More than a thousand Filipino skilled nurses who have been accepted to work in German hospitals remain stranded in the country since April due to the deployment ban on health workers, and risk losing those jobs altogether.
CITING the nearing depletion of gas output from the Malampaya natural gas field, the second-biggest source of electric power on Luzon island, the Senate Energy committee chief prodded government to secure replacement fuel to avert brownouts.
Sen. Win Gatchalian said the absence of replacement fuel could threaten energy security...
THE brand-new Gulfstream G280 ordered by the military for its airborne command and control (C2) operations and for use by the government has been delivered and is awaiting its official turnover to the Philippine Air Force.
The high-speed business jet worth P1.9 billion flew in from the United States...
INDUSTRY leaders are asking the Philippine government to negotiate with the European Union to avert the possible termination of the country’s trade privilege, saying trade should be improved—not decreased—in the time of a global pandemic.
The possible loss of the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) Plus status was floated...
BUREAU of Corrections (BuCor) chief Gerald Bantag confirmed on Monday that he tested positive for Covid-19.
Bantag made the confirmation two days after BuCor spokesman Gabriel Chaglag disclosed that he also contracted the virus following a swab test conducted last Tuesday.
Before Bantag’s confirmation, Chaglag said...
Security forces are pursuing a band of kidnappers who abducted a 64-year-old man, said to be a Filipino-American, in Zamboanga del Norte on Wednesday.
The Army’s 1st Infantry Division (ID) said its forces and local policemen are running after the kidnappers of Rex Triplet, a resident of Sirawai, Zamboanga del...
The Air Force is eyeing three factors that may have caused the fatal crash of one of its Sikorsky S-76A air ambulance in Basilan on Wednesday as it officially identified the four personnel who perished during the mishap.
The S-76A from the 505th Search and Rescue Group boarded by four...
Almost 150,000 applicants have registered in the ongoing online job fair of the Civil Service Commission (CSC).
CSC said a total of 148,461 jobseekers filled out the personal data sheet and uploaded it to JobStreet.com, which served as their private sector partner in the conduct...
JUSTICE Secretary and Task Force PhilHealth head Menardo Guevarra on Thursday said an incumbent health secretary need not occupy the board chairmanship of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. on a concurrent capacity.
Guevarra said the PhilHealth board chairman post does not have to be reserved for the health secretary...
THESE days, Neriza Solidarios is among thousands of public-school teachers feverishly preparing for what’s probably the biggest challenge of their career: ensuring they and their students successfully migrate to a “blended learning” forced by severe limits on classroom interactions as a pandemic rages.
While much of the accounts about...
The owner of Gulf Livestock 1, which sank earlier this month near Japan, now plans to mount its own search and rescue operation to find its ship’s missing crew.
THE Philippines has made it to the list of the World Travel and Tourism Council’s (WTTC’s) safe travel destinations, and was bestowed a stamp that makes it official as the 100th such destination.
In a news statement, the largest private sector organization of tourism and travel leaders and experts,...
THE Philippines had the lowest gross external debt position last year among the Asean-5 countries, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.
Citing World Bank data, the DOF said in an economic bulletin that the country’s external debt as a share of gross national income (GNI) was at 20.11 percent...
AMID the budget row in the lower house, Deputy Speaker Paolo Duterte said members of the House of Representatives have the “power to change” in order to address the allocation issues and ensure that the programs and projects for their people are delivered and delivered expeditiously.
The President’s son...
College towns across the US have emerged as coronavirus hot spots in recent weeks as schools struggle to contain the virus. In many cases, surges have been blamed on off-campus parties. The University of Missouri announced this week that it expelled two students and suspended three others for violating rules meant to slow the virus’s spread.
China is ratcheting up the risk of military confrontation in the Taiwan Strait, as Beijing seeks to deter Taipei from continuing to deepen ties with the US and other like-minded democracies.
People’s Liberation Army aircraft repeatedly breached the median line between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland last week, in...
MELBOURNE, Australia—Australia’s second-largest city, Melbourne, has moved close to easing severe lockdown restrictions after recording only 14 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday.
It was the second day in a row new infections fell below 30, after 21 were reported on Saturday, the lowest daily number since June 19. There...
