Top News

Puerto Princesa, Philippines—China is pressing ahead with the construction of artificial islands on at least two reefs that are also claimed by the Philippines in an increasingly tense territorial dispute, Filipino officials said.

By Katy Daigle / The Associated Press New Delhi—Global resolve to rescue impoverished children from lives of squalor, disease and hunger has fallen short, with economic development in many countries still leaving millions of the most vulnerable behind, according to a just-released report of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef, now simply translated as United Nations Children’s Fund).

By Riza Lozada President Aquino’s allies are prodding him to set aside his obsession with the controversial Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) and attend to measures considered urgent by the business sector, such as the Freedom of Information Act and the Philippine Competition Act, which are merely awaiting his signature to become a law. Senate President Franklin M. Drilon said signing …

By Luis Leoncio Export receipts have declined heightening fears the country would not be able to achieve its target growth rate of between 7 percent and 8 percent this year. The government reported that exports remained weak, with the April figures showing that export receipts shrank 4.1 percent following a modest rebound of 2.1 percent the month before.

Hundreds of business leaders and investors gathered in Manila in a recent public consultation on Mindanao and urged President Aquino to be “pragmatic” and stop insisting on the approval of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) in its present form.

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), the country’s state-gaming operator and regulator, has won the prestigious Excellence Award at the 2015 International Gold Quill competition.

By Lito U. Gagni The Philippines risks becoming an Asian pariah insofar as foreign direct investments (FDI) are concerned because of frequent changes in its investment rules that have bedeviled the entry of foreign investors.

By Luis Leoncio THE Philippines should reconsider its Bank Secrecy Law to enable it to tackle tax evasion and other financial crimes, such as money laundering and corruption, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said.

A study by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) has practically validated the widespread cynicism over the benefits to ordinary Filipinos of the investment-grade ratings the country has been receiving from various credit watchdogs.

By Riza Lozada The Department of Energy (DOE) has sounded off the alarm on possible tax leaks in the importation of ethanol, with the demand for gasoline blended with biofuels increasing to its current level of 400 million tons.