country that could send fresh shock waves through global financial markets.

The problems in Europe now appear to be as bad if not worse than those in the United States. In the last quarter of 2008, the British economy shrank at an annualized rate of 6 percent. That is worse than economists expected, but also showed the British recession may be even harsher than the one in the United States, where analysts predict data expected this week will show the US economy to have contracted between 5 percent and 5.5 percent in the last quarter of 2008.

The meltdown is altering high streets in Britain, where retail icon Woolworths shuttered the last of its 807 branches this month after 99 years in business. Marks & Spencer, sometimes described as the bellwether of Britain’s retail sector, said this month that it would close 27 stores and cut more than 1,000 jobs. The average price of a house has plummeted to mid-2004 levels, according to Halifax, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender. Car sales are at a 12-year low. The number of people out of work has climbed to nearly 2 million, a level not seen since 1997, when the Labor Party came to power.
In fact, the only sector to show growth in Britain was agriculture, which accounts for about 1 percent of the overall economy.

“The question now is not how bad will 2009 be, but will we recover in 2010 and if we recover, will it only be anemic?” said Andrew Scott, professor of economics at the London Business School, adding that the housing bubble is bigger, consumer debt is higher and the speed of the slowdown faster than in previous recessions.

Partial data released in recent days by Germany, Europe’s single biggest economy, indicates its economy saw a major contraction in the last months of 2008, posting a 6-percent annualized drop, according to Howard Archer, chief Britain and European economist for IHS Global Insight in London.
That could get worse as problems mount in the European financial system. In recent days, major banks in Europe—including the Royal Bank of Scotland—reported surprisingly massive losses. European authorities are seen by some critics as falling behind the Americans in dealing with distress in the their financial sectors.

Standard & Poor’s has downgraded Greek and Spanish bonds and warned that others, including Ireland’s, may be next. The sense that some European countries are now more risky has driven up the borrowing costs for even large nations in the region, including Italy. That has made it harder for those countries to raise the vast sums needed to launch major stimulus packages aimed at economic recoveries.

Also troubling are signs that China, once a rare light in the global economy, may not prove to be the pillar of strength in Asia that many analysts had hoped. Beijing announced this week that its economy grew by 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 —slower than the 7-percent analysts expected—bringing total growth for 2008 to a seven-year low. Chinese data, however, are somewhat opaque, and analysts warned the slowdown there may be sharper than Beijing is willing to admit.

That is diminishing hopes for China as Asia’s economic white knight, with its growth potentially propping up economies in the region. And as China grows at a far slower rate, it is importing fewer goods from neighbors, giving export-dependent nations in the region no way to pick up the slack from plummeting demand in the United States and Europe.

Particularly hard hit is South Korea, which saw trade with China soar in recent years. But as China slows, and the United States, Europe and Japan sink into deep recessions, unsold goods are piling up at South Korea docks. This week, the government said the economy in the fourth quarter staged its sharpest drop since the Asian economic crisis swept across the country in 1998. (The Washington Post)

skywalker2008

January 28th, 2009, 02:21 AM

23,485 job losses traced to crisis (http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20090127-185942/23485-job-losses-traced-to-crisis)

By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 23:01:00 01/27/2009

MANILA, Philippines — A total of 23,485 Filipinos here and abroad have lost their jobs as a direct result of the global financial crisis, the Department of Labor and Employment said Tuesday.

Since the crisis started taking its toll in October, 19,443 workers have lost jobs in the Philippines and 4,042 overseas, department spokesman Jay Julian said.

Among the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), "most of those who lost their jobs abroad are from Taiwan," he said. OFW job cuts attributed to the crisis were also reported in South Korea, Macau, Brunei, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Russia, Poland and Australia, he added.

In the Philippines, 33,936 workers have been asked to take flexible work hours as a way of coping with the crisis, Julian said.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said Tuesday that 6,233 of its members had been directly affected by economic downturn — 2,933 were laid off and 3,300 were given flexible hours.

"This is separate from the government figures. We are doing our own headcount," TUCP spokesman Alex Aguilar said.

When asked whether the TUCP, one of the biggest labor groups in the Philippines, had an estimate of total job losses in the next couple of months, Aguilar said, "We are not in a position to make any projections."

Most of the workers affected are in the garments, electronics and furniture industries, Aguilar said. "We lost a union in Cebu and three factories closed shop in Valenzuela, all in the furniture business," he said.

The TUCP was calling on the labor department to fast-track its short-term and long-term safety-net programs for displaced workers, the spokesman added.

It welcomes a tripartite summit — with the government, the employer sector and the labor sector to be represented—that has been called by the labor department for this Thursday and Friday.

"This summit is important so that we are able to generate information and data on how many were really affected,” Julian said. “It is important that everyone is on the same page."

lightsaber46

January 29th, 2009, 02:14 AM

Panasonic closes plant; coco crisis up

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20090129-186172/Panasonic-closes-plant-coco-crisis-up
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:51:00 01/29/2009

Filed Under: World Financial Crisis, Company Information, Unemployment, Forecasts, International (Foreign)Trade, Mining and quarrying

MANILA, Philippines—Panasonic Corp., the world’s largest maker of plasma television, will shut down its factory in the Philippines and another plant in Malaysia to “cope with a rapid change in the global electronics market,” a company spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Some 60 Filipino employees at Panasonic’s battery factory in Taytay, Rizal, and around 500 Malaysian workers at its electronic parts plant in Malacca will lose their jobs, according to company spokesperson Akira Kadota.

The Department of Labor and Employment in Southern Mindanao is closely watching the coconut industry.

The price of copra (dried coconut meat) has nose-dived from P62 per kilogram in the past months to P16.

The Panasonic closures come as the company is in the middle of a $9-billion takeover of smaller Japanese rival Sanyo Electric Co. to become one of the world’s biggest electronics companies.

Kadota, however, declined to confirm a report saying that the Japanese electronics giant would likely suffer its first net loss in six years.

More layoffs

More factory closures and layoffs, and fewer job opportunities and investments are yet to come as the global economic downturn worsens this year, former Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said Wednesday.

“It is not true that the economic storm is coming. It has arrived,” Diokno said in a presentation, titled “The Philippine Economy: The Worst is Yet to Come.”

The sharp slowdown of the Philippine economy from 7.3 percent in 2007 to about 4 percent to 4.5 percent in 2008 was largely due to the crisis, the University of the Philippines economics professor said. Growth this year was projected at a slower 3 percent.

Exports down

Diokno said that exports’ growth from January to October in 2008 slowed to 1.9 percent, a far cry from the original target of 11 percent.

“The downward trajectory is alarming. October 2008 exports contracted by 14.9 percent to $3.97 billion from $4.7 billion in October 2007, the weakest monthly export performance since December 2001,” he said.

The exports sector, he said, was “expected to worsen” this year as the economies of the 10 destinations of Philippine exports—the United States, Japan, China, Hong Kong, The Netherlands, Germany, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore—were “projected to worsen.”

“The recovery in 2010 is expected to be weak,” Diokno said. Weaker economies translate to lower demand for Philippine products, which means more factory closures and layoffs, he added.

MBC survey

Members of the Makati Business Club expect more job cuts in the coming months, according to a survey that the group conducted among senior executives of the country’s largest corporations on Jan. 16-23.

Nearly half, or 46 percent, of the respondents projected a 3-10 percent decrease in workforce this year, the survey showed. Another 21 percent expected a 20-30-percent reduction, while 13 percent saw a 50-60-percent cut.

Eight percent of the respondents said they even expected the extent of the manpower reduction in their companies to reach 80-90 percent.

The remaining 12 percent did not disclose their possible job cuts.

Of those who expected to do some downsizing in 2009, 58 percent were service providers, 21 percent were manufacturing firms, 17 percent were exporters and 4 percent were importers.

“Recession was already happening in the US even before the financial crisis exploded in October 2008, so weak US demand was bound to affect us anyway. The financial crisis exacerbated what should have been a mild economic crisis,” MBC executive director Alberto Lim said in a statement.

Layoffs at Apex mining

Apex Mining Co., a publicly listed firm owned by Crew Gold Corp. of Britain, confirmed that it was laying off 150 managers and employees “to sustain the economic viability of the mine project” in Maco town, Compostela Valley province.

About 750 others will remain employed, according to Deogracias G. Contreras Jr., Apex president and chief executive officer.

The company earlier said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange that even expatriates were affected by the staff cut, which has been in the works for “several months.” It said that it was reducing power consumption and refraining from non-production activities to effect savings amid depressed metal prices.

“It is anticipated that the project will realize earnings once its commercial production is in full swing with high precious metals being forecast to prevail during the periods to come,” said Apex, which has been operating for more than 36 years.

Apex forecast a total net profit of $50 million or P2.25 billion over seven years. In 2005, a partnership between Crew Gold and the Filipino-owned Mapula Creek Gold Corp. took over its management.

Other mining firms

Three other mining firms—Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp., Platinum Group Mining Corp. and OceanaGold Corp.—are downsizing their operations due to the weak economy, an industry source said.

Last month, OceanaGold placed its Dipidio gold-copper project in Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino on “care and maintenance, following completion of the strategic review that began in July (2008),” the company’s chief executive, Stephen Orr, said in an earlier statement.

Atlas Mining operates the Toledo copper complex, Berong nickel project and the Toledo-Cebu bulk water and reservoir project, through subsidiaries Carmen Copper Corp., Berong Nickel Corp. and AquAtlas Inc. Its wholly owned subsidiary, Atlas Exploration Inc., hosts, explores and develops copper, gold, nickel and other mineral exploration properties.

Dolefil

In Bukidnon, pineapple giant Dole Philippines (Dolefil) has reduced its workweek from six to five days, affecting 580 production and office workers, according to Ma. Gloria Tango, labor regional director.

Illegal dismissal complaints

In Cebu, an agency providing workers to manufacturing firms at the Mactan Economic Zone has retrenched over 50 workers since last week, according to the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) regional office.

Workers of Nozomi Fortune Services in Cebu City trooped to the NLRC office on Tuesday to file illegal dismissal complaints against the management.

They also demanded separation pay from the companies, said Fe Cabigon, NLRC regional administrative officer.
According to its website (www.nozomifortune.com), Nozomi Fortune supplies workers to Japanese, Korean, US and Philippine locators in 15 major export processing zones nationwide, including the Mactan zone. The workers perform manufacturing and high-technology jobs.

Jinky Oliveros, acting area head of the company, said the global economic downturn had led to the downsizing of manufacturing firms at the zone.

She said the agency told the retrenched workers would be reassigned once there are openings in other companies.

“We told them to just wait, but they could not wait and instead demanded separation fees,” she said in Cebuano. With reports from Jhunnex Napallacan, Inquirer Visayas; Dennis Jay C. Santos and Aquiles Z. Zonio, Inquirer Mindanao; Riza T. Olchondra, TJ Burgonio and Abigail L. Ho in Manila and Agence France-Presse

Askal82

January 29th, 2009, 06:04 AM

Solution: invest in agriculture. Grow more food!!

wynngd

January 30th, 2009, 05:31 AM

^^I agree, yan din ung asa isip ko nung tinitingnan ko on how to cope up with this financial crisis...

Askal82

January 30th, 2009, 06:37 AM

^^ That is why the adage of planting camotes should be taken seriously these days. The source of wealth is in the land, not in papers. :D

tonight

January 30th, 2009, 11:17 AM

Solution: invest in agriculture. Grow more food!!

^^
good suggestion :okay:

venntro

February 4th, 2009, 03:22 AM

Investors see RP defaulting (http://http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/02/03/09/investors-see-rp-defaulting)
By VG Cabuag, Business Mirror | 02/04/2009 1:44 AM

Foreign investors are starting to feel that the debtors from the Philippines, including the national government, are more likely to default on its loans as a result of the worsening economic situation, according to an official from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

ADB senior economist Dr. Cyn-Young Park said the widening credit default spreads lead many investors to think that the Philippine government may default on its debt, or not pay these when it becomes due.

“This is the investors’ assessment of the creditworthiness of the Philippine government,” Park said in a seminar organized by the Yuchengco Center and the De la Salle University.

“Generally, the market is more cautious in giving credit… that’s why sourcing funds overseas may be too costly at this [time],” she added.

A company’s credit-default swap spread is the cost per annum for protection against a default by the company. Park, however, said that with the global economic crisis, the Philippines fares well compared with newly industrialized economies in Asia, such as Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.

She said most of these have been heavily affected since they have a “substantial financial market,” mainly being linked with the United States market.

It will be in the hands of the national governments in the region to spur the economy—such as what the Arroyo administration is doing—by providing stimulus packages to perk up market and consumer demand, she said.

“ADB works with the regional government to take proactive actions so that we could ride out this storm and maintain the regional growth momentum,” she said.

As of October last year, the total outstanding debt of the national government stands at P4.184 trillion; some 43 percent of this, or P1.804 trillion, was owed to foreign creditors, and another P2.380 trillion, or 57 percent, was owed to domestic lenders.
The national government borrowed from foreign creditors the net equivalent of just P1 billion in October, but the overall level of the government’s foreign debt increased by 4.2 percent, or by P74 billion, because of the currency adjustments.

The government sold foreign currency-denominated IOUs aggregating P1.033 trillion during the period, some of which was meant to cover for the budget deficit.

The bulk of these foreign-currency issuances were denominated in US dollars equal to P935.8 billion, another in Japanese yen worth P24.7 billion plus P72.6 billion more in euro bonds.

Contingent debt that becomes direct national government obligations in case of default was 4.7 percent, or P24 billion higher to P537 billion, from the year-ago level of only P513 billion.

venntro

February 5th, 2009, 03:04 AM

IMF cuts RP growth forecast to 2.25% (http://http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/02/04/09/imf-cuts-rp-growth-forecast-225)
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 02/04/2009 5:04 PM

The Philippine economy is likely to grow by only 2.25 percent this year due to the easing demand in its major export markets, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said.

The IMF said it saw growth slowing down even further than its initial 3.5-percent estimate in November 2008, which was already a revision of an earlier forecast that placed this year's growth rate at 3.8 percent.

"Because it is very much caught up in the kind of global factors that are affecting demand across the region, we are projecting Philippine growth in 2009, on average, to be about 2.25 percent," said Anoop Singh, Director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department.

Despite the slowdown, however, the IMF said the country still had "considerable room" for monetary easing which would stimulate growth, especially if done in tandem with a calibrated increase in fiscal spending.

Singh said the IMF was encouraged by the decision of the Arroyo administration to undertake a fiscal stimulus plan in order to prevent the economy from stalling.

"There is some room on the fiscal side, not an awful lot, but there has been approval by Congress of the budget that has some appropriate stimulus," he said.

Total recovery

IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, for his part, said the world economy will recover from the financial crisis "at the same time."

"We see it at the same time as the rest of the world because we don't believe that it's really possible for the Asian economies to have a recovery with the rest of the world economy being in such a bad shape," Strauss-Kahn said.

In the process, however, Strauss-Kahn said some Asian economies, which are more dynamic and have significant resources and strong fundamentals, may recover slightly faster than others.

"I think some Asian economies are very good candidates to be the leading economies when that process will start again," he said.

Meanwhile, Strauss-Kahn called for the shift from export to domestic demand, since the former would be the one hit hardest by the global financial crisis. He said, however, that the transition cannot be done overnight.

"The problem in shifting from an export model to a domestic growth model is not that much to know how to increase the domestic demand but to know how to increase the supply, which is likely to alter this domestic demand," he said.

venntro

February 5th, 2009, 09:13 AM

Japan-funded public works projects also controlled by cartel: report (http://http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/02/05/09/japan-funded-public-works-projects-also-controlled-cartel-report)
by ARIES RUFO, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak | 02/05/2009 2:44 PM

The cartel behind the manipulation of the bidding process in public works projects is so deeply entrenched that its operation is not limited to World Bank (WB)-funded projects.

A document provided to abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak showed that projects funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) were also not spared by the cartel in the bid manipulation and the awarding of the projects at the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). The JBIC is a Japanese governmental financial aid institution.

Like the bidding process in WB-funded projects, at the core of the bid fixing were colluding public works officials favored contractors.

Samar road project

One of these projects is the P1.4 billion Calbayog-Gatanguit arterial road project in Samar funded under a JBIC loan. The project, which covers the improvement and upgrading of about 52.7 kilometers of existing road, began in Nov. 2006 and is scheduled to be completed in August.

The winning bidders were E. C de Luna Construction Corp. and China Road and Bridge Construction, two of the seven companies blacklisted by the WB for collusion in its funded projects.

The project was awarded despite protests by one of the participating bidders, Guangdong Construction Engineering Group Co., that irregularities tainted the bidding process. The state-owned Guangdong is one of the top 20 construction firms in China.

Based on the letter-complaint filed by Guangdong resident manager Venicio Ramos, on Dec. 14 2005, the firm submitted its bid for the project 15 minutes before the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) closed the submission of documents.

However, a staff identified as Michelle, “refused to receive the sealed bids submitted by my company and refused to stamp and acknowledge the submission and receipt of the bid proposals” submitted by Guangdong representative Wei Qing.

Qing was told by the staff to wait for official notice by the BAC.

As the BAC began the process of opening the bids at the DPWH Main Conference Room, Qing was told to step out on the ground that Guangdong’s bid had been rejected for late submission.

E.C. de Luna-China Road

To add insult to injury, Ramos said the BAC awarded the project to E.C. de Luna and China Road and Bridge Construction “when records will show that they are not qualified” in the first place.

The rejection of Guangdong’s bid showed there was “an apparent collusion and a grand design to ensure that only the bid proposals of favored contractors and construction companies are accepted,” the complaint said.

Guangdong said it has filed a protest with Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane about the irregularity but no action has been taken.

On April 27, 2006, Guangdong wrote a letter to the JBIC's chief representative Hiroshi Togo detailing the anomaly. The Office of the President, the Ombudsman and Ebdane were also furnished copies of the complaint.

We sought an interview with the JBIC but we were referred to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The JICA, on the other hand, refused to entertain our queries.

Conduits

Based on the WB inquiry report which abs-cbnnews.co/Newbreak obtained, Eduardo de Luna, owner of E.C de Luna Corp., appeared to be the main conduit between DPWH officials and contractors in fixing the bidding process in public works projects.

One of those interviewed by WB investigators had admitted his firm participated to fix the bidding in projects financed by the WB and the JBIC.

Projects under the JBIC funds are managed by the DPWH-Philippine Japan Highway Loan Project Management Office (PJHL).

Abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak inquiry showed that Tito Miranda, who was also named in the WB report, is usually seen at the PJHL office. Miranda has been identified by WB witnesses as one of the so-called Mafia members at the DPWH.

We also found out that DWPH assistant director for Region 4, Huillo Belleza, also tagged by WB witnesses as a member of the cartel, used to be a member of the BAC. His wife, Remedios, is also a director at the DPWH.

venntro

February 10th, 2009, 04:27 AM

December exports down 40.4% (http://http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/02/10/09/rps-dec-exports-down-404-yr)
Reuters | 02/10/2009 10:06 AM

MANILA - Philippine exports plunged 40.4 percent in December after falling a revised 11.4 percent in November, the government's statistics office said on Tuesday.

Shipments of electronics products, the country's main export, contracted 47.6 percent in December from the year ago period after falling 17.2 percent year-on-year in November.

With the December decline, total exports in 2008 fell 2.86 percent from 2007, reflecting the effects of the global financial crisis.

The government had earlier revised its 2008 exports target to growth of 2-4 percent from 5 percent, following from a rise of 6 percent in 2007.

Besides electronics, which are largely assembled from imported parts, other key Philippine exports include garments and accessories, vehicle parts, coconut oil, tropical fruit and wood furniture.

venntro

February 10th, 2009, 08:37 AM

Lower exports may lead to revision of RP growth targets (http://http://www.gmanews.tv/story/148085/Lower-exports-may-lead-to-revision-of-RP-growth-targets)
02/10/2009 | 12:53 PM

MANILA, Philippines- The huge fall in Philippine exports reported in December may prompt economic managers to revise growth assumptions for this year.

In a telephone interview, Director Dennis Arroyo of the national planning and policy of the National Economic and Development Authority conceded that “it’s always a possibility" to adjust economic assumptions.

The National Statistics Office reported that exports in December contracted by 40.4 percent as the Philippines largest markets purchased less goods amid the global recession.

Presently the government’s target of 3.7-percent to 4.7-percent gross domestic product growth for this year is premised, among others, on a one percent to three-percent improvement in exports.

The International Monetary Fund, however, said the Philippine economy will only grow by 2.25 percent this year while international credit-watcher Standard & Poor gave a forecast of anywhere between 2.2 percent and 2.7 percent. They both cited the Philippines’ exposure to global drivers like exports as reason for their dim expectations.

Despite the dismal December exports, Arroyo said that it was highly unlikely that for 2009, exports will decline by 30 percent.

Arroyo explained that in times of uncertainty, electronics were the first product that consumers cross out from their shopping list.

Electronic products, the Philippines’ top item, posted a decline of 47.6 percent in December.

Economist Vic Abola of the University of the Asia and the Pacific agreed with Arroyo, saying export figures are expected to improve for January.

“It’s still negative, but I don’t think it will be as bad as December’s," he said.

Abola noted that with long holidays in December, production were lower by exports firms.

“There was also lesser value because of lower prices of petroleum products," he said. CMA, GMANews.TV

venntro

February 12th, 2009, 02:51 AM

12,500 laid off at PEZA zones (http://http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view/20090211-188745/12500-laid-off-at-PEZA-zones)
By Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 18:34:00 02/11/2009

MANILA, Philippines — (UPDATE) Some 12,500 workers have been laid off at Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) zones since October, PEZA Director General Lilia de Lima said.

Some companies at the zones have shortened workweeks from seven days to six and workdays from three eight-hour shifts to two, De Lima said.

“They’re adapting shorter work hours so that they can hold on to their people, because it is difficult and costly to train” new personnel, she said.

On the other hand, the PEZA has approved applications of 560 companies to set up factories in PEZA zones, De Lima said.

“They’re now starting to create. They’re also starting to hire,” she said. “I want also to emphasize that some companies are also expanding: medical instrumentation, disposable syringes.”

Employment at PEZA zones was up 2.54 percent last year said.

Regarding US-based chipmaker Intel Corp., which announced last month that it would close down its Philippine plant and lay off the last thousand or so of its workers, De Lima said an Intel sister company, Numonyx, had hired 600 former Intel employees and would hire 400 more.

venntro

February 13th, 2009, 02:51 AM

Business expansion seen slowing down on high cost, lack of skilled workers (http://http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=439742&publicationSubCategoryId=66)
By Ma. Elisa P. Osorio Updated February 13, 2009 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - Local industries may find it hard to expand their businesses this year because of lack of skilled workers, high cost of finance and reduced demand, according to a report by Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR) released by tax and business advisory firm Punongbayan & Araullo (P&A).

The report said 63 percent of Filipino business leaders cited these reasons as a major roadblock to expansion, compared to 58 percent last year.

Privately held businesses face a big challenge in staying competitive during these uncertain times. And part of overcoming that challenge is operating with the mindset that all this shall also come to pass. We just need to weather the storm and emerge wiser, faster and more innovative,” Greg Navarro, managing partner and CEO of P&A said.

“Business leaders have to be proactive by paying close attention to their operations, looking at where they can plug leaks or make savings. They have to study the specific issues affecting their business and develop strategies that will allow them to respond quickly to transformative changes in the market place,” Navarro added.

The report stated that 61 percent of the privately held businesses (PHBs) surveyed named cost of finance as the second biggest roadblock to expansion. This was followed by shortage of orders.

Chipmaker Intel Corp. was forced to close its Cavite factory, which produced $5 billion worth of exports, due to a dramatic drop in demand for products such as personal computers and mobile internet devices. In the Cordillera region, nearly 2,000 miners have either lost their jobs or started working fewer hours as mining companies take on cost-cutting measures.