CAPE TOWN, South Africa—About 12 million people in South Africa have “probably” been infected with the coronavirus, but that startlingly high number has not caused a similarly high death rate and might indicate a widespread “level of immunity,” the country’s health minister says.
More than 20 percent of South...
BRUSSELS—The European Union on Monday urged China to further open its markets up to European companies and prove that it really does want to secure an investment agreement this year with the bloc, its largest trading partner.
After a two-hour videoconference, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, EU Council President Charles...
Developing Asia’s coronavirus-battered economy will shrink for the first time since the early 1960s, with the level of output next year still seen below pre-pandemic projections even as growth recovers, according to the Asian Development Bank.
The region’s gross domestic product will decline by 0.7 percent in 2020, down...
TAIPEI, Taiwan—China warned the United States on Monday of potential “serious damage” to their relations if it does not withdraw from an upcoming economic meeting with Taiwan that is expected to be attended by a senior American official.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin urged the US at a...
NEW DELHI—India has registered a single-day spike of 94,372 new coronavirus cases, driving the country’s overall tally to 4.75 million.
The Health Ministry on Sunday also reported 1,114 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking total fatalities up to 78,586.
Even as infections are growing faster...
JERUSALEM—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday announced a new countrywide lockdown will be imposed amid a stubborn surge in coronavirus cases, with schools and parts of the economy expected to shut down in a bid to bring down infection rates.
Beginning Friday, the start of the Jewish High...
The Bureau of the Treasury raised P20 billion on Monday’s auction of Treasury Bills (T-bills) despite the increase in the rates on the back of expectations that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will continue to pause...
The Department of Agriculture (DA) has expressed concerns over the 10-percent decline in the country’s banana exports, saying international trade may be disrupted and Filipinos who depend on the crop could suffer losses if the slide in shipments continues.
Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said he was surprised by...
By Ben Ramalingam, David Nabarro, Arkebe Oqubuy, Dame Ruth Carnall & Leni Wild
The Covid-19 pandemic is constantly evolving, with leaders facing unpredictability, imperfect information, multiple unknowns and the need to identify responses quickly, all while recognizing the multidimensional (health-related, economic, social, political and cultural) nature of the crisis.
PLDT Inc. and its subsidiary, Smart Communications Inc., are appealing for government intervention to gain access to over 300 sites for installation and repairs.
The group has identified sites in Metro Manila and the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Quezon, Rizal, Ilocos Norte, Cagayan, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Palawan, Iloilo,...
To boost domestic tourism in the Philippines, AirAsia has partnered with local hotels to launch SNAP—a new flight + hotel combo platform on airasia.com which offers convenient and affordable fly and stay packages.
AirAsia Philippines CEO Ricky Isla said, “We are pleased to launch SNAP in the Philippines to...
AC Energy, the energy platform of conglomerate Ayala Corp., said it has resumed operations and its business is back on track even as it continues to grapple with the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We took a pause when the crisis hit but now we are back...
Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of ten Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) member-states, plus China, Japan and South Korea (Asean+3) moved to further strengthen a regional cash pool, using local currencies at that, which they can use in times of crises, such as balance-of-payment difficulties.
In a...
As the Philippines continues to shift to the digital space due to the inherent risks created by the Covid-19 pandemic, the MVP Group of Companies is accelerating contactless transactions across its businesses.
Manuel V. Pangilinan, who chairs the group, said his group is “encouraging” customers of PLDT, Smart, Meralco,...
"The recognition given to us awardees is not just a recognition of our excellence. It is a recognition of how much we have given back and how much we have served the community. We perform science not for us but for the good of the community. That is the real value of...
To ensure the safety of occupationally exposed workers, as well as potential victims in the event of a nuclear or radiological emergency, researchers from the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (DOST-PNRI) continue to study blood samples for any signs of radiation exposure beyond the allowable regulatory limits.
The long-dreamed of flying cars are around the corner, which are considered “the most significant aviation development since the advent of the jet age 60 years ago.”
Were it not for the coronavirus pandemic, the world would have seen a dozen models debuting in major...
The current quarantine protocols required by the government to prevent the spread of the fatal coronavirus pandemic ruled against the gathering of big crowds, including in schools.
Thus, the Department of Education (DepEd) ordered the blended teaching, including online, in lieu of face-to-face meeting of...
