Author: DAVAO TODAY

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Philippines: Labor dept to create Maritime Office

MANILA– To speed up assistance to the maritime industry particularly in addressing the concerns for Filipino seafarers, Labor and Employment Secretary Arturo D. Brion is set to create a maritime office under his direct supervision.

Brion said that the Maritime Office will be manned by a full time maritime officer, LCDR Eustacio Nimrod Enriquez who is currently serving as Deputy Executive Director of the National Maritime Polytechnic (NMP) in Tacloban.
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Philippines president: ?We are not relaxing on fiscal reforms?

MANILA — President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo wants to assure investors, creditors, and credit watchers that the Philippines is not going to backslide in its bid to shore up finances, saying the government can balance the budget and fund an ambitious infrastructure program even without new taxes.

The Chief Executive issued the statement as international ratings agencies and multilateral institutions recently warned the government against being complacent with respect to fiscal reforms.
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Concerned Australians to Philippines president: Stop the killings

Groups in Australia have joined in protest against the continuing killings of unarmed civilians in the Philippines through a postcard campaign featuring peace and justice advocate Bishop Alberto Ramento of the Philippine Independent Church killed by alleged Philippine military elements in Oct. 2006 in his convent in Tarlac.

This follows the recent military abduction and torture of pastor Berlin Guerrero (48) in Laguna of the Uniting Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), forcibly taken from his wife and 3 children by soldiers in 2 vans.
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From Throughout Asia: Honing Expertise in the Political Economy of Policy Reform

By V. Bruce J. Tolentino
The Asia Foundation

Economic policy reform is inherently political. Economic policies are codified into public laws, regulations, ordinances and other legal instruments that establish the ?rules of the game? and allocate access and assets among various members of the body politic. Changes in economic policy affect the status or welfare of communities in varying ways, often evoking resistance from those whose welfare or status may be diminished by the reforms.
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Greece: Bringing traffickers to justice must not be at the expense of the rights of their victims

Trafficking for forced prostitution in Greece is believed to have increased tenfold in the last 10 years. However, the government has not yet provided sufficient measures to protect and support trafficked women and girls, Amnesty International said today.
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