Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. (PDP-Laban) today urged the Arroyo government to pursue the efforts for the return of the Balangiga Bells that were carted away by American troops during their occupation of Samar 107 years ago.
Pimentel lamented that the recovery of the historic Balangiga bells has not materialized despite persistent lobbying by [...]

Migrante International assails the Philippine government for sitting down on the issue of about 6,000 stranded OFWs in different countries in the Middle East. The group particularly criticized acting DFA Secretary Esteban Conejos, Jr. for literally waiting for the response of the UAE government before acting on the matter.

Fifty-ninth session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific
22-26 September, 2008, Manila, Philippines
MANILA, 25 September 2008—Noncommunicable diseases account for eight out of every 10 deaths in the Western Pacific Region, and the situation is expected to worsen in countries in economic transition if urgent measures are not taken, the World Health Organization has [...]

The World Health Organization warned today that countries will need to be much more aggressive in their attempts to stamp out smoking if they are to counter the tobacco industry’s marketing techniques.

The Philippine Chamber of Pharmaceutical Industry (PCPI) expresses support to strengthen the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD). The group also urges the agency to improve its procedures and implement a supportive regulatory policy most especially for Filipino drug companies, for competition to thrive and bring down the prices of medicines.
“We are very hopeful that [...]

Available data on HIV testing and counseling indicate that the majority of people living with HIV still do not know they are sick and, therefore, are not only missing the opportunity to access available services, but may also unknowingly be spreading the disease.

Manila 25 September 2008—The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged countries to accelerate implementation of the Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases to achieve the basic capacities required to deal with new infections.
While some countries have started strengthening their ability to respond to disease, others need to work harder to achieve the strategy’s core capacity [...]

Senator Jamby Madrigal accused Senate President Manny Villar Jr. Wednesday of illegally profiting P12-P16 billion from the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation through its Unified Home Lending program from SSS and GSIS contributions of the poor while pocketing P414 million more from the scandal-ridden C-5 road project.
“We cannot have a nation run by a thief,” [...]

The international community should demand accountability from the Burmese military government for the brutal crackdown in September 2007 on monks, activists, and other civilians, Human Rights Watch said today. Repression in Burma has increased and the military government has failed to deliver on promises it made a year ago, despite international efforts at mediation.

Manila, Philippines, September 25, 2008 – We’ve learned over the last ten years at Google that great ideas can come from anywhere. For that reason, Google is announcing as part of its tenth birthday celebration Project 10^100 (pronounced Project 10 to the 100th), a call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible.

Peasant federation Task Force Mapalad (TFM) has accused Finance Secretary Margarito Teves of being the major culprit in the failure of the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) to issue a certificate of cash deposit for a hacienda in Negros Occidental owned by the family of First Gentleman Mike Arroyo.
“We realized that Secretary Teves, [...]

According to research group Ibon Foundation, Philippine banks are merely a conduit of foreign capital, and being in a liberalized and deregulated environment, are vulnerable to the current volatility of global finance.

By LUIS G. JALANDONI
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be in New York on 23 September 2008 to
address the United Nations General Assembly. Her executive secretary, General
Eduardo Ermita, reveals that she will also report to the UN Security Council on
the alleged use of child soldiers by the Moro Islamic Liberation Movement (MILF)
and the New [...]

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today assailed the virtual suspension of the government’s Land Acquisition and Distribution Program to the detriment of intended farmer-beneficiaries due to the failure of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to carry out its mandate under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.
Pimentel said that although the Comprehensive Agrarian [...]

Provence France 1872 unfolds before our very eyes on the 1st of October 2008 at the University of Makati Grand Theatre. An inspiring musical opus, presented by AGHAM Theatre Company, the same group that brought you the highly successful original Filipino pop-rock opera “Sakdal” and the mythological fantasy “Alamat”, is once again in the works [...]

Alternative poverty estimates say progress is too slow to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015
Contrary to repeated mainstream claims that poverty is diminishing fast in the world, the coverage of the basic needs required to escape poverty is slowing down and even regressing in many places, says the 2008 Basic Capabilities Index (BCI) released [...]

Fifty-ninth session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific
22-26 September, 2008, Manila, Philippines
MANILA, 23 September 2008—The outgoing head of the World Health Organization’s Western Pacific Region today identified the need to strengthen health systems and to prepare for climate change as two of the gravest health challenges facing countries in the Asia Pacific [...]

Anakpawis party-list Representative Rafael Mariano today expressed dismay over the Department of Agriculture’s reply to the 2007 Commission on Audit Report on the department saying that “the DA reply is not only unsatisfactory, in fact, disappointing. He said that “the DA’s collated reply failed to overcome the conclusions of the COA report. It raises more [...]