While government remains optimistic that remittances and Christmas spending will help pick up the economy after weak third quarter growth, research group IBON said there is no reason to be certain that the economy is going to achi

To a certain degree, Executive Order 839 questioned the lies long peddled by the oil companies and staunch defenders of neoliberalism about neoliberal free market economics. If left unchallenged, EO 839 could become a precedent in policy making: that the government, in the name of public good and welfare, could take decisive action against abusive corporations.

AGRICULTURE   Farmers and civil society groups called on Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap to calibrate and carefully strategize rice importation so as not to sacrifice support for the farmers devastated by typhoons ‘Ondoy’ and ‘Pepeng’.

ECONOMY & BUSINESS   While the government bears down on small businesses and producers, warning them against profiteering in the wake of typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, it has allowed Shell, Caltex and Petron to increase oil prices at will.

ENERGY & OIL   Due to continued overpricing, oil firms collect about P167.03 million in extra profits daily from consumers, according to the latest study released by the multisectoral group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) as it questioned the latest round of oil price hikes that oil firms implemented last midnight.

POLITICS   As administration allies push for amendments of economic provisions in the Constitution, research group IBON Foundation says that the resolution seeking to allow corporations to own land and land-based resources in the Philippines are based on an outmoded ideology which believes that liberalizing the economy to greater foreign investment will lead to development.

POPULATION   Reproductive health must be viewed and not separated from the overall context of people’s health. As the economy worsens, the state of the public health system also deteriorates.

POLITICS   Majority of Filipinos do not favor amendments to the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution, according to the latest nationwide survey conducted by research group IBON Foundation, Inc.

LABOR & EMPLOYMENT   Unemployment data from the January 2009 Labor Force Survey confirms the country’s descent into greater joblessness due to the global crisis and accumulated domestic economic weaknesses.

LABOR & EMPLOYMENT   Results of the January 2009 Labor Force Survey conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) revealed that the number of employed persons was estimated at 34.3 million.

LABOR   Senator Edgardo Angara stressed the need to amend certain provisions of the Labor Code to create a business environment that allows the local economy to be more competitive in the global market, as well as to increase national productivity and employment.

TOURISM   By Jennifer Guste  |  The reclassification of lands for tourism means only one thing for rural families: the large-scale physical and economic displacement of farmers and fisherfolk communities.

LABOR   The advisory states that overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) should accept below minimum wage levels for as long as the worker signs a contract.

LABOR   Before the recent economic downturn, the government targeted jobs in the BPO to swell to 940,000 by 2010. As of end-2007, the BPO sector reported only a total of 320,000 employees in some 500 BPO firms.