EDITORIAL As Christmas Day nears, here’s a bit of good news from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). The country’s employment rate in October 2022 stood at 95.5 percent, “the highest rate recorded since January 2020, and registered to have bounced back from pre-pandemic levels.” This...
Taking the cue from lessons learned during the Covid-19 pandemic, the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Dec. 13, passed on the third and final reading a proposed measure that will establish the Health Emergency Auxiliary Reinforcement Team (HEART) under the Department of Health (DoH) to augment...
Loans granted by the Small Business Corporation's (SBCorp) to pandemic-affected micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as of Dec. 2 this year reached P8.2 billion, exceeding the P8.08 billion transferred or downloaded to it by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) based on Bayanihan 2...
Editorial The barangay health workers are a very special group of people in the community. They are vital to the delivery of primary health care to the people in the grassroots level. In the early days of the pandemic, the BHWs were the first responders to the public health problem brought by...
The P5.268-trillion national budget ratified by Congess will include support for the Alternative Learning System (ALS) that will benefit thousands of Filipino learners. (This photo was taken in Quezon City by the DepEd in September 2021.) Senator Win Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on...
GENEVA, Switzerland -- Negotiations on a draft global agreement to better combat the next pandemic will begin in February next year, the WHO announced after three days of discussions in Geneva. The 194 member states of the World Health Organization have been thrashing out a pandemic treaty since...
OF TREES AND FORESTS Former Senate President Manny Villar A phenomenon amplified by the pandemic is the so-called great resignation. It refers to the extraordinary number of employees quitting their jobs starting 2021. While primarily driven by the pandemic, experts noted that its roots can be...
The House of Representatives has unanimously approved on third and final reading a measure that would mandate the establishment of a vaccine and virology institute that would lead the country’s defense against public health emergencies like the Covid-19 pandemic. (Viktor Forgacs/ Unsplash) House...
Recognizing the “heroic role” of barangay health workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, the House Committee on Ways and Means on Monday, Dec. 5, approved the tax provisions of the substitute bill consolidating proposed measures for the magna carta of barangay health workers (BHWs). (Photo from...
Filipinos were told to “keep their guards up” against Covid-19 and its more transmissible and highly immune evasive subvariants as holidays draw closer. Vice President 3 of Philippine Federation of Professionals Association Dr. Benito Atienza reminded the public to celebrate the holidays while...
The country’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) will be at the core of Go Negosyo’s activities to celebrate its 17th anniversary on Saturday, Dec. 3. Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion (Photo from Go Negosyo via Facebook) Go Negosyo founder Joey...
Albay 2nd District Rep. and House Ways and Means chair Joey Salceda on Sunday, Nov. 27, assured workers at the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM) that there would be no abolition or layoffs there even after the country’s establishment of its own Center for Disease Control (CDC) inches...