“PHBs in various markets have been affected differently by the economic downturn, but clearly, no one is immune from this slowdown,” he explained further.

In fact, even industry giants like Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Ayala Land, Inc. have announced plans to cut capital spending for 2009 in response to the deepening global downturn.

“But in spite of the increasing number of workers becoming unemployed, companies still continue to complain about lack of skilled manpower. This is true particularly in the BPO industry, where the hiring rate is still around four percent to six percent of applicants, and in the construction industry, which is always in demand for highly-skilled welders and electro-mechanical workers,” Navarro said.

venntro

February 14th, 2009, 01:48 AM

Up to 200,000 Filipinos could lose jobs this year--official (http://http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/02/13/09/200000-filipinos-could-lose-jobs-year-official)
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 02/13/2009 10:43 PM

Lay-offs this year could affect 40,000 to 200,000 Filipino workers, a senior official of the government's economic planning agency said Friday.

"That's the range for the whole year, a big range. Definitely, it will raise the unemployment rate," Dennis Arroyo, head of policy planning at the National Economic Development Authority, said in a statement.

He emphasized, however, that unemployment rate will not reach 10 percent.

The unemployment rate for October 2008 was recorded at 6.8 percent.

Arroyo said this issue is being addressed by the Department of Labor Employment by shifting overseas Filipino workers (OFW) from countries with weak demand to those with strong demand.

"The Middle East countries are responding to the crisis by pump-priming and spending on infrastructure projects. That will boost OFW unemployment in construction. There are also new markets in Guam, New Zealand and South Australia," he noted.

venntro

February 16th, 2009, 10:31 AM

Report: 38 people dead in Philippine evacuation centers (http://http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=440910&publicationSubCategoryId=200)
Updated February 16, 2009 04:00 PM

TALAYAN (Xinhua) -- At least 38 homeless people including ten children have died in different evacuation centers amid the ongoing fighting between government troops and separatist rebels in the southern Philippines, witnesses said.

In a small marketplace where 1,257 families set up their make- shift dwellings in the township of Talayan, Maguindanao Province, 24 displaced people -- six of whom are children -- have died since August last year after the separates Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) launched attacks town and villages in the south, said Hassan Kalupa, a leader of the evacuees.

Kalupa told Xinhua that most of the six children died of severe diarrhea two months ago.

The youngest of the victims was a ten-month-old baby girl, who died of pneumonia.

"The source of water is totally unacceptable. That's our problem here," Kalupa said.

In another evacuation camp in the province, Samin Kamsa, who works as volunteer for the evacuees, said that at least 14 people including four children have died over the past months.

venntro

February 19th, 2009, 06:12 AM

Expat: Pinoys abroad tagged 'thieves' due to corruption in RP (http://http://www.gmanews.tv/story/149502/Expat-Pinoys-abroad-tagged-thieves-due-to-corruption-in-RP)
02/19/2009 | 11:11 AM

MANILA, Philippines- Reports of widespread corruption in the country make Filipinos overseas “look like thieves" to some people in host countries, an expatriate said in a letter to a senator.

Senator Manuel Roxas said a Canada-based Filipino, Johnny de Leon, wrote to him the disheartening letter via E-mail.

“Filipinos now living abroad are being insulted because of the brazen corruption in this government. Filipinos abroad, especially Fil-Ams, despise the dishonesty of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s allies," Roxas said in a statement.

In his letter, De Leon wrote how the Filipino community in Canada boycotted a supermarket after a Canadian store worker reportedly shouted “You all Filipinos are thieves!" to a Pinoy child picking candy at the sweets section.

"Paano nagkaroon ng ganong mentality ang dayuhang tinderang ito kung hindi niya nabasa o napanood sa TV ang mga kurakutan diyan sa atin?" De Leon wrote.

[That Canadian store worker wouldn’t have had that mentality if he didn’t see on TV, or read about corruption in the Philippines.]

De Leon continued: “Mas maganda pa noong panahon ni Marcos, kung totoo man, si Marcos lang ang nagnanakaw pero marami namang nakitang naipagawa, ngayon lahat halos ng may utang na loob [kay] Gloria na ipinuwesto niya sa gobyerno, walang takot magnakaw."

[It was better during Ferdinand Marcos’ time; even if they said he was corrupt, one could see the things he had done for the country. On the contrary, all Gloria Arroyo appointees are fearless in being corrupt.]

De Leon stressed that he is especially suspicious of the President’s husband, First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo.

Senator Roxas said that Filipinos overseas are receiving bad reputation lately due to the World Bank report that blacklisted eight firms for engaging in collusive practices under the bank-financed road projects in the Philippines.

Opposition Senator Panfilo Lacson tagged the First Gentleman as one of those engaged in the corrupt practices, even as the Philippine Senate is holding hearings on the issue.

"Napakasakit isipin na ang mga kapatid ko at pamilya nila diyan na nagkukumahog sa pagta-trabaho ng marangal para lang may mailaman sa tiyan ay madadamay na mawalan ng dangal dahil lamang sa pagnanakaw ng iilang tao.

[It hurts to think that my siblings and their families who are toiling hard to earn a decent living will be stripped of their dignity because of corrupt practices of a few people.]

While Roxas said that it is not too late for the President to redeem herself, he said she needs to muster enough political will to make accountable those who have “shamed" the country.

“Our country's honor is important. As president of this country, it is her responsibility to preserve our reputation," he said.

For De Leon, the damage has already been done to Filipino migrant workers and expatriates like him who are judged unfairly because of the Philippine government’s bad reputation.

There are over eight million Filipinos overseas, data from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas showed. Of this number, about four million are considered overseas Filipino workers. - Mark Joseph Ubalde, GMANews.TV

diz

February 19th, 2009, 06:32 AM

"Paano nagkaroon ng ganong mentality ang dayuhang tinderang ito kung hindi niya nabasa o napanood sa TV ang mga kurakutan diyan sa atin?" De Leon wrote.

[That Canadian store worker wouldn’t have had that mentality if he didn’t see on TV, or read about corruption in the Philippines.]

Doubt it. Why was the little kid stealing in the first place? What a little f*cker.

I also love how the senator exposes the letter to media because the letter blames it on Arroyo. I should send a letter to other senators blaming everyone BUT Arroyo and see if my letter makes it on either network.

venntro

February 19th, 2009, 06:36 AM

Doubt it. Why was the little kid stealing in the first place? What a little f*cker.

I also love how the senator exposes the letter to media because the letter blames it on Arroyo. I should send a letter to other senators blaming everyone BUT Arroyo and see if my letter makes it on either network.

^^ Typical of this Roxas to always blame GMA in order to prop up his ratings. :nuts::nuts:

DoggMann

February 19th, 2009, 06:44 AM

... eto matindi! balita sa may newmarket!
... pinoy to for sure! :D

http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/canada/2009/02/18/8433531.html

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Cockfighting ring busted north of Toronto

By IAN ROBERTSON, SUN MEDIA

Last Updated: 18th February 2009, 9:41am

EAST GWILLIMBURY, Ont. - A raid on an illegal cock-fighting ring north of Toronto resulted in 70 people being charged and the humane destruction of 74 roosters, York Regional Police said today.

The birds were seized Sunday in East Gwillimbury by police and officers with the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA).

During the raid, York Const. Marina Orlovski said "crowds of people" were involved in the illegal gaming ritual, along with "numerous dead and live roosters."

A man and wife among the 70 people arrested,are accused of organizing the event, Orlovski said.

Hugh Coghill, the OSPCA's chief inspector for the province, said "it is disappointing to continue to see examples of blood sport operations.

“It can be hoped that similar crackdowns will help reduce the amount of illegal activity taking place and help eliminate this vicious practice," he said.

Working with various police forces, the agency said over the past 10 years it has uncovered "numerous" dog-and cock-fighting rings, whose activities often leave animals and birds with severe, even fatal injuries.

Staged battles between dogs and roosters, called "cocks," involve bets being placed. In some cases, metal spurs are attacked to the bird's legs, allowing them to inflict deadly wounds on their opponents during frenzied attacks.

The Criminal Code of Canada states “cocks found on premises under these circumstances shall be seized, taken before a justice who shall order them to be destroyed.”

The SPCA said after a court order was obtained Sunday, a veterinarian carried out "humane euthanasia" on the 74 roosters seized in East Gwillimbury.

Danilo Patawaran, 52, and Deanna Patawaran, 46, both of East Gwillimbury, are both charged with keeping a betting house, keeping a cockpit, injuring or endangering other animals, plus two counts of causing unnecessary suffering.

Both were released from custody and ordered to appear at an Ontario Court of Justice in newmarket on March 18.

The other 68 people rounded up by police were charged with causing causing unnecessary suffering and being found in a common betting house. They were also released and ordered to appear in a Newmarket court on April 8.

Anyone with information about similar incidents is asked to call Det.-Sgt. Dieter Boeheim of York's drugs and vice unit, 1-866-876-5423, Ext. 7066, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-tips, or leave an anonymous tip online at 1800222tips.com.

To report animal cruelty to the Ontario SPCA, call 1-888-668-7722, or visit ontariospca.ca to learn more about critical animal welfare issues.

tonight

February 19th, 2009, 03:01 PM

ILO: Asia’s unemployment rate climbing (http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS20090219148472.html)

Asia is likely to have 7.2 million more jobless people in 2009 than last year due to fallout from the global economic crisis, raising the region’s jobless rate to 5.1 percent, the International Labor Organization said Wednesday.

It forecast the ranks of unemployed workers would likely balloon to 97 million in 2009 in Asia, the world economy’s star performer in recent years but where a third of the population still live on a little over 1 US dollar a day. Last year, the unemployment rate was 4.8 percent.

In the most pessimistic scenario, the number of unemployed could swell to 113 million, or 22.3 million more than last year, the ILO said in a report on the crisis’ fallout in Asia.

An estimated 51 million new jobs will be needed this year and next to absorb Asia’s growing labor force, with most jobs needed in the region’s giant economies – 20.3 million in India, 10.9 million in China and 3.6 million in Indonesia.

Countries with the highest rates of expected labor force growth through 2010 include Pakistan at 6.1 percent, Cambodia at 4.9 percent, and the Philippines at 4.9 percent.

``There is very little chance that a sufficient number of new jobs will be created in the region this year to keep up with expected labor force growth,’’ the report added.

As fewer jobs are created at home, remittances from the region’s army of migrant workers began to slow in the third quarter of 2008.

The Geneva-based ILO said the World Bank now forecasts an overall drop in remittances in 2009 _ partly due to the deep recession in the U.S., which accounts for 44 percent of workers’ money sent to East Asia and the Pacific, and 28 percent to South Asia.

``As global demand for workers contracts, the flow of migrant workers from developing Asia will moderate in 2009,’’ the report said. ``For labor-sending countries, this will exacerbate the challenge of mitigating job losses and generating new employment domestically.’’

Remittances comprise a third of gross domestic product in Tonga, 17 percent in Nepal, 11 percent in the Philippines, 9.7 percent in Bangladesh and 8.3 percent in Sri Lanka.

Declining production will also see a shift to informal, more vulnerable work that does not provide protection in case of job loss or illness, the report added.

It said the number of vulnerable Asian workers, estimated at 1.08 billion in 2008, could rise this year by 21 million, and in an extreme case, by 61 million.

``The poor face a double crisis _ high costs for basic necessities on which they spend the majority of their income, along with economic stagnation that threaten their livelihoods,’’ the ILO said.

Promoting employment and supporting household purchasing power is critical for any stimulus package, as these will drive domestic consumption needed to quickly bolster growth, it added.

venntro

February 20th, 2009, 03:05 AM

^^ The global financial crisis rearing its ugly head. Hope RP survives this.

venntro

February 20th, 2009, 03:06 AM

RP raises power rates first time since 2004 (http://http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/02/19/09/erc-oks-hike-napocors-basic-rate)
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 02/19/2009 12:09 PM

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has approved an increase of as much as 40 percent in basic electricity rates of the National Power Corporation (Napocor).

The ERC gave Napocor the provisional authority to raise its basic rates by P0.4682 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for Luzon, P1.1460/kWh for Visayas and P0.7147/kWh for Mindanao.

The move is seen to help lift the financial condition of ailing Napocor.

With the adjustments, Napocor's new average basic rates are P4.3648/kWh for Luzon, P4.0339/kWh for Visayas and P2.8177 for Mindanao. These would take effect in the February 26 to March 25 billing period.

The adjustments did not cover some of Napocor's costs, including those in relation to its plants that were already privatized and those associated with its spot sales.

The central bank said the rise in rates was already factored in to its inflation forecast of 6-8 percent this year. Inflation hit a 10-year high of 9.3 percent in 2008.

"We already recognised that it is one of the upside risks," Diwa Guinigundo, central bank deputy governor, told reporters on Thursday.

ERC executive director Francis Saturnino Juan said the commission's mandate was to set rates that allow power firms to reasonably recover operating costs.

Philippines power rates are among the highest in Asia and a politically sensitive issue because of their impact on the poor, who make up about a third of the 90 million population.

Napocor is expected to post a net loss in 2008 after three years of profitability, reflecting foreign exchange losses and higher fuel costs. With a report from Reuters

venntro

February 20th, 2009, 03:08 AM

Citigroup expects RP remittance slowdown (http://http://www.gmanews.tv/story/149611/Citigroup-expects-RP-remittance-slowdown)
02/19/2009 | 09:52 PM

MANILA, Philippines - Remittances may post substantially slow growth this year as Filipinos working abroad are expected to be threatened by job losses and wage cuts, Citigroup said.

Cash sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) may only increase by three percent, a far cry from last year’s expansion of 13 percent, the New York-headquartered financial services group said in a report.

Although the report admitted that December’s remittance figures were “strong" and “decent," Citigroup warned of “dimming prospects" which may be brought about by job cuts.

Earlier, the government remained optimistic that labor demand in Canada, Australia, and Qatar would be ample to offset job losses in other markets. However, Citigroup said that this may not be enough.

For the whole year of 2008, remittances reached $16.4 billion, the highest on record ever since the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) monitored OFW cash inflows since 1989.

Despite this trend, Citigroup still maintained its projections, asserting that remittances would only expand by single-digit levels.

Declining remittance growth would be the result of slower incremental expansion and reduced OFW deployment to their jobs overseas, the lender said.

"We do not rule out potential wage cuts in line with increasing slack globally on the back of US job cuts, oil price lows threatening Middle East growth prospects and global trade collapse in Asia," Citi analyst Johanna Chua said.

Highs and lows of remittances in 2008 were more relevant, with the June total as the month to beat, Chua said.

In June 2008, remittance inflows amounted to $1.45 billion.

Following this peak, Chua said monthly remittances hovered between $1.3 billion and $1.4 billion in the second half of 2008.

"Monthly remittance value below this range in 2009 could suggest a combination of headcount loss, overseas wage cuts, and less payment from migrant Filipinos for onshore residential purchases," Chua said.

For its part, the BSP maintained its claim that funds from OFWs this year would stay the same.

Although BSP deputy governor Diwa C. Guinigundo recognized that Filipinos abroad were losing their jobs owing to the crisis, deployment of OFWs was still rising by double-digit rates, at least for the time being.

If deployment rose by 20 percent, remittance inflows would be enough to offset the remittance decline.

"We don't believe remittances would drop to negative growth," Guinigundo said. "At the very least, we are expecting a zero growth."

Cash sent home by Filipinos working abroad have been growing at double-digit rates every year and if levels would drop drastically, it would put some pressure on the country’s dollar supply, he said. - GMANews.TV

venntro

February 20th, 2009, 09:30 AM

20 injured on Manila-Tokyo flight, turbulence suspected (http://http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/02/20/09/20-injured-manila-tokyo-flight-turbulence-suspected)
Agence France-Presse | 02/20/2009 2:33 PM

TOKYO - Around 20 people were injured on a Northwest Airlines flight from the Philippines to Japan Friday, officials said, adding that turbulence was the likely cause.

Ambulances took the injured to hospitals after the Northwest Airlines Boeing 747-400 jet landed at Narita International Airport near Tokyo at 12:19 pm local time, an airport official said.

"Twenty people have been injured ... and they are being sent to hospital in ambulances," Narita International Airport spokesman Fumihiko Aoyama told AFP.

The flight had been set to continue on to Los Angeles after a stopover.

Northwest Airlines spokesman Masashi Takahashi said: "Air turbulence is believed to be the cause. The turbulence occurred 25 to 30 minutes before landing, when the seat belt light was on."

"During the flight, we received a message from the pilot saying two or three people were injured. But (the pilot) probably assessed that an emergency landing was not necessary," he told AFP.

"It is possible that the people injured did not have their seatbelts on, otherwise all of the 422 passengers would have been injured as well."

tonight

February 22nd, 2009, 07:48 AM

Furniture industry needs strategic program (http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS20090222148742.html)

The Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation (CFIF) is pushing for a strategic program that would address the long-term sustainability of raw materials used by furniture and home furnishings manufacturers and exporters in developing their products.

CFIF executive director Ruby Salutan stressed that this strategic program is crucial as international markets are now requiring traceability of raw materials used in export products.

The positioning of the country’s furniture and furnishings sector is in the designs level. Industry players need to take advantage of indigenous raw materials as the main components of their products, said Salutan.

"We have to be able to manage this cleverly because the direction now of international markets is that they are strictly requiring compliance to international standards. And we have to start now," she said.

Managing the supply chain is critical to sustain the long-term viability of the industry adding that supply chain represents a big chunk of their product costing.

Salutan pointed out there are many inefficiencies along the supply chain which have to be addressed squarely.

"The problem now is, many exporters just get their raw materials from traders and they do not know where these come from, how these are extracted and if the pre-processing harming the environment."

Salutan said producers and farmers of raw materials need to be educated particularly on the quality and delivery standards and pricing.

"The supply chain has to talk to each other. There has to be transparency and understanding along the supply chain so that middlemen will not only be the ones earning," she stressed.

tonight

February 23rd, 2009, 07:39 AM

PAL Holdings reports P13.84-billion loss (http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS20090223148788.html)

PAL Holdings reported consolidated total comprehensive loss for the nine months ended December 31, 2008 of P13.84 billion, a significant decrease of 1,912 percent from the loss in the same period of the previous fiscal year of P687.8 million.

Consolidated net income from operations also showed a significant decline from P143.5 million as of December 31, 2007 to a loss of P14.31 billion in the current period.

Consolidated revenues for the nine months ended December 31, 2008 amounted to P57.21 billion, 17 percent higher than last year’s same period figure of P48.87 billion.

The increase was brought about mainly by the increase in passenger revenues due to higher net yield per Revenue Passenger Kilometer (RPK) and in the number of passengers carried. Revenues also include cargo, recoveries arising from surcharges, and other income earned during the period.

Consolidated expenses for the current period rose by P22.79 billion or 47 percent higher than the previous year’s period total of P48.72 billion.

This was largely due to higher expenses related to flying operations, maintenance, aircraft & traffic servicing, passenger service, reservation and sales, general and administrative and other expenses.

The increase in flying operations by 51 percent was attributable mainly to the increase in fuel costs. For the period ended December 2008, fuel expenses grew to P25.84 billion as a result of higher fuel consumption due to increase in flights coupled with the escalation in average price per barrel of aviation jet fuel.

Higher aircraft, engine and component repair costs had the effect of increasing maintenance expenses by P486.8 million or 7 percent from a total of P6.69 billion of the previous fiscal year.

As a result of more flights operated during the nine months of the current fiscal year, aircraft & traffic servicing expenses increased by P512.0 million or 9 percent over the same period figure of the last fiscal year.

Increase in selling expenses recognized related to transportation service provided as well as in the cost incurred under the frequent flyer program resulted in an increase in reservation and sales by P574.4 million or 24 percent.

Improvements in employee benefits implemented by PAL as well as provisions made on certain transactions, fees incurred relative to various legal matters, change in aircraft registration, and new aircraft delivery resulted in higher general and administrative expenses by 25 percent in 2008.

Recognition of one-time payable losses as a result of the termination of certain hedging contracts as well as fair value changes on the outstanding derivative instruments resulted in the increase in "Other Expenses" by P9.57 billion or 4.2 times as compared with the same period figure of the last fiscal year.

These expenses coupled with the unrealized changes in the fair value of outstanding cash flow hedges amounting to P1.7 billion classified as part of " Other Comprehensive Income" contributed as well to the total comprehensive loss for the period April to December 2008.

Another significant portion of the other comprehensive income is the effect of foreign exchange translation which resulted to a gain of P2.17 million or an increase of 193 percent from last year.

Muffstar

February 23rd, 2009, 08:05 AM

A RADIO broadcaster has been shot dead in the southern Philippines today shortly before he was due to begin his daily talk show, police said.

Ernie Rullen, 58, was waiting for a minibus to take him to work in Ozamiz City on the southern island of Mindanao when two unidentified gunmen on a motor bike shot him at point-blank range.
Joy Reyes of Radio DXSY in Ozamiz City told local media that police were investigating the shooting.

"Rullen had parked his motorcycle and was walking to the bus stop when he was gunned down," Reyes said.

Reyes said the motive for the shooting was not known but could be related to Rullen's morning talk show on Radio DXSY, which Rullen had hosted for the past eight years and which discussed corruption and crime.

Rullen is the second journalist shot dead in the Philippines this year. In January, Badroddin Abbas, a part-time radio broadcaster and Muslim peace activist, was killed in an ambush in southern Cotabato City.

Rullen is the 64th journalist killed since President Gloria Arroyo came to power in 2001, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders and the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists rank the country as the second-most dangerous for journalists, after Iraq

tonight

February 23rd, 2009, 08:17 AM

^^
bad news from my neighboring city :ohno:

tonight

February 23rd, 2009, 08:18 AM

Carmakers want a ‘renewed’ program (http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS20090223148786.html)

Domestic motor vehicle assemblers and parts makers would like to have a "renewed" industry program that would help expand the local industry’s potential and expand a market that has been lagging behind fellow ASEAN countries.

Feliciano Torres, lead convenor of the newly organized Philippine Automotive Philippines Automotive Competitiveness Council Inc. (PACCI), said the group’s objective is to promote vehicle manufacturing in the country and that can only be done if the market expands.

"Look at our performance in comparison with other ASEAN countries, why is it that we have poor lower production of cars. If our car production improves as a result of an expanded market then everybody will benefit from that," Torres said.

Last year, the total Philippine car sales reached only 124,449 units. Thailand, ASEAN’s biggest carmarket dwarfed that of the Philippines with 615,270 units, Indonesia followed with 602,000 units, Malaysia with 548,115 units and Vietnam is growing at 110,186 units.

Arthur Balmadrid, senior vice-president of Isuzu Philippines Corp. (IPC), noted that the domestic motor vehicle industry has a combined manufacturing capacity of 250,000 units and yet the total car sales last year reached only 124,449 units.

"This means more than 50 percent of our capacities are underutilized," Balmadrid said.

In the case of IPC, its plant has a capacity to assemble between 12,000 to 15,000 units but the company was able to sell 8,000 units only last year.

Balmadrid said that PACCI members have commitment to stay local manufacturing because most of their investments have not yet been recovered.

PACCI is composed of the country’s five biggest car assemblers - Ford Motor Group Philippines, TMPC, Mitsubishi Motor Philippines Corp., Isuzu Philippines Corp., Honda Cars Philippines Inc. and the Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (MVPMAP), the association of auto parts and components manufacturers.

Torres said that PACCI members are clear on its objective of expanding the local automotive market but how it should be done would be part of the recommendations of the Deloitte Consulting, which is conducting a review of the Motor Vehicle Development Program.

Torres said the study is due March 30 and would be submitted to the Board of Investments for consideration. The results of the Deloitte study are expected to pave the way for the crafting of a renewed MVDP, a comprehensive industry development program.

