MANILA -- A total of 63 new information-technology (IT) parks are now being developed nationwide, House Deputy Majority Leader Roman Romulo, who represents the lone district of Pasig City in Congress, revealed today, Sept. 21.  He said 41 of the emerging IT parks are in the provinces while 22 are in the National Capital Region.

“We strongly favor the advancement of new IT parks in highly urbanized corners outside Metro Manila. This will spur on balanced economic growth all over the country,” Romulo said.  He is a key backer of the labor-intensive, IT-enabled business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

BPO firms are the predominant locators in tax-advantaged IT parks registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.

MANILA -- Expats, celebs and investors are all eyeing the Philippines as an unprecedented boom is promising fortunes for a nation once known as the poor-man of Southeast Asia.

Much of the success for the economic boom can be put down to President Benigno Aquino who has been on a tough road of cleaning up corruption, bringing down budget deficits and boosting spending on infrastructure.

MANILA -- The Philippines and Qatar on Tuesday, April 10, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for mutual benefit in the areas of tourism, legal and justice, agriculture and fishery, investments as well as the establishment of a joint business council between the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Qatari Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

President Benigno S. Aquino III and His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Kalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar witnessed the signing of the MOU in Malacanang.

SINGAPORE – APEC is moving ahead with cooperative efforts to evaluate and identify initiatives that support freer, faster and more beneficial trade in the Asia-Pacific region.

Concluding its weeklong cluster of meetings on Tuesday, the APEC Committee on Trade and Investment and related policy groups met for the second time this year with a focus on APEC 2012 priorities, specifically to foster regional economic integration in the Asia-Pacific, establish reliable supply chains, expand regulatory convergence and cooperation, and foster innovative growth.

SINGAPORE – APEC is taking further steps to enhance supply chain performance, improve collaboration on innovation and extend opportunities for more robust economic growth and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific.

That is the aim of a diverse cluster of high-level APEC trade and investment roundtables and workshops taking place this week in Singapore.

Attention will center on delivering practical strategies and solutions necessary to achieve trade and investment liberalization, regional economic integration, innovative growth and supply chain connectivity, which are among APEC’s top 2012 agenda items.

As the world marks International Consumer Rights Day, research group IBON said that the consuming public, which bears the brunt of unabated oil price hikes, has the right to know how the oil companies determine oil prices.

The group urged government to regulate the oil industry to ensure transparency in pricing. It also challenged oil firms to give additional information about their operations to show that the price of local oil is not beyond what is justified. “Only oil firms have full details of their operations. But under the oil deregulation law, oil companies are protected from disclosing these key information to the public, thus giving the oil firms more room to manipulate their prices” said IBON research head Sonny Africa, speaking before oil industry stakeholders and lawmakers on Wednesday in a forum at the House of Representatives.

MANILA -- California-based Wells Fargo and Co., a highly diversified financial services company with 70 million customers and 264,000 employees, has established Wells Fargo Philippines Solutions Inc. to handle a variety of functions, including service and back office support.

Wells Fargo's decision to shift more jobs offshore comes worries in the Philippines over a U.S. anti-outsourcing bill introduced by New York Congressman Tim Bishop.  The proposed U.S. Call Center and Consumer Protection Act would require the U.S. Department of Labor to track firms that shift contact center jobs overseas.

MANILA -- Independent research group IBON cautions the Aquino government in committing to a free trade agreement with the US, as a US trade official arrives in the country to secure new trade and investment areas, as well as the possibility for a new trade pact.

Honolulu (HI) – Trade transaction costs across the Asia-Pacific region have fallen 5%, resulting in US$ 58.7 billion in total savings for businesses, research shows.

In a new report released, an independent research team has investigated whether APEC met its target of reducing trade transaction costs between 2007 and 2010, after implementing a comprehensive action plan to facilitate trade in the Asia-Pacific region.

Romblon, PHILIPPINES --- People power has chased away Canadian mining giant, Ivanhoe, from the Philippines -  a move analysts say will impact future exploration projects in the cash strapped Southeast Asian nation.

Ivanhoe Philippines, a subsidiary of Canada-based Ivanhoe Mines, cited low priority exploration target in withdrawing its applications for its project on Tablas Island.

