Media

High power rates stymie manufacturing growth Sen. Ralph G. Recto today reiterated his call on the Department of Energy (DOE) to let the Senate have a peek of what power rates would look like until 2016 to give business leaders a heads up in charting their investment or expansion...

Sen. Ralph G. Recto today expressed alarm that despite billions being poured into the government’s flagship anti-poverty program called conditional cash transfer (CCT), many Filipinos are still going hungry and in fact an estimated 4.8 million of them are skipping meals once in...

Sen. Ralph G. Recto yesterday pressed for the immediate deployment of a contingent of economic and business diplomats that would engage China and its business leaders in spirited discourse on the joint exploration of the vast economic potentials of West Philippine Sea. As the...

Sen. Ralph G. Recto today urged Malacanang to seriously consider engaging China, not through diplomatic protests, but through a possible joint exploration agreement in the Spratlys Islands. “Every stand-off, the territorial tension only escalates and we’re not gaining anything –...

Solving Mindanao’s power crisis Sen. Ralph G. Recto today said government should make up its mind whether it would privatize all state-owned power utilities in the country or not. “A piece-meal approach in the power situation in Mindanao might not be the proverbial light at the...

Increasing royalties like ‘walking to a trap’ Sen. Ralph G. Recto today warned government against approaching the issue of mining as a revenue-enhancing tool by increasing government’s royalty share from mining operators, over proposal to increase mining tax. “Royalties are...

Sen. Ralph G. Recto today said boxing sensation and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao deserves better treatment from the tax bureau, which is unwittingly potraying him as a tax evader. Recto stressed Pacquiao’s earnings from his fights in the United States (US) should no longer be...

Sen. Ralph G. Recto today said any reduction in the 12 percent value-added tax (VAT) should be off-set by existing revenue streams that are not reflected in the annual national budget. Recto, Senate ways and means chairman, likewise objected to a multi-tier VAT rate for different...