DESPITE high hopes that the Arroyo administration will be able to create a million jobs every year starting 2004, the updated Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) 2004 to 2010 showed that job generation remained below target.

The updated MTPDP said while the government was able to generate around 3.5 million jobs in the 2004 to 2008 period, this represented a backlog of around 3.5 million jobs.

THE Philippine economy may have grown within the range of 1.6 percent to 2.6 percent in the third quarter on the back of a stronger-than-expected growth in overseas Filipino worker (OFW) remittances and continued growth in the services sector, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

Despite the expected ill effects from the recent storms and the global economic crisis, Neda Acting Director General Augusto Santos told reporters on Thursday the projection of the Neda makes it possible for the Philippine economy to achieve its full-year growth target of 0.8 percent to 1.8 percent.

SUBIC BAY FREE PORT—Players in the highly commoditized industry of advertising are being urged to embrace a new mantra: caring capitalism.

It may be an oxymoron for some, but not, it seems, for Ayala Corp. president Fernando Zobel de Ayala.