Philippines-Canada
Cooperation Office
The program support unit of CIDA in
the
Daily News clips
The Arroyo
administration is putting in an additional P5-billion for pro-poor program
under the Department of Social Welfare and Development's Conditional Cash
Transfer. According to Press Sec. Jesus Dureza the
CCT will target more beneficiaries with its additional P5-bn budget. He said
the Government is making sure that the funds will really go to the
beneficiaries which are the poor and vulnerable. He said the program is part of
Government's mobilization to face the Global economic crisis. Dureza said that the Government must take the lead and be
the stimulus for more investments which are sorely needed.
Read
more...
DTI to assist laid-off workers in start-up biz
Trade
Secretary Peter Favila said the Department of Trade
and Industry (DTI) this year would focus on assisting those who might lose
their jobs here and abroad in starting their own businesses in the country
instead. “I’m convening DTI’s executive committee, regional directors and
officials of DTI-attached agencies and mobilizing our people to embark on a
massive development program which would help those who might be displaced from
their work for any reasons start their own businesses,” he told reporters. “DTI
would focus on providing livelihood and employment-generation programs,” he
added. Read more...
ENVIRONMENT
DENR
implements revamp
Atienza says move to ensure enforcement of environmental laws
Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Jose L. Atienza Jr. yesterday announced a revamp of Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) regional officials, as part of the DENR’s efforts to ensure a more effective and efficient
enforcement of environmental laws.
In DENR Special Order 2009-01 issued yesterday, 16
regional executive directors (RED) were transferred or retained from their
current positions for the "organizational development" of the agency.
Read
more...
Forty-nine
thousand nine hundred day care children in at least 39 municipalities in Region
XI have benefited from the Food for School Program, implemented by the
Department of Social Welfare and Development. DSWD XI reported that the program
is one of the successful projects handled by the department especially intended
to mitigate hunger among the poor children.
Also, it has
addressed the malnutrition problem in the provinces. Read
more...
$1-B food security project to start soon
San Miguel and Kuok’s ‘Feeding the
Future’
$1-billion food security program of Philippine beverage and
food conglomerate San Miguel Corp. and Malaysia’s Kuok group will begin in the
first half of the year in the southern province of Davao del Norte, where
18,494 hectares of logged-over lands have been identified for the program’s
use, a government firm said.This will be the first
phase of the ambitious venture dubbed “Feeding the Future,” said Philippine
Agricultural Development and Commercial Corp. (PADC), which will oversee the
implementation of the project together with the Department of Agriculture.
Read more...
Govt names SMC-Kuok project beneficiaries
The government
has identified four municipalities of Davao del Norte as initial beneficiaries
of a billion-dollar food security project of food and beverage giant San Miguel
Corporation and the Kuok Group of Companies, an official said. Marriz Agbon, Philippine
Agricultural Development and Commercial Corporation (PADCC) president, said
the18,494-hectare over-logged areas in Davao del Norte
were identified for upland agro-forestry development, which is part of the
initial phase of the project Feeding the Future. The project aims to develop
one million hectares of government-owned land to promote agricultural
productivity and develop a sustainable food supply for the country. Read more...
GENERAL
ECONOMY
P/$
rate closes at P47.16/$ 1
The peso exchange rate closed higher at P47.16 to
the US dollar yesterday, the first trading day of 2009, at the Philippine
Dealing & Exchange Corp. (PDEx) from P47.52, last
December 24, 2008. The weighted average rate appreciated to P47.264 from
P47.647 Total volume amounted to $ 486.5 million. Read more...
OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE
Foreign aid commitments fall in first nine months
The
ODA commitments
post double-digit decline
The country’s net
official development assistance (ODA) commitments in the first three quarters
of 2008 declined by almost 12 percent, according to data from the National
Economic and Development Authority (Neda). Documents from the Neda showed that net
commitments for ongoing ODA projects only reached $7.948 billion from January
to September 2008, down 11.71 percent from the $9.002 billion posted in the
same period in 2007. As of press time, Neda officials
do not have an official statement as to the reason for the decline. However,
earlier, Neda Director General Ralph Recto said ODA
commitments have been on the decline in the past few years and could continue
in 2009 due to the global economic slowdown. Recto said the decline in ODA in
2009 is imminent considering that global ODA now only amounts to $100 billion
while the stimulus package that will be released by donor countries will amount
to around $5 trillion or more. Read
more...
The
Ms. Kenney said
the
Peace talks top Cabinet agenda
Financial crisis to be tackled as
well
Resuming formal peace negotiations with Moro rebels and
firming up the country's defenses against the global financial turmoil top the
agenda of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's first
Cabinet meeting for the new year.The meeting will be
held Tuesday morning in Iligan City where suspected
rogue elements of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) exploded bombs in
two shopping centers just before the yearend.
Read more...
TRANSPORTATION
Fully-open NAIA 3 seen
Despite the expected decline in air travel due to the
worldwide financial crisis, Philippine airport officials on Monday said they
would push for full operations at Ninoy Aquino
International Airport Terminal 3 in 2009. In his yearend report, Manila
International Airport Authority (MIAA) general manager Alfonso Cusi said Terminal 3, which opened partially in July, was
now handling about half of its designed capacity of 13 million passengers
yearly. The NAIA’s three terminals comprise the main
international gateway to the country. Read more...
OTHERS
RP moves to secure grant from
IN AN effort
to secure a grant from Millennium Challenge Corporation (
Fewer than 1M to lose jobs due to crisis
Labor
Secretary Marianito Roque
on Monday belied the projections of economist Benjamin Diokno
that the global economic crisis will raise the number of unemployed Filipinos
to 11.4 million. At a press conference, Roque refused
to make any projections on the effect of the crisis on domestic and overseas
employment, saying he would rather get the actual unemployment caused by the
crisis. He said his office will come out with the actual job cuts before the
end of the month after tripartite consultations with industry and labor
sectors. Read more...