The Senate version funds new laws which were not yet passed when the 2019 national budget was being prepared at the executive level. For months, we waited for the executive to propose funding for laws they themselves advocated. In the absence of such, the Senate, in bipartisan

The proposal to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) calls for evidence-based legislation. It should be grounded on facts, supported by studies. Not on whims, and unproven theories. We need to read the scholarship behind the proposed policy. In the absence of

Universal Healthcare Bill (Senate Bill 1896 and House Bill 5784) • Principal Author: Senator Ralph G. Recto • Sponsor and co-Author: Senator JV Ejercito Sen. JV thanking the Principal Author and Co-Authors of the UHC Bill: https://youtu.be/5kle8G8C_bg?t=270

There are gaps in the proposed 2019 budget which the Senate can address in a transparent, legal way. No one is to be blamed for the oversight, as these unfunded mandates arose from laws passed after the 2019 national budget has been prepared in the executive branch. In addition

Republic of the Philippines Congress of the Philippines Metro Manila Seventeenth Congress Third Regular Session Begun and held in Metro Manila, on Monday, the twenty-third day of July, two thousand eighteen. [REPUBLIC ACT NO. 11148] AN ACT SCALING UP THE NATIONAL AND LOCAL HEALTH

Dominic Sytin was a silent worker for Philippine progress. His niche was not in fancy cars that ferry people from point A to B, but in vehicles which move the economy forward. He made heavy equipment affordable to the small businessman, the countryside trader, to the promdi

Explanation of Vote, Bicameral Conference Report : “An Act Liberalizing the Importation, Exportation and Trading of Rice, Lifting for the Purpose the Quantitative Import Restriction on Rice, and for Other Purposes” Mr. President, my dear colleagues: The bill has its merits but it

Mr. President, fellow senators, colleagues from the House: A fellow Batangueño based in Dubai, one of the fans of this “Twitter rockstar,” has texted me to confirm the nominee because he is “an OFW, an Outstanding Facebook Warrior.” For this is true, Mr. President: While we may

The Bicameral Conference Committee approved today the consolidated version of the Universal Health Care (UHC) bill principally authored in the Senate by Senator Ralph Recto. Salient features of the UHC bill: 1. Automatically enroll all Filipinos under the National Health

As the government piles up debts without congressional review, a law requiring the country’s lead economic managers to make a biannual appearance before a joint committee of Congress to report on the country’s debt and finances “has become more urgent.” “Kung may Ulat sa Bayan