Maniolas

Survey finds that despite improvements, companies should do more to engage APAs by involving employees in strategic decisions and offering more growth opportunities. http://asiasociety.org/ NEW YORK – Asia Society today issued the 2015 Asian Pacific Americans Corporate Survey at the Diversity Leadership Forum in New York. The study, now in its sixth year, surveys employees from Fortune 500-level companies across different industries to measure how APAs perceive their employers and to learn more about the Asian Pacific American (APA) workforce. “The world’s leading companies know the vital role the Asia Pacific consumer and workforce leaders will play in their future,” said Josette Sheeran, President and CEO of Asia Society. “Yet, there is a critical gap in knowledge about the growth, development and advancement of this group.” The survey findings indicate that compared to 2014, APAs see employers more favorably across every category. The greatest year-over-year improvement was in “APA Market Opportunity,” which tracks APA employee involvement in market strategy. 84% of APA employees responded favorably, a jump of 23% from 2014. Despite the improvement, findings across the survey reveal that APAs are still not fully brought into strategic conversations. While 99% of surveyed APA employees report they really care about the success of their companies, not all feel fully engaged. 86% of employees at top performing companies felt that their company encouraged the participation of APA employees in market/business development activities. At other companies, only 65% of employees on average felt encouraged. The 21% gap between top performers and others Read More …

President Benigno S. Aquino III receives a scale model of the 2-classroom school building presented by the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc., (FFCCCII), led by its president Angel Ngu, during the oath taking ceremony at the Rizal Hall of the Malacañan Palace on Tuesday (June 23, 2015). The Operation: Barrio Schools is the longest running and biggest private sector led development program focused on educational infrastructure. To date, some 4,933 school buildings – equivalent to 9,866 classrooms – have already been turned over to public schools nationwide, benefitting nearly one million schoolchildren. Also in photo is Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. (MNS Photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – Retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Rainier Cruz III on Tuesday was sworn in as the new director general of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), which maintains the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City. Accompanied by his family, Cruz was sworn in by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima at the Department of Justice in Manila. The BuCor is a DOJ agency. “My marching order to him was to make BuCor and the NBP drug-free,” De Lima told reporters. Cruz replaced BuCor officer-in-charge Franklin Bucayu, who earlier asked President Benigno Aquino III to remove him from the post due to several “death threats” and “issues with health.” Bucayu informed De Lima he intended to leave the BuCor in early April, barely four months after a raid led by the Justice secretary at the NBP led to the discovery of prohibited items and Read More …

Marlon Garcia of Smartmatic Corporation shows the use of a Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machine at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) headquarters in Manila on Tuesday. Use of the PCOS in the 2016 elections is still up in the air after the Supreme Court voided Comelec’s maintenance contract with Smartmatic last April. (MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) — Malacañang on Wednesday reminded Cabinet officials who plan to run in the 2016 national elections to be mindful of their actions, lest they be accused of early politicking. In a statement, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said Cabinet officials are “expected to abide by the norms of good governance and ethical conduct.” “This implies adherence to the election code and other related laws and conducting themselves in such a way that their actions will not be perceived as tantamount to engaging to partisan political activity,” he said. He added that Cabinet members who have plans for the 2016 elections “would be well advised to conduct themselves in a manner that would not be misconstrued as politicking.” Coloma nevertheless pointed out that no member of President Benigno Aquino III’s Cabinet has formally declared intention to be a candidate in the 2016 polls. Resign now Opposition lawmakers such as Senator JV Ejercito and Kabataan party-list Rep. Terry Ridon have earlier called on Cabinet officials to resign if they plan to seek public office next year. Some Cabinet secretaries, including Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority Director General Joel Villanueva and Read More …

Newly appointed Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Chairman Andres Bautista (left) and commissioner Rowena Guanzon face the media at the COMELEC office in Intramuros, Manila on Monday. Bautista was the chairman of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) prior to his new assignment. (MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday clarified that appointed government officials need not resign from their posts to be able to run in the 2016 elections. “Ang rule, kapag nag-file ng COC (certificate of candidacy) ang isang appointed official, ipso facto deemed resigned ka na,” Comelec spokesman James Jimenez explained. “The mere fact that you filed a certificate of candidacy operates as a resignation from your appointive position,” he said. The rule is different for elected officials, however. They are not deemed resigned even when they file their COC. Jimenez cited as examples senators who still maintained their position even after losing the elections. Calls have been mounting for Cabinet officials planning to run in next year’s polls to resign after Vice President Jejomar Binay left the Aquino Cabinet. They have also been urged to quit so they will not be accused of exploiting government resources. Among the Cabinet secretaries and government officials expected to run next year are Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Francis Tolentino and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) director general Joel Villanueva. Malacañang, for its part, stressed that Cabinet secretaries and all Read More …

Latest poll surveys conducted by two prominent public opinion pollster firms show that neophyte Senator Grace Poe Llamanzares has overtaken Vice President Jejomar Binay as the most preferred choice of voters to be their next president. She is also the top choice of voters if she decides to run for vice president, based on the same surveys conducted by both Social Weather Stations (SWS) and Pulse Asia early this month. The same survey also showed Interior Secretary Mar Roxas gaining some ground. The camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay should be wary about these new political developments unfolding. This could derail Binay’s presidential ambition if he can’t counter what I believe is a ploy by the Aquino administration to pre-condition the minds of the people about the Vice President’s inability to win the presidency. Allegations of corruption against Binay and his family may have contributed to the slippage of Binay’s ratings on the latest presidential surveys. We all know that political surveys conducted by pollster firms in the Philippines are not reliable. But they can surely make or unmake anyone running for a public office. It is believed that surveys are being manipulated and meant to generate public perception that a particular candidate has pulled away from other aspiring presidential bets. Voters should know by now that these pollster firms, particularly the SWS and Pulse Asia, are not actually conducting honest-to-goodness pre-election surveys. What they are doing is to pre-condition the minds of voters toward a bandwagon effect in favor Read More …