WALA LANG: Unsung heroes, silent martyrs
By DR. JAIME LAYANovember 8, 2009, 1:27pmThere’s a fine line separating hero and martyr. From a macro view, overseas Filipino workers are indeed “unsung heroes” but look micro, at individuals, and you find silent martyrs.Some nine million Filipinos work overseas, annually sending home about US$17 billion, just a bit smaller than the value of our agriculture and fishery industries output. Thanks to worker remittances, Balance of Payments, Gross National Product, income and employment, exchange rate, prices—all economic indicators in fact—are in fine shape. Our unsung heroes keep the county’s economy afloat.To be an OFW, one has t

Every other Pinoy family considers itself poor, says SWS
FIFTY-THREE percent of Filipino families consider themselves poor while a little less than 50 percent believe they are food-poor, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey from Sept. 18-21 showed.These figures were taken before tropical storm "Ondoy" flooded Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and Southern Tagalog and typhoon "Pepeng" did the same to northern Luzon. Damage brought about by the two weather disturbances has reached P36 billion.The survey polled 1,800 respondents and had an error margin range of plus/minus 2.3-6 percent.SWS also found that 28 percent of Filipino families said they are on the borderline while only 20 percent claimed they are not poor

Storm damages seen to boost remittances in Oct
By Karen Flores, abs-cbnNEWS.com | 11/04/2009 6:22 PMMANILA - If there is one good thing that the recent storms brought to the economy, it is the expected strong rise in remittance inflows.Just like the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the World Bank is looking at a 4% growth in re

Rich, middle-class Pinoy kids are 'recession-proof' - survey
by Kristine Servando, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak | 11/03/2009 7:21 PMMANILA - Filipino children are becoming increasingly tech-savvy and "recession-proof" than their Southeast Asian neighbors, a survey released by Cartoon Network revealed.Despite the economic slump, more Filipino children in

PhilHealth ups benefit coverage for childbirth
By JENNY F. MANONGDONovember 1, 2009, 6:58pmThe Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) has increased its benefit coverage for normal spontaneous childbirths in all accredited hospitals and lying-in clinics nationwide effective Sunday.As stipulated in its Circular N