You’ve heard about “midnight” deals surreptitiously signed to land juicy government contracts and other such anomalies. How about an attempt, spearheaded by so-called environmental activists, to cripple an entire agricultural industry by railroading a controversial ban on the basis of a study that the prohibition’s proponents can’t even wait to be reviewed? Read the rest of this entry »

1. Money Villyear

What’s in a name? This is something that a lot of wise people ask themselves. And that is what I am asking myself now . . . will this man, whose name resounds money, moolah, dough, piedad, pera, datung, cha-ching, or whatever you call those bills and coins that make the world go ‘round, contribute to our impoverished society? Read the rest of this entry »

KUWAIT CITY: About 17,000 expatriate workers have cancelled their residence permits and left Kuwait in the first half of 2009 due to the impact of the global economic crisis, a Kuwaiti daily said on Thursday. Quoting informed sources in the ministry of social affairs and labor, Al-Seyassah said that more than 70 percent of the affected workers were Asians, who make up the majority of the foreign workforce in the oil-rich emirate. Read the rest of this entry »

A global information and communication technology (ICT) research and advisory firm has downgraded its growth forecast for the Philippine business process outsourcing (BPO) sector in light of the economic downturn. In a statement, XMG Global Inc. said the local BPO sector may close the year with a 21.7-percent to $7.3-billion growth—lower than its previous forecast of 24 percent—because of the slower growth for IT services while several captive players delayed their expansion plans. Read the rest of this entry »

BANGKOK: An experimental AIDS vaccine has for the first time cut the risk of infection in a “breakthrough” in the quarter-century battle against the deadly epidemic, researchers said on Thursday. The vaccine reduced the risk of being infected by almost a third, they said after the world’s largest vaccine trial of more than 16,000 volunteers, carried out by the US Army and Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health. Read the rest of this entry »

The level of corruption in the private sector remains “disturbingly high” for developing countries, including the Philippines, particularly in getting government contracts, according to a Transparency International (TI) report. In its Global Corruption Report 2009: Corruption and the Private Sector, the watchdog said that it was not uncommon for domestic firms and multinationals “to pay bribes in order to secure public procurement contracts, nor unusual to learn of powerful corporate entities exerting undue pressure so as to capture institutions and influence regulations to elicit favorable investment conditions.” Read the rest of this entry »

The Philippines remains under the radar of European investors, and to help reverse that Filipinos should pay more attention to the Old World rather than focusing too much on the US, the European chamber said. “The Philippines is US-centric. The end of the rainbow goes to the US [for most Filipinos],” Hubert d’Aboville, president of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP), told The Manila Times in a roundtable on Thursday. Read the rest of this entry »

CEBU, Philippines – To erase the impression that the mining industry does nothing but pollute the environment and dislocate people, the Regional Minerals Development Council is spearheading reforms that are expected to “cleanse” the industry, one of which is to disallow projects that do not absorb social and environmental costs to operate. Read the rest of this entry »

CEBU, Philippines – The regional wage board is currently evaluating the P128.60 wage increase petition filed by at least 11 workers groups and unions, which compose the Cebu Labor Coalition (CELAC). Read the rest of this entry »

MANILA, Philippines – The United Kingdom urged the Philippines yesterday to “capitalize” on the interest of British investors to do business in the country, saying Manila’s improved ranking among key emerging markets for global investors in 2009 is a strong point to start with and very encouraging. Read the rest of this entry »