Philippines falls in ‘digital quality of life’ index

Source BusinessWorld

The continued weakness of the Philippine peso against the US dollar works for the benefit of the proposed 2023 national budget, Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said, as it would translate to higher revenues and a narrower fiscal gap...

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The Philippines is among countries with “least affordable” internet services, yet consumers are receiving only “mediocre” quality of connectivity, according to a study by cybersecurity firm Surfshark...

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The Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) is eyeing to boost annual housing construction by 400 percent to address the prevailing shortage of homes...

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National Economic and Development Administration (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the country’s unemployment rate will go down to pre-pandemic levels by 2024...

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Filipinos had mixed views on how life was in the past 12 months, the second quarter survey released by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) yesterday showed...

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The Philippine peso on Wednesday slightly depreciated against the United States dollar at P57.11 in the Philippine Dealing System, but recorded an intraday low of P57.27...

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As various groups prepare to mark the 50th anniversary of the declaration of martial law next week, President Marcos denied engaging in historical revisionism regarding his father’s strongman rule...

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President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is planning to give government workers rice allowances in a bid to reduce hunger and help domestic rice producers...

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The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved on second reading House Bill 14 requiring the registration of all postpaid and prepaid mobile phone subscriber identity module (SIM) cards to lessen mobile phone-enabled illegal activities...

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The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is aiming to have all taxpayers file their returns and pay their taxes through electronic means...

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The threshold for requiring digital service providers (DSPs) to charge value-added tax (VAT) needs to be raised to P5 million in gross sales or receipts, from P3 million as specified in a measure currently undergoing plenary debate, a legislator said...

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The Free Legal Assistance Act of 2010 finally has its implementing rules and regulations (IRR) 12 years after it became a law, Sen. Manuel “Lito” Lapid, who authored it, said in a statement issued on Wednesday...

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A proposal requiring social media users to submit a valid proof of identification before registration and penalizing those who will use fraudulent identities made its return to the Senate...

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The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) is pushing for a shorter employment contract for the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) once the redeployment of Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia resumes on Nov. 7 this year...

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The Supreme Court (SC) has approved the exemption of Bar examiners and personnel who will be engaged in the conduct of the 2022 Bar examinations this November from the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) requirements for lawyers...

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The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is now considered the “most aggressive” Central Bank in the region in terms of hiking policy rates leading to an increase in the country’s two-year bond yields, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)...

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The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) revised upward anew its total rice import forecast for the Philippines this year to a record level of 3.4 million metric tons (MMT), from an earlier estimate of 3.2 MMT...

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The Philippines and Israel are expected to strengthen their bilateral relations, particularly in the areas of information and communications technology (ICT) and innovation, officials of both nations said on Wednesday...

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The French government is in an “ongoing discussion” with the Marcos administration about the potential purchase of its first-ever submarine, French Ambassador to the Philippines Michèle Boccoz said during a press briefing in Mandaluyong on Wednesday...

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The Philippine government’s investigation of human rights violations in connection with its deadly war on drugs lacks transparency, according to the United Nations (UN) Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights...

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The Philippines’ ranking in index measuring digital wellbeing went down seven places amid lower scores in Internet connection affordability, quality, and stability, as well as cybersecurity...

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The Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) warned the public to watch out for possible falling debris from a Chinese rocket that was launched on Tuesday night...

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The number of newly reported Covid-19 cases has dropped dramatically, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, urging the world to seize the opportunity to end the pandemic...

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President Volodymyr Zelensky promised he would lead Ukraine to victory in its war against Russia as he visited recaptured towns on Wednesday, while pro-Russian officials claimed to have halted Kyiv’s forces for now...

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TikTok is serving up misinformation to users searching for news about politics, climate change, Covid-19, the war in Ukraine and more, according to a report released Wednesday...

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Central bankers must be persistent in fighting broad-based inflation, International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva said on Wednesday, conceding that many economists were wrong when they predicted last year that inflation would ease...

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Women expect higher inflation then men and their outlook is primarily driven by food costs, a European Central Bank study found on Wednesday, a potential concern for policymakers as the rise in food prices is in double digit territory and increasing...

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Humanity is "going in the wrong direction" on climate change due to its addiction to fossil fuels, the United Nations said Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) in an assessment showing that planet-warming emissions are now higher than before the pandemic...

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Wall Street stocks ended with gains Wednesday, retracing some of the losses from one day earlier driven by stronger-than-expected US inflation data that sparked fears of more Federal Reserve interest rate hikes...