Whether the local industry requires incentives or not that would be subject of the Deloitte study, he said. PACCI members are among those that participated for the commissioning of the Deloitte study.

"We cannot comment on the incentives issue but Deloitte has to answer that," he said.

The members of PACCI generated total domestic sales of 95,600 vehicles in 2008 representing about 76% of the total industry sales of 124,449 vehicles.

Collective domestic production of the PACCI members in 2008 was 55,758 vehicles, approximately 89% out of the estimated total industry production of 61,153 vehicles.

From 2005-2007, the members of PACCI paid a collective total of P39.4 billion in taxes, consisting of duty & VAT, excise, income and employee withholding taxes. In 2007, collective total taxes the members paid reached P15.6 billion.

As far as the parts makers are concerned, Torres said there is no change in their objective to promote local parts manufacturing.

"When it comes to technology, we have that but our competition is also the original equipment manufacturers of other countries," he said.

Autoparts exports have been increasing over the years. Last year’s exports went up .47 billion or 13 percent increase versus 2007 figure.

Torres, however, said that exports this year would be affected due to the severe automotive crisis not just in the U.S. and Japan but globally.

Wiring harness accounts for 45 percent of the industry’s total exports.

With the crisis, autoparts makers are implementing reduced working days.

Torres, who is president and chief executive officer of Yazaki-Torres Manufacturing Inc., the country’s biggest wiring harness exporter to Japan and the U.S., is implementing a four-day work-week program just to avoid the retrenchment of people. Yazaki-Torres has about 9,000 workers.(BCM)

venntro

February 23rd, 2009, 09:04 AM

Some 39,000 Filipino workers lose jobs in past 5 months (http://http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=442845&publicationSubCategoryId=200)
Updated February 23, 2009 10:25 AM

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) -- About 39,000 Filipinos, mostly in exports-oriented industries, have lost their jobs in the past five months as a direct consequence of the global economic crisis, a top Philippine labor official said Monday.

Labor Secretary Marianito Roque told a press conference here that the number of Filipinos falling out from their jobs was recorded by the government from October last year to the third week of February, and the actual number of people being forced out of work by the economic downturn could be bigger.

Roque said the domestic unemployment figure is much expected and falls within the "manageable range" of the government.

He said the domestic market is able to accommodate 700,000 jobs in the next six to eight months and measures are in place to cushion the effects on Filipinos who lost their jobs and to prevent the unemployment figure to explode in the coming months.

venntro

February 23rd, 2009, 09:11 AM

Australia likely to cut immigration: minister (http://http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/pinoy-migration/02/23/09/australia-likely-cut-immigration-minister)
Agence France-Presse | 02/23/2009 1:41 PM

SYDNEY - Australia will likely cut the number of skilled immigrants allowed into the country next year, following the global economic downturn, the government said Monday.

"I expect the numbers of our program to drop next year as a reaction to the economic circumstances," Immigration Minister Chris Evans told reporters.

He gave no indication of the size of the cut, but said the government would also reconsider which occupations should be on the critical skills list.

"We will probably have a formal look at that in the next couple of weeks," Evans said.

Around 190,300 migrants were projected to arrive over 2008/09, with skilled workers accounting for most places in a program designed when the forecast was for rapid economic growth and a skills crisis.

But projections for growth have been slashed as the global economy slows, and some industries have already started cutting jobs.

Asian immigration has grown rapidly in recent years while the number of new arrivals from traditional source countries such as Britain and Italy has fallen, the latest census showed last month.

"Country-of-birth groups which increased the most between 1996 and 2006 were New Zealand (by around 98,000 people), China (96,000) and India (70,000)," according to the census.

"In contrast, European country-of-birth groups declined sharply over the same period -- Italy by 39,000 people, the United Kingdom by 35,000 and Greece by 17,000."

However, while the ratio of Asian immigration to European arrivals changed -- with six of the 10 most common birthplaces of migrants being Asian countries -- 92,000 Britons still accounted for most new residents.

Apart from China and India, countries providing increasing numbers of immigrants included Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea and South Africa.

tonight

February 23rd, 2009, 09:56 AM

Ship runs aground off Cebu (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20090223-190565/Ship-runs-aground-off-Cebu)

CEBU CITY, Philippines -- A passenger-cargo vessel ran aground early Monday morning, a few hours before its scheduled arrival at the Cebu City port.

The MV South Pacific of Southern Pacific Transport, was carrying 131 passengers, and 18 officers and crew, when it ran aground some 0.6 nautical miles northeast of Bantolinao Point, Lapu-Lapu City at around 3:30 a.m., according to Commander Anelito Gabisan, information officer and chief of staff of the Coast Guard District Central-Eastern Visayas.

Gabisan said they deployed two rubber boats, one patrol boat and one motor banca [outrigger canoe] to rescue the passengers and take them to the Ouano wharf in Mandaue City.

"All the passengers are safe. We finished transporting them at around 8 a.m.," he said.

The 230-gross tonnage MV South Pacific, skippered by Captain Arturo Sollano, left Bato, Leyte at 9 p.m. on Sunday and was supposed to reach Cebu City early Monday.

Based on the initial report, the forward section of the vessel ran aground in the shallows near Bantolinao Point.

However, the vessel was not damaged, Gabisan said.

The vessel became unstuck at past 11 a.m. Monday and proceeded to the north anchorage area at the Cebu International Port.

Gabisan said they have yet to find out why the vessel ran aground.

"We have to concentrate on the rescue of the passengers," he said, adding that the ship captain is required to submit a marine protest 24 hours after the incident.

Gabisan said the Maritime Industry Authority is expected to suspend the vessel's safety certificate until the vessel can be inspected for seaworthiness.

tonight

February 25th, 2009, 07:05 AM

Exporters told to tap Brazil, Chile markets (http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS20090225148960.html)

An economist has urged exporters to penetrate the new emerging markets of Brazil and Chile as their trade with Latin America remains low.

Josef Yap, economist of government think-tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), noted that while a shift to domestic-led growth would be beneficial in the medium term in order for the Asian region to move toward to a more balanced growth, many countries are constrained by their small domestic markets and fragile fiscal positions.

Given the constraints of domestic-led growth, the region should diversify its export destinations and or diversify its export product mix, he said, adding that Asia has not yet tapped the new emerging markets of Brazil and Chile.

Brazil and Chile are already among the Philippine trade partners in the Latin American region, although export volumes to these countries are low, data indicates.

To cope with the impact of the global economic slump, Yap said expanding intraregional investment, particularly in infrastructure projects, may be also considered.

He noted that regional cooperation in East Asia can promote the development of domestic financial markets and regional financial integration in order to facilitate the intermediation of Asian savings within the region, as well as attract foreign investment in instruments denominated in the domestic currency.

Such alternative sources of funding would reduce Asia’s reliance on foreign currency borrowing as well as risk exposure of the region to maturity and currency mismatches, he added.

The economist stressed that strengthening intraregional trade and investment would reduce dependence on the industrialized economies of the West.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo in a forum cited the importance of comprehensive and globally coordinated policy responses to the crisis.

The BSP is engaged with the ASEAN counterparts in the region, including the central banks of so-called plus 3 -- Japan, South Korea and China. "We are about to finalize the pooling of resources under the framework of the Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI)," he added.

CMI, under the ASEAN+3 framework, was started by member countries after the 1997 Asian financial crisis to manage regional short-term liquidity problems.

An ASEAN official earlier said there are proposals to raise the CMI from $ 80 billion to $ 220 billion so that ASEAN and East Asia economies can draw upon that fund.

Likewise, Guinigundo said the BSP is proposing for the activation and enhancement of the existing bilateral and multilateral swap arrangements for foreign reserves among ASEAN members as a means of boosting confidence in the region. The Philippines has bilateral swap arrangement with China, Japan and Korea amounting to $ 7 billion to $ 8 billion.

tonight

February 25th, 2009, 09:22 AM

Exporters seek comprehensive bailout (http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS20090225148961.html)

Exporters are asking government for an immediate bailout that includes a one-year suspension on the payments of value-added tax, release of the promised P1 billion export promotion fund, subsidies on power and water costs, easy access to bank financing, and full subsidy on foreign trade fairs participation to avert further closures of factories and retrenchments of workers.

These measures were pushed yesterday by the umbrella organization Philippine Exporters, Retailers and Producers Development Association Inc. (PERPDA) of the 15 exporters associations as they launched the "Movement for Export Survival".

The associations are from various industries such as furnitures, gifts, housewares, decors, jewelry, garments, decors, handicrafts and leathergoods which members totaled 1,157 of which 177 enterprises have already closed operations.

But Amaya Bengzon, president of Home Accents Group of the Philippines Inc. (HAPI), said the casualties of the global financial crisis could be higher because it would be difficult to estimate since they represent only a fraction of the country’s total 26,014 exporting enterprises that are employing 1.540 million people, who are affecting 7.694 million Filipinos.

venntro

February 25th, 2009, 09:26 AM

^^ I think our exporters are getting the brunt of this global economic crisis.

venntro

February 25th, 2009, 09:26 AM

Kidnappers now target ordinary people in Mindanao, says official (http://http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=443435&publicationSubCategoryId=200)
By Dennis Carcamo Updated February 25, 2009 02:11 PM

MANILA, Philippines -- The targets of kidnap-for-ransom groups in Mindanao have become unpredictable, an official of the Armed Forces of the Philippines bared today.

Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres Jr., AFP spokesman, said groups have shifted from affluent and influential individuals to ordinary people. This, he said, makes it difficult for authorities to prevent kidnapping incidents.

"We cannot cover every inch of the ground and protect everybody," Torres told a weekly media forum in San Juan City this morning. He appealed to residents to provide information on these groups to minimize occurences of kidnapping in the area.

Kidnapping cases in Mindanao, particularly in Sulu and Basilan, are on the rise and targets include children, teachers, garbage collectors, foreign social workers and peace advocates.

tonight

February 25th, 2009, 09:41 AM

Napolcom probes cops linked to drugs, syndicates (http://www.mb.com.ph/MAIN20090225148957.html)

The National Police Commission (Napolcom) yesterday announced it is looking into the suspected involvement of some Philippine National Police personnel in the protection of manufacturers, pushers and syndicates of illegal drugs.

Napolcom officials said the move is in line with the commission’s efforts to cleanse and further professionalize the PNP.

Napolcom teams have been formed to conduct not only random drug tests among policemen but also to investigate the involvement of some of the country’s law enforcers in the illicit drug trade, according to Napolcom vice chairman and executive officer Eduardo Escueta.

Escueta said the commission en banc has issued Memorandum Circular No. 2009001 on the formation of drug test teams or tap the drug test centers to conduct random drug tests on uniformed personnel.

"At the same time, the Commission will conduct intensive investigation on the involvement of PNP personnel in the protection of manufacturers, pushers and syndicates of illegal drugs and similar substances, as well as in the manufacture, distribution, sale, or illegal use of drugs," Escueta said.

He echoed the earlier pronouncement of Interior and Local Government Secretary and Napolcom chairman Ronaldo Puno that "refusal of any PNP personnel to submit himself or herself to random drug test shall constitute insubordination or violation of the said Memorandum Circular and will warrant dismissal from the service or imposition of disciplinary sanctions as prescribed by law."

The Commission also promulgated and prescribed rules and regulations like the "One-Strike Policy" to fight the eradication of illegal drugs in the country.

"The ‘One-Strike Policy’ on illegal drugs shall be strictly enforced in all provincial, city and municipal command levels of the PNP for purposes of determining administrative liabilities under the principle of Command Responsibility," Escueta added.

The "One-Strike Policy" states that when an illegal drug laboratory, drug den, distribution center or warehouse containing drugs, ingredients or paraphernalia used in the manufacture of illegal drugs is raided or discovered by another law enforcement unit, the local PNP chief shall be immediately relieved.

tonight

February 25th, 2009, 09:46 AM

^^ I think our exporters are getting the brunt of this global economic crisis.

^^
yes i agree, i think not only our country experiencing this crisis but other countries as well.

tonight

February 25th, 2009, 11:38 AM

RP likely to increase foreign borrowings (http://abs-cbnnews.com/business/02/25/09/rp-likely-increase-foreign-borrowings)

The Philippines said on Wednesday it was likely to borrow more overseas to fund a budget deficit which it forecast would rise to P177.2 billion ($3.69 billion) from an earlier estimate of P102 billion.

"Yes, depending on market conditions," Finance Secretary Margarito Teves told reporters when asked if the increased deficit estimate would be met by foreign borrowings.

Treasurer Roberto Tan however said overall borrowings would remain weighed in favour of domestic debt.

"The bias is domestic," he said.

tonight

February 25th, 2009, 11:53 AM

200 Filipinos report abuse in Kuwait (http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view/20090225-191013/200-Filipinos-report-abuse-in-Kuwait)

MANILA, Philippines -- About 200 Filipinos have sought shelter at the Philippine labor office in Kuwait alleging abuse by their employers and are awaiting repatriation, an official said Wednesday.

About 80 percent of the workers were domestic helpers who fled from their employers or were rescued by Philippine officials after suffering abuse, said Jennifer Manalili of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).

"Kuwait is one of our most problematic countries for household service workers," Manalili said.

Domestic helpers leave their employers for various reasons, ranging from maltreatment, to rape to non-payment of salary and overwork.

The Philippine workers are not facing any criminal charges.

The POEA tried to have their employers or their recruitment agency pay for their repatriation before sending them home, Manalili added.

Officials earlier said there were about 140,000 Filipino workers in oil-rich Kuwait including about 60,000 household workers.

The Philippines is one of the world's leading sources for skilled and unskilled labor with up to nine million people, about 10 percent of the population, living and working in 140 different countries.

Their remittances are a major pillar for supporting the economy.

tonight

February 25th, 2009, 02:27 PM

Use of health as bargaining chip slammed (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20090225-190981/Use-of-health-as-bargaining-chip-slammed)

MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE) Kidnappers holding three workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Sulu should not use their hostages’ health as a bargaining chip to force government into negotiating for their release, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said Wednesday.

"There is only one right and correct thing to do and that is for them [kidnappers] to release the victims," Teodoro said, a day after the ABS-CBN television network aired an interview with one of the abductors of Swiss Andreas Notter, the head of the ICRC office in Zamboanga City, Italian Eugenio Vagni, and Filipina Jean Lacaba.

The kidnappers are believed to belong to a faction of the Abu Sayyaf group led by Albader Parad.

In the interview, the abductor called on the government to open negotiations because the three aid workers are getting sick.

"If we give in to that, the world [would go] topsy-turvy," Teodoro said at a press briefing at the Department of National Defense in Camp Aguinaldo.

Lacaba, who was also interviewed, urged authorities to give in to the demands of the kidnappers, saying she and her companions are very tired from having to keep up with their highly mobile captors.

But Teodoro said the "movements of soldiers, movements of policemen, and of other volunteers in the area, do not cause the fatigue or the danger to the hostages. It is the hostage taking by the [Abu Sayyaf] which is the cause of whatever ails the hostages."

Teodoro said there will be no change on how the situation will be handled by the crisis management committee headed by Sulu Governor Sakur Tan, which has been given full authority to address kidnappings in the province.

"We leave the full range of options available to them to deal with the situation," Teodoro said.

However, Teodoro refused to answer if force is now being considered to rescue the hostages.

"I don't want to second guess something like that. I mean, that is a highly tactical decision not made on our level," he said.

The three ICRC workers were snatched near the Sulu capitol on January 15 after visiting the provincial jail.

The kidnappers earlier demanded a military pullout before they would agree to negotiate for the hostages’ release.

But the military, which said it had thrown a cordon around the kidnappers, has refused to heed the demand.

venntro

February 26th, 2009, 02:34 AM

^^ The closer we get to the elections, expect more kidnappings to add to the bounty of politicians.

venntro

February 26th, 2009, 02:35 AM

National Government incurs P68.1-billion deficit in 2008 (http://http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=443699&publicationSubCategoryId=66)
By Iris C. Gonzales Updated February 26, 2009 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - The National Government (NG) incurred a budget deficit of P68.1 billion in 2008, well below the target of P75 billion, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said yesterday.

At the Philippine economic briefing yesterday, Teves said the 2008 deficit represents 0.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) or the country’s total economic output.

“This was an over-performance of P6.9 billion compared with our programmed deficit of P75 billion or one percent of GDP for the year,” he said.

Revenue collections reached P1.202 trillion or P22.3 billion below the program for the year while expenditures reached P1.271 trillion or P29.1 billion below the program.

Of the P1.202 trillion in revenues, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected P778.6 billion or P31.4 billion below the revised collection goal of P810 billion while the Bureau of Customs (BOC) generated P260.2 billion for the year or P13.8 below its revised revenue target of P274.1 billion.

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) collected P63.7 billion while revenues from other offices amounted to P100.4 billion.

In December alone, the National Government incurred a deficit of P1.4 billion as revenues reached P121.3 billion while expenditures reached P122.8 billion. The December budget gap was narrower than the P4.3 billion deficit posted in November 2008.

During the month, the BIR collected P57 billion while the BOC collected P18.8 billion. The BTr generated P6.3 billion in December while revenues from other offices amounted to P39.2 billion during the period.

Teves expressed hopes that the two government agencies would be able to raise enough revenues for the year to be able to cope with the global financial crisis.

He is asking Congress to support pending legislative measures that would enhance tax revenues.

These include the measure to rationalize tax incentives and the so-called simplified net income tax scheme (SNITS) measure. Another measure is the proposal seeking to raise cigarettes on alcohol and cigarettes.

“The unprecedented challenges confronting us this year require extraordinary strength. We have to be tough to overcome these serious threats to fiscal and economic stability,” Teves said.

venntro

February 26th, 2009, 02:57 AM

New Zealand’s stricter rules force Filipino nurses to become overstayers (http://http://www.gmanews.tv/story/150329/New-Zealands-stricter-rules-force-Filipino-nurses-to-become-overstayers)
02/25/2009 | 04:28 PM

Email this | Email the Editor | Print | ShareThisMANILA, Philippines - Aspiring overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Juliana de Castro has sold everything she owned in the Philippines to pay her recruitment fee and airfare to New Zealand, only to discover that her destination was not too keen on recognizing Filipino nurses.

“I don't know what I am to do. All I was dreaming for is for a chance to make a living as a nurse, but coming to New Zealand has really become my worst nightmare," De Castro, whose work visa has expired, told the New Zealand Herald.

De Castro had to sell all her possessions to pay $8,000 or almost P400,000 to her agency in New Zealand and $2,000 or about P97,000 in airfare – something which most Filipino nurses in the their normally go through.

“They have no money to go back, and nothing to go back for any more," said Philippine Ambassador Bienvenido Tejano in the same report.

According to the Migrant Action Trust, which conducts immigration clinics on behalf of Immigration New Zealand, there are currently 160 overstayers from the Philippines.

Of this number, Tejano says almost 50 are nurses who thought they could snag their dream job as there was supposed “acute shortage" of nurses in New Zealand, only to discover that their qualifications were not recognized their.

“It is a problem, and it is growing by the day. They come in groups of five, 10 and 15, and as much as we want to help them, there is not much we can do," he said.

New Zealand Nursing Council chief executive Carolyn Reed has previously expressed concern that the rapid increase in nursing programs in the Philippines has compromised the quality of nursing, prompting them make the registration for overseas-trained nurses stricter.

However, Tejano said it was “unacceptable" for the council to judge the quality of Filipino nurses just by looking at the numbers.

“There are plenty of cows and sheep here, but does that mean the quality of beef and lamb is compromised because there are millions of them in New Zealand?" he said.

The envoy said that instead of being afraid of big numbers, New Zealand should be happy that the Philippines was able to provide it with nurses.

“If you tell me just because there are 450,000 nursing students in the Philippines, our quality has been compromised, then I will also say your sheep and cows here are sickly because there are too many," he said.

Moreover, he denied claims reportedly made by the Nurses Society that many more overseas authorities have stopped registering Philippine-trained nurses.

“I am reacting so strongly to this because it is encroaching into what is really our bread and butter," he said.

On the other hand, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has said that there is nothing that the Philippines can do if that is the decision of New Zealand.

“Di natin mako-control ‘yun, internal policy decisions ‘yan for the government [We cannot control that, those are internal policy decisions of the government]," said POEA chief Jennifer Manalili.

She added that such moves to make registration stricter might have been done to give priority to other local and foreign workers with better qualifications.

“Just like in the Philippines, you have to compete with other applicants," she said.

About 26,000 Filipinos are in New Zealand, 300 to 500 of them employed as nurses. - Kimberly Jane T. Tan, GMANews.TV

tonight

February 27th, 2009, 03:41 AM

^^
are there TNTs in New Zealand?

tonight

February 27th, 2009, 03:42 AM

DoH report: Pinoys are the heaviest drinkers in SE Asia (http://www.mb.com.ph/MAIN20090227149134.html)

Filipinos are the heaviest consumers of alcoholic beverages in Southeast Asia, with 11 percent of the population aged 15 to 74 found to be regular drinkers, a study commissioned by the Department of Health (DoH) revealed yesterday.

The report also showed that, on a per capita basis, beer ranks third among the items that average Filipinos most commonly purchase, next only to infant milk and cellular phone loads.

Health officials cited a 2008 research by Synovate saying alcohol consumption in the Philippines is rising particularly among affluent Filipinos who consumed 37 percent more alcohol than in other countries such as Thailand (34 percent), Singapore (32 percent), Malaysia (28 percent) and Indonesia (8 percent).

The research said that locally brewed beer was the first choice of 30 percent of wealthy Filipinos for their intoxication needs.

The DoH made the revelations as it issued an advisory against drinking in connection with the relaunch of its healthy lifestyle campaign, "HL to the Max", which espouses seven must-do activities for Filipinos to achieve better health.

These must do activities are saying no to illegal drugs, avoiding alcohol, eating low fat, low salt and high fiber diet, no smoking, preventing hypertension, engaging in physical activities, and managing stress.

"In the country, eleven percent of Filipinos 15 to 74 years old regularly drink alcoholic beverages, about four or more days in a week. Twenty four percent of Filipinos 15 to 19 years are current drinkers," the DoH said.

"People may get drunk more quickly if they are young or not yet mature; are small and light; and are not used to drinking alcohol. They get drunk because they drink strong alcohol, drink fast, drink without eating solid food, and drink and use drugs."

"Not many people realize that too much alcohol can increase their risk for cancer. When people smoke and drink heavily, their chances of developing head and neck cancer skyrocket," the health department warned.

According to the DoH, the brain and nervous system, liver, skin, heart, blood, stomach and reproductive systems become at risk due to excessive alcohol consumption.

According to experts, alcohol slows down reactions, lowers a person’s inhibitions and makes a person aggressive and hostile. In higher doses, it causes blackouts, impairs concentration, judgment and emotional reactions.

Liver cells are damaged due to heavy drinking leading to cirrhosis, a condition where the liver is destroyed or scarred.

Furthermore, health officials warned that alcohol abuse damages the heart and weakens the muscular tissue leading to a condition called cardiomyopathy.

Alcohol also damages the skin.

"A heavy drinker’s skin often appears flushed because alcohol widens the skin’s surface blood vessels. Over time, blood vessels are unable to shrink back and the skin takes on a permanently reddish look."

Chronic alcohol abuse also leads to bleeding disorders, damages the stomach’s lining and cause stomach problems and ulcer, the DoH warned.

venntro

February 27th, 2009, 07:14 AM

Senators seek probe on OFWs' extortion at NAIA (http://http://www.gmanews.tv/story/150640/Senators-seek-probe-on-OFWs-extortion-at-NAIA)
02/27/2009 | 11:35 AM

MANILA, Philippines - Two senators asked for an investigation into the alleged extortion by several officials on aspiring overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

In separate resolutions, Senators Manuel Villar Jr and Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada sought an inquiry into the alleged corrupt practices of several officials from the NAIA, Bureau of Immigration and National Bureau of Investigation personnel in the area.

