Young women in the Philippines who have taken up smoking is increasing at an alarming rate, a recent study of the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance showed.
The study, which was conducted in 2009 and released on Wednesday, revealed that affordable cigarettes contribute to the increasing number of female smokers in the country. Read the rest of this entry »

MORE than six million young Filipinos are out of school because of the high cost of education, according to the National Statistics Office (NSO). Read the rest of this entry »

MANILA, Philippines — Last Monday, Oct. 31, the world’s population reached a stunning seven billion, and the latest addition to the burgeoning number of humanity came from the Philippines. Read the rest of this entry »

THE BEST is an acronym of a program that was just recently organized and hosted by the Baguio City National High School which means Basic Entrepreneurial Skills Training Program. This project is one of the components of the Reach out Community Development: Care and Serve (Recode Case) Project, the flagship program of the Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs and Professionals (Society) of the Philippines (CYEPSPI). Read the rest of this entry »

Last Tuesday, I was a speaker at a forum for high school and grade school students of my alma mater, La Salle Greenhills. It was a good homecoming for me, seeing how much the school has changed — and improved — since I spent my high school days there from 1984 to 1988. There were two other speakers, Earl Lacson, a Philippine Military Academy alumnus, currently an officer with the Army’s Intelligence Service, and John Consulta, a senior reporter with GMA-7. We were, essentially, resource persons. We were invited to provide advice on choosing a career path and how to live according to LaSallian values. Read the rest of this entry »

FORMER President Gloria Arroyo’s program to hire out-of-school-youth may have had a noble intention but its implementation was riddled with irregularities that even the Commission on Audit (COA) cannot say if the beneficiaries received the salary promised them. Read the rest of this entry »

Never in our country’s history are the words of our national hero Jose P. Rizal that, the “youth is the hope of our fatherland”, ringing as true as they are than during these times when we continue to be mired in divisiveness over our many problems. Indeed we still have in our midst many young people whose hearts and minds are set on promoting national interest and the common good rather than their own selfish interests and personal ambitions. They are really the ones who keep the fires of hope for a brighter future in our country constantly burning. Read the rest of this entry »

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Audit (COA) has found various irregularities in the implementation of the Out of School Youth Serving Towards Economic Recovery (OYSTER) program of the previous administration. Read the rest of this entry »

The Department of Labor and Employment will implement a seven-point strategy to help young people make the transition from education to work. Read the rest of this entry »

Alternatives to migration: Decent Jobs for Filipino Youth, a Millennium Development Goal Achievement Fund joint Programme—this is what was revealed through the leadership of the Development of Labor and Employment with the different agencies under it, International Labor Organization on Migration, United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund, and the UN Fund for Population Activities as a part of the celebration of international Youth Day and International Year for the Youth. Read the rest of this entry »