An additional $9 will be imposed on non-immigrant visa application fees by the United States Embassy starting on June 4. The US Embassy cited the “increasing cost of providing highest-quality service” as the cause for the said increase.
This means visa application fees starting next month would be $140, from a previous $130, for tourist and [...]

Smart Communications launched recently a new service which was aimed to provide mobile communications to Filipinos who still do not have cellular phone. The new service called the Talk ‘N Text Barangay Phone, is being offered through a wireless telephone set powered by a Talk ‘N Text SIM card. It allows users to call any [...]

A new $100 bill has been unveiled by the United States government, and this time, the new bill will give counterfeiters a hard time as it has a unique security feature not seen in any other US dollar bills. According to the US Embassy and the US Secret Service officials, the redesign of the $100 [...]

A new and enhanced tax program is being prepared by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), but this the revenue agency is conducting talks with taipans and conglomerates for the said program. BIR Commissioner Joel Tan-Torres hopes that the agency would be able to collect more from the conglomerates through the enhanced tax measures.
Under the [...]

A new company may be take over the operations of the Manila North Harbor this week as the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) lifted the order for the suspension of the turnover of said port to Manila Harbor Port, Inc. (MNPHI).
MNPHI said it received the notice of turnover from the PPA dated April 8. It has [...]

SkyCable has approved its budget of P1 billion for this year’s capital expenditures. The country’s leading cable television service provider will use it capex funds to expand its current subscriber base and also to develop technologies that will fight signal piracy.
ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. chief financial officer Rolando Valdueza said the network giant’s cable TV subsidiary’s [...]

More than P6.6 billion has been allotted by the Maynilad Water Services Inc. for its capital expenditures for 2010. The water company aims to improve its service coverage and service levers in its concession area. For this, the company is earmarking at least P1.7 billion from its capex funds.
Around P700 million has been set for [...]

The new appointment system at the new consular building of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is in full swing after it was launched last March 9.  The agency said around 55% of people who apply for passport daily have used the system which allow them to complete the process of applying for their passport [...]

Mediaquest Holdings Inc. is allotting around P700 million for its capital expenditure this year. The media unit of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. is earmarking the said amount for its satellite TV business year to increase its subscriber base to 200,000.
At the end of 2009, Cignal Digital TV, Mediaquest’s direct-to-home satellite television has 45,000 subscribers [...]

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will be transferring at the new state-of-the-art consular buildings at Aseana Business Park on Macapagal Avenue in Pasay City starting on March 4. It will first transfer the authentication services on the said date, while all other passport operations will be there too starting March 8.
Applicants for Philippine passports [...]

Infosys BPO Ltd. is planning to put up 3 more call center facilities, expanding its presence in the country. The business process outsourcing firm chief operating officer Ritesh Idnani said, “We are very bullish about the Philippines and we will continue to invest in the next few years.”
Idnani said that while their Philippines operations only [...]

Now, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and even foreign investors outside the country can check a real estate property they are interested in, without necessarily being in the Philippines. That is because the Philippine Chamber of Real Estate and Builders Association (CREBA) have deployed in the Internet the Philippines’ first fully-automated Web GIS parcellary mapping service. [...]

The Senate Bill 3404 or the Philippine Immigration Act of 2010 has provision that raised concern to some business sectors. Section 30 of the said act grants Immigration Officers the power to assign personnel to do overtime work at rates fixed by him when the services rendered is to be paid for by the shipping [...]

A new business process outsourcing (BPO) firm has chosen the Philippines as the location of its latest service center. US-based Cybernet-Slash Support (CSS) recently opened its 1,000-seat facility in Taguig, its first Philippine site and currently has 400 employees. CSS said the new facility will be used for the company’s outbound sales, technology and other [...]

The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) has entered into a conditional sale agreement with the Hong Kong-based First Pacific Company (FPC), which is represented by its local affiliate Two Rivers Pacific Holdings Corporation. The deal will see First Pacific buying approximately 5.9 percent interests of GSIS in Philex Mining Corporation for P6.02 billion.

A posthumous presidential citation was given by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the late Press Secretary Cerge Remonde for the latter’s exemplary public service as government official and noted journalist.
Remonde, who was 51 years old, died of heart attack on Tuesday morning in his house in Makati City. He was found unconscious by aides at home [...]

The Philippine flag-carrier, the Philippine Airlines (PAL) will be resuming its service to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on March 28, 2010, after four years its absence in the said city. The PAL decided to bring back its flight to Riyadh in response to the clamor of more than two million Filipino Overseas Worker (OFW) communities in [...]

The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) reminded the all government offices of the requirements for those who wants to avail of early retirement to ensure the delivery of their benefits, the first one of those requirements being that the availment should be submitted at 60 days prior to their preferred retirement date.

A business process outsourcing (BPO) company who has open a service center here in country is very happy with the industry’s performance this year that it is looking forward to a brighter prospects next year.
The Aegis People Support, an Indian-owned BPO company is planning to expand in Cebu. Company representatives made the announcement when they [...]

In the efforts to crack down software piracy in the Philippines, the Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team (PAPT) caught two men installing counterfeit software as an “add-on service” at the Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan City recently.
The two men, who are now facing up to nine years imprisonment and a fine of P1.5 million for violating [...]