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FEDERATION of
Philippine Industries chairman Meneleo Carlos (right)
fields questions from the press before the signing of a
Multisectoral Declaration for Labor Day held at Club
Filipino. Also in photo is Fair Trade Alliance’s lead
convenor, former senator Wigberto Tañada.
--NONOY LACZA |
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Wage-hike hearings set |
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THE
tripartite regional wage boards have started consultations
for the petitions for minimum-wage increase amid signs from
the employers’ sector that it is backtracking from earlier
pronouncements supporting President Arroyo’s call for an
increase in workers’ daily pay.
Ciriaco
Lagunzad III, National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC)
executive director, said they have also set the formal
public hearing for the wage-increase petition in Metro
Manila on May 10. The consultations, he said, are informal
discussions with the different stakeholders. |
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FTA
tells government: Lift R-VAT on food, meds
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A
MULTISECTORAL organization Tuesday urged the government to
provide immediate economic relief—including the suspension
of the revised value-added tax (R-VAT) on food, medicine and
utilities—to enable the people to survive the food crisis
the country is facing.
The Fair
Trade Alliance (FTA) came up with a joint declaration
emphasizing the need not only to tap the government for
solutions to the present crisis but also to unite and work
together practicing the Filipino ethos of “damayan,
bayanihan and tangkilikan.” |
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Rice
futures tumble in Chicago as US crop sowing accelerates |
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RICE futures
in Chicago plunged after a government report showed planting
of the US crop accelerated last week, easing concerns over
tight global supplies.
About 44
percent of the
US
crop was planted as of April 27, compared with 26 percent a
week earlier and 56 percent a year earlier, the US
Department of Agriculture (USDA) said Monday. |
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Privatization halt, new loan talks pushed |
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CIVIL-SOCIETY groups urged the government to stop its
efforts to privatize any more of its assets and renegotiate
canceled loans to prevent the country from paying any more
debts, particularly to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The
Philippine Working Group (PWG) on the ADB, an umbrella
organization of local nongovernment organizations, also
called on the ADB to stop being a “profiteer” and an agent
in the privatization of the energy and grain sectors in the
country. |
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Foreign groups interested in renamed ‘government broadband
network’ |
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TRANSPORTATION Secretary Leandro Mendoza said Tuesday many
foreign groups have become interested in participating in a
planned bidding for a government broadband system, compared
with only two in the first one that resulted in controversy
and has since been aborted.
He added, “I
just hope that they remain interested. The project has been
hounded with controversy and the issue is still under probe.
We hope [these] countries will be patient.” |
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Engage emerging communist leaders–expert |
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ENTERING
into a relationship now with the fifth generation of China’s
Communist Party would help ensure long-term opportunities
for Philippine business eyeing to profit from the world’s
second-largest economy.
“These are
the leaders who are just starting their five years of being
in junior power, and who they deal with now would be the
same people they would bring in when they rise into senior
positions in the politburo,” W. John Hoffmann said in Manila
Tuesday. |
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MORE STORIES ... |
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W. JOHN
HOFFMANN, author of
China into the Future: China
Mindset for Success to 2023, advises members of the Makati
Business Club (MBC) and Management Association of the
Philippines to have a multidimensional view of China in
order to tap business potentials in the world’s
second-largest economy. Hoffmann addressed the MBC’s Tuesday
morning forum in Makati City before meeting with potential
investors to China from the Philippines.
--NONIE REYES |
