Inquirer

Here, at last, comes a serious and determined push in Congress to increase the minimum daily salary in the private sector, some 36 years after the country’s workers experienced their last across-the-board wage hike. The proposed raise—set initially at P100 by the Senate and now doubled by the House of Representatives to P200—offers not just […]…

Keep on reading: Magic number for a just living wage  

MANILA, Philippines — A bill seeking to create the Virology Science and Technology Institute of the Philippines hurdled the Senate’s third and final reading on Monday. At the upper chamber’s plenary session, Senate Bill No. 2893 was approved with 19 affirmative votes, zero negative, and zero abstention. Should the measure be signed into law, the government is mandated to create a virology institute which shall be an attached agency of the Department of Science and Technology. READ: House OKs bill establishing PH Virology Institute, Center for Disease Prevention and Control The virology institute shall also serve as the lead convenor […]…

Keep on reading: Senate OKs bill creating a virology institute

Dia Mate scored an early victory at the Reina Hispanoamericana 2025 pageant in Bolivia, topping the “traje tipico” (national costume) contest, which featured an intricate gold salakot (native hat) and a heavily-beaded banig (traditionally handwoven mat) gown. The Caviten̈a singer was proclaimed “Mejor Traje Tipico” (Best in National Costume) in the auxiliary competition held on Feb. 2 (Feb. 3 in Manila). Mate had earlier made an impression by cracking the Top 5 in the “Miss Turismo” (Miss Tourism) contest, the first auxiliary competition held in the Latin-dominated international beauty pageant. For the national costume competition, Mate showcased a creation by […]…

Keep on reading: Philippines’s Dia Mate is Reina Hispanoamericana Best in National Costume

In a significant move to transform game development education, EXODIA, a leading game development outsourcing company, and the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) have formalized their partnership through a Memorandum of Understanding signed on January 28, 2025.     The groundbreaking collaboration aims to bring the dynamic world of game development directly into the classroom, bridging the crucial gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application. This initiative comes at a time when the gaming industry has established itself as a major driver of technological innovation. A Partnership Beyond Education   During the signing ceremony, Dr. Aahron M. Dinauanao (left) […]…

Keep on reading: EXODIA and USPF forge groundbreaking partnership

Chisinau, Moldova — Moldova started transporting EU-funded gas to the pro-Russian, breakaway region of Transnistria, hit by an unprecedented energy crisis, the government said Saturday. Russian state energy giant Gazprom halted gas supplies to Transnistria on January 1 over a debt dispute with the pro-EU Moldovan government, leaving the roughly 400,000 residents there without any heating or hot water. The European Union stepped in earlier this week, offering 30 million euros ($32 million) in emergency aid to help buy gas for the region. As a result, Moldova’s commission for emergency situations said Saturday it had approved “a series of measures” […]…

Keep on reading: Moldova brings gas to ease energy crisis in Transnistria

PARK CITY, Utah — The war satire “Atropia,” about actors in a military role-playing facility, won the grand jury prize in the Sundance Film Festival‘s U.S. dramatic competition, while the Dylan O’Brien movie “Twinless” got the coveted audience award. Juries and programmers for the 41st edition of the independent film festival announced the major prizewinners […]…

Keep on reading: ‘Atropia’ and ‘Twinless’ win top prizes at Sundance Film Festival

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police chief Gen. Rommel Marbil on Sunday said police operations involving house visits of registered gun owners with expired licenses are meant to remind them to renew their registration or to hand over their firearms, known as Oplan Revitalized Katok, and not a form of harassment. The Commission on Elections […]…

Keep on reading: PNP justifies gun drive opposed by Comelec

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — Maura Estrella could barely walk. But the 92-year-old woman from Barangay Zamora-Concepcion in Iloilo City did not allow her disability to stop her from continuing what she has been doing for 15 years now. “For as long as my body can make it, I will continue to attend the feast of the Candelaria every second of February,” she said. Estrella, who was wheelchair-bound, was among the devotees who trooped to the Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral in Iloilo City on Sunday, Feb. 2, to celebrate the feast of the Our Lady of Candles or the Nuestra Señora de […]…

Keep on reading: Catholics celebrate Our Lady of Candles feast in Iloilo City

IU and Park Bo-gum will captivate hearts in the upcoming slice-of-life Korean drama “When Life Gives You Tangerines,” which is set to premiere on March 7. The premiere date of “When Life Gives You Tangerines” was announced by a streaming platform in a teaser clip, while giving a glimpse of IU and Park’s characters, who will portray Ae-soon and Gwan-sik, respectively. The clip showed IU running her hands through a flower field before linking her arms with Park. It then shifted to glimpses of Jeju Island, where their characters interact on multiple occasions. Set in the 1950s, “When Life Gives […]…

Keep on reading: IU, Park Bo-gum’s ‘When Life Gives You Tangerines’ to premiere on March 7

MANILA – Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) should be taken into consideration before making a decision on the proposed P200 daily wage hike, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said on Saturday. “Whether it’s doable or not doable, siguro (perhaps), to put it in its proper context, out of the more than one million enterprises sa Pilipinas (in the Philippines), more than 95 percent ay nasa (are) micro, small enterprises and probably you can make your answer out of that. Tignan natin (Let’s see),” DOLE Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said during the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City. Laguesma clarified that DOLE is not opposing the proposed […]…

Keep on reading: MSMEs to absorb impact of P200 wage hike – DOLE