As we go to press Sunday, President Gloria Macapagal has yet to deliver her State of the Nation Address (SONA) Monday, July 27. Though a day late (better late than never), we’re sharing this open letter with our readers: Read the rest of this entry »

Did you hear about the 26 Japanese women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who went to a hospital in Tokyo? They had their blood drawn, but then, instead of receiving medical treatment, they were ushered into a small theatER. There they watched a performance of rakugo, the traditional Japanese comic storytelling. Read the rest of this entry »

The Professional Regulatory Commission reported that 32,617 out of 77,901 passed the Nurse License Examination in various cities nationwide. The less than 50 percent passing rate is horrible as usual, a testament to the quality of local nursing education. It is probably safe to say that most of those who failed were duped by scam operators who put up nursing schools like hot pandesal outlets simply because there is demand. Government (CHED) is too inept to stop the scam from ensnaring more victims. Read the rest of this entry »

Illegal dismissal presupposes the existence of employer-employee relationship. If there is none, then there is no illegal dismissal to speak of. This case of Carla sets forth the elements of employer-employee relationship. Read the rest of this entry »

A day after President Arroyo glowingly claimed achievements in improving the lives of Filipinos in a national address, Vice President Noli de Castro admitted the government’s unified housing program was an utter failure. Read the rest of this entry »

For the next nine months, forget the grand investment plans crafted by the government technocrats. They would merely drain whatever limited investment funds the state has. They are about long-gestating projects; no fruits within the short term. They would favor cronies and Big Business. Read the rest of this entry »

I heard that it is now a requirement that office workers in one of the Metro Manila local government areas have to have an annual medical examination. This would include urinalysis, chest x-ray, fecal analysis, and other tests. In order that the company for whom they work can maintain it’s business license all employees must submit to this. Now if this were for establishments that serve food or are involved in catering I may be able to better understand the rationale, but office workers? I’m amazed. I’m doubly amazed given the quality of the piped water (in the same local government area) which itself is quite un-potable containing lots of e-coli and fecal traces—could there be a connection between the awful quality of the water and the need for office workers health checks? It would seem logical to start by sorting out the water supply as the first priority, but then that is a more difficult and costly operation—community health in action, dealing with the symptoms perhaps?! Read the rest of this entry »

A Malaysian information technology firm has launched a new e-commerce solution in the country this month to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in their business processes. Read the rest of this entry »

MANILA, Philippines – Emerging markets, including the Philippines, may expect a larger piece of the foreign investment pie as soon as investors get over their aversion to risks, spurred by an improvement in the global economic climate, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Read the rest of this entry »

MANILA, Philippines – While the business process outsourcing sector continues to expect growth amid the economic downturn, the roll out of newly constructed office space is expected to be limited to only half of the originally planned supply this year. Read the rest of this entry »