Citing reports reaching his office, Villar said at least 500 OFWs failed to leave for the Middle East since January after failing to shell out “grease money" for the said officials.

Some properly documented Dubai and Kuwait-bound workers were allegedly stopped by airport authorities to board their planes, Villar said, even though they have been “thoroughly processed."

“And that, even after verifying the documents and securing boarding passes, the NBI and BI agents at the airport departure gates stop OFWs on suspicion of being undocumented workers," read Villar’s resolution.

The senator said that between 20 and 30 OFWs are being barred from leaving the country every day “for unjust reason."

For his part, Estrada, who chairs the Senate labor, employment and human resource committee, said that an immediate investigation of the matter is imperative to weed out any hindrance to OFWs in giving their families a better life.

"The extortion perpetrated by these government personnel to those who have provided lifeblood to the economy that the Filipino depends upon for life is reason enough that should not be countenance and therefore should be looked upon with great scrutiny and vigilance," he said. - Mark Joseph Ubalde, GMANews.TV

venntro

February 27th, 2009, 07:23 AM

Saudi Airlines in Manila receives threat (http://http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=443981&publicationSubCategoryId=200)
Updated February 26, 2009 11:01 PM

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Manila airport authorities have tightened security for Saudi Arabian Airlines after receiving intelligence reports of possible security threats against the airline.

Robert Uy, senior assistant general manager at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, said airport authorities have doubled the number of guards posted at the airline's office and are enforcing stricter baggage checks.

The Philippine Foreign Affairs Department would only confirm that it had received a request from a Middle Eastern embassy for added security measures at Manila airport.

Phones rang unanswered tonight at the airline's offices. No further details were available.

newgabskii

February 27th, 2009, 08:43 AM

‘Stop blocking RP banana exports’ (http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6694:stop-blocking-rp-banana-exports&catid=53:agri-commodities)

Thursday, 26 February 2009 18:08

COTABATO Rep. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza has urged Australia “to stop unreasonably stalling the entry of Philippine banana exports.”

“We are saddened that up to now, Australia has yet to eliminate apparent barriers to the freer entry of Philippine bananas,” said Taliño-Mendoza, whose home province is one of the country’s top producers of the tropical fruit for export.

Taliño-Mendoza was reacting to a report by the Philippine Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), which claimed that Canberra continues to obstruct banana exports from Manila through the imposition of unusually difficult quarantine controls.

Cotabato (formerly North Cotabato) and other Mindanao provinces produce bananas that are exported to Japan, the US, South Korea and the Middle East, primarily the United Arab Emirates. The fruit is being produced in vast and modern plantations that directly and indirectly engage tens of thousands of Filipinos.

The large banana-plantation operators in Cotabato include Japan’s Sumitomo Fruits Corp. and Standard Philippines Fruit Corp., a subsidiary of US multinational Dole Food Co., the world’s largest producer of fresh and packaged fruits.

“For years, Philippine bananas have been well-received by other countries reputed to have excellent quarantine standards. There’s really no reason for Australia to adopt overly prohibitive measures against our bananas,” Taliño-Mendoza said.

tonight

February 27th, 2009, 10:59 AM

tonight

February 27th, 2009, 12:40 PM

Petron reports P3.9B net loss in 2008 (http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view/20090227-191438/Petron-reports-P39B-net-loss-in-2008)

MANILA, Philippines -- Major oil player Petron Corp. said it has incurred a net loss of P3.9 billion for the year 2008 due to the “extreme volatility” of crude prices.

President Eric Recto cited the “very abnormal period for refiners” as oil prices jumped to an all-time high of $141 per barrel in July 2008, and later fell sharply to just $40 per barrel due to the impact of the global financial crisis.

Local oil prices also adjusted accordingly, which led the oil company to incur significant inventory losses.

But Recto added, “With oil prices now showing less volatility, we expect a return to profitability. In fact, our January and February performance bears this out.”

In 2008, Petron had a service station count totaling 1,288 nationwide.

Muffstar

February 27th, 2009, 12:50 PM

A AUSTRALIAN man has been shot dead by unknown gunmen in the home of his Filipina girlfriend in the central Philippines, police say.

Kenneth Fahey, 56, from Sydney, was shot in the chest on Tuesday after four unknown men broke into a beachfront house near the town of Ayungon on Negros island, Inspector Eric Errol Besario said on Friday.

The girlfriend, a widowed Filipina, told police the suspects kicked down the door as she watched television downstairs.

Fahey, who was sleeping upstairs, was shot as he rushed downstairs after hearing his girlfriend cry for help, Besario said by telephone.

The woman jumped out a window and fled to the house of a neighbour who took her to the police station.

Fahey and the woman settled in the area about three years ago, Besario said, adding that he did not know the victim's line of work.

The Australian embassy in Manila has asked the Ayungon police to make an inventory of the victim's belongings and to arrange the transport of the body to Australia, Besario said.

The consular office in Manila said it had no comment to make on the case.

tonight

February 28th, 2009, 04:37 AM

Tagaytay launches tourist cops (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20090227-191456/Tagaytay-launches-tourist-cops)

MANILA, Philippines -- The Tagaytay City police will be deploying tourist policemen this summer to make sure the city is safe for visitors.

Chief Superintendent Perfecto Palad, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) regional police director, said the tourist policemen will “ensure the safety and protection of foreign and domestic tourists or travelers in tourist…areas.”

All tourist policemen will undergo seminars on the proper handling of tourist complaints; effective techniques in handling customers; application of first aid procedures; and other tourism-related subjects, Palad said.

To assist the tourist policemen, the Tagaytay City government donated three new patrol cars and nine hand-held radios.

“Businessmen should feel that they are safe when they invest their money here. Foreign and local tourists alike should also feel secure when they go visit our tourist destinations. They should just enjoy the sights and sounds of Calabarzon without worrying that lawless elements will steal their belongings or run away with their cars,” Palad said.

Other destinations in the region that have tourist policemen include Calamba City, Pagsanjan, and Sta. Rosa City.

venntro

March 1st, 2009, 02:46 AM

^^ During Gordon's time at the DOT, he started this tourist cops program but it never flew.

tonight

March 1st, 2009, 07:31 AM

RP has Asia’s deadliest roads (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20090228-191614/RP-has-Asias-deadliest-roads)

MANILA, Philippines -- The country’s roads are the most dangerous in Asia, Senator Francis Escudero said in a statement released Saturday.

Citing a study conducted by the United Nations Children’s Fund last year, he said that three of five road accidents involved child pedestrians and road accidents were the leading cause of injury admissions to hospitals.

Escudero’s statement came after a 10-year-old pupil from Ateneo died this week after being run over inside the school parking lot.

A separate study by child safety groups in the country shows that six children die from accidents in the country daily, the senator said, adding that the country has a total of 2,500 vehicular accidents monthly involving both children and adults.
Citing another study by the Asian Development Bank in 2006, Escudero said: “Overall, the 7.8 percent of the 100,000 people who die as a result of traffic-related accidents a year is one of the highest in Asia according to the Asian Development Bank.”

Escudero thus called on the government to make use of the Road Users Tax (RUT) to make streets safer for pedestrians.

He said the patent lack of safety signs, endless road diggings, varying traffic rules in different localities, aging motor vehicles, among other factors, contribute to the bad state of roads in Metro Manila and the rest of the country.

“More than P30 billion in (Road Users Tax revenues) over the last four years have not made streets any safer for kids. RUT-spending should be refocused to make schools child-safety zones. A driver can be fined for reckless (driving or) overspeeding, but who will fine the government for reckless spending of RUT funds?” he asked.

“Under Republic Act No. 8794, or Road User’s Tax Law, 7.5 centavos for every peso paid for car registration should go to a special road safety fund,” he said.

He said that this year, out of a projected P8.9 billion Road User’s Tax collection, an estimated P668 million should be funneled into this safety fund.

Julian Carlo Miguel Alcantara, known to his friends as “Amiel,” was inside the Ateneo campus with his 65-year-old nanny when he was hit and run over by a van.

“Beyond the fields of Ateneo lie grim statistics on child vehicular deaths. Road accidents have become the most prolific killer of Filipino children after pneumonia,” he said, referring to the Unicef study.

“Spent well and applied wisely, the whole road user’s tax fund can bankroll engineering and education initiatives that will result in safe roads. Unfortunately, the Road User’s Tax has been caught in the wrong priorities,” Escudero said.

Escudero bared that in the year 2006, total collection from the RUT amounted to P7.49 billion, while P7.73 billion was raised in 2007. Last year, it stood at around P8.34 billion.

He said the rush to register new vehicles has increased the dangers for children going to school.

“But the latter should not be hazardous to their health, and government has the resources to make it so,” Escudero said.

stanleymalls

March 1st, 2009, 08:01 AM

LRTA seeks $9.6 million to 'supervise' rail loop project

MANILA, Philippines - The losing bidder for the $120-million Light Railway Transport-Metro Rail Transport (LRT-MRT) loop project said yesterday the LRTA is asking $9.6 million as “supervision fee” to oversee the construction of additional rail stations.
ADVERTISEMENT

“This is outrageous. This is worse than the Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard scandal,” Filsystems spokesman Albert Reyes said, referring to allegations that one contractor built a two-kilometer section of the five-km. road for $16 million, or $11.5 million more than it should have cost.

The loop project involves building new stations to connect the MRT line from SM North EDSA to the LRT line in Monumento, which runs 5.4 km.

Under “normal industry practice,” Filsystems said supervision fees only account for “one percent” of the $120 million total project cost, which means it could have been only $1.2 million or about P50 million.

Reyes explained that the $9.6 million or P460.8 million being asked by LRT Authority (LRTA), which has yet to be released, is “about 8.8 times more or 880 percent higher” than standard practice.

Out of the P460.8 million, LRTA wants P101.8 million for “initial design consulting services.” Reyes said LRTA sought from the Department of Budget and Management the $9.6 million funding in November 2006, even without Cabinet approval.

Filsystems also said the LRTA already had the design concept in November 2006 even if the bidding for the selection of consultants for design concept, supervision, and feasibility study was “advertised for bidding” only in January 2007.

- By Delon Porcalla (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)

bledzoe

March 1st, 2009, 11:39 AM

May the song of the whales and gentle whisper of the wind accompany you as you go back home...

Ballerina killed in road accident going home

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/pinoy-migration/02/28/09/ballerina-killed-road-accident-going-home

By Rodney J. Jaleco, ABS-CBN North America News Bureau | 02/28/2009 4:04 PM

WASHINGTON D.C. - Twenty-year-old Mary Beatrice Saludares was a star at The Washington Ballet, when her life was cut short by a fatal dash across a busy highway in Edgewood, Maryland.

Saludares was struck by a car along Route 24 a little past 10 in the evening, exactly one week ago. The Washington Ballet was to perform at the Howard Community College in nearby Columbia.

A grieving Washington Ballet cancelled its performances.

“Mary was a really gifted dancer,” Septime Webre, Washington Ballet Artistic Director, told ABS-CBN’s Balitang America.

“She came with a very fine technique, a beautiful ballet technique that she learned growing up in the Philippines,” he said.

Saludares began dancing at age 6 under Sofia Elizalde and Raul Sauz at Steps Dance Studio. She received the highest Royal Academy of Dance award in 2006 and became the first Filipino entry in the Adeline Genee International Ballet Competition.

She attended the School of American Ballet in New York and the Washington School of Ballet last year. She was later selected to join The Washington Ballet Company for its 2008-2009 season.

“She had that foundation but she also came with a certain joy and passion about her dancing, and really this generous amplitude radiated throughout her dancing,” Webre recalls.

Extraordinary Qualities

“She brought all those special qualities and that really attracted Mary to all of us when she came, first at the Washington School of Ballet and then after studying here for a year, it was based on those extraordinary qualities that I then invited her to the Washington Ballet Company,” he explained.

Saludares was determined to make it in the rarefied world of international ballet.

“Mary had a really bright future in the world of ballet and the world of dance,” Webre stressed.

He said Saludares was in The Washington Ballet Studio Company which he described as an “apprentice company”.

“She danced with The Washington Ballet at the Kennedy Center. So she danced with the quarter ballet in our biggest productions and separately the Studio Company does their own repertoire. In the Studio Company works she was doing solo and principal roles,” he told ABS-CBN News.

“Before she passed away she had a very big premier and danced the leading role in Balanchine’s “Ballet Who Cares?”. Last Fall I created a new pas de deux for her created for her talent,” Webre revealed.

“I think she had a real future. She was 20 years old, strong technique and growing in artistry. She had impact on stage,” he declared.

Going Home

Saludares’ uncle Richard Suyosa was the nearest direct relative in the East Coast. He rushed from Long Island, New York after hearing of the accident last Friday.

She lived with her uncle’s family while studying in New York.

He was asked by Mary’s parents to arrange for the remains to be flown back to Manila. Initially, they wanted a cremation and the ashes flown back; but after he the body, Suyosa said they opted to bring her home in a casket.

Suyosa approached the Migrant Heritage Commission to seek legal assistance. The police questioned the driver of the Chevrolet Impala, Robert Kane, but released him soon after.

“We have made arrangements with The Washington Ballet to get a statement from Mary’s companions who may be witnesses,” explained lawyer Arnedo Valera, MHC executive director.

“We will do a publication that is usually resorted to by personal injury lawyers to encourage people who were there at the time and may have seen what happened, to come out and give a statement,” Valera told ABS-CBN News.

“Maryland law is very clear that if there is contributory negligence, any claim for damages may be thrown out,” he explained.

But the MHC is also helping raise funds to help pay the mortuary and cost of shipping Saludares’ remains home.

Mary’s elder brother Brian (she was the youngest and only girl in the Saludares brood) arrived earlier this week to escort the remains home. He was joined by a cousin from Los Angeles.

The Washington Ballet is extending financial assistance but it wasn’t enough to cover the expenses of repatriating Salundares’ body. Thus, Suyosa reached out to the Fil-Am community here.

“She was a masayahing tao, she has a strong character. When a problem appears like it can not be solved, she finds a way to solve it. She never complained. People will remember her as a happy person. Even in difficult times, she will give you hope,” he told ABS-CBN News.

Philippine Minister Carlos Sorreta said the Philippine Embassy was aware of Saludares’ plight. He said Ambassador Willy Gaa has already ordered the Embassy staff to assist Suyosa and Brian Salundares.

The Fil-Am community is responding to the appeals.

They assured that Mary Saludares will soon go home one last time - a final tribute for a Filipina who’s given her country much pride and honor.

:cry: :cry: :cry:

bledzoe

March 1st, 2009, 12:02 PM

photos of the late Mary Saludares...

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/9343/marysaludares.jpg

http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/2630/marysaludarescentralpar.jpg

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/7947/ballet11.jpg

If upon my grave one day you see appear,
Amidst the dense grass, a simple humble flower,
Place it near your lips and my soul you’ll kiss,
And on my brow may I feel, under the cold tomb,
The gentle blow of your tenderness, the warmth of your breath.

...an excerpt from Jose Rizal's Mi Ultimo Adios.

kiretoce

March 2nd, 2009, 12:08 AM

Hard times push many PBB wannabes (http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/02/27/09/hard-times-push-many-pbb-wannabes-analysts)

People audition to join shows reality shows because “they have images in their heads, from past contestants, of getting rich quickly by joining the show,” said Sociology and Anthropology professor Susan Fernandez-Magno of Ateneo de Manila University.

In an interview with abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak, Magno said Filipinos today are in dire need of money that they are “willing to expose their vulnerabilities on national television,” citing previous participants who have done the same and won.

Joining reality shows like Pinoy Big Brother (PBB) and Pinoy Dream Academy (PDA), Fernandez-Magno said, is an “innovative, short-cut way to achieve success.”

She said, “The hard times dictate that anyone in the family, even teenagers, could get the family out of plight.”

This may be the reason why Chezka Calderon, 14, lined up as early as 5 a.m. just to audition for the show. “I need money so my mother could go home from South Korea ,” Calderon said.

Rea Lucañas, 16, wants to join so she can help her parents provide good education for her four younger siblings.

For middle class, it's the adventure

But success is measured differently depending on social class.

“Getting out of poverty is not instrumental for middle-income participants,” Magno said.

She said that adventure and fun are reason why teens and adults without responsibilities join.

“They want to bask in the glory of being adored by people watching the show,” she added.

Joseph Hernandez, 18, a University of Santo Tomas accounting student said he wants to join PBB because he wants to fulfill his dream of becoming a star.

“The cash prize is very attractive, but the adventure is really what they are looking for, the experience,” Fernandez-Magno said.

If unemployed participants get into the show, they eventually land jobs.

“It is the opportunity that comes with exposure, not just the money. The money, they can earn when they are actors or when they are hired because of their exposure,” she added.

Some keep auditioning even when they get rejected a lot of times.

“It’s like the lottery or any other game of chance. The inspiration is precedent. The image sticks to their mind as an inspiration. They see so many people achieve it, they believe they can, too,” Fernandez-Magno said.

Shortcut to wealth

Vivian Tin, head of ABS-CBN’s research and business analysis, agreed that Filipinos perceive fame as a “shortcut to economic advancement.”

“People have gotten this idea that if they become famous they earn more money,” Tin said.

Tin pointed out that to start with, apart from public exposure, people are drawn to these shows because they offer millions of pesos worth of prizes.

Tin said it was no longer surprising that thousands of people lined up to audition, noting that they would do everything to alleviate their plight.

Aside from the economic advancement, the ABS-CBN executive added that PBB is also a means to express “personal issues.”

“For [some] meron silang personal issues that they’re struggling with. They probably want to express themselves,” she said.

venntro

March 2nd, 2009, 02:16 AM

^^ Our own version of slumdog millionaire. :ohno:

venntro

March 2nd, 2009, 02:42 AM

Ballerina killed in road accident going home (http://http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/pinoy-migration/02/28/09/ballerina-killed-road-accident-going-home)
By Rodney J. Jaleco, ABS-CBN North America News Bureau | 02/28/2009 4:04 PM

WASHINGTON D.C. - Twenty-year-old Mary Beatrice Saludares was a star at The Washington Ballet, when her life was cut short by a fatal dash across a busy highway in Edgewood, Maryland.

Saludares was struck by a car along Route 24 a little past 10 in the evening, exactly one week ago. The Washington Ballet was to perform at the Howard Community College in nearby Columbia.

A grieving Washington Ballet cancelled its performances.

“Mary was a really gifted dancer,” Septime Webre, Washington Ballet Artistic Director, told ABS-CBN’s Balitang America.

“She came with a very fine technique, a beautiful ballet technique that she learned growing up in the Philippines,” he said.

Saludares began dancing at age 6 under Sofia Elizalde and Raul Sauz at Steps Dance Studio. She received the highest Royal Academy of Dance award in 2006 and became the first Filipino entry in the Adeline Genee International Ballet Competition.

She attended the School of American Ballet in New York and the Washington School of Ballet last year. She was later selected to join The Washington Ballet Company for its 2008-2009 season.

“She had that foundation but she also came with a certain joy and passion about her dancing, and really this generous amplitude radiated throughout her dancing,” Webre recalls.

Extraordinary Qualities

“She brought all those special qualities and that really attracted Mary to all of us when she came, first at the Washington School of Ballet and then after studying here for a year, it was based on those extraordinary qualities that I then invited her to the Washington Ballet Company,” he explained.

Saludares was determined to make it in the rarefied world of international ballet.

“Mary had a really bright future in the world of ballet and the world of dance,” Webre stressed.

He said Saludares was in The Washington Ballet Studio Company which he described as an “apprentice company”.

“She danced with The Washington Ballet at the Kennedy Center. So she danced with the quarter ballet in our biggest productions and separately the Studio Company does their own repertoire. In the Studio Company works she was doing solo and principal roles,” he told ABS-CBN News.

“Before she passed away she had a very big premier and danced the leading role in Balanchine’s “Ballet Who Cares?”. Last Fall I created a new pas de deux for her created for her talent,” Webre revealed.

“I think she had a real future. She was 20 years old, strong technique and growing in artistry. She had impact on stage,” he declared.

Going Home

Saludares’ uncle Richard Suyosa was the nearest direct relative in the East Coast. He rushed from Long Island, New York after hearing of the accident last Friday.

She lived with her uncle’s family while studying in New York.

He was asked by Mary’s parents to arrange for the remains to be flown back to Manila. Initially, they wanted a cremation and the ashes flown back; but after he the body, Suyosa said they opted to bring her home in a casket.

Suyosa approached the Migrant Heritage Commission to seek legal assistance. The police questioned the driver of the Chevrolet Impala, Robert Kane, but released him soon after.

“We have made arrangements with The Washington Ballet to get a statement from Mary’s companions who may be witnesses,” explained lawyer Arnedo Valera, MHC executive director.

“We will do a publication that is usually resorted to by personal injury lawyers to encourage people who were there at the time and may have seen what happened, to come out and give a statement,” Valera told ABS-CBN News.

“Maryland law is very clear that if there is contributory negligence, any claim for damages may be thrown out,” he explained.

But the MHC is also helping raise funds to help pay the mortuary and cost of shipping Saludares’ remains home.

Mary’s elder brother Brian (she was the youngest and only girl in the Saludares brood) arrived earlier this week to escort the remains home. He was joined by a cousin from Los Angeles.

The Washington Ballet is extending financial assistance but it wasn’t enough to cover the expenses of repatriating Salundares’ body. Thus, Suyosa reached out to the Fil-Am community here.

“She was a masayahing tao, she has a strong character. When a problem appears like it can not be solved, she finds a way to solve it. She never complained. People will remember her as a happy person. Even in difficult times, she will give you hope,” he told ABS-CBN News.

Philippine Minister Carlos Sorreta said the Philippine Embassy was aware of Saludares’ plight. He said Ambassador Willy Gaa has already ordered the Embassy staff to assist Suyosa and Brian Salundares.

The Fil-Am community is responding to the appeals.

They assured that Mary Saludares will soon go home one last time - a final tribute for a Filipina who’s given her country much pride and honor.

tonight

March 2nd, 2009, 03:17 AM

^^
she's too young to be killed :ohno:

tonight

March 2nd, 2009, 03:18 AM

RP faces corn shortage (http://www.mb.com.ph/node/197429)

CARMEN, Cotabato — Amid the strained supply of corn nationwide, Cotabato Rep. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza is pushing for the creation of a new Corn Research Institute (CRI) under the Department of Agriculture (DA) to ensure that the country’s future requirements of the grain are adequately met.

"We should dedicate a whole new institute to draw up a comprehensive corn research program, build up production, improve the economic condition of farmers, and expand livelihood opportunities in the countryside," said Mendoza, whose home province is one of the country’s leading producers of corn.

"Growing demand for corn as food, feed and for industrial use is inevitable. With land becoming a limiting factor, we must now quickly raise farm productivity levels. Otherwise, we definitely risk more severe corn shortages in the years ahead," Mendoza warned.

"We already have several public and private research institutes for rice. We need at least one comparable, high-technology research institute for corn," she said.

She said local corn prices soared from R13.50 to as high as R25 per kilo earlier this year on account of tight supply.

She said the scarcity prompted the DA to allow up to 200,000 metric tons of corn imports for delivery this month, and for use by poultry and hog growers and feed millers.

Next to rice, Mendoza said that corn is the country’s second most important crop. It is the staple food of about 20 percent of the population, and the main component of livestock and poultry feed.

Over 2.5 million hectares of the country’s arable land are planted to corn, which support more than 600,000 farm households nationwide. More than 40 percent of the country’s annual corn output comes from Mindanao.

Due to the rising cost of inputs and the lifting of the tariff on feed wheat imports that compete with domestic corn, local farmers grouped under the Philippine Maize Federation Inc. expect this year’s production of the grain to be significantly lower than the DA’s target of 7.8 million metric tons.

Mendoza attributed the inadequate corn output on farm inefficiency. She pointed out that while experimental stations are able to yield up to eight tons per hectare, farmers in the field are able to produce only three to 4.5 tons.

