Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. today urged Congress to stop dilly-dallying on the bill decriminalizing libel which has been proposed a long time ago to make the law less harsh for journalists who are punished for reports that are unfair and defamatory to certain individuals.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is extending a $250 million loan to strengthen the policy reform initiatives of the Philippine government for fiscal management, investment climate and social sectors.

Analysis |  Having produced only disastrous results, economic management can no longer be left in the hands of an elite corps of bureaucrats and technocrats who ape models purposely to make corporate profits bigger at the expense of workers, farmers, and other marginal sectors.

AKBAYAN Rep. Risa Hontiveros called for the use of ‘women power’ to counter the efforts by anti-RH legislators to stall plenary debates on the controversial bill by questioning the quorum, urging all fifty-two female members of the House of Representatives to be always present and active during session hours.
She said that the 14th Congress is [...]

Senator Pimentel said they will thoroughly look into the proposal submitted by Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, Jr. for an additional Pl0 billion for the AFP budget for 2009, which amounts to a l7.7 percent increase in the P56.5 billion already earmarked for the military under the national budget submitted by Malacanang to Congress.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Could a more watchful Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) have averted, or lessened the massive financial losses incurred by Philippine banks due to the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.?
Sen. Loren Legarda raised this question shortly after US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said US regulators allowed Lehman to [...]

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Loren Legarda yesterday called on the public and the private sectors to join hands to ensure the safety of the citizenry from the health risk posed by the banned milk and milk products from China.
The Chair of the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs also expressed alarm over the considerable effects of [...]

The umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan today challenged President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to put in writing that she would not seek to extend her term beyond 2010. The challenge came after a United States think-tank revealed a study that charter change to extend the president’s term remains an option of the administration.

The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) expressed its support of the government following the ban on imported China milk products imposed by the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD).

Barely four months in Office but with what she termed as modest accomplishments and Herculean tasks ahead, Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Chairperson Leila M. De Lima is very convinced that there is a `must’ to increase the independent constitutional body’s 2009 budget [...]

The youth’s response made to the Court of Appeals is one of many actions taking place in more than 25 countries around the world this week that challenges interference by tobacco giants in implementation of the global tobacco treaty, formally known as the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC).

By Renato Reyes Jr.  |  Over the past 50 years, the MDT has benefitted the US primarily. The MDT has allowed the US to make the Philippines its neo-colonial outpost in South East Asia, having used the country during the US wars of aggression in Korea and Vietnam. The MDT made possible the existence then of US military bases and the existence now of the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement.

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 [...]

WHO says it is important for the public to know that apart from the possibility of intentional poisoning of milk from China, powdered formula milk is intrinsically not a sterile product. Health risks can increase due to improper handling, storage, and preparation of formula.

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.

Advisors to both McCain and Obama share their candidates’ views on issues ranging from regional economic integration and free trade agreements to U.S. relations with Asia’s Muslims, the Six-Party Talks, and relations with China, Japan and South Korea.

By Ibon Features |  The market price of crude oil has more than doubled over the past year. And oil prices continue to fluctuate, with industry players blaming a number of factors, including jitters caused by the current financial crisis in the US. Skyrocketing oil prices have thus become a global concern and a source of much debate as to what really lies behind them.

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.