Government was told to earmark part of its P3.6 billion annual travel tax collection for the building of roadside rest rooms so that local and foreign tourists bound for the “sun, sea, sand, shopping” destinations will not “self pee” anywhere. Sen. Ralph Recto made the

Government will be spending P92.3 billion next year to hire more teachers, build classrooms, close logistical gaps and meet the growing needs of 25 million public school students. Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto described the proposed outlay as “unprecedented” both in

Is traffic-choked NCR ready for APEC summit 14 months from now? Are we ready for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit? With 14 months to go before 21 heads of government will converge in Metro Manila for the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting, Sen. Ralph Recto wants to

What about the PNR? While its focus – and resources – seem to be concentrated on the breakdown-prone Metro Rail Transit, Sen. Ralph Recto said government should also turn its attention to MRT’s poor cousin – the Philippine National Railways, “an aging workhorse which still

Sen. Ralph Recto said Congress should heed Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno’s appeal for a higher judiciary budget, but any increase, he said, can be attached to performance outcomes like faster disposal of cases. The plea to augment the budget of our courts has merit, Recto sai

What to do with the container vans clogging the port of Manila? Convert some of them into police stations, classrooms, rice storage, mobile clinics, libraries and housing for disaster victims, Sen. Ralph Recto proposed today. Recto said government should study the possibility of

Government was challenged today to “pour more money into the health bucket” so it can improve health facilities, hire more doctors and reduce deaths from curable diseases like tuberculosis. The dare was aired by Senator Ralph Recto who said that while health spending of the

Sponsorship Speech of Sen. Ralph G. Recto on SB No. 712 Mr. President, my dear colleagues: If it takes a village to raise a child, then it must also take a village to care for the old. And one that does so is great, for that is how a society is measured – not by the strength of

Energy, water bill of gov’t offices to rise to P13 B With the national government coughing up more than a billion pesos a month for electricity and water in its offices, calls for conserving utility use in the bureaucracy have been aired anew in the Senate. Senate President

Although the proposed national budget is almost fully itemized, there is however no document which shows if indeed the itemized projects have been completed, Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto said today. Recto said that for all the voluminous budget documents that the