Author David Michaels shows that the same techniques used to successfully delay legislation and regulatory action on cigarettes have since been used on any number of other public-health problems, including today’s major global warming concerns. A growing trend disingenuously demands proof over precaution, always disputing conclusions that might support regulation because industry has learned that debating the science is much easier and more effective than debating the policy. It also avoids being simply branded as ‘anti-environmental,’ etc. Read the rest of this entry »

The International Labor Organization (ILO) is sending a three-man mission to the Philippines to look into labor laws and policies that relate to the country’s application of international standards on the right of workers to organize. Read the rest of this entry »

Saying that graft and corruption are a fact of life in the Philippines, Transparency International (TI) in its Global Corruption Report 2009 traced the root of most of the biggest corruption-tainted projects in the country to multimillion-dollar foreign-assisted projects involving foreign firms. Read the rest of this entry »

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) needs to adapt various international best practices in banking supervision to better protect the interest of depositors, a senior legislator said over the weekend. Read the rest of this entry »

MANILA, Philippines – The National Food Authority (NFA) does not plan to import any more rice for this year, according to NFA administrator Jessup Navarro. Read the rest of this entry »

MANILA, Philippines – The decrease in the proposed budget for state universities and colleges (SUCs) in 2010 would not have much of an impact on their operations, Malacañang clarified yesterday. Read the rest of this entry »

MANILA, Philippines — After repeatedly failing to get the coveted seal of good housekeeping from the US, local authorities have teamed up with the private sector in a last-ditch attempt to unlock up to P400 billion in development funds under the Millennium Challenge Account. Read the rest of this entry »

MANILA, Philippines—The Quezon City Council is mulling a proposal to give a monthly old age stipend to retired public school teachers and city government workers once they reach the age of 70. Read the rest of this entry »

KIDAPAWAN CITY — Four out of 10 children and youth aged three to 25 in Central Mindanao are missing schools due to armed conflict, according to E-Net Philippines, a non-government organization based here. Read the rest of this entry »

SAN PEDRO, Laguna — A labor group in Southern Tagalog has denounced the arrest of a worker in Rizal province, whom authorities said was an active member of the New People’s Army (NPA). Read the rest of this entry »