Last year, the country produced 6.95 million metric tons of corn. This was 1.01 million metric tons short of the DA’s original 7.96 million metric tons target, and only slightly higher than the output in 2007.

Mendoza warned that corn farms are being degraded by rapid soil erosion. "Left unchecked, this will further contribute to declining productivity levels," she said.

She also said fierce global competition has increased pressure on farmers to promptly raise productivity, reduce cost per unit, and improve yield quality.

Under Mendoza’s proposal, the CRI would serve as hub of all corn research and development initiatives by the public and private sectors.

venntro

March 2nd, 2009, 03:46 AM

^^ Not good for the Agricultural industry. They were saying before that we are improving our corn production and now we may face a corn shortage. :ohno:

venntro

March 2nd, 2009, 03:47 AM

More firms to freeze hiring in ‘09 (http://http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20090301-191743/More-firms-to-freeze-hiring-in-09)

By Michelle Remo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:35:00 03/01/2009

MORE COMPANIES plan to stop hiring additional workers this year because of the dampening effects of the global crisis on business.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, citing results of its latest Business Expectation Survey conducted from Jan. 5 to Feb. 11, said the employment outlook index for the second quarter of the year slid further into negative territory at -8.2 percent.

The index for the first quarter was -1.4 percent, while that for the second quarter of 2008 was at +21.7 percent. A negative index means more respondents said they were not planning to hire new workers in the succeeding quarter.

“The outlook was weighed down largely by the negative sentiment of manufacturing firms,” BSP said in the survey.

There were 1,410 respondents to the nationwide survey. The respondents belonged to various sub-sectors under the following major business groups: industry, construction, wholesale and retail trade, and services.

According to the BSP, companies believed that the weakening demand from abroad would lead to lower export sales, and that job cuts abroad as a result of the crisis would lead to a slowdown in remittances sent by overseas Filipino workers. As a result, domestic demand for goods and services was also seen to be anemic.

The BSP survey also showed that more firms were expected to be less liquid in the second quarter partly because of possible tighter access to credit. Companies expected banks to lend less given the backdrop of uncertainty.

The financial condition index, which measures expectations of liquidity, thus dropped to -32.9 percent for the second quarter from -29.9 percent in the first quarter and -11.6 percent in the second quarter of last year.

The results of the survey were consistent with concerns that the country’s unemployment rate might increase this year. The National Economic and Development Authority earlier admitted that unemployment would be a concern this year, but said the government would aggressively spend on projects that could help create jobs.

Latest data from the National Statistics Office showed that the unemployment rate rose to 6.8 percent in October last year from 6.3 percent in the same month in 2007.

tonight

March 2nd, 2009, 04:12 AM

Cebu traders expect crisis to worsen (http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/197388/cebu-traders-expect-crisis-worsen)
By Malou M. Mozo

CEBU CITY – Majority of businessmen in Cebu are anticipating a slack in the country’s economy this year, a survey conducted by the Cebu Economic Advisory Group (CEAG) showed.

According to the quarterly Business Pulse survey, 36 percent of 125 respondents from CEAG said they expect the Philippine economy to worsen, while 34 percent said they believe business activities will remain stable. Another 28 percent expressed hopes that the economy will recover by year-end.

"The survey showed the general sentiment of Cebuano businessmen that the Philippine economy is going to be tough this year," said Lito Fruelda, vice president of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), which formed part of the 11 organizations representing CEAG.

Other CEAG member-organizations include the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI); American Chamber of Commerce, Cebu; European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines, Cebu; Mactan Economic Zone Chamber of Exporters and Manufacturers, and Cebu Bankers Club, among others.

The survey reflected the members’ overall outlook of their main business activity for 2009. Most of those who responded belonged to the export and services sectors, Fruelda said. "These sectors are badly hit by the US-centered financial crisis," he said.

On the overall economic indicators, 39 percent of the respondents expected the average peso borrowing rate to go down and the average peso-dollar exchange rate to decrease likewise.

It also showed that 41 percent of respondents expected a higher inflation rate.

In relation to their own businesses, 40 percent of the respondents expected a decrease in overall volume of business activity and 56 percent expected the volume of exports to go down. Likewise, 48 percent expected a decrease in the volume of imports.

Most of the respondents said they believe there is not much movement in terms of capacity utilization, average selling prices of goods and services, workforce, and investment in buildings and equipment, among others.

The province’s peace and order situation ranked first among the variables perceived to affect the over-all business climate, followed by traffic, power, utilities, wages, real estate prices, governance, number of job openings, and number of tourists.

Segregated survey results from JCCI-Cebu showed that Japanese investors are not very optimistic about their prospects for 2009, as 75 percent of the respondents said they expected the overall outlook of their main business activity to deteriorate. Majority of the respondents from this group anticipated a decrease in the volume of business activity, exports, imports, workforce and capital investments.

CEAG Chairman Gerry Sta. Ana said while members sentiment reflected a bleak outlook for the Philippine economy this year, he said majority of businesses here believe Cebu remains less affected by the global economic crisis.

"Obviously, the industrial and export sectors are the most affected but it appears that Cebu can be expected to remain a relatively resilient economy in 2009," he said.

Sta. Ana said member-companies may use the the results of the survey to benchmark with the overall business pulse in making their own business decisions.

RonnieR

March 2nd, 2009, 05:28 AM

^^ Our own version of slumdog millionaire. :ohno:

instant fame and money, hard to resist for these young people.

^^
she's too young to be killed :ohno:

so sad, she died too early....while a lot of corrupt officials are still alive.

tonight

March 2nd, 2009, 09:39 AM

Philippines’ coconut oil shipments shrink 45% (http://www.yehey.com/news/Article.aspx?id=235564)
By Luzi Ann Javier Bloomberg

EXPORTS of coconut oil from the Philippines, the world’s biggest supplier, plunged 45 percent this month as the global recession sapped demand for the commodity from chemical makers, an executive said.

Shipments fell to 33,000 tons from 59,505 tons a year ago, said Yvonne Agustin, executive director of United Coconut Associations of the Philippines Inc.

Sales in the January to February period slumped 68 percent to 57,292 tons, she said, citing preliminary data from members.

Slowing global demand for coconut oil, the Philippines’ biggest agricultural export, may curb farmers’ income, pushing them deeper into poverty after fertilizer costs more than doubled last year.

Coconut oil averaged $734 a ton in January, down 43 percent from a year ago, according to data from the Foreign Agricultural Service at the US Department of Agriculture.

“There was reduced demand due to a slowdown in operations at oleo-chemical producers as a result of the global recession,” Agustin said in a telephone interview yesterday.

Oleo-chemicals, made from vegetable oils, are used in soaps and beauty products.

The contract for delivery in March and April fell to $670 a ton on Feb. 26, against $675 on Feb. 23, according to the Asian and Pacific Coconut Community comprising 15 producing countries that account for about 90 percent of global supply. Back to top

venntro

March 3rd, 2009, 05:45 AM

Militant recruitment grows fast in southern Philippines (http://http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=445166&publicationSubCategoryId=200)
Updated March 03, 2009 09:46 AM

GENERAL SANTOS, Philippines (Xinhua) -- The recruitment of armed rebels is growing fast in the insurgency- infested southern Philippines where local Al Qaeda-linked group and regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) members remain active, a police official said.

"Their recruitment is widely growing in the region," Superintendent Sukarno Ikbala, director of regional police for human resource department said.

"We will be conducting advance counter terrorism course for civilians so that the mainstream community will have the idea about the bad ideology," Ikbala said during a visit of the U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney to unveil a US- sponsored anti-terrorism police training facility in southern city of General Santos.

"By doing that, hopefully their recruitment will be cut off. The idea is to put the number of terrorist in fix size so that the enemy will be defeated once and for all," Ikbala added.

The authorities said terrorists including JI bomb experts Omar Patek and Dulmatin, both accused of several bombings in the region, were in the Philippines.

Patek is believed to have served as an assistant to the field coordinator of the Bali bombings while his companion, Dulmatin is a senior figure of JI.

Earlier media reports said Dulmatin was killed in a military operation but it has yet been proved by the comprehensive identity test.

Ikbala blamed those high profile terrorists for sabotaging the peace talks of Manila with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) , the country's largest rebel group.

Peace talks between the government and the MILF, which is brokered by Malaysia, collapsed in August 2008 after the two sides failed to sign an agreement on ancestral domain, prompting several MILF commanders and their men to launch deadly attacks on mostly Christian communities in Mindanao.

The 11,800-member MILF has been fighting for a separate Muslim homeland in the Catholics-dominating Philippines. Its peace negotiation with the government has been on-and-off for the past decade, peppered by sporadic clashes.

venntro

March 3rd, 2009, 06:06 AM

Aussie firm puts on hold RP oil project (http://http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2009/march/03/yehey/business/20090303bus7.html)

By Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo, Reporter

AUSTRALIAN oil and gas exploration firm Otto Energy Ltd. has put the development of the Calauit oil field in offshore Northwest Palawan in the back burner because of low crude prices.

In a presentation, Alex Parks, Otto Energy chief executive officer, said the company has put on hold further developments at its service contract (SC) 50 exploration block unitl “costs decrease/oil price increases/and or [a] farm-in partner is secured to make development feasible.”

SC 50 contains the Calauit oil field, a site of two oil discoveries in the 1990’s that flowed a combined 10,000 barrels of crude per day.

The company said the field is projected to contain between 13 and 67 million barrels of oil reserves.

Otto Energy, which holds an 85 percent stake in SC 50, opened the contract area for possible tie ups in July last year to conduct an appraisal but has yet to ink any agreement.

It would be recalled that in the same month last year, world oil prices peaked to a record of over $130 per barrel only to fall to a third since December.

The company earlier targeted to start appraisal drillings in the area this year on prospects of finding a joint venture partner by the second half of the year.

Otto Energy said drilling operations for SC 50 is targeted between 2010 and 2012.

Aside from SC 50, Otto Energy holds a 25 percent stake in SC 55 which covers the Marantao prospect located near the Malampaya oil and gas field.

The company also holds 31.38 percent of Galoc Production Co., operator of the Galoc oil field.

bombastic

March 3rd, 2009, 06:47 AM

Ay mali...sa good thread pala dapat ito...kahit lagapak ang dow jones..ang market natin up...

VALUE CHANGE % CHG
PSEi 1,859.98 3.55 0.1912
All Shares 1,205.24 1.20 0.0997
Financials 397.87 2.29 0.5789
Industrial 2,477.95 8.55 0.3462
Holding Firms 879.33 1.53 0.1737
Property 547.09 1.98 0.3606
Services 1,167.36 6.28 0.5409
Mining & Oil 3,440.00 106.06 2.9909

venntro

March 4th, 2009, 04:54 AM

Accenture to lay off 500 hands in RP hub (http://http://www.tribune.net.ph/business/20090304bus3.html)

03/04/2009

US-based outsourcing firm Accenture is laying off almost half its workforce in its local office due to the effects of the global financial crisis, the Labor department said yesterday.

Accenture Philippines has filed a notice of retrenchment for about 500 workers at its facilities in Manila, Labor Undersecretary Rosalinda Baldoz said.

Accenture, which engages in business process outsourcing, including call centers, had about 1,000 workers in Manila and in March 2008 it opened an office in the central city of Cebu which employs about 500 persons.

Call centers and other outsourced business processes have become a major industry in the Philippines.

Industry leaders had previously predicted that the sector would not be affected by the global financial turmoil as companies in developed countries would outsource more of their functions abroad to save money during the crisis. AFP

tonight

March 4th, 2009, 10:03 AM

PLDT net income down 4% to P34.6 B (http://www.mb.com.ph/node/197601)
By EMMIE V. ABADILLA

With continuing growth from its cellular phone and data business, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) 2008 hauled in core net income earnings of P38.1 billion in 2008, a growth of 8% over the preceding year, on consolidated service revenues of P142.9 billion up 5% year-on-year.

However, PLDT’s consolidated net profit of P34.6 billion decreased 4% from the P36 billion reported in 2007 due to P2.5 billion asset impairment charges from earlier investments in SPi Technologies plus foreign exchange losses amounting to P1.6 billion.

Yet, PLDT’s wireless service revenues increased 8% to P93.6 billion; fixed line service revenues went up 1% to P49.3 billion while ePLDT service revenues improved 4% to P10.4 billion

Consolidated service revenues increased by 5% to P142.9 billion, fueled mainly by the 12% growth in data and ePLDT revenues. Consolidated Earnings Before Income Tax Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) improved by 6% to P87.6 billion while EBITDA margin was stable at 61%.

Consolidated wireless service revenues rose to P93.6 billion for 2008, 8% higher than the P86.5 billion realized last year. Combined, the subscribers of its cellular subsidiaries, Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) and Pilipino Telephone Corporation (Piltel) grew to 35.2 million.

Smart’s prepaid and postpaid brands recorded net additions of 560,000 subscribers, ending 2008 with 20.9 million subscribers while Piltel’s Talk ˜N Text added 4.6 million subscribers to end the year with 14.3 million.

Despite having achieved 99% network coverage geographically several years back, network investments still made up the bulk of wireless capital expenditures which totaled P16.7 billion in 2008.

SmartBro, Smart’s wireless broadband service through its wholly-owned subsidiary Smart Broadband, Inc., reported an 81% wireless broadband subscriber growth, hauling in 547,000 total subscribers at the end of 2008.

Postpaid broadband subscribers grew 40% to 423,000 while the prepaid service, which was launched only at the end of March 2008, already totaled 124,000.

Wireless broadband revenues grew at a similar 81% pace to P4.3 billion, a significant improvement over the P2.4 billion recorded in 2007.

On the other hand, PLDT’s fixed line service revenues increased 1% to P49.3 billion in 2008 from P48.6 billion last year as gains in data revenues, both from corporate data and residential DSL services, were attenuated by declines in other segments of the business.

Revenues in local exchange and national long distance were down 2% while ILD revenues continued to weaken with the effects of the 4% average appreciation of the U. S. dollar/peso exchange rate in 2008 as well as lower termination rates and call volumes on the carier’s dollar linked revenues.

Fixed Line revenues would have improved another 1% year-on-year if foreign exchange rates had remained stable.

Still, fixed line subscribers grew 3% to 1.8 million on the back of new initiatives on both the corporate, SME and retail fronts. Subscribers to PLDT Landline Plus ("PLP"), a fixed-wireless telephone service that uses a combined fixed/wireless platform in the delivery of fixed line voice and data services, now number 126,000.

PLDT’s SME unit has made inroads in capturing a significant share in a growing segment of the market estimated at over 600,000 active enterprises.

Retail DSL continued its strong performance as broadband subscribers grew by over 168,000 to 432,000 at the end of 2008 from 264,000 at the end of 2007.

PLDT DSL generated P5.4 billion in revenues for 2008, up 38% from P3.9 billion in 2007, accounting for about 50% of the PLDT Group’s broadband and internet revenues for the year.

Furthermore, ePLDT, the Group’s information and communications technology arm, reported service revenues of P10.4 billion for 2008, a 4% increase from the P10.1 billion recorded last year.

Epldt’s revenues and performance reflected the adverse impact of the average appreciation of the peso, as approximately 78% of its service revenues. EPLDT’s revenues account for 7% of PLDT’s consolidated revenues.

Consolidated customer interaction services (more commonly known as "call center") revenues grew 4% to P3.4 billion despite the appreciation of the peso.

ePLDT Ventus, the umbrella brand for ePLDT’s customer interaction business, now operates seven customer interaction service facilities with combined seats of close to 6,600 and an employee base of over 7,100.

SPi Technologies, Inc., ePLDT’s knowledge processing arm (also known as business process outsourcing or "BPO"), generated revenues of P5.3 billion in 2008.

PLDT targets core profits of P40 billion for 2009 but maintains a scalable P27 Billion capital expenditure allocation, believing that the opportunity to invest in its long-term future becomes more attractive in challenging times.

The group’s consolidated free cash flow remained strong at P47.9 billion in 2008. Consolidated capital expenditures stood at P25.2 billion for the year, slightly below the P27.0 billion guidance provided earlier in the year.

The P1.8 billion difference is due mainly to certain rescheduled

maintenance programs in the Fixed line business and will be carried over into 2009.

On the other hand, the PLDT Group’s consolidated debt balance as of 31st December 2008 stood at US$ 1.6 billion with net debt at approximately US$ 800 million. Net debt to EBITDA and net debt to free cash flow ratios stood at 0.4 times and 0.8 times, respectively.

The company’s debt maturities are well spread out, with the bulk of debt repayments due in and after 2013. About 78% of consolidated debt are US$ -denominated with 33% of total debt hedged. Its cash and short-term securities are invested primarily in bank placements and government securities.

Yesterday, PLDT’s Board of Directors declared a final dividend of P70 per share, fulfilling the company’s commitment to pay out a minimum ratio of 70% of core earnings. In addition, the Board approved a special dividend of P60 per share. Added to the previously paid interim dividend of P70 per share paid in March 2008, total dividends for the year will amount to P200 per share, representing a payout of 100% of 2008 core earnings, similar to 2007’s payout ratio.

Total dividend payments for 2008 will total P37.5 billion.

tonight

March 4th, 2009, 10:47 AM

Bribery alleged as British nickel mine threatens community (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/philippines/3243603/Bribery-alleged-as-British-nickel-mine-threatens-community.html)
By Thomas Bell, South East Asia Correspondent

Research by the British charity CAFOD claims that some community leaders in Macambol, on the southern island of Mindanao, were bribed up to £12,000 – thirty-two times a typical annual salary - to approve the scheme. Yet many locals oppose it, fearing an ecological, cultural and economic disaster.

According to CAFOD, "The process... to secure approval for the project from Macambol's indigenous peoples, as required under Philippine law, was so seriously flawed that it cannot be considered valid."

The planned mine will cover an area 100 times bigger than Hyde Park, sandwiched between a marine nature reserve on one side and a mountain nature reserve on the other.

It is a joint venture AMCOR – a Filipino company said to have powerful government connections – and BHP Billiton, an Anglo-Australian giant which is the biggest mining company in the world.

The mine will use a new method of extracting the nickel using hot sulphuric acid. Campaigners fear the project could threaten endangered species in the forests which will be felled, and fish in nearby Pajuda Bay which help feed 65,000 local people.

According to Anna Ford, a CAFOD spokeswoman, the area is also home to an unusual Catholic sect called the Church of the Holy Stone, who tattoo their bodies with prayers and are summoned by dreams to pray in the forest.

The sect's "mother church" is at the centre of the proposed mine site.

"Mining operations will effect our sacred land. If we lose our natural resources we lose the memories and heritage of our ancestors," Narciso Salang, a tribal elder, told the researchers.

CAFOD was careful to accuse Filipino officials of paying bribes – not BHP Billition staff.

In a statement the multi-national, whose annual general meeting begins in London on Thursday, said, "BHP Billiton has a strict code of conduct governing all aspects of our business conduct, including relationship with joint venture partners. We take the allegations of bribery extremely seriously."

Nickel is used in stainless steel among many other applications. The price of the metal hit record highs in recent years but dropped 80 per cent in the last 18 months. Analysts say the price is certain to rebound when global manufacturing regains momentum.

-TC-

March 4th, 2009, 04:49 PM

Accenture Philippines lays off 500 workers
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Feb 02, 2009

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - Outsourcing firm Accenture said it is laying off at least 500 workers in the country due to a "redundancy' program.

In a statement sent to INQUIRER.net, the company said it is implementing a redundancy program "to balance the skills of its workforce against the demand from its clients".

This affects approximately three percent of its total workforce in the Philippines or approximately 500 out of a total headcount of more than 16,000 employees.

Accenture, however, said the reduction applies only to certain "excess" skill sets within its outsourced technology services unit.
The company added it continues to recruit in the Philippines for other skills to meet client demand.

Accenture has been operating in the Philippines for more than two decades and has ramped up workforce in the last few years due to the outsourcing boom.

The company operates eight delivery centers locally, its most recently established site located in Cebu City.

The Philippines has the third-largest headcount in Accenture's global network, next to the US and India.

Accenture to lay off 500 hands in RP hub (http://http://www.tribune.net.ph/business/20090304bus3.html)

03/04/2009

US-based outsourcing firm Accenture is laying off almost half its workforce in its local office due to the effects of the global financial crisis, the Labor department said yesterday.

Accenture Philippines has filed a notice of retrenchment for about 500 workers at its facilities in Manila, Labor Undersecretary Rosalinda Baldoz said.

Accenture, which engages in business process outsourcing, including call centers, had about 1,000 workers in Manila and in March 2008 it opened an office in the central city of Cebu which employs about 500 persons.

Call centers and other outsourced business processes have become a major industry in the Philippines.

Industry leaders had previously predicted that the sector would not be affected by the global financial turmoil as companies in developed countries would outsource more of their functions abroad to save money during the crisis. AFP

tonight

March 5th, 2009, 04:23 AM

ECoP sees worsening unemployment rate (http://www.mb.com.ph/node/197769)
By BERNIE CAHILES-MAGKILAT

The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECoP) yesterday said that the country’s unemployment rate this year will surely worsen but not as bad as what other countries are experiencing should the government’s pump priming spending result in the absorption of unemployed workers.

ECoP president Sergio Ortiz-Luis said that unemployment rate normally rise up in April following the graduation period that is estimated to throw in an additional one million people into the job market.

The unemployment rate in October 2008 was estimated at 6.8 percent compared to 6.3 percent posted in October the previous year with the National Capital Region having the highest unemployment rate at 12.8 percent followed by CALABARZON (10.0 percent) and Central Luzon (8.1%).

The number of unemployed was higher among males (63.2% of total unemployed) than among females (36.8%). By age group, for every 10 unemployed persons, five (52.0%) belonged to age group 15 -24 years while three (27.2%) were in the age group 25-34. Across educational groups, among the unemployed, the high school graduates comprised 32.9 percent, the college undergraduates comprised about one-fifth (22.1%), while the college graduates, 18.9 percent.

"The unemployment rate this year will worsen definitely but not as alarming as other countries. The projections by some sectors of 400,000 workers to be displaced is not true," Ortiz-Luis said.

According to Ortiz-Luis, ECoP is still trying to collate its data but the initial result is that retrenched workers would not reach hundreds of thousands but only tens of thousands.

He said that retrenchments and layoffs have not yet stopped and is expected to continue throughout the year but some companies are also hiring additional workers.

He pointed out that the private sector is doing its part by trying to keep their workers despite their difficulties by giving them allowances, asking them to use their vacation leaves, job rotation, and shorter work week.

What is crucial now though is the government’s rescue plan to these unemployed workers.

"The idea is how fast the government can implement their infrastructure projects and how fast these can absorb the unemployed sector," he said.

The Association of Local Colleges and Universities (ALCU), in partnership with PCCI and ECCP, is organizing a two-day employment summit this week with the theme "Activating Academe Industry Networks for Employment and Entrepreneurship."

With more than 1,000 participants expected, the ALCU Employment Summit will be attended by teachers and school officials of over 30 local colleges and universities nationwide as well as representatives of industry.

tonight

March 5th, 2009, 08:49 PM

Illegal recruiters becoming ‘more aggressive’ (http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20090305-192532/Illegal-recruiters-becoming-more-aggressive)
By Marjorie Gorospe

MANILA, Philippines—Former labor undersecretary Susan Ople called for people’s action against human traffickers and illegal recruiters who “become more aggressive” as the financial crisis bites.

“Illegal recruiters and human traffickers become more aggressive and they prey the desperation of the unemployed especially during this financial crisis,” Ople said.

She said human traffickers even conduct door-to-door search for new victims and warned the public against some recruiters offering overseas jobs with high placement fees.

Ople, president of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center, cited the continuing displacement of workers for their vulnerability.

Citing data from the Department of Labor and Employment, she said there are 4,191 displaced workers in the country while about 40,000 workers are given two working days a week.