Leo Deiparine, the firm’s president, in a letter sent to the Philippines Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB).said there was a consensus decision by the company to withdraw its applications based on Tablas as a low priority exploration target, and the strong opposition of local politicians for the approval of the applications.

MALAYSIA -- The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) sees further growth in the rubber sector in the Philippines says the Philippine Embassy in Malaysia.

According to the embassy, this was disclosed by Dato' Dr. Kamarul Baharain Basir, ANRPC's secretary general, during a courtesy call on Philippine Ambassador-designate Jose Eduardo Malaya on October 7.

ANRPC cited Zamboanga and Basilan as conducive to rubber plantation because of their natural conditions.

MANILA -- Since 2009 remittances from Filipino sailors continue to grow.  For the past seven months in 2011, remittances have already reached $2,433 billion, up 14.13 percent or $301 million versus the $2.132 billion they have sent home through banks over the same period in 2010, according to the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP). The labor group expects to surpass $4 billion this year.

In 2010, Filipino sailors sent home a total of $3.806 billion in the 12 months of 2010, up $406 million or 12 percent from the $3.4 billion they remitted via the banking system in 2009.

“The Philippines has secured its position as the world’s preferred supplier of able ship staff,” said TUCP secretary-general and former Senator Ernesto Herrera, whose labor center includes the Philippine Seafarers’ Union (PSU). 

MANILA — The Aquino administration is currently seeking an 86%-budget increase for its multi-billion peso conditional cash transfer (CCT) program. But while the program admittedly has a feel-good factor, it is a problematic approach to reducing poverty in the country.

The administration itself sets a high standard for the CCT program. Its economic blueprint, the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2011-2016, declares: “Direct CCTs to the poor through the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program shall be the cornerstone of the government’s strategy to fight poverty and attain the MDGs.” Unfortunately this is a poor cornerstone and the program is a weak foundation in the drive against poverty in the country. Five major concerns can be raised.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – With economic models straining in every corner of the world, no economy can afford to perpetuate the barriers facing women in the workforce, said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Sept. 16 at the Asian Pacific Economic Council (APEC) Women and the Economy Summit.

The summit addressed access to capital and markets for women, building their capacities and skills, and supporting the rise of women leaders in the public and private sectors. Participants also discussed innovation, green growth, technology, entrepreneurship, and public-private partnerships.

Secretary Clinton said that by increasing women’s participation in the economy and enhancing their efficiency and productivity, a dramatic impact on the competitiveness and growth of the region’s economies can be achieved.

MANILA—As  the new phase of Saudi labor localization, or also known as Nitaqat, commences, hundreds of thousands of Filipino migrant nurses in Saudi Arabia faced uncertain situation on the status of their employment.

According to Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona Saudi’s Ministry of Health has already announced a plan to localize nursing jobs in all its medical facilities.

There are about 130,000 to 150,000 Filipino nurses in Saudi.

MANILA -- Government’s latest labor force survey pegs unemployment at 2.80 million in October 2010, slightly higher than the 2.72 million reported in the same period last year. However these data could place the number of unemployed at 4.16 million instead, according to research group IBON.

The figure is based on a recently revised definition of unemployment and an estimate approximating the previous definition for comparability with previous years.

MANILA -- Residents of Tondo may soon enjoy the benefits of buying and selling goods over the internet through a joint e-trading project of Veritas Social Empowerment, Inc. (Veritas) and leading wireless services provider, Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart).

Veritas, an NGO that is helping in the rehabilitation of Smokey Mountain and Tondo, will use Smart’s communication and e-commerce solutions to support the area’s livelihood activities. As an initial engagement, Smart will power the Veritas infoboard system, a two-way web-based information system that will allow members of the Tondo community to send and receive real-time announcements via SMS broadcasts.

A farmer-scientist group, MASIPAG, have spearheaded a forum to shed light on the developments and possible impacts of Bt Talong to food and agriculture.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) should give preference to some 6,000 Filipino workers forced out of Iraq when it comes to enlisting laborers for deployment to Guam, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said Sunday.

MANILA -- The number of Filipino nurses seeking to practice their profession in America fell by one-third in the first semester compared to a year ago, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) reported Sunday, July 18.

TUCP secretary-general and former Senator Ernesto Herrera said only 5,553 Filipino nurses took the NCLEX for the first time from January to June, down 2,719 or 33 percent from 8,272 in the same period of 2009.