Philippines Morning News For May 25

DSWD rolls out P77 M for Boracay workers
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has allocated P77 million for the implementation of cash-for-work (CFW) program for workers and residents affected by the temporary closure of Boracay Island.
— Manila Bulletin

PNP gets P1.7-M office equipment donation
Sixteen police offices in 3rd to 5th class municipalities in the country have received PHP1.7-million worth of office equipment from the Philippine National Police Foundation Incorporated (PNPFI).
— Philippine News Agency

Philippines still on weaker half of most powerful passport list
The Philippine passport has moved two spots higher but remains in the lower half of the latest world’s most powerful passports rankings.
— Philippines Magazine

ADB approves technical aid for Batangas LNG project
THE ASIAN Development Bank (ADB) has approved a technical assistance loan for the Philippine National Oil Co.’s (PNOC) Batangas Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project.
— BusinessWorld Online

DTI allots almost P100-M funding for Western Visayas SSF project
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) announced that it has close to PHP100 million for the implementation of the shared service facility (SSF) project this year.
— Philippine News Agency

BOC foils P36.5-M smuggling attempt
An attempt to smuggle P36.5 million worth of goods such as agricultural products, clothes, and cigarettes by way of misdeclaration was foiled yesterday by the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
— Manila Bulletin

PH sees 300K AI-enabled workers
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said more than 300,000 new jobs in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry would be created under a program to create artificial intelligence-enabled (AI) workforce.
— Malaya

Boracay workers’ financial support set at 50% of Region VI minimum wage
THE Department of Labor and Employment has laid out the extent of government financial assistance which workers affected by the closure of Boracay are entitled to.
— BusinessWorld Online

Duterte to escort Sison out of PH if peace talks fail
A month ago, President Rodrigo R. Duterte invited self-exiled Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison to come home and gave him 60-day window for “make or break” peace talks.
— Philippine News Agency

Airline heiress in trouble for hiring Philippine maids
A Korean Air heiress known for a “nut rage” tantrum that sparked national uproar was summoned for questioning Thursday for illegally hiring immigrants to work as maids, the latest scandal to engulf her billionaire family.
— Manila Standard

Duterte: PH ‘winning the war’ against communists
President Rodrigo Duterte said the country is succeeding in its war against the communist insurgency, which the military tagged as its goal after the bloody siege in Marawi.
— Rappler

SEC approves Del Monte PHL’s P17.55-billion IPO
CAMPOS-LED Del Monte Pacific Ltd. has secured regulatory approval for its P17.55-billion initial public offering (IPO) of its Philippine unit Del Monte Philippines Inc.
— Business Mirror

Solar-powered irrigation to cost P60 billion yearly — DA
The Department of Agriculture (DA) needs at least P60 billion yearly for the construction of solar-powered irrigation systems (SPIS) to help ensure sufficient rice supply in the country.
— Philippine Star

CL grows at 9.3%, faster than whole country
Key infrastructure developments in Clark are boosting Central Luzon’s gross domestic product (GDP) which grew to 9.3 percent in 2017, almost three percentage point faster than the country’s GDP of 6.7 percent for the same year.
— Malaya

Work safety bill calls for stiff penalties against violators
THE newly ratified Occupational Safety and Health Standards bill fines employers up to P100,000 per day for noncompliance with safety standards, putting teeth into work safety regulations which previously lacked significant penalties, labor groups said.
— BusinessWorld Online

Zarate: Meralco power rate hike to cost consumers additional P54-billion per year
PARTY-LIST Rep. Carlos Isagani T. Zarate of Bayan Muna on Thursday questioned the additional P1.55-per-kilowatt-hour (kWh) rate hike from Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), amid price increases due to the implementation of the TRAIN law.
— Business Mirror

Philippines to import more oil from non-OPEC countries
As rising global crude costs continue to impact on local prices, the Philippines might consider importing cheaper petroleum products from non-OPEC oil producers like the United States and Russia, Malacañang said yesterday.
— Philippine Star

Fox must leave PH Friday: BI
A Bureau of Immigration (BI) official said Thursday that Sr. Patricia Fox should follow the bureau’s order to leave the country on Friday.
— Northbound Philippines

PBCom seeks to raise P5B via LTNCDs
LISTED Philippine Bank of Communications (PBCom) is planning to raise up to P5 billion in fresh funds from the issuance of long-term negotiable certificates of time deposits (LTNCDs) in one or more tranches.
— The Manila Times

PH refusal to protest reef dev’t assailed
A maritime law expert on Thursday slammed the Duterte administration’s refusal to confront China in the South China Sea, saying the Philippines had already lost much because of the government’s cop-out.
— Philippine Daily Inquirer

Labor group seeks nationwide uniform wage rate
A labor group is urging the government to implement a uniform wage rate across the country amid increasing prices of goods and services.
— ABS-CBN (video)

DA: Cold facilities needed for PH to be top fish player
THE Philippines needs more ice plants and cold storage facilities to realize its potential as a major supplier of fish, almost half of which the country loses annually, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Thursday.
— The Manila Times

PH can meet poverty rate target by 2022
The Philippines is well poised to meet its target of reducing poverty incidence by 2022, with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) providing the necessary support to initiatives that aim to address inequalities across the country, such as the government’s massive infrastructure buildup and its social protection programs, according to a key official of the institution.
— Manila Bulletin

Monetary Board reduces reserve requirements anew
The policy-making Monetary Board (MB) announced Thursday the reduction in the reserve requirement ratio by 1 percentage point as part of its broad medium-term financial market reform agenda.
— Philippine Canadian Inquirer

Philippines: Department of Agriculture opens mushroom R&D centre in Isabela
The Department of Agriculture in the Cagayan Valley region recently opened its Mushroom Research and Development Centre in Ilagan City, Isabela.
— Fresh Plaza

Militarization shuts down Lumad schools in Mindanao
Lumad leaders condemned the continued closure and threat of closure of Lumad schools in Mindanao.
— Davao Today

Feature photo Brian Evans

Find our previous morning news feature photos in the AEC News Today Morning News Feature Photos gallery where you will find a pictorial display of daily life throughout the Asean Economic Community (AEC).

Philippines morning news by AEC News Today is your one stop source for Philippines news on matters of governance and policies affecting Asean business communities. It is published M-F by AEC News Today: Governance, not government; policies not politics.

Philippines Morning News For May 25 added by Stella-maris Ewudolu on May 25, 2018
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Stella-maris Ewudolu

Journalist at AEC News Today

Stella-maris graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, Education from Ebonyi State University, Nigeria in 2005.

Between November 2010 and February 2012 she was a staff writer at Daylight Online, Nigeria writing on health, fashion, and relationships. From 2010 – 2017 she worked as a freelance screen writer for ‘Nollywood’, Nigeria.

She joined AEC News Today in December 2016.