By Keith Bacongco |  Pujada Bay is home to the endangered sea cows (dugong) and sea turtles while the Mt. Hamiguitan range is known both for its pygmy forest and also as a home of the endangered Philippine Eagle which is itself a protected species. The proposed mining project, opponents say, will destroy the environment.

San Miguel Corporation today announced a September year-to-date consolidated net income of P20.9 billion, nearly 200% higher than the same period last year.

By Ellen Tordesillas and Chit Estella | Vera Files  |  The government is pushing through with plans to parcel out the controversial gold rush site in Diwalwal, Compostela Valley province to various foreign mining companies, despite the tangle of unresolved legal issues that are threatening to fuel a potentially explosive situation.

By Yasmin Arquiza | Vera Files  |  Because of their rapid expansion, Davao’s big banana plantations are encroaching into the city’s built-up areas and farmlands, where small farmers grow crops and fruits that are sold in Davao City markets. Communities around these plantations have been complaining of health problems every time toxic pesticides would drift their way.

MANILA — Members of the Philippine press are entitled to a 10-percent discount on all books at Bound Bookshop, a bookstore in Quezon City owned and operated by journalists.
“All our colleagues have to do is present their press cards to us and we will give them discounts,” said Carlos Conde, one of the owners of [...]

With the worsening crisis of the US and global economy expected to further aggravate poverty in the country, independent think-tank IBON Foundation today said that it has become more crucial for government to ensure enough resources are spent for the poor.

As government’s economic managers prepare a contingency plan for the US financial turmoil, research group IBON Foundation urges the government to immediately increase social services spending to cushion the effect on the people.

“We are not surprised that the JPEPA has been approved while the rest of the country is not watching. This treaty has been negotiated by Malacanang and signed by Ms Gloria Arroyo in virtual secrecy. The undemocratic and non-transparent manner with which the deal has been conceived has resulted in a seriously flawed agreement that threatens to further destroy the jobs and livelihood of Filipino workers, farmers and fishers and further destroy local industries and stunt long-term economic development.”

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.

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 [...]

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.

David Cay Johnston, a prize-winning reporter of The New York Times, urges his colleagues in the press to “start your skepticism.” The coverage of the bailout, Johnston says, “focuses on the edges, on the details. The focus should be on the premise.”

By Michael Hudson | What happened on September 18-19 took years of preparation, capped by a faux ideology crafted by public-relations think tanks to be broadcast under emergency conditions to panic Congress — and voters — right before the presidential election. This seems to be our September election surprise.

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.