Meanwhile, about 5,700 overseas workers have been retrenched and 90,000 overseas workers have gone back to the country, she said.

Rogelio Orayan, a taxi driver who came forward with information that led to the closure of an illegal recruitment firm, told the forum his experience as victim of illegal recruitment.

Orayan said that he met a woman passenger and offered him a job abroad.

“She said all I have to do is go to their office for application. A week after I applied, they called me up to say I passed and I just have to undergo medical examination,” he said.

“Then, they asked me to pay 20, 000. 00 as down payment for the 65, 000.00 placement fee,” Orayan said.

That time, he said, he began to be suspicious and reported it to the Blas F. Ople Policy Center. The center coordinated with the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group for an entrapment operation that led to the arrest of the suspects.

“It’s important that we know how to assess if people are just taking advantage on us. I’m glad that I heard Ma’am Susan’s voice on the radio. I could have been one of their victims,” he said.

venntro

March 6th, 2009, 02:03 AM

^^ With so many being laid off, a lot of displaced OFW's will fall easy pray to these scheming illegal recruiters.

venntro

March 6th, 2009, 02:04 AM

Top agricultural exports down 2% (http://http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=445863&publicationSubCategoryId=66)
By Marianne V. Go Updated March 06, 2009 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s top 10 agricultural exports suffered last year a two-percent decline, according to preliminary figures announced yesterday by Agriculture Undersecretary Jesus Paras.

But while volume declined, export value grew 28 percent to $2.9 billion from 2007’s export value of $2.2 billion.

In a speech at the opening of the Philippine Food Expo yesterday at the SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City, Paras said the weaker export sales is due to the global economic crisis affecting the Philippines’ major export markets which include the United States, Europe and Japan.

The US, Paras said, is still the country’s premier export market, accounting for 28 percent or $800 million.

The Euro zone, which accounts for 21 percent, Paras said, imported $594 million of the top 10 exports of the Philippines.

Japan, Paras said, accounted for 14 percent or $400 million.

Coconut oil exports, which is the Philippines’ number one export commodity declined by nearly 40,000 tons in 2008 to 850,000 tons. However, the export value of coconut oil increased 56 percent from $734 million in 2007 to $1.04 billion in 2008, Paras said.

Fresh bananas were the second top export commodity last year with an export value of $397.4 million; followed by tuna with an export value of $388 million.

Pineapple and pineapple products was the country’s number four top export commodity with a value of $253.5 million.

Coming in at number five was descicated coconut with an export value last year of $240.3 million, followed by milk and cream products with an export value of $162.5 million.

Manufactured tobacco was the country’s No. 7 top export commodity last year with an export value of $125.26 million, followed by seaweeds and carageenan with an export value of $122 million.

At No. 9 was shrimps and prawns with an export value of $69 million and sugar with an export value of $64 million.

In light of the continuing global economic crisis, Paras said that the Department of Agriculture will tap new and emerging markets, while strengthening the country’s stronghold in traditional markets.

The DA is urging the rural sector to diversify and produce various commodities of good quality.

IslandSon.PH

March 6th, 2009, 05:24 AM

Wushu group gives up on hosting Asian junior event

By Josef T. Ramos, Correspondent

THE Wushu Federation of the Philippines (WFP) will no longer host the Asian Junior Wushu Championship supposedly scheduled for May because of funding problems.

Julian Camacho, president of WFP, told The Manila Times Thursday that they already decided to cancel the hosting of the said event after the association failed to raise the required budget amounting P5 million to P8 million.

“We will need P5 million to P8 million to host the tournament because there will be more than 30 countries and 500 wushu artists [who are] going to compete there,” said Camacho, also the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) treasurer. “We just need to postpone it.”

The association failed to get the support of different companies for sponsorship after the two groups in WFP—the Camacho group and Edwin Pimentel group—got involved in a leadership dispute last year.

Both parties finally settled their differences after they agreed to clear up their by-laws first before holding an election. The POC recognized Camacho as wushu president after declaring a “status quo.”

Even the group of Edwin Pimentel, wushu’s former secretary-general, failed to get sponsors for the event.

“I met Edwin and asked him if they have raised the money. But they told me they have yet to get the fund-raising going and since we have no time, we decided to cancel the event,” said Camacho.

He also said they already informed the Asian Wushu Federation that they would no longer host the event and they are hoping WFP will not be sanctioned.

Wushu, Camacho said, will now focus on the training of athletes for the coming 2009 Laos Southeast Asian Games in December.

Wushu has a great potential for the country to get medals in international competitions as evidenced by the gold medal won by Willy Wang in the Beijing Olympics. Benjie Rivera and Mary Jane Estimar also took home bronze medals in Beijing.

However, since Wushu was categorized as a demonstration sports in Beijing, the medals won by participating athletes did not count in the official medal tally.

venntro

March 6th, 2009, 07:02 AM

RP mining industry hit by financial crisis (http://http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/03/06/09/rp-mining-industry-hit-financial-crisis-0)

Agence France-Presse | 03/06/2009 11:35 AM

Mining companies in the Philippines are cutting staff, putting some projects on hold and scrambling for cash as the global crisis financial drags down commodities prices, industry officials say.

The economic slowdown could not have come at a worse time for the resource-rich southeast Asian country, which had been trying to rebuild the mining industry after a similar downturn in the 1970s.

But the government has scaled down its investment target for the industry this year to about $800 million, down from the original $1 billion but still above last year's $650-million inflow.

"I expect a little downgrading (of investments) but we are still optimistic," Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Joselito Atienza said earlier this year.

Foreign-funded projects have been among the most high-profile casualties.

To preserve cash, Australian miner OceanaGold Corp. has put on hold its Didipio copper-gold project, which was among the biggest Philippines mining projects set to start production this year. No new schedule has been announced.

Berong Nickel Corp., a unit of London-based Toledo Mining Corp., suspended production and cut 600 jobs at its mine on the western island of Palawan last month amid depressed metals prices and plunging demand from China.

Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp., Toledo's local partner in Berong, does not see production resuming until the second half, but said shipments from its stockpiles to BHP Billiton of Australia should resume in April.

Karsten Fuelster, a mining division business development official for the World Bank's investment arm International Finance Corp., said the global financial crisis is leading to "substantial short-term demand destruction," while new capital expenditures and debt-funded acquisitions would be delayed.

While the mining industry in Asia has "strong fundamentals," he told an industry conference here last month that with growth easing in key markets China and India, prices for metals apart from gold are expected to fall.

Fund raising will become "nearly impossible for non-producing companies," and "many will not survive," Fuelster said.

Projects will get delayed and exploration curtailed, while "funding difficulties will get worse" before they get better, he warned.

Among the Filipino mining outfits, the priority is to shore up their capital bases. Philex Mining Corp., Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co., and Manila Mining Co. all announced plans this month to ask shareholders to raise their authorised capital by 60 percent, 100 percent and 67 percent, respectively.

With gold prices testing levels around $1,000 per ounce and copper prices sinking, Philex, the largest Philippine mining firm, has become "more a gold mine than a copper mine," its chief executive Walter Brown said recently.

With declining demand in the housing and automobile sectors in the US and Europe, gold now accounts for 72 percent of the value of the company's concentrate shipments, and copper only 28 percent, Brown said.

Philex is now only drilling and developing gold properties and copper deposits with gold values higher than the copper in the ore, he said, adding: "Typically, these gold/copper prices take at least three years to develop."

Philippine mineral exports rose 10 percent from a year earlier to $2.31 billion in calendar year 2008.

Director of the government's Mines and Geosciences Bureau Horacio Ramos said the falling prices might lead to even lower 2009 shipments.

The bureau estimates the Philippines has 83 billion tons of mineral ore deposits, including more than 14 billion tons of metallic ore and more than 69 billion tons of non-metallic ore.

The country's estimated gold ore reserve of four billion tons is the world's third largest, its 7.9 billion tons of copper the fourth largest and the 815.3 million tons of nickel ore the fifth biggest in the world, it says.

RonnieR

March 6th, 2009, 08:18 AM

Rapper-actor Francis Magalona succumbs to cancer

By Dino Maragay Updated March 06, 2009 01:28 PM

Multi-awarded Filipino rap icon Francis Magalona passed away at The Medical City hospital in Mandaluyong around noon today. He was 44.

This was announced by actor Vic Sotto in the noontime variety show Eat Bulaga, where Magalona used to be one of the hosts.

Magalona, considered as a major pillar of rap music in the country, was diagnosed with leukemia in August 2008. He is survived by his wife Pia Arroyo

venntro

March 9th, 2009, 03:42 AM

Philippines slips five notches in global tourism survey (http://http://www.gmanews.tv/story/151368/Philippines-slips-five-notches-in-global-tourism-survey)
03/04/2009 | 06:25 PM

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines slipped five notches in the latest tourism competitiveness ranking released by a Switzerland-based group.

The Philippines placed 86th among 133 countries surveyed, sliding from its 81st spot last year, the World Economic Forum said, citing its third annual Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report.

In the Asian region, the Philippines ranked 16th just behind Indonesia despite its natural resources.

Although the Philippines secured high rankings for the number of World Heritage natural sites (23rd), total known species (40th), excellent price competitiveness (16th), few visa requirements for foreign visitors (third), and comparatively open air service agreements (28th), it was weak in areas of safety and security (113th), health and hygiene levels (87th), and transport, tourism, and ICT infrastructure that require upgrading.

WEF gave high ratings to the Philippines in price competitiveness owing to overall low costs such as hotel prices, low ticket taxes, and airport charges.

“There are also some aspects of the policy rules and regulations regime that are conducive to the development of the sector, such as few visa requirements for foreign visitors and bilateral Air Service Agreements that are assessed as comparatively open," WEF said. “Other areas – such as the protection of property rights, rules related to foreign investment, and the difficulty of starting a business in the country – remain a challenge."

Switzerland had the most attractive environment for developing the travel and tourism industry, followed by other European nations Austria, and Germany, respectively.

France, Canada, Spain, Sweden, the United States, Australia and Singapore completed the top 10 in the category.

venntro

March 9th, 2009, 03:58 AM

Ships idle in Philippine port as global trade slows (http://http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/03/08/09/ships-idle-philippine-port-global-trade-slows)

Reuters | 03/09/2009 7:36 AM

SUBIC BAY, Philippines - It's 11 a.m. on a weekday but huge, bulky cargo ships scattered in this Philippine port are quiet and nearly deserted, save for a handful of workers repainting chipped handrails on some vessels.

About 22 ships -- mostly empty cargo vessels -- have anchored in this former U.S. naval base northwest of Manila, some as long as three months running. It's cheaper than most other ports in the region to park a ship and most crews are dominated by Filipinos so it's a popular choice.

Before August, when the global economic crisis started to stymie trade, cargo ships rarely stayed in Subic for more than a week. At any one time there were no more than 10 ships at the port.

"We don't usually get ships docked for a prolonged period," said Armand Arreza, administrator at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority. "We would usually get a few ships which would be on lay up, but never to the extent that we have about 22 ships and for a prolonged period of time."

Lay ups refer to the temporary shutdown of cargo ships during periods of surplus and depressed freight rates.

Since September, Subic Bay management has been swamped with e-mails and calls from owners seeking to dock their cargo ships at the port to cut costs following the collapse in shipping charges as global trade fell to multi-year lows.

About 12 other ships have left Subic Bay since the end of 2008 to pick up cargo around Asia, waiting two weeks to three months to get a client. But for the remaining 22 ships, the wait continues.

"There is no cargo," said the captain of a European-owned container vessel docked at the bay since December who asked not to be named as he was not authorized to talk to the media.

"This ship is a feeder vessel. And it depends mostly on mother vessels. Since there are no mother ships bringing cargo from US and Europe, smaller container vessels like this are affected," said the 54-year old Filipino captain.

Shipping rates fall

Average shipping rates slumped beginning August 2008 and hit a six-year low of $15,000 per day in November. That represented a 67 percent to 70 percent drop from highs of $45,000-$50,000 per day in June 2008, based on an internal publication of a European container ship firm in January.

Freight rates for dry bulk ships have plummeted from the highs hit during the commodities bull run last year.

Rates for capesize vessels -- the largest that can ferry iron ore, coal and grains -- on the key route between Brazil and China have fallen to $21 a tonne, down from above $100 a tonne in June last year, according to Reuters data.

The International Monetary Fund, predicting the world economy will stagnate this year overall with the deepening global financial crisis, forecasts world export volumes will contract 2.8 percent.

In Asia, most export-driven countries like Japan, Korea and Taiwan have suffered steep double-digit declines in shipments, paralyzing their economies and resulting in region-wide ship lay ups.

Some shipping experts say they don't expect any big improvement in demand in the next six months to a year.

"Nowadays, ships sail just half full or with very little cargo, just so they could recoup their overhead and also protect their customer base," said the European ship captain who has sailed international waters for nearly three decades.

He added the severe downturn in the shipping industry is made worse because banks, which used to extend credit lines and bank guarantees to shippers, have stopped lending, resulting in prolonged lay ups.

His European ship, which can hold 1,440 20-foot containers, has had few voyages since its delivery in mid-2008 by its German shipbuilder when cargo shipping rates fell, forcing its owners to anchor the vessel in Subic and send most of its crew home because revenues cannot even cover overhead expenses.

"The shipping industry is one of the sectors most affected by the present economic situation," retired navy captain Perfecto Pascual, seaport manager at Subic Bay, told Reuters.

"Shipowners are finding ways to save costs from their operations," Pascual said, adding Subic is a favored destination in the region for lay ups because of congestion in more developed seaports in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Long-staying ships

Costs and security are also factors, with Subic Bay management charging discounted all-in fees -- including bay patrols -- of about $10,000 a month for long-staying ships.

To stay competitive, other ports in the region have also introduced discounted fees. The Singapore Maritime and Port Authority has deferred an annual increase in port dues for bunker tankers 16 years and older and gave port dues concessions to various cargo vessels.

The European shipping firm now has four container vessel docked in Subic, with the crew in one ship down to 8 from 18 previously.

Its three other ships sit side by side near the southern end of the bay, hidden in a cove near pristine beaches, with a total of 8 crew from about 48 before their lay up began in December.

More of its ships were likely to come to Subic from around Asia with shipping contracts ending and no new orders coming.

But Subic authorities want to prevent overcrowding in the bay and will only take up to 30 ships at a time, half of its original capacity when it was used at one point as the biggest US naval base outside U.S. territory. The Americans operated a naval base in Subic for about nine decades.

As of March 2, six more ships were expected to arrive in Subic for lay ups, the Subic bay management said.

The authorities also sent some of the vessels, mostly the Japanese car carriers, more than two kilometers away from the shore to appease the 33 hotel operators in Subic Bay who have complained that the ships were becoming eyesores to guests.

In the meantime, the ships' crew, comprised mostly of Filipinos, catch up with relatives in the Philippines by phone from their ship, or spend weekends with their family in and out of Subic.

Others spend their lay up swimming in the beaches of Subic and hitting the bars and restaurants come nightfall.

"I'm loving it. We're in paradise," said Geoffrey Wells, chief engineer of U.K.-based Global Marine, a submarine cable firm, whose Wave Venture ship has been docked in Subic for repairs since early January while waiting for a cable contract.

"We have wonderful weather. Everything is cheap compared to the U.K. So yeah, we're having a good time," he said.

venntro

March 10th, 2009, 03:35 AM

Prostitution worsens in poor areas–study (http://http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2009/march/10/yehey/top_stories/20090310top6.html)

By Sammy Martin, Reporter

Prostitution dramatically increased in far-flung areas in the country, particularly among women who are heads of their families and those abandoned by their husbands because of extreme poverty, a new study revealed.

The study even cited that women living in remote villages were lured into prostitution with just a tub of freshly caught fish that could feed their hungry families, said the study by the Center for Women’s Resources (CWR), a nongovernment organization.

Other women become prostitutes for rice or coffee, the study added.

“The financial crisis has aggravated the condition of impoverished rural women,” the center’s executive director, Jojo Guan, said in a press statement on Monday. “Although they produce food for the country, they cannot cope with the crisis because, to start with, they are landless and have been earning so little.”

“We have been receiving reports that in some parts in Southern Tagalog, women in fishing communities have resorted to provide ‘massage service’ to foreigners in private resorts in exchange for money,” he added.

Testimonies of prostituted women revealed that a “massage” on the beach could earn them P300. But if done inside the room, they are paid P700. But a service could go beyond a “massage.” Allegedly, the women are paid P1,500 to provide sexual favors for the customers. Owners of the private resort where the “services” are conducted, even get a commission, the study claimed.

Husband and wife affair

The women who are forced into prostitution are reportedly being helped by their husbands, former fishermen who are now the ones ferrying tourists to the resorts. The husbands even act as pimps, looking for customers who want to get a “massage” from their wives.

“Rural women are vulnerable to prostitution because of their impoverished situation,” Guan explained. “Farmers and fisherman comprise the poorest sector of our country. And across basic sectors, women and children account for the largest poor population.”

The same study shows that in 2008, despite the implementation of Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), women in rural areas remain landless because land inequality remains high and cancellation of titles is rampant.

The conversion of land and seashores to ecotourism and industrial uses has also deprived rural women and their families of access to affordable foods.

GIs boon to business

The Center for Women’s Resources also expressed concern over the possible increase in prostitution when the US and the Philippines conduct the Balikatan military exercises in the Bicol region this summer.

“With the presence of US troops in areas where poverty is high, women are vulnerable to ply the sex trade,” Guan said. “In the past, bars mushroomed in areas near the US bases for the foreign troops’ ‘R & R’ [rest and recreation] and prostitution were rampant.”

“On March 8, women once again commemorate the International Women’s Day,” according to the study. “It is a good time, more than ever, for Filipino women to unite and declare their resistance to all policies that are threatening them to hunger and those that threaten their security, such as the Visiting Forces Agreement.”

venntro

March 10th, 2009, 06:35 AM

RP exports plunge 41% in January (http://http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/03/10/09/rp-exports-plunge-41-january)
Reuters | 03/10/2009 10:55 AM

MANILA - Philippine exports plunged 41.0 percent year-on-year in January, the biggest annual contraction for any month on record, the government's statistics office said on Tuesday.

It followed a dip of a revised 40.3 percent year-on-year in December as recession took hold in the Philippines' markets in the West.

Shipments of electronics products, the country's main export, contracted 48.4 percent in January from the year ago period after falling 47.6 percent year-on-year in December.

Expectations

The central bank has said it expects exports to contract 6-8 percent this year. Imports are seen contracting 8-10 percent.

The main industry body for electronics and semiconductors had said exports in the sector were likely to fall 8-10 percent in 2009 after falling 8.31 percent in 2008.

The Philippines supplies about 10 percent of the world's semiconductor manufacturing services, including mobile phone chips and micro processors.

Other key exports include garments and accessories, vehicle parts, coconut oil, tropical fruit and wood furniture.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
KEY POINTS
Jan 2009 Dec 2008 Jan 2008
Exports $2.49 bln $2.67 bln $4.23 bln
yr/yr change (pct) -41.0 -40.3 6.0
Electronics $1.35 bln $1.34 bln $2.61 bln
yr/yr change (pct) -48.4 -47.6 1.6

(Note: Dec 2008 numbers were revised)
- Month-on-month exports in January were down 6.8 percent compared with a 23.9 percent fall in December.
- Exports in the full 2008 year were down 2.86 percent over 2007.
- Electronics made up 54 percent of total export revenues in January.
- Exports to the United States, the country's top export destination in the month, were down 33.6 percent in January from a year earlier, after a 20.8 percent percent fall in December.
- Exports to Japan, the second-biggest market, were 39.7 percent down in January from a year earlier after a 28.5 percent annual fall in December.
- Shipments to Germany, the third-biggest market, were up an annual 7.3 percent in January.

filcan

March 11th, 2009, 01:03 AM

^^:eek2:

venntro

March 11th, 2009, 02:58 AM

2008 foreign direct investments down 48% to $1.52 billion (http://http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=447348&publicationSubCategoryId=66)
By Des Ferriols Updated March 11, 2009 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - Foreign direct investments (FDI) tumbled by nearly 48 percent in 2008, just barely managing to sustain a net inflow of $1.52 billion compared with $2.916 billion in 2007.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday that foreign direct investments amounted to only $89 million in December last year, 3.3 percent lower than the previous year and significantly lower than the $232-million inflows recorded in November 2007.

The 2008 figure was 47.9 percent lower than net foreign direct investment inflows recorded in 2007.

The BSP also reported that net equity capital flows amounted to $1.4 billion which was 30.7 percent lower than the $1.324-billion level recorded over the same period in 2007.

The BSP said the “other capital” account recorded a net inflow of $261 million, representing repayment by foreign affiliates abroad of trade credits from residents.

Reinvested earnings, on the other hand, reversed to a net outflow of $91 million because of losses realized by some foreign direct investment businesses in the country in 2008.

The BSP said the US, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Germany, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, and the Netherlands were the major sources of equity capital flows.

The bulk of the inflows, according to the BSP, were channeled to the manufacturing sector, mainly into shipbuilding and repair, auto electronics parts and components and the manufacture of paper, cigarette and other tobacco products.

The BSP said there were also inflows into services, particularly recreational and cultural businesses. Inflows also went into mining and construction projects such as hotel/resort/water spa development, power plant facility, global gateway and logistics hub.

Investments were also recorded going into utilities, real estate, trade and commerce, and financial institutions.

Foreign direct investments are expected to slow down dramatically this year but the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has not firmed up its projections, saying that it was still sorting through projects in the pipeline that could either be shelved or continued this year.

On the whole, however, the BSP expects the country’s foreign exchange at $37.5 billion this year, down from the projected level of $39 billion as the growth in remittances grinds to a halt this year due to job losses abroad.

With the down-scaling of the projected reserves, the government also revised its projected balance of payments (BOP) position from $500 million to $700 million, mainly because of lower oil prices.

The country’s gross international reserve (GIR) is the sum of all foreign exchange flowing into the country and the balance of payment (BOP) position is the remaining balance net of all external payments for debt servicing and imports.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said remittances from overseas Filipinos will reach $16.4 billion this year, unchanged from the same level in 2008.

The BSP had earlier projected that remittances would expand by six to nine percent but BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said the projection needed to be adjusted as major economies start to contract this year.

“There is a very real danger that the global economy would weaken more and the Philippines has to face this,” Tetangco said. “We might be an island of calm but we are at risk of a negative feedback loop if credit markets freeze up and economic activities grind to a halt.”

tonight

March 12th, 2009, 03:09 PM

10,600 Filipinos at risk of renal disease (http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/breakingnews/breakingnews/view/20090312-193805/10600-Filipinos-at-risk-of-renal-disease)
By Marjorie Gorospe

MANILA, Philippines—More than 10,600 Filipinos are at risk of contracting renal disease, said a health expert, adding kidney ailment remains the 10th leading cause of death in the country.

Dr. Remedios de Belen Uriarte, program manager of Renal Disease Control Program, said that in every one million Filipinos about 120 have renal diseases.

“So in the Philippines, there is estimated number of 10,644 who can be at risk of renal disease,” she told a forum hosted by the Philippine Society of Nephrology, Inc. and the International Society of Nephrology Thursday, World Kidney Day.

PSNI president Benita Padilla said the major causes of kidney failures are hypertension or high blood pressure and diabetic nephropathy leading to the renal stage, which she said is irreversible.

“Many people have the wrong notion that just because they feel well despite the high blood pressure, they assume they are physically fit when they are really not,” said Padilla.

She said some elderly people think it’s just normal to feel the symptoms of kidney failures because of their age. She stressed that there is a need to maintain the blood pressure or there would be complications in the future.

“If they have diabetes and hypertension, then they are at risk to also having kidney failures and this should be traced as early as possible,” Padilla said.

Treatment could be costly. A dialysis could cost from P2,000 to 3,000.00 per session while a kidney transplant is about P500,000.

