The Status!

    


           

The Philippine economy seems comparatively well-equipped to weather the global financial crisis in the short term as a result of the efforts over the past few years to control the fiscal deficit, bring down debt ratios, and adopt internationally-accepted banking sector capital adequacy standards. The Philippine banking sector -- which comprises 80% of total financial system resources -- has limited direct exposure to distressed financial institutions overseas (i.e., $2 billion, less than 2 percent of aggregate banking system assets). Conservative regulatory policies, including the prohibition of investments in structured products, shielded the insurance sector from exposure to distressed financial firms. While direct financial exposure to problematic investments and financial institutions is limited, the impact of external shocks to economic growth, poverty alleviation, employment, remittances, credit availability, and overall investment prospects is a concern.

Latest Update of the Philippine Navy and Philippine Air Force modernization program - Maestrale Warships, T-50 fighter jets, and more

It's been a while that we haven't updated our articles regarding the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) modernization program. It's not that there is no progress of the program but it's just because I was quite busy within the last few weeks dealing with some personal stuff. Another thing, I don't like to publish this type of article without thorough research and investigation. But anyways, I am ready to bring to you the latest development of the Philippine Navy and Philippine Air Force modernization program.

So, what's the current status? Are we heading to a better future?

There are two (2) C-130 planes which are expected to be in operation this year as quoted from the SONA of our President Benigno Aquino III.  Philstar also published an article about this in May 2012. However, don't expect too much yet. These two C-130 planes aren't brand new. These are refurbished but still it could augment its heavy-lift capability. C-130 is used by the military to transport troops and supplies. It has also been used to transport relief goods and other supplies for victims of typhoons and other forms of calamities.

The Current State of Nutrition in the 

Philippines



The Current State of Nutrition in the Philippines:
Children in Focus, culling the data from the recently completed 6th National Nutrition
Surveys, as the FNRI celebrates with the nutrition community this year’s month of
nutrition and as our contribution to the efforts of government and partners of government
in improving the nutritional status of our children. 
The country adopted the Millennium Declaration in 2000 and committed to
building a better world in the 21st century. Among the strategies towards “building a
better world” is by focusing on children and childhood, and their nutrition situation.
One of the Millennium Development Goals in the Millennium Declaration
directly concerns us in the nutrition sector. This is: the eradication of poverty and hunger
in the new millennium. The target is to halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of
people who suffer from hunger, as indicated from the prevalence of underweight-for-age
0-5 y old children, and the proportion of the population below the minimum level of
dietary energy consumption.
The 6th NNS results therefore (will) help (us) chart the challenge … of

The Current State of Nutrition in the Philippines:

Children in Focus, culling the data from the recently completed 6th National Nutrition

Surveys, as the FNRI celebrates with the nutrition community this year’s month of

nutrition and as our contribution to the efforts of government and partners of government

in improving the nutritional status of our children. 

The country adopted the Millennium Declaration in 2000 and committed to

building a better world in the 21st century. Among the strategies towards “building a

better world” is by focusing on children and childhood, and their nutrition situation.

One of the Millennium Development Goals in the Millennium Declaration

directly concerns us in the nutrition sector. This is: the eradication of poverty and hunger

in the new millennium. The target is to halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of

people who suffer from hunger, as indicated from the prevalence of underweight-for-age

0-5 y old children, and the proportion of the population below the minimum level of

dietary energy consumption.

The 6th NNS results therefore (will) help (us) chart the challenge … of The Current State of Nutrition in the Philippines:

Children in Focus, culling the data from the recently completed 6th National Nutrition

Surveys, as the FNRI celebrates with the nutrition community this year’s month of

nutrition and as our contribution to the efforts of government and partners of government

in improving the nutritional status of our children. 

The country adopted the Millennium Declaration in 2000 and committed to

building a better world in the 21st century. Among the strategies towards “building a

better world” is by focusing on children and childhood, and their nutrition situation.

One of the Millennium Development Goals in the Millennium Declaration

directly concerns us in the nutrition sector. This is: the eradication of poverty and hunger

in the new millennium. The target is to halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of

people who suffer from hunger, as indicated from the prevalence of underweight-for-age

0-5 y old children, and the proportion of the population below the minimum level of

dietary energy consumption.

Philippines to take 45 years to reach Singapore status—BSP exec

CAGAYAN DE ORO City, Philippines—It would take the Philippines 45 years before it reaches the current economic status of Singapore, according to a Bangko Sentral official.

Antonio Cintura, BSP’s director of economic research, said during the Philippine Economic briefing attended by business leaders here on Monday, that if the Singapore economic status was to be achieved, the country should make a lot of adjustments to make the economy run like a well-oiled machine.

Cintura said the Philippine economy has indeed been growing but sluggishly compared with neighboring countries, particularly in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) region.

The current economic growth of the Philippines is four percent.

