I was watching the news tonight and to my surprise there are a lot of economic stability in the Philippines right now. Let’s break it down as its hard to remember with all the problems that the Philippines have economically:

• Price of LPG will rise from 1 Peso to 1.5 Pesos.
• The Price of rice doubled in Mindanao the normal 18 - 25 per kilo or rice is now 40 - 45 per kilo in Mindano.
• There will be a rally this weekend by FEJODAP. Tigil pasada which meant that all public utility jeepneys will not service that day. They want an increase from 8 Pesos to 10 Pesos for the first 4 Kilometer ride.
• The price of vegetables also increased.
• Meralco (electric bills) has always been high.

It is also said that a family of five needs to earn at least 8,000 Pesos per month to survive. But now, it has been upped to 10,000 Pesos per month. A family of five needs to have at least 10,000 pesos (around $250) per month to survive.

With all of this happening to the Philippines right now, are you worried? For me, I’m not worried, I mean, what can you do? We shouldn’t focus our thoughts on things we can not control… They say that its hard to live in the Philippines right now… But, is it any better 10 years, 20 years ago? With martial law and civil war, is it any better? We shouldn’t blame the government if all of this is happening, prices may go up or down, because no one can control that, what we should be worried about is how we are going to cope with the situation… We should stop whining and just thing of ways to make our lives better…

I’m tired hearing things such as that, with no hope their life easier, better. All they want is to rant that the government is corrupt. I salute all people who have the guts to fight the condition in the Philippines. I salute the balot vendor that never fail to work and sell, to make their life easier. I salute them because they are living and working on ways to make something happen. Little do they have effect but at least they fight back. Not just whine…

If we really want to help the Philippines, be an entrepreneur. As most business tycoon already said, that this country needs entrepreneurs.

120 Days Leave for Filipina Women, Good or Bad?

It has been said in the news that the woman party list (or should I say feminist group) Grabriela filed a petition on the Philippine Congress to extend the normal 60 day maternity leave for pregnant working women to a full 120 days.

Now I am not against giving women a time to rest after their hard labor. But come on people. . . I hope Grabriela was thinking before they made their move there, 120 day leave? If I am a boss, its not practical to hire a woman in my work force if she got pregnant that means I’ll be in trouble. 120 is too much. Instead of helping the Filipinas by giving them an added vacation, that vacation might get permanent.

This is a guy’s point of view, of course women are open to post a comment on this. But for me, this is a no no. Its kind of . . . well, not thought of in the part of Gabriela Party List.

What are your thoughts on this?

Full report here

MANILA, Philippines — A bill extending the maternity leave benefits for women from the current 60 days to 120 days was filed Tuesday at the House of Representatives.

House Bill 3973 known as “An act increasing maternity leave benefits from 60 days to 120 days or four months” was initiated by Gabriela Women’s Partylist Representatives Liza Maza and Luzviminda Ilagan.

“Extending the period for maternity leave will not only give mothers the opportunity to fully recover, it will also give them the chance to breastfeed infants during the first four months,” Ilagan said in a statement.

The proposed legislation, the lawmaker said, would also help address the maternal and infant mortality rates in the country.

In their explanatory note of the bill, the authors cited studies by the Health Alliance for Democracy, which showed that 10 mothers died daily due to pregnancy and childbirth.

“Infant mortality was recorded at 25 per 1,000 live births in 2005 while maternal mortality was 162 per 100,000 live births in 2006,” they said.

“The Philippines ranks 84th out of 179 countries with available data of infant mortality rate,” they further said.

Ilagan said the Philippines, along with Malaysia, also ranked lowest in Southeast Asia in providing for maternity health care in terms of the length of period of maternity leave benefits.

“Vietnam allows 120-180 days while Thailan, Cambodia, Indonesia and Laos allow 90 days,” she said.

Source : Inquirer