Padilla advised the youth to live a healthy lifestyle, as she added that it is better to have a urinalysis once a year to monitor kidney condition.

“It may be inevitable but it can also be prevented.”

tonight

March 14th, 2009, 02:05 PM

Group: RP is major ocean polluter (http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20090314-194159/Group-RP-is-major-ocean-polluter)
By Alcuin Papa

MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippines ranks second in the world for most trash recovered from its oceans, an international conservation group has revealed.

The US-based Ocean Conservancy reported that 1,355,236 items of trash were recovered from the country’s shorelines, ocean surface and underwater during the International Coastal Cleanup conducted by the group in September 2008, which involved nearly 400,000 volunteers around the world.

The results of the cleanup were presented in a report by the group titled “A Rising Tide of Ocean Debris” was released on March 10 and available on the group's website.

Topping the list of trash items were plastic bags (679,957 pieces), paper bags (253,013) and food wrappers (103,226). Also recovered were 38,394 pieces of clothing and shoes, 55,814 tobacco-related items including cigarette butts (34,154), lighters and wrappers, and 11,077 diapers.

The United States topped the list of countries with the most trash recovered, with 3,945,855 items. In third place was Costa Rica with 1,017,621 items.

Ocean Conservancy said it collected 11.4 million pieces of trash from 6,485 sites in 104 countries, including the Philippines.

“We are all connected to the ocean. The disheartening amount of trash afloat in the sea, littering beaches and piling up on the sea floor affects the earth’s life support system, the ocean and all the living things in it," the report said.

"Marine debris is more than a blemish on nature, it is a potential threat to our food supply, to tourism and economic activity, to marine wildlife and ecosystems, and to our personal health. It even relates to the impacts of climate change,” it added.

Because of the study, local waste and pollution watchdog EcoWaste Coalition called on the public to help restore the health of Philippine waters.

On World Consumer Rights Day on Sunday (March 15), the coalition called for more awareness, responsibility and action to save the oceans and waterways, particularly from plastic garbage.

“We urge local and national authorities to fully enforce Republic Act No. 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, to stop the dumping of trash in the canals and esteros that eventually find their way into the marine ecosystem,” said Manny Calonzo, EcoWaste Coalition president.

To prevent garbage from entering the marine environment, the coalition urged consumers to adopt basic practices in ecological waste management, including waste prevention, reduction, separation at source, recycling reuse and composting.

In 2006, the group together with Greenpeace conducted a joint discards survey of Manila Bay which showed that 76 percent of the garbage in the bay was made of plastic and 51 percent was plastic bags, Calonzo said.

The coalition also urged the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and National Solid Waste Management Commission to do something about the trash in the oceans.

Arciga_01

March 14th, 2009, 05:37 PM

Kakahiya naman yan :ohno:

tonight

March 17th, 2009, 08:19 AM

Jobless rate rises to 7.7% in January (http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view/20090317-194569/Jobless-rate-rises-to-77-in-January)
Reuters

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s jobless rate climbed to 7.7 percent in January, the highest since April, data showed on Tuesday, and analysts said it would rise further as the country feels the impact of the financial crisis.

About 275,000 people lost their jobs since October and the latest quarterly report from the statistics office showed unemployment turning higher after falling last year.

It had dropped to 6.8 percent in October from 7.4 percent in July and 8.0 percent in April.

However, analysts said the data is not seasonally adjusted and they believe the actual rate could be understated.

"The actual data is very seasonal so you've always got to take it with a grain of salt," said Nicholas Bibby, regional economist and strategist at Barclays Capital.

"It is slightly up compared with what it was last year. This is understandable given the weakness that we are seeing coming through especially for the electronics sector," he said.

The Philippines’ jobless rate is the second highest among the biggest Southeast Asian economies, behind Indonesia, which reported its latest unemployment rate for August 2008 as 8.4 percent.

The unemployment rate in Thailand at the end of last year was 1.4 percent, below Singapore's 2.6 percent, Malaysia's 3.3 percent and Vietnam's urban reading of 4.65 percent.

In the Philippines, job losses and reduced work hours have been on the rise particularly in the semiconductor and electronics sector, which produce just over half of the country's exports revenues, as global demand shrank.

"Overall, I think the real unemployment rate should be higher than this," said Simon Wong, economist at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore. "I would expect it to move higher for the rest of 2009."

About 210,000 were added to the number of underemployed, those who have jobs but want to work more, an increase of 3.5 percent from October, the government said.

The percentage of underemployed climbed to 18.2 percent of the total employed in January from 17.5 percent in October.

The government says that about a third of the 90-million population is poor, calculated as families of five living on less than the equivalent of $3 a day.

Of the 34.3 million people employed in January, more than half, or 51.2 percent, worked in services.

Farming was the second-biggest employer with 34.6 percent, with the rest working in the industry, particularly manufacturing.

jamir57

March 19th, 2009, 03:08 AM

^^^ toniht magaling ka mghanap ng bad news ah.. :nuts:

skywalker2008

March 19th, 2009, 04:56 AM

Laguna-based TDK-Fujitsu cuts 2,000 jobs (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/153246/Laguna-based-TDK-Fujitsu-cuts-2000-jobs)
03/18/2009 | 06:41 PM

MANILA, Philippines - TDK Fujitsu Philippines Corp. (TFPC), which makes magnetic recording heads for computer hard disk drives, said it laid off 2,000 workers in its Biñan, Laguna facility.

TFPC is different from Fujitsu Computer Product Corp. of the Philippines Inc. (FCPP), which cut 1,750 jobs earlier this year, according to various reports which came out on Wednesday afternoon.

TFPC’s layoffs were confirmed by Labor Secretary Marianito D. Roque during a briefing in Quezon City.

TFPC, an international private company, maintains a facility in a special export processing zone at the Laguna Technopark Phase 3, reports said.

However, while TFPC and FCPP are separate entities, their parent companies agreed to work together five years ago.

In the middle of 2004, TDK Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd. – the parents of TFPC and FCPP – undertook an agreement to design, develop, and produce heads for hard disk drives.

FCPP, the local unit of Fujitsu that makes computer hard disk drives, was established in 1995. Its facility is located at the Carmelray Industrial Park in Canlubang, Laguna.

FCPP – including other Fujitsu businesses in the country – currently employs an estimated 6,000 workers, said Ernesto G. Espinosa, FCPP’s vice president for human resources and general affairs. - GMANews.TV

djhones

March 30th, 2009, 01:23 PM

Researchers reveal a 'cyber spy' network (http://www.bigmouthmedia.com/live/articles/researchers-reveal-a-cyber-spy-network.asp/5754/)

Researchers have revealed that an electronic spy network has managed to infiltrate government computers from around the world.

The researchers said the network is mainly based in China, and that 1,295 computers had been infiltrated in 103 countries. The computers included those belonging to foreign ministries and embassies, as well as those linked with Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

The Canadian researchers noted that there is no firm evidence that shows that China's government is behind the network, and government officials in Beijing denied involvement according to the BBC.

The report follows a 10-month investigation conducted by the Information Welfare Monitor (IWM), and is entitled Tracking GhostNet: Investigating a Cyber Espionage Network. The information in the report comes from Canadian firms SecDev Group and the Munk Centre for International Studies.

The group notes that they acted on a request from the Dalai Lama's office, who wanted to know if their computers were being monitored.

The researchers then found that the ministries of foreign affairs of Iran, Bangladesh, Latvia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Barbados and Bhutan all appeared to have been targeted by the same network. In addition, hacked computers were also found in the embassies of countries including India, South Korea, Romania, Thailand, Germany and Pakistan.

The analysts believe the system was focused on monitoring the computers of governments in Asia.

They added that the attacks could be considered "industrial espionage", as the hackers showed an interest in the activities of lawmakers and major companies. According to the researchers, the networks were able to gain access to the computer through malware, or malicious software.

The malware allowed hackers to take control of computers in order to send and receive classified information.

In a separate report, the New York Times noted that the operation is the largest to have been uncovered in terms of the number of countries that are affected

filcan

March 31st, 2009, 11:55 PM

Asian economic outlook 'bleak' for 2009

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/BUSINESS/03/31/asia.economy/art.manila.afp.gi.jpg
Customers buy vegetables at a market in Quezon City in suburban Manila, Philippines, on September 16.

(CNN) -- Asia's economic growth will tumble to the slowest pace since the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in a report released Tuesday.

Customers buy vegetables at a market in Quezon City in suburban Manila, Philippines, on September 16.

"The short term outlook for the region is bleak as the full impact of the severe recession in industrialized economies is transmitted to emerging markets," said Jong-Wha Lee, acting chief economist for the ADB.

The Asian Development Outlook 2009 forecasts that economic growth in developing Asia will slip to 3.4 percent in 2009, down from 6.3 percent last year and 9.5 percent in 2007. Growth could improve to 6 percent in 2010, if the global economy experiences a mild recovery next year, the report says.

"The concern for the region, and especially for the region's poor, is that it is not yet clear that the [United States], European Union and Japan will recover as soon as next year," Lee said.

The slowdown should prompt Asian countries to expand their economic base and not be as dependent on exports, according to the report.

Despite the downturn, the report says Asia is in a much better position to cope with the current crisis than it was in the late 1990s.

"Large foreign currency reserves and steadily declining inflation rates will provide policymakers with the necessary tools to nurse their economies through the hard times ahead," the report said.
advertisement

A number of Asian governments, including China, Japan and South Korea, have already responded quickly to the global financial crisis with stimulus packages and changes in monetary policy, helping to stem some of the downturn.

In November, China announced plans to inject $586 billion (4 trillion yuan) into its economy to offset declines in industrial and export growth. That economic stimulus plan included the loosening of credit restrictions, tax cuts and massive infrastructure spending.

CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/03/31/asia.economy/index.html?eref=rss_world)

kiretoce

April 12th, 2009, 10:09 AM

What about the Filipinos? Piracy focus seen as hypocritical (http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKTRE53A0XQ20090411)

The international community is showing hypocrisy by suddenly focussing on Somali piracy because of the capture of one American, a regional maritime group said on Saturday.

Sea gangs from the lawless Horn of Africa nation grabbed world headlines this week when they briefly hijacked the U.S. freighter Maersk Alabama. Its 20 crew retook control, but the gunmen took captain Richard Phillips hostage on a lifeboat.

The global media has tracked in great detail each twist and turn of the drama as it unfolds, including a failed attempt to swim to safety by the former Boston taxi driver.

But Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme said it was a pity similar attention was not paid to the nearly 250 other hostages -- all from poorer nations -- currently being held by other Somali pirates.

The biggest nationality represented, at 92, is Filipino.

"The media and the international community at large is just demonstrating its hypocrisy," he said in the Kenyan port of Mombasa, where the 17,000-tonne Alabama was due on Saturday.

"Journalists have flooded here from all over the world because of one American captain. What about all the others, from Bangladesh, from Pakistan, from the Philippines, some of whom have been held now for months?"

The story has all the front-page ingredients: buccaneers audaciously try to seize a huge U.S. container ship, its sailors resist, then Phillips apparently volunteers to board the lifeboat with the pirates in return for his crew's safety.

Meanwhile, a state-of-the-art U.S. naval destroyer armed with missiles, torpedoes and helicopters keeps a watchful eye. And more warships are on the way.

Mwangura told Reuters, however, that did not excuse the lack of attention given to the scores of other hostages still being held for ransom off the Somali coast.

"Once again, it has taken American involvement to get world powers really interested," said a diplomat who tracks Somalia from Nairobi. "I hope they don't forget the Filipinos and all the others, once this guy is released."

Heavily-armed gangs from the failed state hijacked 42 vessels last year in the strategic Gulf of Aden and further south in the Indian Ocean, and tried to attack dozens more.

The crews of many of those ships are being held hostage near small pirate bases on the coast, where their captors tend to treat them well in anticipation of a sizeable ransom payout.

Mwangura said the same international focus had highlighted the long-running crime wave off Somalia in the past -- but only when white people from rich nations were involved.

When the gangs seized the Saudi supertanker Sirius Star last year, everyone paid attention. Not just because it was carrying $100 million (68.2 million pounds) worth of crude oil, he said, but because it had two British crewmen on board too.

"It was the same in 2005. The media went crazy when that luxury cruise liner, the Seabourn Spirit, was attacked with lots of white tourists on board. And they weren't even hijacked."

tonight

April 13th, 2009, 12:45 PM

137 Filipinos stranded in Dubai (http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20090413-199078/137-Filipinos-stranded-in-Dubai)
By Veronica Uy

Probe, suspension of recruiter sought

MANILA, Philippines—One-hundred thirty-seven Filipino bus drivers are stranded in Dubai and asking the government to help repatriate and give them justice, a labor policy group said Monday.

In a statement, the Blas F. Ople Policy Center also called on the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to investigate and, if possible, suspend the license of CYM International Services, the agency that recruited the drivers, and its counterpart in Dubai, Al Toomoh Technical Services.

“The sheer number of victims involved constitutes an act of economic sabotage by this licensed agency,” said former labor undersecretary Susan Ople, who heads the center named after her father. “We urge immediate action and for the owners of the agency to be barred from leaving the country.”

She said one of the drivers, Claro Oliver of Rizal province, contacted her office over the weekend about their plight.

Citing her conversation with Oliver, Ople said the agency promised the Filipino drivers good-paying jobs with the Dubai government’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).

The drivers said they paid as much as P150,000 to CYM International Services in exchange for the jobs.

However, some of the drivers—some of who quit their local jobs despite years of service—have been waiting for the RTA jobs since January this year.

“Desperate for food and cash, the stranded drives have resorted to scavenging a dumpsite for scrap food,” Ople said.

The Filipino community there learned about the workers’ plight from Ares Gutierrez and Jay Hilotin, Filipino journalists working in Dubai, and went to the dumpsite where they were staying to bring them food, water, and other items.

Eliseo Maximo, who has worked for 11 years as a bus driver in Manila, said: “We’ve been collecting aluminum cans, selling them at 4 dirhams [1 dirham is about P10] per kilogram in Ajman, just to have something to eat.”

Aside from lack of food and shelter, the stranded Filipino drivers who have worked for years in companies like Baliuag Transit also complain that because their passports are being held by the Dubai counterpart of their agency, they could not apply for new jobs.

Ople asked the Philippine consulate in Dubai to intervene and retrieve the passports of the stranded workers, as they still want to work in Dubai instead of being repatriated back.

“If they come home, whatever they earn as bus drivers won’t be enough to pay off their loans and still sustain the needs of their families,” she explained.

Ople said she is awaiting documents from the bus drivers that would help speed up the POEA’s investigation into the alleged illegal recruitment practices of CYM International Services and its counterpart in Dubai.

The former labor undersecretary said she also hoped the 137 drivers would be able to meet President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Vice President Noli De Castro, and other high-ranking officials who are now visiting Dubai.

bitoy

May 12th, 2009, 06:50 AM

wrong thread

jpdm

May 13th, 2009, 03:47 AM

Manila Standard

May 13, 2009

HK trip lands Customs men in trouble

NINE Customs officials are in trouble for going on a five-day trip to Hong Kong without Finance Department clearance, Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales said yesterday.

The officials, all assigned to the international airport in Manila, had been ordered to explain the unauthorized trip in writing within 72 hours or face administrative charges, Morales said.

They were identified as Carlos So, Guillermo Jurado, Emmanuel Bobadilla, Edgar Macabeo, Uthman Mamadra, Joselito Reyes, Villamor Espaldon, Al Fernandez and Arnaldo dela Torre.

An airline manifest showed that the nine took a Philippine Airlines flight to Hong Kong at 7 a.m. on April 30 and stayed there until May 4. They checked in at the Holiday Inn and Sheraton hotels in Kowloon, and then returned to Manila at 7:30 p.m. on May 4 on board the same airline.

Customs staff reported the nine officials’ trip to Morales, who then ordered their investigation.

A Customs examiner said the nine were seen bringing in big balikbayan boxes. The biggest balikbayan box measures 30 inches high, 20 inches wide and 20 inches deep, and it’s commonly used by returning Filipinos who want to surprise everyone with a gift.

A Customs official said the nine faced six months’ suspension without pay—or dismissal from government service in extreme cases—if they failed to justify their trip.

Under existing regulations, all government officials and employees must secure a travel permit from their head agency or unit if they wish to take a trip abroad. Vito Barcelo

Buti nga!!:bash::bash:

Juan Pilgrim

May 13th, 2009, 03:55 AM

^^This sounds more like a good news to me than a not so good news.

Mabuti at na prendido at na castigo ang mga abusado.
Let this be a warning to anyone who wants to do the same.

:horse:

RonnieR

May 19th, 2009, 06:02 AM

Alec Baldwin's TV joke falls like Ricky Hatton in the Philippines
Smallscreen News

By April MacIntyre May 18, 2009, 23:05 GMT

Alec Baldwin, the Long Island thespian famous for many film roles including "The Cooler," "Married to the Mob" and "The Departed" and for his Emmy winning role in "30 Rock," won't be vacationing anytime soon in the Philippines. © Sylvain Gaboury / PR Photos

Alec Baldwin, the Long Island thespian famous for many film roles including "The Cooler," "Married to the Mob" and "The Departed" and for his Emmy winning role in "30 Rock," won't be vacationing anytime soon in the Philippines.

Baldwin allegedly cracked wise about ordering a Filipino mail-order bride on the May 12th The Late Show, telling David Letterman that he would love to have more children, and was "thinking about getting a Filipino mail-order bride at this point ... or a Russian one."

It didn't go over well in the island nation, home to Manny "Pac Man" Pacquiao, reigning light Welterweight champion of the world, who recently flattened Mancunian Ricky Hatton in the second round.

The Associated Press reports that Philippine Sen. Ramon Revilla said Monday that Baldwin's comment was "insensitive and uncalled for" and an insult to millions of Filipinos.

Revilla labeled Baldwin "arrogant" and apparently ignorant as mail-order brides are outlawed in the country.

"Let him try to come here in the Philippines and he'll see mayhem," Revilla, an ex actor reportedly said.

Read more: "Alec Baldwin's TV joke falls like Ricky Hatton in the Philippines - Monsters and Critics" - http://www.monstersandcritics.com/smallscreen/news/article_1478046.php/Alec_Baldwins_TV_joke_falls_like_Ricky_Hatton_in_the_Philippines#ixzz0FuqpTOLO&A

IMO, the above is true although it's not legal....Senator Revilla's act is what????

Askal82

May 19th, 2009, 06:10 AM

^^ Oh no!!! After Chip Tsao episode, here we go again. :lol:

jpdm

May 19th, 2009, 06:43 AM

^^ Oh no!!! After Chip Tsao episode, here we go again. :lol:

Oo nga...pero ayoko ng mag-comment baka I might be singled out again here....:lol::lol:

demented_pigeon

May 19th, 2009, 08:17 AM

Alec Baldwin... I'm not even feeling any motivation to get angry. I't just one of those race related jokes...

richard24

May 19th, 2009, 09:09 AM

its a joke. cmon. :) and as if mail order brides arent real. he was just stating the obvious.

hindi kasalanan ni alec baldwin kung yan ang perception nya sa filipino, eh kung i-crackdown kaya ng gobyerno ang mga cybersex dens dito sa pinas, at bigyan ng employment ang mga p*k-p*k?

RonnieR

May 19th, 2009, 10:00 AM

^^ ako din...i didn't feel anything... it's a joke and it was on a tv show....hehehe, grabe na ba ang mga cyber sex den?

demented_pigeon

May 19th, 2009, 10:05 AM

^^ ako din...i didn't feel anything... it's a joke and it was on a tv show....hehehe, grabe na ba ang mga cyber sex den?

hindi pa naman ganun ka-grabe. Hanggang dildo pa lang nama ata. none of that urine thing yet. Buti nasa safe level pa ang pinas. :nuts:

crappypants

May 19th, 2009, 10:07 AM

whoa and Filipinos are known for their conservative culture.

Yre

May 19th, 2009, 10:17 AM

"Let him try to come here in the Philippines and he'll see mayhem," Revilla, an ex actor reportedly said.

Mas nahihiya ako sa mga lumalabas sa bunganga ng mga senador natin. :ohno:

Mas mabuti pa siguro hinamon niya nalang ng boksing si Baldwin...:bash:

crappypants

May 19th, 2009, 10:20 AM

sobrang epal si Revilla. eh talaga namang me order brides or penpal for life and pilipinas.

demented_pigeon

May 19th, 2009, 10:20 AM

Mas nahihiya ako sa mga lumalabas sa bunganga ng mga senador natin. :ohno:

Mas mabuti pa siguro hinamon niya nalang ng boksing si Baldwin...:bash:

palibhasa kasi, si Revilla hindi naman marunong umarte. From action star (palpak) to comedian (mas palpak). E si Baldwin, from action, to drama, to comedy, magaling.

manila_eye

May 19th, 2009, 11:35 AM

Hindi naman below the belt yung joke. It was funny indeed.

urban Iegend

May 19th, 2009, 07:34 PM

nagpapapogi lang si Revilla, malapit na kasi 2010 :)

bitoy

May 20th, 2009, 02:12 AM

Eto, pumapel na naman si Senatong Bong Revilla, mali daw yung ginawa nila Kho at Halili, dapat daw siya yung nasa "sex video". :lol:

He badmouthed Kho when he and his father have lots in common. :nuts:

Hayden gets senator's ire over sex video (http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=469421&publicationSubCategoryId=68)

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. is demanding the revocation of the medical license of controversial celebrity Hayden Kho as cosmetic surgeon over his alleged sex video with actress Katrina Halili.

In a privilege speech entitled “A Doctor’s Perversity,” Revilla slammed Kho for his supposed misconduct and apparent mental or psychological problem.

The video, uploaded on the Internet, is different from an earlier video showing Kho and Halili dancing.

“I have also been informed that there are at least two other sex videos involving the same man with other women. These videos show explicit sexual acts and were obviously taken without the consent of the women,” Revilla said.

He said it was obvious that the camera was hidden.

Describing Kho as a “maniac,” a “pervert” and “insane,” Revilla said,

“How are you going to entrust your daughter to this kind of doctor? This perversity poses a risk to the public that, according to studies, will escalate to further acts of perversity. Let us not wait for him to have more victims.”

Revilla earlier filed Senate Bill No. 12 or the Anti-Pornography Bill proposing stiffer penalties on those who publish, broadcast and exhibit pornographic materials through the use of traditional media, Internet, cyberspace, cellular phones and other media.

The senator from Cavite stressed that it was conduct unbecoming for a professional to destroy the reputation of and humiliate another person by circulating what should be treated as an intimately private activity.

“A doctor should be respectable in his actions. We have to respect everyone’s dignity and treat every person with respect,” he said.

Revilla said he himself watched the video and found its proliferation disgusting.

He called on the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) to take action and revoke the medical license of Kho and ban him from the practice of medicine.

He cited Section 24 of Republic Act 2382 or the Medical Act of 1959, whereby immoral or dishonorable conduct was among the grounds for reprimand, suspension or revocation of a doctor’s certificate of registration.

“He does not know how to respect women. It’s like he has no mother and sister. If you ask me, this person is not in his right mind. And according to the Medical Act, this doctor can also be punished for insanity. Buang itong doktor na ito (This doctor is crazy),” Revilla said.

“With the many sex scandals coming out, we need to act to protect our fellowmen, our women, most especially the young,” he said.

Revilla also pointed out that under Article 26 of the Civil Code, every person should respect the dignity, personality, privacy and peace of mind of his neighbors and other persons, and disturbing the private life of another person would constitute a cause of action for damages.

He said such lewdness was enraging as it took advantage of the “trust, confidence and emotions” of the woman.

He said sex videos “definitely ruined the dignity and honor of these poor and hapless women.”

In the case of Halili, Revilla said she has become depressed because of the incident. “I pity her,” he said.