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The reported congestion in the port of Manila's container yards have slowed down the unloading of containers from vessels and the transport of cargoes to their destination...

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A gauge of global stock markets stumbled for a second straight day on Wednesday, September 14, as a reading on inflation did little to alter expectations the US Federal Reserve will stay aggressive in fighting inflation, while the yen jumped as Japan indicated it could move to prop up the weak currency...

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A Senate committee took the first step Wednesday toward the United States directly providing billions of dollars in military aid to Taiwan and making ties more official, ramping up support following soaring tensions with Beijing...

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The French foreign minister said Wednesday that the war in Ukraine will not overshadow France's commitments to the Indo-Pacific region, where India and its allies view China's rising influence with suspicion...

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The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is now considered the “most aggressive” Central Bank in the region in terms of hiking policy rates leading to an increase in the country’s two-year bond yields, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)...

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The so-called “parking” of billions of pesos worth of government projects has been resuscitated in the proposed P5.3-trillion national budget for 2023, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano claimed on Wednesday as he called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s economic managers to look out for a “syndicate” behind the alleged scheme...

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The Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) P2.3-billion budget for 2023 sailed through the House Committee on Appropriations hearing in just 10 minutes, with neither a briefing nor a question, and with the chamber’s leaders led by Speaker Martin Romualdez in attendance...

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Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Jaime Bautista admitted on Wednesday that the long-term implementation of its Libreng Sakay Program, which provided fare-free public transport rides to millions of commuters, is “untenable.”..

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The Department of Education (DepEd) has asked President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and Congress for an additional P100 billion to “solve all the problems of basic education” in the Philippines...

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The Philippines will have 150,000 metric tons of imported sugar in November after the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) issued Sugar Order (SO) 2 allowing the importation of the sweetener...

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President Marcos has maintained that investigators of the International Criminal Court (ICC) need not come to the Philippines to look into the alleged crimes against humanity committed by his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte and the latter’s subordinates in the war on drugs...

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China-backed National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, the only operator of the country’s transmission system, assured the public there will be no rotational brownouts, at least in the next few days, as the national grid resumes uninterrupted operations...

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President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. expressed confidence that his chief legal counsel, Juan Ponce Enrile, will not betray him despite the fact that the latter helped oust his father during the 1986 People Power Revolution...

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A week after playing down reports of an increase in kidnappings particularly of Chinese nationals, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Philippine National Police on Wednesday vowed to put a stop to what they called the new wave of crimes brought by foreigners, especially those engaged in the Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) industry...

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The Senate blue ribbon committee has invited a “dead” person to its investigation into the purchase of alleged overpriced but outdated laptops for use by public school teachers...

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The Department of Education (DepEd) under Vice President Sara Duterte is eyeing a “new curriculum” for the controversial K to 12 program for basic education...

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The Marcos administration has allotted P12.5 billion for the transformation and digitalization of government processes and transactions next year, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said...

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Despite the easing of the outdoor mask mandate, Filipinos should still wear face masks as their “default” habit, especially in so-called high-risk areas, the Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday...

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The National Government (NG) is now in the process of examining the methodology of estimating the country’s poverty estimates, particularly the computation of poverty thresholds, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda)...

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Sugar prices may soon drop as imports of refined sugar are expected to arrive by November...

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Sales of vehicles in the Philippines nearly doubled in August, driven by strong demand for commercial vehicles as Congress considers a measure removing the excise tax exemption for pickup trucks...

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As most graduates today face challenges in securing a job, leading employment platform Jobstreet and the Civil Service Commission tied up to launch an online career fair aimed at empowering fresh graduates who are part of the so-called lockdown generation...

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Active stakeholder engagement will allow public-private partnerships (PPPs) to contribute to the Philippines' post-pandemic recovery, a senior National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) official said...

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Average electricity spot market prices in early September climbed by nearly P2 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) from a month ago as demand rose with the resumption of in-person classes in the country, according to the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (Iemop)...

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World markets slipped yesterday after Wall Street fell the most since June 2020 as a report showed inflation has kept a surprisingly strong grip on the US economy...

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State-run pension fund Social Security System (SSS) plans to invest some of its resources into infrastructure projects in a bid to widen its investment portfolio and contribute to the government’s overall thrust...

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Service contractors that provide temporary or outsourced workers—including those in a work-from-home (WFH) arrangement—need to pay local government taxes based on the location of their head office instead of their clients’ premises...

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