De La Salle University Senior High School’s Dan Alden Baterisna backed up his top-ranked status when he scored 609 points to place first in the National Olympiad in Informatics (NOI.PH) held online on August 8 and 9.
Baterisna’s win came back-to-back with his bagging the...
Its innovative smoke-free product IQOS highlights Philip Morris International’s transformation and sustainability initiatives, according to a top communications executive of PMI.
Tommaso Di Giovanni, PMI vice president for international communications, said that for the company, sustainability means taking care of tobacco-farming communities; protecting the health,...
In the late 2016 at a coworking space in Alabang, Muntinlupa City, a few months after “retiring” as the country’s game development pioneer, Elson Niel S. Dagondon decided it was time to “start working again and tick off one item in my bucket list—invent something” to help modernize...
A Catholic Church-based school organization tapped PLDT to augment their e-learning programs with enterprise-grade online applications and connectivity solutions for their members.
The Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) teachers and school superintendents will readily have access to the applications through the Online Learning...
Quezon City’s oldest Church was formally declared a minor basilica recently, making it the 17th Catholic place of worship in the Philippines with such title and dignity.
The Franciscan-run Santuario de San Pedro Bautista...
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida—Anthony Davis has never been this deep in the playoffs, never had the chance to take such an important shot.
It’s nothing new for the Los Angeles Lakers, though.
So when Davis’s three-pointer swished through the net as time expired to give the...
SEN. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go told the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) to follow health protocols before resuming its 45th season in a bubble at the Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone in Pampanga on September 26.
A big fan of the PBA since 1983—particularly Crispa hotshot Atoy Co—Go expressed...
WITH sports events still shuttered, several Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) players and coaches—specifically those from Bulacan and Pampanga—expressed high hopes that San Miguel Corp.’s (SMC) P734-billion new Manila International Airport project in Bulakan town as part of the country’s post-Covid-19 recovery, will give Philippine sports a big shot in the arm.
THE Philippine Taekwondo Association (PTA) expelled former Olympian and now coach Donald Geisler from the association because of a breach in the association’s charter.
PTA Sanction Committee Chairman Manolo Gabriel wrote the bemedaled Geisler on the termination of his services in the association due to violation of Article XXIII...
RODOLFO REYES bagged a gold medal in the 2020 Lents Taekwondo Worldwide Online Poomsae Open-held over the weekend.
Reyes, a gold medalist in the Philippine 30th Southeast Asian Games, topped the men’s under-30 event with 7.350 points, beating Choo Rok Oh of Korea who clinched silver with 7.235 and...
ASIAN Para Games 2018 gold medalist Ernie Gawilan couldn’t help but train and stay in shape within the bounds set by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
“As of now, I could only wait for instructions from our federation on what training regimen we...
PARIS—In a first, the Tour de France winner wore a face mask on the podium Sunday, bright yellow to match the color of the iconic jersey so snug on his young shoulders.
But at least there was a winner.
Three weeks ago, when 21-year-old Tadej Pogacar...
ROME—Novak Djokovic knows it isn’t model behavior when he loses his cool on the tennis court.
Yet he just can’t help himself.
Exactly two weeks after he was defaulted from the US Open, and a day after he was warned by the chair umpire for breaking...
PHILIPPINE art power couple Rodel Tapaya and Marina Cruz join hands in their first exhibition together in more than 10 years, taking on the sweeping changes in people’s daily lives brought about...
BRACE yourselves for a more exciting viewing experience as GMA officially brings Hallypop, the newest and first-ever digital channel that’s a one-stop shop for K-pop, lifestyle, and entertainment in the Philippines which made its debut last September 20.
This groundbreaking partnership between GMA and Jungo TV gives Filipino viewers 24/7 access to the...
DURING a time when art has taken a back seat to community and health concerns, the Philippine Pastel Artists group continues their mission to unite all Filipino pastel artists through meaningful creative engagements in art and the pastel medium. The PPA’s Board of Trustees and Officers assembled 39 of their best works...
CREATIVE juices continue to flow naturally for many Filipino artists despite the countless limitations brought about by this worldwide pandemic. Singers, songwriters and music collaborators take inspiration from everything around them to work on new offerings that will hopefully allow music to serve any purpose it may...
