Environmental Legal Assistance Center (ELAC)
Non-government organizations (NGOs) for the environment here joined the international celebration of the "Earth Day" on Monday by drumbeating its campaign against the possibility of a coal-fired power plant in Palawan. Appearing as guest in a local radio program on Monday, lawyer for the environment and staunch advocate Grizelda Mayo-Anda of the Environmental Legal Assistance [...]
Philhealth for Farm Workers
Agricultural workers, like the sacadas or sugarcane workers, shall soon enjoy health and medical benefits once a proposal for their inclusion in the health coverage is approved. In House Bill 6684, Rep. Rafael V. Mariano (Party-list, Anakpawis) proposed the mandatory coverage of agricultural workers/farmworkers in the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP) of the government under [...]
Moody’s Debt Rate for the Philippines
Moody’s Investors Service Tuesday changed to ‘Positive’ from ‘Stable’ its outlook on the Philippines’ banking system. In a report dated Dec 18, 2012, the debt watcher attributed the improvement of the outlook to the resiliency of the domestic economy, banks’ diversified loan portfolio and income sources and continued improvement of the sector’s asset quality, capitalization [...]
Revise Philippine Sin Tax Bill
President Benigno S. Aquino III said on Monday that he is amenable to the lowering of the revenues to be generated by the Sin Tax measure at P40 billion but would be “happier” if it remained at the proposed P60-billion mark. The President said that although the proposed original amount had been downsized, his government [...]
TB Health Facility in Pampanga, Philippines
The Dept. of Health and the provincial government of Pampanga have agreed to jointly construct a facility solely for tuberculosis patients. Dr. Leonita Gorgolon, DOH-Center for Health and Development director, said the department could augment on other needs for the construction of sputum collection and waiting area in different towns. “We are willing to complement [...]
Philippines Sets Voluntary Code Good Practices
The Philippines’s aviation industry–with Clark International Airport as the main hub–is on the rebound and drawing more investments, a perfect boost to collective efforts to generate employment in Central Luzon. And this, according to Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz, is also a perfect time to promote harmonious labor-management relations and sustainable industrial peace through [...]
Philippine legislation on mining revenue sharing
A new legislation on mining revenue sharing is not likely to be passed this year as Congress effectively stops session ahead of the May 2013 election, the speaker of the House said on Tuesday. In an interview on the sidelines of the Mining Conference 2012, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte said that lawmakers will not be [...]
Aquino Administration Promotes Integrity in Government
After two years in office, President Benigno S. Aquino III told a private sector-led campaign aimed to promote common ethical standards among various sectors in society that his administration’s reform program to reestablish a culture of integrity in government, has yielded “real and tangible results.” In his speech keynoting the 2nd Integrity Summit at the [...]
Philippine Herbal Medicine Can Save Your Health
By Honor Blanco Cabie Manila – Tata Tito Abriol, Tata Liberato Benavidez and Manong Paquito Urbano are all rice and tobacco farmers in northern Philippines. But they also share, apart from their being tillers of the soil, bias for medicinal plants which are abundant in their barangay in the wooded hill town of Pinili in [...]
Reaction Summary of Aquino SONA 2012
By Judaline F. Partlow and Maricar Aranas A cross-section of the Dumaguete community on Monday commended the administration of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III for the accomplishments earned over the past year even as they expressed hopes of more good things to come for the country. The varying sentiments were aired after the President delivered [...]