“Senate 5” will not go at each other’s throats

30 September 2015, Comment are Off
With five senators vying for higher posts, including three partymates for one position, Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph G. Recto hopes that the 2016 contest among the five “will not be a take-no-prisoners bruising fight” but something that is “fierce but friendly, intense but...

Recto calls for more ‘conditions’ in CCT and other DSWD mega programs

29 September 2015, Comment are Off
Why not include the spotting and cleaning of mosquito breeding places as among the “conditions” in the government’s Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program? Sen. Ralph G. Recto today said that “merely tweaking” the conditions of the P62 billion Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program...

Senate to OK law ‘reforming, revamping’ controversial agri fund

27 September 2015, Comment are Off
The Senate is set to approve a law that would reform a multi-billion fund financed by tariffs collected from rice and sugar imports to make sure that funds would go to legitimate farmers and fishermen. Sen. Ralph G. Recto said the bill being debated on the Senate floor “will not...

Planting ammo carries life in jail penalty, time for Senate to probe many airport scams

26 September 2015, Comment are Off
The 2013 Firearms Law says that if you are a public official and you plant a bullet in the person or property of an individual for the purpose of framing him up, you go to jail for life. Isang bala lang, hindi ka na sisikatan ng araw sa tagal mo sa bilangguan. Section 38 of...

Inform public of APEC flight disruptions in advance–Recto

19 September 2015, Comment are Off
When Pope Francis flew into town, we closed the airport for hours. When His Holiness left, we shut down the airspace above NAIA for almost half a day. And that was for one head of state only. How much more if 21 heads of state would descend on our congested, single-runway airport...

Recto presses Medal of Valor for SAF 44, MILF retraction of false report

18 September 2015, Comment are Off
What’s the best prologue to President Aquino’s unequivocal declaration that it was the SAF group that killed Marwan? First, for the government to expedite the evaluation of the recommendation that some, if not all, of the Fallen 44, plus some of their surviving comrades be...

Recto seeks Palace action on EDSA-like pace classroom construction

16 September 2015, Comment are Off
One way to solve the “EDSA-like” pace in building classrooms is to list down in the national budget the names of the schools where they will be built, Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph G. Recto proposed today. Recto made the proposal after the Department of Education (DepEd)...

Good luck and Godspeed to Grace, Chiz, Allan, Sonny, BongBong

16 September 2015, Comment are Off
The more aspirants for the presidency, the better for our country. The bigger the field, the more choices for us. Better to have a surplus of aspirants than a shortage. It is within this context – of how pluralism in politics will do us good – that I welcome Sen. Grace’s...