MANILA – Outstanding liabilities of the Philippine government rose by 5.3 percent year-on-year in January this year after it reached P4.99 trillion from the P4.74 trillion same period in 2011, the Bureau of the Treasury reported.

Compared to the previous month's level, the government's debt increased by 0.9 percent from the P4.95 trillion last December.

The bulk, or 57.62 percent, of the total liabilities was sourced from on-shore creditors while the remainder of 42.38 percent came from off-shore fund sources.

Mega job fair to usher in
labor month in WV

Western Visayas is set to start its month-long commemoration of Labor Day on May 1 with a Mega Job Fair, a government press release said.

The Department of Labor and Employment hopes that the job fair would benefit more people especially those who have just graduated, it also said.

“We are expecting that more companies and overseas recruitment agencies will participate and more vacancies will be posted to accommodate a good number of job seekers including our graduates this year,” DOLE-6 director Ponciano Ligutom said.

Council vows
‘industrial peace'

The Tripartite Industrial Peace Council of Negros Occidental is geared towards having industrial peace, human resource and employment facilitation, and workers protection and welfare in all labor groups and establishments in the province, Labor and Employment Director Ponciano Ligutom said Thursday in Bacolod City.

Ligutom said the promotion and maintenance of industrial peace is the priority of the council to give workers and employers the equal rights. He said he has not heard of any workers strike or locked down establishments due to labor and management disputes but he knows that labor unions in the province are active.