PH Poverty Remains the Same Despite Economic Growth

According to the National Statistical Coordination Board, economic growth over the past six years hardly made a dent on poverty in the Philippines, as the percentage of Filipinos living below the poverty line remained practically the same between 2006 and 2012, reports Inquirer.net. The poverty incidence stood at 27.9 percent in the first semester of 2012—“practically unchanged” from the same period in 2009 (28.6 percent) and in 2006 (28.8 percent).

Allegedly Abused By Pres. Assad's Cousin, Filipinas Flown Home

MANILA--Two Filipinas who were employed as domestic workers of a cousin of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad are back in the Philippines, bringing with them nothing but their mobile phones and stories of hardship and abuse, reports GMA News. One of the women were allegedly slapped and spit at by her employer who seemed to “be angry at our country.” The employer fled to America when conflict broke out in Syria and left them at his mountaintop house with some of his guards, without food and pay. They fled as shooting came closer to the house.

Advice to Balikbayan Box Senders

MANILA--The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) reminded consumers, companies and overseas Filipino workers who send balikbayan boxes to the Philippines to make sure the freight forwarder is accredited with the Philippine Shippers' Bureau (PSB) to avoid possible problems, reports ABS-CBN News. (A list of accredited freight forwarders as of end-December 2012 can be found here.) Trade Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya said accredited forwarders follow government quality standards and observe a code of ethics in doing business, as well as insurance coverage in case of accidents and non-delivery.

Pres. Aquino Among TIME's 100 Most Influential

MANILA, Philippines—President Aquino has been named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people of the world. “The sputtering economy stabilized and became hot,” wrote Time news director Howard Chua-Eoan in the magazine’s profile of President Aquino, adding that Aquino “pushed through a reproductive-rights law that many said was impossible in the fervently Catholic nation.”

CA School to Be Named for Fil-Am Heroes in 2015

UNION CITY, California--After months of heated discussions and rallies, the New Haven Board of Education approved a motion Tuesday night to rename Alvarado Middle School after Filipino-American leaders, reports UnionCity.Patch.com. Board members voted 3-2 in favor of changing the school’s name to Iltliong-Veracruz Middle School after Filipino American labor leadersLarry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz, making it the first school in the country to name a school after Filipino Americans.

Mom Pleads for Son Who Is on Malaysian Death Row

​The family of a Filipino overseas worker, convicted and sentenced to death by a Malaysian court in Kota Kinabalu for drug trafficking, appealed to President Benigno Aquino and Vice President Jejomar Binay to help save the life of the accused, reports Philstar.com. Jerry Quijano, he accused, was working as a driver-carpenter in Sabah.

Top Tax Rankings Criticized as Flawed

MANILA--Several lawmakers on Wednesday criticized the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for coming out with a list of top 500 individual taxpayers led by Kris Aquino that they claimed were incomplete and inaccurate, reports Inquirer.net. Sen. Ralph Recto, head of the Senate ways and means committee, said the BIR should have advised the public that its top 500 list covered a small sample of individuals who filed their income tax returns and not the entire universe of Filipino taxpayers.  The list does not include the taxes paid by individuals from stock sales and dividends, and bank deposits. Kabataan Rep. Raymond Palatino said the list created not only confusion but also suspicion that the mega-rich were not paying their taxes correctly.

OFW Refugee Camp Grows in Jeddah

JEDDAH–A British national living in this city “working for a large international company” sent INQUIRER.net U.S. Bureau photos of the Filipino refugee camp that “established itself next to the Philippine Embassy.” He counts around 1,500 Filipino men women and children the youngest of whom is three weeks old. “These refugees, of which most have suffered abuse in one form or another–sexual, physical, non-release or non-payment of salary,” he writes.