THE Covid-19 pandemic, which has resulted in the world’s longest lockdown for our country and its citizens, has redefined what bravery is. Heroes don’t need to have X-ray vision or the ability to fly. Heroes, for me, are the people who go out everyday to do what...
NOWADAYS, it’s not just celebrities who wear high-end clothing and accessories. The influencers filling your social-media feed likely wear them, too.
Millennials love buying luxury names, according to Thomai Serdari, academic director of the Fashion & Luxury MBA at NYU Stern School of Business and brand strategist at Brand(x)Lux.
"Forward! Remember that from these monuments yonder 40 centuries look down upon you,” Napoleon Bonaparte declared to his troops as they geared for the Battle of the Pyramids in July 1798.
Indeed, the history of the great pyramids goes back to one the earliest civilizations on Earth. This fact...
With classes now being conducted mostly online, exacerbated inequity in education has emerged as a major setback for disadvantaged children who lose out on the opportunity to keep learning.
Humanitarian organization Save the Children Philippines (SCP) aims to reverse these issues by raising funds for students from marginalized families...
BEIRUT—It was a night Dr. Bassam Osman says changed his life. At around 6 p.m. on August 4, the 27-year-old surgical resident was about to leave his daily hospital shift. Then a massive explosion shook Beirut.
The floodgates opened and hundreds of wounded poured into the American University of...
‘YOU actually go to your office to work?” Many of my colleagues in public relations and marketing express surprise—and disbelief—when they learn that yes, I have been going to office regularly since May.
On the other hand, I continue to be amazed on how...
SO much in our lives have drastically changed since March 2020. Suddenly our social behavior is racked by rules brought about by a monstrous plague: we need to stay and work from home; we need to shun socializing, even with our own family members; we need to...
The COVID-19 pandemic is a public health, humanitarian and financial crisis.
This is what Insular Life (InLife), a Filipino life insurer and winner of the 2020 Domestic Life Insurer – Philippines Award given by the Insurance Asia Awards, realized after assessing the impact of COVID-19 on the country. As...
The country’s leading home improvement and construction supply retailer, Wilcon Depot, successfully opened its 61st retail store located in Lot 4 National Road Cor. RHB Lane Brgy. Sala, Cabuyao, Laguna on September 18, 2020.
Cabuyao is a fast-growing city and is home to over 350,000 residents, making it the...
Breakout of your quarantine routine and ease into leisure trips with irresistible staycation deals from the Richmonde Hotels. Available exclusively at the September Online Sale (S.O.S.) of the Hotel Sales & Marketing Association (HSMA) happening from September 15 to 30, 2020, Richmonde’s own S.O.S. or Starting Over Sale aims to rescue those...
SM Foundation (SMFI) distributed 58,100 Kalinga packs worth Php 26.5 million to transport groups and communities across the country through its Operation Tulong Express (OPTE) program.
The distribution of Kalinga packs, each containing rice and other food essentials, aims to relieve the plight of those whose livelihoods came to...
Asia United Bank (AUB)’s Equity Investment Fund receives for the 2nd time, the Best Managed Fund award for the Equity Peso category from the CFA Society Philippines.
Dr. Robert Ramos, CFA,CIPM, CAIA, president of CFA Society Philippines, in his letter to AUB when he confirmed the award said, “The...
As the global pandemic continues to present challenges to our health and wellness, we need to adapt and find ways to keep ourselves strong and in good shape. Eating healthy, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep are some of the good habits that can keep us physically fit. But when we need...
THE ITCHYWORMS, Waiting For the End To Start
A first single, the blues rocking “Armageddon Blues” from a forthcoming album titled
Waiting For the End To Start couldn’t help but raise alarm...
If you have nothing but fond memories of High School Musical, then chances are, you are going to love Julie and the Phantoms. Produced and directed by HSM director and celebrated choreographer Kenny Ortega, the new Netflix teen musical series is about a teenager and her “hologram” band composed of ghosts.
On September 16, Seungri categorically denied all charges except one. The defense proclaimed, "We deny all charges except his violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act."
Seungri began his trial at the Ground Operations Command's General Military Court in Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do. He entered the court for his 1st hearing...
Based in Sydney but born in the Philippines, singer-songwriter Bryan Estepa found his musical calling during his teens after his family moved to the Land Down Under.
