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At least 3,732 Filipinos were languishing in jails in 53 countries at the beginning of the year, Sen. Ralph Recto said today. Of this number, 108 were in death row in six countries, with 69 in Chinese jails awaiting execution or clemency, the Senate President Pro Tempore said....

The Commission on Audit (COA) has P2.2 billion in the 2014 national budget that it can tap in hiring more auditors who can serve as “tripwires against corruption,” Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said today. With that amount, Recto said COA can recruit 6,485 more...

Pending the passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill, its features can be implanted in the national budget, beginning with the requirement to upload scanned copies of the Special Allotment Release Orders (SAROs) on the Budget department website, Senate President Pro...

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto today called for an amendment of the “anti ‘5-6’” provision in the proposed national budget by proposing that the net take-home pay of state workers, after deductions, must not be lower than P5,000 a month. Recto said the current and...

As lawmakers scramble to turn pork into graft-free good projects, a Senate leader today called for a conversion of a large chunk of the Priority Development Assistance Fund into spending that will put more teachers, classrooms, science labs and even meals for malnourished...

I thank the Commission on Audit for clearing my name twice. First, on the COA report itself when it categorically stated that I did not sign any documents. And second, in today’s hearing when the COA auditor-in-charge confirmed that indeed I did not sign any request, endorsement,...

Scrapping the P7.5 billion Calamity Fund in the 2014 national budget, on the false suspicion that it is a presidential pork barrel, will be the real calamity, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto warned today. “In the Richter scale of budgeting disaster, I will rank it at...

The Senate has set the ball rolling for an itemized national budget with the demand of one leader that large lump sums in next year’s proposed P2.26 trillion outlay be detailed. Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto has identified an “initial 10 items” worth P96 billion in the...