He added that it was Halili who made a public apology for the incident “but this maniac never said sorry.”

“Dr. Hayden Kho is a pervert of the highest kind, a predator who has no conscience or respect for women,” he said.

The senator said that despite the privacy of the activity, the state could intervene when a video was taken without the consent of another person.

“I believe that voyeurism should be punished, and the publication of sex videos with or without the consent of the parties should be dealt with properly,” Revilla said.

He said Internet service providers (ISP) giving access to these kinds of vulgarity must also be punished.

“We can follow the Chinese or Middle Eastern model where all ISPs are required to block online pornography. For me, these people must rot in jail so they will not be able to do any more harm to anybody,” said Revilla, who was not interpellated due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. joined Revilla in seeking the passage of bills that would protect people from such scandals.

Pimentel said legislators should take a deeper look into the situation and how “degrading spectacles” could be curtailed.

demented_pigeon

May 20th, 2009, 04:08 AM

richard24

May 20th, 2009, 04:41 AM

and that's coming from effing BONG REVILLA?!?!? at least Hayden Kho WASN'T MARRIED when he did the videos. palibhasa walang video si Bong Revilla. ANG KAPAL NG MUKHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

demented_pigeon

May 20th, 2009, 04:44 AM

and that's coming from effing BONG REVILLA?!?!? at least Hayden Kho WASN'T MARRIED when he did the videos. palibhasa walang video si Bong Revilla. ANG KAPAL NG MUKHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

please, if bong revilla had a video. people would mistake it for some badly made bestiality porn flick.

richard24

May 20th, 2009, 04:50 AM

i'll quote Bong Revilla from the article.

“How are you going to entrust your daughter to this kind of doctor? This perversity poses a risk to the public that, according to studies, will escalate to further acts of perversity. Let us not wait for him to have more victims.”

it also applies to him.

“How are you going to entrust your taxes to this kind of public servant? This perversity poses a risk to the public that, according to studies, will escalate to further acts of perversity. Let us not wait for him to have more victims.”

Hypocrite!! feeling nya ang linis nya! hindi sa pinagtatanggol ko si Hayden Kho pero sa LAHAT ng pwedeng bumatikos kay Hayden Kho, si BONG REVILLA pa?!?? :puke:

inggit lang sya, ganda nung chick ni Hayden eh. lol

demented_pigeon

May 20th, 2009, 05:17 AM

^^ seriously though, let us also condemn this commodification of women through pornography. Hayden shouldn't go scot free from what he did.

demented_pigeon

May 20th, 2009, 05:24 AM

of course. :) since he was the one who videotaped it in the first place. :)
i managed to watch a part of it. talagang si hayden ang nag tape. inaadjust pa nya ung zoom one time. lol

naasar lang talaga ako kay bong revilla. bakit ba binoboto pa yan? jusko.

grabe noh! kadiri talaga yang porn. binababoy yung mga babae.

may kopya ka? :lol:

richard24

May 20th, 2009, 05:26 AM

demented_pigeon

May 20th, 2009, 05:28 AM

^^ woah mas nauna yung quote ko kesa sa post mo...

richard24

May 20th, 2009, 05:32 AM

grabe noh! kadiri talaga yang porn. binababoy yung mga babae.

may kopya ka? :lol:

oo nga nakakabastos! para silang mga baboy!

google mo lang. ang ganda nung chicksa isang part. bwahahaaha. :lol:

demented_pigeon

May 20th, 2009, 05:33 AM

oo nga nakakabastos! para silang mga baboy!

google mo lang. ang ganda nung chick sa third part. bwahahaaha. :lol:

mas mabuti panoorin ko yung buo para ma-feel ko yung oppression sa mga babae. tsk tsk. malaki ba yung jog#?

richard24

May 20th, 2009, 05:37 AM

mas mabuti panoorin ko yung buo para ma-fell ko yung oppression sa mga babae. tsk tsk. malaki ba yung jog#?

Kawawa nga sila. lalo na si Maricar Reyes. upcoming star pa naman. tsk.

ganda. :) haven't seen katrina's part yet. :lol:

richard24

May 20th, 2009, 05:40 AM

Maxxclip

May 20th, 2009, 05:43 AM

Hayden gets senator's ire over sex video (http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=469421&publicationSubCategoryId=68)

naubusan na ba ang Senado ng mga issues na pwede nilang pag-usapan at pati mga scandal ng mga pribadong taong ito e pinapatos nila?

ang dami-daming problemang dapat bigyan ng pansin pero nakuha pa nilang magkomento sa isang usapin na hindi ikakabuti ng karamihan

Oo. Immoral ang ginawa ng mga artistang ito (na kabaru nya...sa profession)... pero matagal ng laganap ang mga ganitong pangyayari (lalo na sa mga estudyanteng mapupusok), pero ano ang ginagawa nila..wala...wala man lang matibay na batas na naipasa na magbabawal at magpapataw ng mabigat na parusa sa mga ganitong kahayupan.

bakit hindi na lang nila repasuhin ang mga batas na halos amagin na sa sobrang tanda/"obsolete"

paano na ang Pilipinas kung sya(Bong Revilla) ang magiging Pang-gulo ng Pilipinas:ohno:

manila_eye

May 20th, 2009, 12:32 PM

and according to a blog, Hayden's video with Ana Theresa Licaros is next.

she's reviewing for the bar this September pa naman. :(
how would this affect her chances of topping the bar? magna ata sya grumaduate from UP.

OMG! Wag na ilabas yung kay Licaros. She's doing great as a law student in UP... kawawa baka alisan ng mana.

Yup magna si Tere and actually nasa honor roll din sya sa UP law.

demented_pigeon

May 20th, 2009, 12:38 PM

OMG! Wag na ilabas yung kay Licaros. She's doing great as a law student in UP... kawawa baka alisan ng mana.

Yup magna si Tere and actually nasa honor roll din sya sa UP law.

sabi raw, nakalabas na rin yung sa kanya e.

pi_malejana

May 20th, 2009, 03:06 PM

^^ wtf pati si licaros meron??:eek:

pagkatalino at magandang babae pa naman, kay kho pa napunta...:ohno:

bitoy

May 21st, 2009, 07:03 AM

Envoy axed over missed Obama photo moment (http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=469720&publicationSubCategoryId=68)

http://www.philstar.com/newphilstar/www/image/20090521/sf.jpg

MANILA, Philippines – For failing to take a crucial photo, an ambassador has lost his job.

Philippine Ambassador to Washington Willy Gaa reportedly missed three opportunities to take a photo of President Arroyo with US President Barack Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast (NPB) in Washington last February, and received a tongue-lashing from the Chief Executive.

Foreign Affairs officials, who asked not to be identified, said the President had instructed Gaa to grab any opportunity during the NPB to shoot photos of her with Obama.
Arroyo had flown all the way from the Middle East to attend the NPB in hopes of seeing and meeting Obama.

remain as ambassador to the United States for a while because no replacement has been designated.The officials said the President was very upset that Gaa could not be found when Obama passed by three times and greeted her.

“The President designated Ambassador Gaa as photographer during the NPB in Washington. But when President Obama passed Mrs. Arroyo three times wala si Ambassador Gaa,” an official related.

The officials said Arroyo was very angry because of the missed photo opportunity for what should have been the “photo of the moment” when Obama stopped to shake hands with her.

After the NPB, the officials said members of the Arroyo delegation saw the President very angry when she called Gaa and ordered him to ride with her in the presidential car.

“Pagkatapos ng (After the) big event they saw each other. The people there saw and heard the President call Amb. Gaa. She told Gaa to join her in the car. Sabay sara ng kotse (The doors slammed). It was dramatic,” another official said.
Officials said although Gaa may be returning home, he can still

Sources said Consul General Marciano Paynor Jr. of the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco is being considered to replace Gaa.

Paynor, a former chief presidential protocol officer, accompanied the President on her various trips abroad and is very close to Mrs. Arroyo.

Paynor was chairman of the Philippine National Organizing Committee when the country was supposed to host the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Cebu in December 2006.

He announced the Philippine government’s decision to postpone the summit supposedly because of a coming typhoon, but some diplomats claimed that the postponement of the meeting of ASEAN heads of states was an embarrassment to the country.

Paynor, who made the announcement at the Cebu International Convention Center, described the decision to postpone the summit as “agonizing” and “most painful.”

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo took the responsibility of recommending the postponement of the leaders’ summit but emphasized that he was not the one who gave the approval.

Romulo said he recommended the postponement of the ASEAN Summit because of the weather disturbance and not the political “storm” and travel advisories of at least six countries that warned of possible terrorist attack in Cebu.

The ASEAN members and the international community expressed doubts on the country’s political stability since the postponement happened when the “political” storm

demented_pigeon

May 21st, 2009, 07:12 AM

^^ bwahaha. bootlicking Gloria just doesn't get it. Obama doesn't give a rat's ass for you!

demented_pigeon

May 21st, 2009, 07:23 AM

I dont know where to put this... anyway...

NBI-Etong death was suicide.

for more info, watch TV patrol and 24 oras.

manila_eye

May 21st, 2009, 05:26 PM

^^ im still not convinced.

junjou_rabbit

May 21st, 2009, 05:56 PM

RP confirms first case of A(H1N1) flu virus infection
05/21/2009 | 10:22 PM
Email this | Email the Editor | Print | ShareThis
MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Department of Health (DOH) confirmed on Thursday that the country already has a case of the dreaded Influenza A(H1N1) virus.

The patient, who is now quarantined, is a female who arrived from the US last May 18, according to the DOH.

Taiwan was the last country near the Philippines that reported a case of the disease, on Wednesday. Struck by the disease was a 52-year-old man, the country's first.

The World Health Organization raised its tally of swine flu cases around the world to 11,034 and 85 deaths.

WHO says most of the new 791 cases have been reported in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Mexico confirmed three more deaths linked to swine flu, while the United States confirmed two since Wednesday's tally.

At least 38 other countries have also reported cases since the outbreak began last month. - GMANews.TV, with an AP report

Sky Harbor

May 21st, 2009, 06:06 PM

^^ Here's a more "local" report.

----

RP reports first case of swine flu (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20090521-206396/RP-reports-first-case-of-swine-flu)

By Anna Valmero
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 22:26:00 05/21/2009

Filed Under: Swine Flu, Health

MANILA Phiilippines -- The first case of swine flu infection has been confirmed in the Philippines, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said.

The victim is a Filipina who came from the US, Duque said late Thursday.

Duque made the announcement from Geneva in Switzerland.

He said the Filipina tested positive for the H1N1 virus during a check up at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Muntinlupa City.

mhek

May 21st, 2009, 08:40 PM

omg! swine flu in RP

Sky Harbor

May 21st, 2009, 08:53 PM

omg! swine flu in RP

Here's an update. The victim is apparently a 10-year old girl.

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DoH confirms first A(H1N1) case in RP (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20090521-206396/DoH-confirms-first-AH1N1-case-in-RP)

By Anna Valmero
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 22:26:00 05/21/2009

Filed Under: Health, Swine Flu

MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) The Department of Health (DoH) confirmed the first case of A(H1N1) influenza in the country Thursday night.

“The DoH confirms today the first case of A(H1N1) in the Philippines. She is a female traveler who arrived in the country on May 18 from the United States, whose throat specimen tested positive based on results from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque said in a press conference at the World Health Organization Regional office in Manila.

According to Dr. Eric Tayag, director for the National Epidemiology Center, the first case is a 10-year-old female, who also visited Canada when she was in the United States.

Tayag declined to identify the research facility where the girl is being quarantined and treated.

“I talked with the president and from the tone of her voice she is very concerned. In fact, she gave me the go signal to conduct this press conference,” Duque added.

The patient is currently being monitored while her immediate household was advised to follow quarantine and social distancing procedures from the DoH, said Duque.

Despite the index case, Duque said: “There is no community outbreak in the country, measures are being done to prevent transmission including quarantine of immediate household of the first case. The first case is something we have been preparing for and a result of public and private sectors’ effective surveillance system.”

Health Undersecretary Mario Villaverde said the test results came Thursday afternoon from RITM in Muntinlupa City and the patient was immediately given antiviral Oseltamivir. The first case no longer has fever and cough but still has sore throat, said Villaverde.

Tayag said specimens from the index case will be sent to a WHO collaborating center in Melbourne as routine procedure for all specimens that will test positive for the novel A(H1N1).

“The child developed the symptoms a day after arrival, so this is also a call for vigilance on the part of the public that people in the country and incoming travelers from abroad, especially from infected areas, to submit themselves to quarantine screening and continuous monitoring of health, especially body temperature for 10 days, and to report to the DoH any flu-like symptoms,” said Villaverde.

Villaverde reiterated that the public should observe proper hygiene, strengthen resistance and do social distancing—avoid going to crowded areas if the need is not urgent.

At this point of one single confirmed case, Vilaverde said, there is no need to postpone the opening of schools in June.

jpdm

May 22nd, 2009, 04:56 AM

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/7955/gen1r.jpg

what a couple...:nuts::nuts::lol:

Hanep ngiti ni Vicki at Kho:nuts::nuts::lol:

The guy below is suspected as the one who distributed the video...

beads_strawberries

May 22nd, 2009, 08:15 AM

At this point of one single confirmed case, Vilaverde said, there is no need to postpone the opening of schools in June.

I hope the 10-year old girl will be properly given medication. Right now, we should not really give in to panic. The reason why the government updates us every now and then is for us to be aware of the situation. That would only be the key so that the public will be properly informed.

I don't see the reason why do we have to suspend the opening of classes with one case of H1N1 virus. But I hope we travelers will let themselves be subjected to quarantine so that we will not have more cases of the H1N1 virus in the future.

crappypants

May 22nd, 2009, 08:21 AM

I hope Belo doesn't get any deadly STDs.

bitoy

May 22nd, 2009, 08:28 AM

Ang kinakabahan ngayon ay yung mga politicians at ibang mga sikat na tao na meron sex-video na kuha ng mga ktv girls..... :lol:

crappypants

May 22nd, 2009, 08:30 AM

You mean si Bong revilla at hayden Kho me sex tape din? ^^

bitoy

May 22nd, 2009, 08:40 AM

^^ Yup, kaya galit si Revilla dahil walang royalties kasi sa torrent.

Hehehe, nuon pa yang mga sex-tapes, from Marcos with Dovie Beams, Fariñas and Velez, Vilma and Nora, Tirso and Edgar at si Mahal at si Mura may sex tapes din daw..... :lol:

oreotm

May 22nd, 2009, 06:53 PM

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/7955/gen1r.jpg

what a couple...:nuts::nuts::lol:

Hanep ngiti ni Vicki at Kho:nuts::nuts::lol:

The guy below is suspected as the one who distributed the video...

hahaha hangang d2 ba naman? hayden scandal pa din? hahaha

sawang sawa na q parang lahat ng local news programs naging isang showbiz news na.... hahahah grabe sawang sawa na q sa balitang 2... hahahha

demented_pigeon

May 23rd, 2009, 04:36 AM

hahaha hangang d2 ba naman? hayden scandal pa din? hahaha

sawang sawa na q parang lahat ng local news programs naging isang showbiz news na.... hahahah grabe sawang sawa na q sa balitang 2... hahahha

This is just so pathetic, the same day this scandal blew a landslide in Compostela Valley buried nearly 100 people. It was given a maximum of 3 minutes of attention. C'mon, what the crap do I care about two people having sex and videotaping it. People act like they were born just yesterday.

manila_eye

May 23rd, 2009, 04:47 AM

^^ Uhm, sex sells plus the fact that the people involved are high profile. This is what Philippine media is all about.

demented_pigeon

May 23rd, 2009, 04:53 AM

^^ Uhm, sex sells plus the fact that the people involved are high profile. This is what Philippine media is all about.

Uhm, then there's something really wrong with society. The state of our media is just a reflection of our society. what is the real reason that we are up in arms with this issue? Is it because Katrina Halili was embarrassed before the entire country or is it because the issue touches upon sex. If the reason was the first then I can understand but why the constant barrage of "Hayden shouldn't have done this". Wait a minute, he didn't spread the videos he just made it. Which only means two things, we as a society abhor the fact that sex was videotaped for personal consumption OR we abhor the topic of sex.

Sky Harbor

May 23rd, 2009, 07:44 PM

Bosnyboy

May 24th, 2009, 04:33 AM

i agree with the above statement. Local news media are soo tabloidal, almost lacking maturity. Instead of showing more important issues they focused on trivial matters. Showing of scandals takes more importance over development issues. I prefer news broadcast during the marcos days as well as the early days ng cory govt mas for the lack of word mas dignified ang dating mas may sense. Why would they put a lot of emphasis on everyday crimes like 2 drunkard who beat each other up over some silly reason? I feel it only makes the viewer as well as them look really stupid. These petty incident happens everyday in everypart of the globe.

Sky Harbor

May 24th, 2009, 06:18 AM

^^ If you think about it, the Philippines, when looked up as a media institution, is in the phase of never-ending yellow journalism, unlike in the pre-EDSA (and especially pre-martial law) years. This seriously has to end. :ohno:

manila_eye

May 24th, 2009, 06:23 AM

^^ Philippine media is inherently tabloidal, epitomized by TV Patrol. Although it's acceptable for TV Patrol's regional newscasts, it would be considered poor taste for a national newscast like TV Patrol World. A solution to this would be to split TV Patrol World into TV Patrol Metro Manila (the tabloid junk being spewed by TV Patrol World on a regular basis) and an actual TV Patrol World, where it tackles the hard issues in real time. Leave all the entertainment stuff to SNN and The Buzz.

Agree, though some US media outfits do this also. Sensationalizing a story is common practice here and abroad. This will not change any time soon. Better watch news broadcast by other tv stations aside from 7 and 2... they cover and deliver fast and most of the times without bullshit.

I find it sad though that tabloidal news broadcasts are hot-ticket items: it sells and it's what people want to hear (a juicy double murder sells more than a 100-death landslide). If shows like Bandila, Saksi or The World Tonight were on primetime, then it could be a different story.

There are alternative tv stations aside from channel 2 and 7.

I still find Katrina Halili's alibi and reasoning for Dr. Kho's prosecution very flimsy. She consented to the production of that video. When the video was "released" she went on a barrage accusing her co-star of sabotaging her career without sufficient evidence that he actually did it. The media bandwagon jumps onto the story, and it is because of the media that everyone from the congressional zoo to Malacañang to the Catholic Church jumps on against the video and calling for several punishments to be meted against him. Media in this case epitomizes the immaturity of the Filipino people to actively discern the sex scandal on its own merits without people dictating to them that it is either right or wrong. Since everyone says its wrong, why not go along with the flow and say that it's wrong?

Having sex is a physiological need and we do it every now and then. Filming an intercourse is a different story especially when your partner do not know about it. Based on the Inquirer feed that I have read, Katrina tried to talk to them for the videos not to be released when she found out about it. Of course it is her right to fight them since her career and the respect of the people is at stake.

Given the flow of events, it seems that Filipinos are either afraid of the continued liberalization of people's sex lives or are dead set on making a martyr out of Hayden Kho. Seriously, everyone should just shut up and let the issue be.

Agree. There are news far more important that this.

Sky Harbor

May 24th, 2009, 06:52 AM

Agree, though some US media outfits do this also. Sensationalizing a story is common practice here and abroad. This will not change any time soon. Better watch news broadcast by other tv stations aside from 7 and 2... they cover and deliver fast and most of the times without bullshit.

This is why I watch ANC and CNN.

There are alternative tv stations aside from channel 2 and 7.

But ABS-CBN and GMA are the two most-widely watched television networks in the Philippines. You'll find significantly less people watching TV5, IBC or heck, NBN.

Having sex is a physiological need and we do it every now and then. Filming an intercourse is a different story especially when your partner do not know about it. Based on the Inquirer feed that I have read, Katrina tried to talk to them for the videos not to be released when she found out about it. Of course it is her right to fight them since her career and the respect of the people is at stake.

She consented to the production of the video. Regardless, this is her problem as much as it is Hayden's. She is equally culpable and she should not pit the blame on the guy. If she knew he was making a sex video and she consented to the production of that video, then she should be cognizant of the possible ramifications that could arise out of such production.

The problem with most Filipinos' thought processes is that we always think of what's happening now, not tomorrow or the next day. Not only do we not think forward, we lack (and quoting Wind Shear on the 2010 election thread) foresight as well.

Agree. There are news far more important that this.

Give the people a dose of their own medicine. Sometimes, we have to swallow the bitter pill of truth. It just so happens that media prefers to give a placebo.

pi_malejana

May 24th, 2009, 10:38 AM

jpdm

May 24th, 2009, 01:36 PM

^^ with all the immature reporting, sensationalizing the recent scandal, i can't believe why these two networks (gma and abs) keep showing off their journalism awards; porke nanalo daw ang gma news sa new york awards etc...:ohno:

Agree.

Nakakasuka na nga yung ginagawa nila.

Imbes na news talaga nire-report puro kababuyan ng mga pribadong tao pinag-uusapan.

Ang daming puedeng tutukan.

Tulad ng sa ekonomiya natin, pagpapayabong ng nasyonalismo sa mamamayan lalo na sa kabataan. Good manners and right conduct.

Wala puro basura ng ibang tao inaatupag!:bash::bash:

jpdm

May 24th, 2009, 04:09 PM

http://images.inquirer.net/media/opinion/images/pic-05240428090610.jpg

manila_eye

May 24th, 2009, 05:16 PM

^^ with all the immature reporting, sensationalizing the recent scandal, i can't believe why these two networks (gma and abs) keep showing off their journalism awards; porke nanalo daw ang gma news sa new york awards etc...:ohno:

winning an international award gives you more credibility since no award giving body here in the philippines is actually credible. lahat pwedeng bayaran di ba catholic mass media awards? :naughty:

higen

May 24th, 2009, 05:47 PM

^^I would like to congratulate Sen. Bong Revilla for finding something to do in the Senate before the next election came. All the while I thought he was just in the Senate so he can model his Barong and for the salary.

whoa and Filipinos are known for their conservative culture.

^^Apparantly that's not the only thing were known for...Im referring to Chip Tsao, Alec Baldwin, Terry Hatcher and the cast of Saturday night Live, including Rob Schieder, who used to joke about the Filipino children working in sweatshops...I wonder why Filipinos are so sensitive and defenssive about this kind of thing? Hmmmm...Bordering on pityful perhaps, if not already pitiful. If we continue this constant whining and complaing everytime someone cracks a joke about the Filipino it's not far fetched that the world will be joking about it in the future. How Filipinos are a bunch of 12 year old whiners and complainers who seem to like it a lot when people say to them "Im sorry if I hurt your feelings, can we still be freinds?"

Wonder Why the Russians didnt demand a recant from Baldwin or why the Russians didnt go on a worldwide signature drive to demand an appology from him? Makes you wonder dont it? Maybe its because they're not Pinoys and they know when a joke is supposed to be a joke. Americans joke about the Chinese, the Viets, Indonesians, the French (especially the French), the British and the rest of the world but I am dumb out of my wits to figure out why it's only the Filipinos who always demand for an "appology" for hurting their feelings (or is it ego?). Time to grow up and join the big boys perharps?

Here's a more "local" report.

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RP reports first case of swine flu (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20090521-206396/RP-reports-first-case-of-swine-flu)

By Anna Valmero
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 22:26:00 05/21/2009

Filed Under: Swine Flu, Health

^^South Korea said they are testing a strain which is a strong candidate for a vaccine...

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/18/south.korea.flu.vaccine/

Another thing, H1N1 can be treated. There are drugs that are available to treat patients infected with the virus. Your best defense is early detection and treatment and follow the CDC guidelines.

If you dont want to live the rest of your life scared $h!tless of H1N1 before they come up with a VACCINE please read the CDC FAQS on the H1N1 virus and understand.
http://www.cdc.gov/H1N1flu/qa.htm

Here's another link.
http://www.cdc.gov/H1N1flu/background.htm