MANILA – A lawmaker has warned the Department of Justice (DOJ) against compromising the safety and integrity of government data. This after reports came out that the DOJ has opened its email services for public bidding. The approved budget for the project is P2,709,504 ($63,011).

Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño said the DOJ should “tread carefully” in bidding out its e-mail and related cloud services to foreign corporations, saying that the move might “imperil the safety and integrity of government data, especially DOJ data in terms of storage, access and even sovereignty.”

According to reports, the DOJ project requires 1,200 seats for cloud services that include email, instant messaging, document repository and peer to peer audio/video conferencing for one year to be given to about 10,000 users across the DOJ portfolio.

MANILA -- In an effort to streamline business permits registration this year, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said Friday in a press briefing that it will launch next week its online business registration portal called Philippine Business Registry (PBR).

The PBR would serve as a one-stop shop for transactions involving several government agencies in the process of starting a business. Government agencies interlinked under the PBR, include the DTI, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Social Security System, Home Development Mutual Fund, Philippine Health and Insurance Corp., and Securities and Exchange Commission.

VANCOUVER (CAN) -- Canada-based contact center and business process outsourcing firm TELUS International Philippines (TIP) has launched an innovative corporate philanthropy program in the Philippines where its operations continue to grow.

Last week, it announced the launch of the TELUS International Philippines Community Board, where charitable organizations can apply for one-time funding for projects in the areas of health and wellness, education and sport, and arts and culture.

ONTARIO, Canada -- Canadian cattle, sheep and goat producers now are able to market their livestock to the Philippines.

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and International Trade Minister Ed Fast announced recently that the Government of Canada has secured live ruminant market access to the Philippines.

“The Philippines’ market is now open for Canadian exports of live cattle, sheep and goats,” said Minister Ritz.

FREMONT, Calif. (jGLi) – Filipino American visionary Dado Banatao is not happy that although he is benefiting in the semiconductor industry, some countries, like China, are guilty of gaming the system.

Banatao, a native of Iguig, Cagayan in the Philippines, told the staff of the Journal Group Link International in one of his companies, Ikanos Communications, here that the semiconductor industry has been complaining against “China and other parts of Asia” for not respecting “intellectual property by doing reverse engineering of our products but we cannot fight them because” they are tolerated by the entire government.

MANILA -- Philippine fruits, like banana, pineapple, and mangoes are gaining a strong demand in the mainstream market in Oman, Philippine Ambassador-designate Joselito Jimeno said.

Jimeno and Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) Chairman Khalil Bin Abdullah Bin Mohammed Al Khonji met recently to discuss activities between Oman and the Philippines that will boost economic, trade and commercial cooperation.

MANILA -- As the world's top coconut exporter and to ensure that supply meets a fast-growing demand for coconut water as a healthy and alternative sports drink globally, the Philippine government has increased the Philippine Coconut Authority's (PCA) budget for coconut replanting in the country.

According to Carlo Carpio, PCA's deputy administrator, PCA was given a budget of P512 million for replanting next year, up by P452 million from this year's budget of P60 million.  In addition, about P354 million was earmarked for the fertilization of coconut plantations, which covers 3.4 million hectares of the country's total agricultural lands.  Big plantations in Quezon and Camarines Sur provinces are now old and need replacement.

MANILA -- Millions of Philippine coconut farmers face a growing crisis in their livelihoods, an official said, as their trees become too old to produce the fruit that is a mainstay of the country’s exports.

More than 44 million coconut trees - 14 percent of the national total - are past their most fertile age, and without a sufficient replanting programme the industry could be in trouble, warned Euclides Forbes, administrator of the official Philippine Coconut Authority.

He said the government does not have enough money to support the industry, on which 25 percent of the population depends, and private planters are not doing enough, according to reports in Manila.

MANILA—The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) may further liberalize its foreign exchange rules by allowing companies to buy dollars from the banks to pay off its foreign debts even if these have not registered its loans with the central bank.

BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said that the move is aimed at increasing the demand for the US dollar and temper the rise of the local currency.

The new ruling may be approved during the next Monetary Board meeting on September 8.

MANILA -- An improbable journey by a Filipino-owned PC manufacturer has led it to something that has never been done before: Export laptops to China, dubbed the world’s factory.

RedFox, which most Filipinos assume as a foreign PC brand, actually operates a manufacturing hub in Rosario, Cavite where laptops are assembled for sale in the domestic market and other countries such Taiwan, Singapore, and China.

KUALA LUMPUR (June 6)– “If you build it, they will come,” say guests of the APEC Small and Medium Enterprises Technology Entrepreneur Seminar.

The economic landscape has incurred some dramatic changes: budget cuts, climate change, social and demographic shifts pose a new set of challenges.  However, say industry experts, for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that are able to adapt, such changes offer a wealth of opportunities:

MySpace co-founder Chris DeWolfe is stepping down as CEO “in the near future” and “by mutual agreement” his contract will not be renewed with parent company News Corp, according to a press release. DeWolfe will remain with MySpace in an advisory capacity and continue to serve on the board of MySpace China.

MANILA (March 30) -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be the guest of honor of Convergys Corporation during the launching of its three new contact center facilities in the Philippines on April 1.  The three new state-of-the-art facilities are located in Cebu Asiatown i3 in Cebu City; the UP-Ayala Land TechnoHub in Quezon City, and the Nuvali TechnoHub in Santa Rosa, Laguna.

NEW DELHI  (March 5) -- The Philippines's IT and Business Process Outsourcing Services (BPO) firms may soon a get a break as news about its major competitor's financial practices here are revealed.

Ramalinga Raju, chairman and founder of Satyam Computer Services, a leading Indian outsourcing company that serves more than a third of the Fortune 500, resigned March 4 after revealing that he had significantly inflated the company's earnings and assets for years.

MANILA -- Janet Klein, director for developer relations at IBM Asia Pacific, disclosed at a recent media event that IBM Philippines will open its first Innovation Center in the country – and second in Asia – at the UP-Ayala Techno Park in Quezon City.

Charles Manuel, Klein’s focal person in Southeast and South Asia, said the facility is intended to become a hub of activity for students, professional developers, and partner organizations.

Gordon Brown has called for a "new deal" on energy at talks in Saudi Arabia on the high price of oil.

The prime minister wants oil producers to invest in a £100bn drive towards long-term energy projects in Britain, such as wind farms and nuclear power.

At the Jeddah Energy Meeting, Mr Brown also pressed for an increase in oil production to help bring down prices.

The Conservatives said Mr Brown did not understand the oil market. The Lib Dems accused him of a "futile gesture"...

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Chinese shares have closed 3% higher after the government raised energy prices in an effort to cool the nation's rising energy consumption.

Chancellor Alistair Darling says pay rises for people "from the boardroom to the shopfloor" need to be "consistent" with the 2% inflation target.