“The Philippines is still lagging behind,” he said, adding that the Philippines has been running only next to Cambodia as the slowest-growing country in the Asean.

Compared with other rising Asian economies, the Philippines has also been behind, he said.

“On an average, China has a sustained an economic growth of 9-10 percent while the Philippines has only four percent growth annually,” Cintura said. Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said the country might be poised for growth during the “Asian Century.”

The Asian Century is the so-called period when Asian economies would be stronger.

He said that a growth of 7-8 percent would be “reachable” for the country in the next five to seven years.

“We are building a stronger economy and creating more and better opportunities for our countrymen,” Cintura said.

He added that the country would weather the global economic and financial crisis now gripping many countries because the Philippines “is entering into the global economic and financial crisis from a position of strength.”

“The strengthening of macroeconomic fundamentals and stronger fiscal position placed the country in a good position to deal with both natural calamities and economic and financial volatilities,” he said.

Beltran said the economic fundamentals of the Aquino government also made them optimistic that the government would attain its target budget deficit of 3.5 percent for the current year and 2.5 percent in 2012.

He said to realize this, the government would continue its zero-based budgeting (ZBB) and to review all budget proposals to cut waste of fund.

“In ZBB, all national government agencies are required to present their programs’ outputs and outcomes,” he said.

Achilles Bravo, Southern Mindanao director of the Department of Budget, said the public expenditure management system adopted by the Aquino government would ensure that “every peso the government spends goes to the right projects.”

Beltran, meanwhile, said that the government has been increasing its revenue collections because of the strengthening of the Run After Tax Evaders (RATE), Run After the Smugglers (RATS), and the Revenue Integrity Protection Service campaigns.

FERTILITY DECLINE IN THE PHILIPPINES:

CURRENT STATUS, FUTURE PROSPECTS

Demographers have been closely monitoring the trend in fertility in the Philippines since the 

1960s.  The first national survey that included detailed measurement of reproductive behaviors and 

childbearing desires was the 1968 National Demographic Survey).  Almost simultaneously, and by no 

means coincidentally, the reduction of the rate of population growth was articulated as national policy, 

followed soon thereafter by the provision of family planning services through government outlets

beginning in the early 1970s.  Successive National Demographic Surveys were conducted at five-year 

intervals, with the 1968 NDS followed by the 1973 NDS and continuing through the 1998 National 

Demographic and Health Survey, seven surveys in total.  Few countries in any region of the world  –

developing or developed  – have maintained periodic and comprehensive measurement of reproductive 

behavior and its components over such an extended period of time.  The trajectory of fertility decline is 

better understood, and with more precision, in the Philippines than in most countries.

The plethora of demographic data has by no means quelled the debates surrounding fertility levels 

and trends in the Philippines.  In the early years, the demographic data provided some indications that the 

Philippines might followed the rapid fertility path of East Asian nations such as Korea and Taiwan:  

fertility estimates from the 1978 national survey showed that fertility decline had accelerated during the 

1970s, in step with the expanded availability of family planning services in the first half of the decade.  

But later surveys revealed that a rapid pace of decline was not maintained.  Instead, brief bursts of rapid 

decline were followed by longer stretches of languid decline (Zablan, 2000).  The overall picture is of a 

fertility transition that has proceeded far more slowly than most neighboring countries in East and

Southeast Asia , and at the beginning of this decade the TFR was approximately 3.5 births per woman, a 

substantial distance above replacement level.  A review of the past three decades shows that, when the 

government policy has included explicit goals, the amount of fertility decline has consistently fallen short 

of those goals (Zablan 2000).  The related questions that have prompted a two-decades-old debate are:  

Why has fertility not declined more rapidly in the Philippines?  What sets the Philippines’ experience 

apart from neighboring countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, and Vietnam?

These questions are retrospective.  In this paper, our concern is prospective:  Where is fertility 

heading in the next few decades?  When, if ever, is the Philippines likely to attain replacement-level 

fertility?  As a pivoting point for this discussion, we note that the most recent projections by the United 

Nations Population Division  – the 2000 Revision (United Nations, 2001)  – show replacement-level 

fertility (TFR = 2.1) attained in the period 2015-2020, i.e. roughly fifteen years from the present.  Our aim 

in this paper is to evaluate the reasonableness of this projection and, more specifically, to consider what 

factors (social, economic, cultural, programmatic) might facilitate, or impede, the progression of fertility 

from its current level in excess of three births per woman to a national average of two births per woman.

Status of Wind Power Development            

in the Philippines

and Drafting of the Philippines Wind

Power Development Roadmap

– Next Step

Existing Wind Power Projects

33MW wind farm project of Northwind

Power Development Corp., Bangui, Ilocos

Norte    

  

References:
http://diversityhuman.com
http://www.fnri.dost.gov.ph
http://business.inquirer.net
http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/completingfertility/RevisedCOSTELLO-CASTERLINEpaper.PDF
http://www.sari-energy.org/PageFiles/