//
SEP
10
2021

RA 11589: Strengthening and Modernizing the Bureau of Fire Protection

Republic of the PhilippinesCongress of the PhilippinesMetro ManilaEighteenth CongressThird Regular Session Begun and held in Metro Manila, on Monday, the twenty-sixth day of July, two thousand twenty-one. [REPUBLIC ACT NO. 11589] AN ACT STRENGTHENING AND MODERNIZING THE BUREAU OF
SEP
08
2021

After ‘carpetbagger’ earned billions from pricey China-made PPEs, Recto wants ‘Buy Filipino’ rule restored in nat’l budget

The purchase of billions of pesos of PPEs, face shields and masks from China – when better quality locally-produced ones were available at a far lower price – underscores the need to restore the “Buy Filipino” provision in the national budget, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph
SEP
07
2021

Don’t muzzle independent researchers; listen to Leni, Isko

Scientists should not be muzzled during the pandemic as their views guide government in decision making, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said. “We can’t contain the pandemic if we censor studies,” Recto said, referring to calls to stop the independent OCTA Research from
SEP
07
2021

Money lost to expired medicines can fund Tocilizumab purchase

Malacañang should convene a task force, to include diplomats and Taipans, that will solve the shortage of Tocilizumab and other anti-pneumonia drugs made scarce by the surge in the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said it is ti
AUG
31
2021

DOH seeks P819 M for PPEs: ‘Don’t let PS, PITC buy it; disclose specs; buy Filipino’

The Department of Health (DOH) is planning to buy 758,700 sets of personal protective equipment (PPE) next year at an average cost of P1,079 each, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said. The P819 million needed for the purchase has been included in the 2022 national
AUG
25
2021

Booster shots? Palace seeks standby P45B in ’22 budget

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto welcomed the administration’s request for standby authority to buy as much as P45.4 billion worth of vaccine booster shots, should the same be needed next year. Recto said the amount is part of the P151.6 billion in unprogrammed funds in
AUG
24
2021

COA must go on hiring binge to fill 5,826 job vacancies while 30% of auditors near retirement

Four in 10 personnel positions – or 5,826 – in the Commission on Audit (COA) are vacant, a manpower lack that will be aggravated when 1,000 personnel who are in the 61-65 age group retire. “That’s the equivalent of 10 Army battalions,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph
AUG
24
2021

‘Pasa-buy’ scheme in gov’t procurement created ‘two mega parking lots’ for funds

The institutionalization of “pasa-buy” in government purchases has transformed two agencies into “mega parking lots of funds” which, despite years-long delays in delivering the goods and projects they were contracted to buy, still raked in hundreds of millions in commissions.
AUG
11
2021

‘Nationalizing’ ayuda distribution bad for people, nat’l gov’t

Big cities like Manila have the “boots on the ground and the muscle memory” to conduct large scale distribution of aid, whether in cash or in kind, “complex operations which understaffed national agencies may find hard to do on their own,” Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto
JUL
29
2021

DOF praised for suspending tax on private schools

The order suspends the collection of the tax. The permanent solution, however, will be in the form of a law purging all ambivalence in that provision of the Tax Code. Still, it is a welcome move and I thank the good Secretary of Finance for this order, which would help ease the