By the time he was 14, Bryan was more drawn towards music than anything else.
“y Walkman constantly played...
US law requires employers to create a workplace free from discrimination and harassment. But what happens when staff members confront a torrent of hate and abuse online? Given that over 44 percent of Americans say they’ve experienced online harassment, chances are employers will have people on staff who have been affected.
By David Sluss
Leading effectively—especially during a crisis—takes patience. If you can’t retain your composure in the face of frustration or adversity, you won’t be able to keep others calm. When your direct reports show signs of strain, you need to support them, not get irritated. Solutions to new...
By Mark W. Johnson & Josh Suskewicz
Mark Zuckerberg recently shared his plans for the future of remote work at Facebook. By 2030, he promised, at least half of Facebook’s 50,000 employees would be working from home. A few days before, Jack Dorsey had announced that Twitter and Square’s...
By Melvin Smith, Ellen Van Oosten & Richard E. Boyatzis
Have you ever responded to a colleague or direct report in a way that left him feeling unheard or unappreciated, even though that was not your intention? Perhaps you gave him a prescriptive solution when what he needed was...
SOME bankers would consider adjustments to the phaseout of Libor less a labor of love, as the end of the 34-year-old financial tool brings additional tasks the sector must undertake.
“The most important number in finance will disappear in 2021,” lawyer Russell Stanley Geronimo wrote in an opinion piece...
MOTHER Nature—if President Trump’s “kung-fu” virus allegation is disbelieved—could be a bitch, sometimes.
She made that point in 2020.
The year had a lot of “should haves” and “could haves,” according to Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua.
By Bernadette D. Nicolas and Tyrone Jasper C. Piad
FIVE decades since the The Beatles advised people “to carry that weight” in 1969, the Philippines’s debt burden stood at P7.73 trillion ($159.34 billion) as of end-2019. The dollar amount was equivalent to the budget deficit...
Overnight, what many businesses had taken too long to acknowledge reluctantly complying with the law’s mandate for each workplace to have its own internal implementing mechanism for telecommuting suddenly became a necessity, not an option. Indeed, it became a matter of survival for millions of workers faced with the chilling reality that the colleagues and friends and clients they mingle with each day could in fact be asymptomatic carriers or “super spreaders” of Covid-19. Or, vice versa, they could be threats to them as well.
SECRETARY of Foreign Affairs (SFA) Teodoro L. Locsin Jr., with China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, cochaired the Asean-China Ministerial Meeting on September 9 by videoconference.
The foreign ministers reviewed the progress in their dialogue relations and discussed ways to deepen their cooperation across the political-security, economic...
WITH the pandemic bringing the world to a halt, the Delegation of the European Union (EU) to the Philippines sees a great opportunity to champion higher education as an essential tool for young people to influence the world today and in the near future.
With that in mind, the...
NOT even a pandemic can stop the Korean Cultural Center (KCC) in the Philippines from putting together its most sought-after annual spectacle for the Korean cineastes.
This year though, to ensure all K-culture fans’ safety while still sharing joy, entertainment and the Korean culture, the Korean Film Festival (KFF)...
Asked how he feels about out working when almost everyone else is locked in their homes, Naia Ramp Controller Engr. Michael Barbieto shrugs his shoulders, not in submission, but more as a defiant gesture. “Mahirap ang napasukan ko, pero ito ay privilege, ito ang sinumpaan kong tungkulin, kaya kailangan gampanan.”
Almost everyone is online right now, but participating in the digital economy — be it socially or for productivity — entails one key ingredient: Internet connection. Without this vital requirement, people would find it hard to cope with...
They’re used to the "drill" of helping grieving relatives give a proper sendoff to their dearly departed. They'd give them all the time they need to say their final good-byes, with their prayers and flowers and rosaries. These days, however, all those extended farewells are gone. Under strict health protocols prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic, they must help those in mourning make swift goodbyes, before they cremate the dead.
Walter Alimusa, 55, has not come home for three weeks now. While most Filipinos work from home while the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) is in effect, Alimusa needs to be physically present in his work area to make sure that the supply of electricity is not disrupted so people would stay at home.
KIA Philippines recently hosted an online media session via zoom meeting. They discussed the current economic situation, its impact on the automotive industry, and
