(First of three parts)

In 2006, the endorsement by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to the Secretary of Finance for his approval of the draft revenue regulations (RR) on transfer pricing (TP), was announced to the public. Since then tax practitioners around the world have been expecting the formal issuance of the first Philippine TP rules. Copies of the draft RR have been circulated. Read the rest of this entry »

THE biggest pension fund in the US said it has not pulled out its investments in the Philippines despite uncertainties in emerging markets after the fall of Lehman Brothers a year ago. Read the rest of this entry »

No matter how many times I told Dado Santos to leave his big sack of recovered recycled drink pouches at the bottom of our steep driveway and we would send down the pick-up to get his heavy sack, no, Dado insisted on carrying that heavy sack up the driveway on his back by himself. He was making a statement. “Look at me,” he was saying, “a poor uneducated jobless man turned recycler, collector and sanitizer of discarded drink pouches and here on my back is the evidence of my success.” Then he collects his hefty and fair-trade payment. That is at the heart of fair trade—just wage for good products. Read the rest of this entry »

Garment workers drugged to keep them awake for days

IN THE UNCERTAIN world of subcontracted companies, work is normally seasonal and even then comes in fits and starts, wages below par, and working conditions hardly improved from those of a century ago. Read the rest of this entry »