Former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada, who placed second in the May 10 elections, spent a total of P235.5 million—P227.5 million of which came from donations from business executives—during the whole campaign period, according to his poll expenditure report. In his statement of election contributions and expenditures submitted to the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Estrada said that he received P20-million worth of cash donations from family members while another P227.5 million came from the business sector with amounts ranging from P3 million to P15 million. Read the rest of this entry »

A week before she steps down from office, President Gloria Arroyo gave her farewell address to the nation Wednesday evening. President Arroyo’s five-minute speech was aired live at 7 p.m. over the Presidential Broadcast Center in Malacañang and patched through state-run network NBN 4 and sequestered television stations RPN 9 and IBC 13. Read the rest of this entry »

MANILA, Philippines – The country is looking at more than doubling the current investment approvals in a span of five years and attract P2.405 trillion worth of investments by 2014, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) announced yesterday. Read the rest of this entry »

INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION CONFEDERATION

ITUC OnLine

Vancouver BC, 24 June 2010: Unions from all over the world are to adopt today an ambitious resolution on climate change. In the framework of the 2nd ITUC Congress, unions have debated their role in the fight against climate change, the means to create green and decent jobs and ensure a just transition towards a low carbon economy and the need for achieving a fair, ambitious and binding deal on climate under UN auspicies. Read the rest of this entry »

Maternity protection has been a primary concern of the ILO since its creation, in 1919, when the first International Labour Conference adopted the first Maternity Protection Convention No. 3. A new publication on the state of maternity protection in the world (“Maternity at work”) has just been released by the ILO. It sheds light on the progress made in the past 15 years in respect of the legal protection of key aspects of maternity protection at work. ILO Online spoke with Manuela Tomei, Director of the ILO Conditions of Work and Employment Programme, about achievements made and persisting challenges for maternity protection, including the impact of the current economic and employment crises. Read the rest of this entry »

THE Philippines ranks No. 4 in 10 countries in Southeast Asia that flunked in their campaigns to control corruption in government in 2010, an antigraft group said on Wednesday. Read the rest of this entry »

MANILA, Philippines – Some lawmakers score what they call attempts to blur the issue of incorporating sex education into the elementary and high school curricula. Read the rest of this entry »

MANILA, Philippines – More names have come up as possible heads of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and Department of Health (DOH) under the administration of President-elect Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. Read the rest of this entry »