MANDALUYONG CITY — PENALIZED for selling securities without a license, the business arm of nonprofit group Overseas Filipinos Worldnet Foundation, Inc. finally agreed to pay its penalty to the Securities and Exchange Commission after months of delay, the SEC recently revealed.

Documents shown by the SEC to the OFW Journalism Consortium cited that OFW International Holdings Inc. (OFW-IHI) agreed to pay roughly P277,605 as fine for pre-selling securities without a license.

MANILA – THE sparkle of billions of dollars of money sent by Filipinos temporarily or permanently earning abroad is blinding government and the overseas labor deployment industry, a lawmaker warned recently.

“The immediate windfall from the foreign currency remittances of our countrymen overseas makes it so easy to gloss over the reality that the diaspora of our skilled labor exacts a painful toll on the basic industries that should form the building block of a strong Philippine economy,” Congressman Roseller Barinaga said in a privilege speech recently.

MANILA – A US-based migrants’ association with roots in the Philippine province of Romblon is wielding the power of the Filipino fiesta to boost investment of overseas Filipinos in its hometown’s tourism potential.

The United States-based Romblon Discussion List-Cultural, Livelihood and Educational Assistance in Romblon (RDL-Clear) is harnessing the province’s biennial fiesta this April, which officials said would catch money for its ecological tourism project.

IRISAN, Baguio City – THE afternoon sun cuts through the chill here and casts light on metal cages where thousands of honeybees dash through and fro.

“Welcome to Cypress Apiary,” Florida Labon said at her backyard that houses the 20 metal enclosures of honeybees.

Overlooking the slopes of one side of Baguio City, these colonies provide the daily source of income for Labon and her young daughter.